August 22, 2019 By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

#3261: Kikusui Shirakaba Sansou Miso Ramen – Japan

This one was in a Ramen Trunk subscription box.These boxes are full of extremely high end varieties that you’ll never find in the United States or anywhere outside Japan! Check out this link and use coupon code RAMENRATER20OFF for 20% off any single box or subscription!

Here’s what they had to say about this particular variety – “The other feature in this combo pack also hails from Sapporo and is another take on the region’s Miso soup broth – Shirakabasansou Ramen.

Shirakabasansou Miso Ramen is a legendary ramen shop with it’s own unique recipe blending two distinct types of white miso with Japanese peppers, sesame oil, a balance of oyster sauce, and garlic. The ramen master at Shirakabasansou had a dream of delivering the most delicious Hokkaido miso ramen to as many people as possible. Ramen Trunk is doing our part by getting this unique taste to your door.”

This sounds like another really fancy offering – let’s dig into it!

Kikusui Shirakaba Sansou Miso Ramen – Japan

Here’s one of the two packs of this variety inside the big box.

Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). I’m sure it contains pork. To prepare, boil noodles 4 minutes. Add soup base sachet contents to 270ml hot water and combine. Drain noodles and add to a bowl and add broth. Finally, enjoy!

The noodle block.

A wet sachet.

A thick liquid.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, spring onion, black sesame seeds, barbeque pork, and habanero togarashi. The noodles were just perfect – four minutes and they’ve got a very premium chew and gauge. The broth has a strong miso flavor which is very rich. It seemed to center in red miso. The broth also has a slight pepperiness. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars. JAN bar code 4901468910398.

Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan

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August 21, 2019 By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

#3260: Kikusui Keyaki Miso Ramen – Japan

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Here’s what they had to say about this particular variety – “Welcome to Hokkaido! No visit to Hokkaido is complete without a bowl of their famous miso ramen.

This month we have a unique combo pack. The first set is a famous miso ramen from Sapporo based Keyaki Ramen.

The Keyaki ramen is distinct due to its recipe combining three different types of Hokkaido miso with their secret broth recipe which includes smooth pork back fat, a concction of aromatic oils, flavorful vegetable paste, and finally a hint of ground dried sardine powder. This secret recipe not only creates a one of a kind rich and savory taste but also has made Keyaki ramen immensely popular up north in Japan and across the entire country.’

As they mention, it’s a combo pack and includes two packages of two differen varieties. Let’s take a closer look.

Kikusui Keyaki Miso Ramen – Japan

One of the two packs of Keyaki miso ramen.

Here’s the back f the package (click to enlarge). Contains pork. To prepare, boil noodles 4 minutes. Add soup base sachet contents to 300ml hot water and combine. Drain noodles and add to a bowl and add broth. Finally, enjoy!

The noodles.

A wet sachet.

Thick stuff!

Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, spring onion, barbecue pork, sesame seeds, and shichimi togarachi. The noodles in these are just awesome – superb gauge and chew to them. The broth is a luxuriant miso – really rich and tasty. 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. JAN bar code 4901468910633.

Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan

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August 20, 2019 By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

#3259: Kuro Tetsuya (Black Iron) Red Guard – Japan

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Here’s what they had to say about this particular variety – “The Gunma prefecture is a landlocked and mountainous prefecture in the middle of Japan best known for its skiing and ample supply of wondrous onsens (hot springs).

The noodles in Kuro Tetsuya are ‘willow-like’ with natural irregularities in the noodles through the unique cutting process thus mimicking a hand cut texture. This noodle has won some awards including the 2008 Monde Selection Gold award. The noodles are classified as ‘Chinese-style’ soba.

Sounds interesting – let’s give it a go!

Kuro Tetsuya (Black Iron) Red Guard – Japan

Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Unsure whether it contains meat. To prepare, boil noodles for 4 minutes. Drain. Add soup base to 320~340ml hot water and mix. Add noodles and broth in a bowl. Finally, enjoy!

One of two bundles of noodles.

Two wet sachets (two servings per package).

Shoyu style soup base.

Another dual sachet, this one dry.

