Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
I went to Taipei, Taiwan on November 15th, 2017 to take part in the Taiwan International Food Expo. I was invited to do a presentation of the first through third place winners in this year’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time 2016 Edition!
Oh hey, ramen bokki! So this is a fusion of two foods: South Korean ramyun and one of the words I would say I’ve seen spelled about a zillion different ways, tteokbokki. Tteokbokki are big chewy tubes made from rice flour and they’re really good. Usually, it’s made with a spicy and sweet sauce, egg, fish cake, etc. Good stuff! So this is that but instead of with the rice tubes, you get the noodles. Let’s check it out!
This one came out of the blue and I knew they were going to send some, I just didn’t expect so quickly!~ It really helps when I have tracking info – but then again I know companies are busy too and so while unexpected, new varieties are always welcome!
Here’s one sent by Javier over at Box From Japan. Box From Japan is a monthly subscription service where you can get boxes of neat Japanese instant ramen or boxes of candy and they have other special ones as well! Definitely, give them a look!
Here’s something new! A start-up company in San Francisco called Snackoo asked if I would like to check out their boxes – and of course, I said yes. This is the second box I’ve had to look at – hope you enjoy!
Here’s one I found at PriceSmart Foods up in Richmond, BC in July 2017. They had a ton of these and they sounded interesting. These are from Hong Kong – not a place I would think of when it comes to laksa. Here’s a little about laksa from Wikipedia –
A box from Malaysia – what have we here?
So these guys have my logo on their packs and I haven’t been able to see them yet – but I got samples today! They also sent their tom yam paste for me to try! Thank you very much!
First thing, I want to thank Jay H. from Taiwan for sending this 18禁カレーラーメン over to me. He checked out the Top Ten Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2017 Edition and thought I should give this a try.
Today a combo – an unboxing and a book review!
I heard about this book a while back. They emailed me and mentioned The Discovery Of Ramen was on Kickstarter. I thought hey – I would like to check out a kid’s book on ramen – so I did a post about it. That was months ago and they’d said they would send me a copy once it came out. Well, they did! I should note I did the video before reading the book – here are my thoughts on it.
So today is the first review I’ve done in a month! This was the first time since 2010 that I thought I’d take a little time off of reviewing. The main reason being that I’m so far ahead of myself – 110 reviews ahead in fact. I must say it’s nice to have such a buffer. Anyways, here we have a Myojo Udon bowl – honestly I can’t remember where it came from – someone either sent it (thank you) or I got it at the store. Myojo Udon sounds pretty good. Here’s a little information about udon from Wikipedia –
Here’s another instant ramen bowl from Zenpop. Zenpop offers boxes of ramen among other things from Japan – pretty good stuff and definitely worth checking out! Here’s what they have to say about this variety –
Today, we have another box that was received while I was off adventuring in Taiwan – this one’s from Zenpop, a Japanese purveyor of all things Japanese!
I know we found this one while out at a store somewhere… Hmmm… I want to say that this was at Asian Food Center on 130th and Aurora in north Seattle. If I’m correct this was the day of sad dim sum.
While traveling in Taiwan, this box arrived back at home. Exotic Noods is a purveyor of boxes with instant noodles!
Yet another from Javier over at Box From Japan. Box From Japan is a purveyor of monthly subscription boxes – ramen bowls and candy are at the forefront among other neat things – check ’em out! Today it’s a miso ramen – here’s a little something from Wikipedia –
Found this one at New India Bazar while in Pleasanton, California this summer. Probably the biggest Indian grocery I’ve been in which was pretty cool. I spent a little time searching for mazedaar but really didn’t find anything, so if you know what makes this ‘mazdaar masala,’ let me know – that would be great. Anyways, let’s check out this mazedaar masala!
So yesterday, I reviewed the Cup Noodles Tom Yam Seafood. Today, it’s the potato chip with the same flavor! Sounds good to me – I like seafood and seafood potato chips are among those things never seen in the United States. Let’s give ’em a try!