A light powder.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added soft egg, sesame seeds, spring onion, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, habanero togarashi, and bbq pork. Noodles were very very soft. However they went with the shoyu which was very tasty. Worked out well! 4.5 out of 5.0 stars. JAN bar code 4902588282105.

A Complete Guide to Gunma Prefecture

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August 19, 2019 By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

Vite Ramen Sends v1.1 Samples

Often I’m asked ‘do you know of any kind of healthy noodles out there?’ Yes I do – and these be them. These are full of protein, low in sodium, and have 25% of all your vitamins and minerals. Sound good? Let’s take a look!

Vite Ramen Sends v1.1 Samples

By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

#3258: Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Curry Ramen – Japan

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Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘The rich and deep flavor of the soup is created with beef, onion, garlic, miso and other spices and seasonings which all keep a perfect balance together. topped with four kinds of ingredients including diced potatoes which are the hidden stars of this dish,’

Cool – curry! Let’s do this.

Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Curry Ramen – Japan

Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Contains beeff, chicken and pork. To prepare, To prepare, add in sachet contents and boiling water to line. Cover for 3 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!

Detail of the lid (click to enlarge).

The noodle block.

A dry soup base sachet.

The garnish sachet.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added soft egg, spring onion, habanero togarashi, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, and sesame seeds. Noodle were pretty good – not spongy. The broth was a nice one two punch of curry and sweetness which I liked quite a bit. The only down thing was the potatoes which were slow to hydrate. 4.0 out of 5,0 stars. JAN bar code 4901734024545.

Sapporo most curry ramen 5 meals P

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August 18, 2019 By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

A-Sha Sends Rainbow Noodles & Nuts From Taiwan

Like colorful things? Looks no further! These are a trip to be sure – and there are some tasty treats other than noodles in here as well! Let’s check em out!

A-Sha Sends Rainbow Noodles & Nuts – Taiwan

By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

#3257: Samyang Foods Buldak Hot Chicken Flavor Topokki – South Korea

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Okay, alright. It’s another Buldak spicy thing and this time its not topokki and ramen, it’s just topokki. What’s exciting about this is that this is the export version. I’m usually not happy about getting export versions; I want the local versions; te ones that people in their respective countries find at the store. But what’s cool is that this is now available in the United States – and I’ve seen it here recently. This is original Buldak Bokkeummyun flavor – there’s also a Carbo version as well. For those of you who are asking ‘what’s a topokki?!’ here’s a little info from Wikipedia –

Tteok-bokki (떡볶이) or stir-fried rice cakes is a popular Korean food made from small-sized garae-tteok (long, white, cylinder-shaped rice cakes) called tteokmyeon (떡면; “rice cake noodles”) or commonly tteok-bokki-tteok(떡볶이 떡; “tteok-bokki rice cakes”).^[1]^[2] Fish cakes, boiled eggs, and scallions are some of the most commonly added ingredients. It can be seasoned with either spicy gochujang (chili paste) or non-spicy ganjang (soy sauce)-based sauce; the former being the most typical form,^[3], while the latter is less common and sometimes called gungjung-tteok-bokki (royal court tteok-bokki). Today, variations also include curry-tteok-bokki, cream sauce-tteok-bokki, jajang-tteok-bokki, seafood-tteok-bokki, galbi-tteok-bokki and so on. Tteok-bokki is commonly purchased and eaten at bunsikjip (snack bars) as well as pojangmacha (street stalls). There are also dedicated restaurants for tteok-bokki, where it is referred to as jeugseog tteok-bokki (impromptu tteok-bokki).

Ingredients such as seafood, short ribs, instant noodles, chewy noodles are also added to the dish.

Haemul-tteok-bokki, (해물떡볶이; “seafood tteok-bokki”) uses seafood as a sub ingredient.

Galbi-tteok-bokki (갈비떡볶이; “short ribs tteok-bokki”) is a tteok-bokki uses short ribs as an ingredient.

Ra-bokki (라볶이; “instant noodles tteok-bokki”) and jjol-bokki (쫄볶이; “chewy noodles tteok-bokki”), are quite similar. They both add noodles to tteok-bokki. ra-bokki and jjol-bokki differs from the kind of noodles added to tteok-bokki. ra-bokki adds ramyeon noodle, and jjol-bokki adds chewy noodles which are used to make jjol-myeon.

Alright – let’s cook it up and I’ll do my best to lay waste to it.

Samyang Foods Buldak Hot Chicken Flavor Topokki – South Korea

Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add topokki and sauce to the bowl. Add water to fill line (note it’s much lower than on most noole cups. Microwave at 1000W for 2 minutes and 30 seconds with the lid on. Finally, stir and enjoy!

Detail of the lid (click to enlarge).

An included spork!

The sextet of tines here are daunting! Check this out for a full list of forks – it’s really quite fascinating!

The pouch of topokki.

A wet sachet containing the spicy sauce.

Finished (click to enlarge). Chewy topokki is of good quality and plentiful. The sauce is sweet and very spicy. It’s tasty as well as hot – the heat level reminds me of the topokki buldak ramen they produce. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 8801073910270.

Buldak Tteokbokki Korean Rice Cake Instant Korean Snack Tteok Tteokbokki Rice Cake (spicy, 1)

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August 16, 2019 By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

#3256 Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen – United States

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#3256 Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen - United States

This is the last of the four varieties sent to me by Ramen Hero – I will say I’ve asked if they want to send more. I really love working with this product – it’s a lot of fun for me. Not only that, they’re really quite good. Hopefully it’ll pan out – and I’ll also find out how that fancy seaweed is done up!

I got an email asking if I was interested in trying overnight delivery ramen. Hey – why not, right? So, here we are! Ramen Hero is based in the Bay Area and serves a few surrounding states at the time of this post – check their site for current service area. You pick your ramen, pay, and they’ll overnight you a set of ingredients to make a bowl of ramen at home – including garnish! Not bad. Let’s give this one a try – they send four and since they’re perishable, I’m going to do them over the next couple days.

Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen – United States

#3256 Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen - United States

Here are the labels from the front and back of the packaging (click to enlarge). Contains pork. To prepare, boil the large soup pouch for 10 minutes. when there’s 2 minutes left, boil your noodles in a separate pot, stirring often. Also at the 1 1/2 minute point, drop the bags with the garnish in with the soup pouch to let them thaw (if needed). Finally, drain your noodles, add them to a bowl, empty the pouch of broth into your bowl, garnish, and enjoy!

#3256 Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen - United States

The noodles.

#3256 Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen - United States

The large pouch of broth.

#3256 Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen - United States

Pork belly chashu!

#3256 Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen - United States

Seaweed.

#3256 Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen - United States

Kizami shoga (pickled ginger).

#3256 Ramen Hero Classic Tonkotsu Ramen - United States

Kikurage (wood ear mushroom).

Finished (click to enlarge). In addition to the supplied garnish, I added spring onion, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, shichimi togarashi, and sesame seeds. I forgot to add the seaweed on the last one (shrug) so used it on this one. The noodles – great chew, firmness and mouthfeel. The broth was rich, although a little on the saltier side. Nonetheless, in concert with the included pairings (the kikurage was particularly nice), things were quite good. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars.

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August 15, 2019 By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

#3255 Ramen Hero Classic Shoyu Ramen – United States

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I usually try to review at least two varieties a day and yesterday I did the last two Ramen Hero varieties and it was a lot of fun. It’s pretty neat to be able to do up all the garnish that came with it – and the printed seaweed was really neat, too!

Ramen Hero Classic Shoyu Ramen – United States

Here are the labels from front and back (click to enlarge). Contains pork. To prepare, boil the large soup pouch for 10 minutes. when there’s 2 minutes left, boil your noodles in a seperate pot, stirring often. Also at the 1 1/2 minute point, drop the bags with the garnish in with the soup pouch to let them thaw (if needed). Finally, drain your noodles, add them to a bowl, empty the pouch of broth into your bowl, garnish, and enjoy!

The noodles.

A large pouch with the broth.

Pork belly chashu!

Calcium printed seaweed. Okay, I need to find out how they do this or where they get it done.

Narutomaki (fish cake)

Menma (pickled bamboo shoots).

Finished (click to enlarge). Aside from the above ingredients I added soft egg, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, spring onion, shichimi togarashi, and sesame seeds. Noodles just keep coming out very nicely. Broth was on point as well and in concert with the supplied garnish was a very nice bowl. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars.

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August 14, 2019 By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

Unboxing The September 2019 Zenpop Spicy & Savory Pack – Japan

Dig on ramen? Check out one of these neat Zenpop boxes! Use the coupon code RAMENRATER for a discount!

Unboxing The September 2019 Zenpop Spicy & Savory Pack – Japan

By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

#3254: Mom’s Dry Noodle / Blue Elephant Red Curry – Taiwan

Two weeks. Two long weeks. I haven’t done a review in two weeks!! Our apartment got remodeled, plus I had a sinus infection that basically knocked out my sense of taste. Yeah – that wasn’t cool at all. But I’m back – back to walking, and today back to reviewing. The remodel is done and I’m enjoying my noodles once again!

I think the fact that I love curry is probably on my sleeve. This is something I am very fascinated with – a collaboration between a Thai company and a Taiwanese company. How’s it going to taste? I’ve not a clue, but if it’s anything like Mom’s Dry Noodle has put out before, I know I’m in for a treat. Let’s find out!

Mom’s Dry Noodle / Blue Elephant Red Curry – Taiwan

Detail of the outer packaging (click to enlarge). Unsure if it contains meat – check for yourself. To prepare, boil noodles for 6 minutes. Drain. Add in sachet contents. Finally, stir and enjoy!

Inside the large outer package are three individual servings.

Detail of the packaging (click to enlarge).

The noodle block.

A wet sachet of red curry.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added sauteed beef, red and green bell pepper, white onion, pineapple, and fresh basil. Noodles are soft and a very large quantity. They’re a perfect match for the red curry which is aromatic and tasty, however not overwhelming. A very apt pairing with an elegant balance. 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 4717011158304.

Moms Dan Dan Dry Noodle 17.36 Oz.

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August 13, 2019 By Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

THE ALL TIME BEST PRISON RAMEN BURRITO IN THE WORLD! TEXAS BEEF!

PRISON RAMEN BURRITO

Big thanks to Nick Bizarro – I found Maruchan Texas Beef Ramen Noodle Soup on eBay a little while back and asked if anyone wanted to buy them (it was a 24 pack and I only wanted two) and he did!

So, what’s the big deal?

THE ALL TIME BEST PRISON RAMEN BURRITO IN THE WORLD! TEXAS BEEF!

PRISON RAMEN BURRITO Maruchan Texas Beef

The pack is clear to discourage smuggling contraband into prison – or, I suppose out of prison. You can only (usually) but these as a prison inmate. I contacted the distributor of these and they were incredibly uninterested and standoffish about getting samples to me.

“You can only purchase them from correctional facilities.”

“I have to be in a jail or prison to get them?”

“Yes.”

“But say I don’t want to go to prison?”

“Then you’re not going to get these varieties, sir.”

It was sheer luck that I got these when I did. It’s been a search going on for over 5 years. I’ve heard mention of Texas Beef many times and though ‘what are these people talking about?!’ Not only that, the distributor as well as the manufacturer are incredibly tight lipped and not forthcoming with info on these. But they exist and many people in prisons have them every day.

Here’s my attempt at making a prison burrito. It should be noted that the noodles would most likely be cooked in a bag rather than on the stove, but This is how I did it. Also, you can substitute Maruchan Picante Beef Ramen for these – Maruchan said in an answer to a consumer question I saw that they’re the same thing. Curious if anyone will try their hand at this and send some pictures! I think I foresee people with their prison ramen burritos posing with them proudly flashing the peace sign. Enjoy!

Finished (click to enlarge). Made with Maruchan Texas Beef Ramen Noodle Soup, Doritos Nacho flavor, Chee-Tos Flamin Hot, fried garlic, minced Slim Jim, Bufalo Clasica hot sauce, spring onion, and Easy Cheese – American. The flavor was decent and the texture was rather meaty. It reminded me of when we used to take microwave burritos and but them in a baking dish and dumped a can of enchilada sauce on them and baked in the over for 45 minutes. Amazingly orange and quite tasty to be honest!