Here’s one that came by way of Zenpop. Zenpop has monthly boxes of instant noodles from Japan you can get as well as a very popular line of Japanese stationary. Here’s what they have to say about this variety:
I’ve always loved the beef flavor, spiciness, and thick noodles that define ramyun. I’ve noticed in the past few years a few brands coming out with vegetable flavor ramyun – and they’ve all been pretty good! Looking forward to giving this one a try today!
Here’s yet another great one from Javier over at Box From Japan. Box From Japan offers subscription instant ramen bowls – you can get a box every month! Thank you! So what’s this wakame? Here’s a little from Wikipedia –
Here’s one from India we found this summer at an Indian grocery in Pleasanton, California. There are a few different varieties of these with different shapes of noodles. Let’s check out this macaroni style one.
This is the only variety of Samyang Foods’ Buldak Bokkeummyun series to have a broth. Spicy chicken stew sounds good, and it is – at least the pack version was really good. There are usually some differences between packs and bowls. Mainly, bowls are almost always steeped, so the noodles may come out a little different than being continuously boiled. Also, bowls sometimes have extra ingredient sachets. Let’s give this one a try and check out this super spicy variety!
First off, special thanks to a reader from Malaysia who helped with translation. This one just says ‘spicy rice noodle’ on the distributor label, but it seems to be a non-spicy variety and it mentions snail. I don’t know if it actually is but hey you never know.But I’m pretty sure this is the regular version and not the spicy I reviewed previously by the same company. Actually after getting some comment from a couple friends in Canada and Taiwan, indeed it is snail! Here’s a little from Wikipedia about this variety –
Another one from the recent KOKA Meet The Manufacturer. A curry from Singapore – can’t say I’ve met one of those I didn’t like. Let’s have a look.
Ahh, Laksa – nothing like it. In fact, there are lots of kinds of laksa; sweet, creamy, curry, fish – every area has their own take on the dish. Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about laksa –
I’ve been waiting to get my hands on this one for a while and thanks to Jay H. for sending it my way from Taiwan, I’ve got one! These are from South Korea, but they’re very popular in Southeast Asia currently and very curious as to why.
Today it’s tonkotsu from Hong Kong. This is part of the series that’s expanded since being in the 2017 top ten list with their black garlic oil tonkotsu. For those of you unfamiliar, here’s a little about tonkotsu ramen from Wikipedia –
Hey Taiwan! I’m going to be at the Taiwan International Food Expo in Taipei! Check out the video for further details!
So the other day I posted the unboxing of noodle and potato chip samples sent by Nissin Hong Kong (thanks again!). I thought it would be fun to do up a video with the family and try these out one by one.
Chacharoni is a play on words. Jjajang kind of sounds like ‘cha cha’ and the roni calls to noodles. There are other plays on words in the South Korean industry when it comes to jjajangmyeon. So basically what you have here is a thick noodle with a black bean sauce – also known as jjajang. Here’s a little about jjajangmyeon from Wikipedia –
As you might remember, I recently did a Meety The Manufacturer series of the Blount Bowls – at the time they had a chicken and a coconut chicken variety. Well, they now have rice bowls and asked if I would show them. So here we go!
Here’s another one sent by Javier over at BoxFromJapan.com. Box From Japan offers subscription boxes of all sorts of neat Japanese things including candy and ramen! Check ’em out!
Today we have a two box unboxing time. The first box has noodles, the second has chips. So I only made one video, and so from the start to about 5 minutes, 30 seconds is the first and from then on is the second.
Today we have a two box unboxing time. The first box has noodles, the second has chips. So I only made one video, and so from the start to about 5 minutes, 30 seconds is the first and from then on is the second.
Laksa noodles paired with a curry broth – I can’t really think of anything so well matched. Although I usually think of Laksa a little further south of Thailand in places like Malaysia and Singapore, all the flavors from that area of Southeast Asia play very well together. Let’s give it a try!
I thought maybe a whole wheat ramen noodle might pair well with Szechuan flavors. These look really interesting and to be honest, I have a partiality to whole wheat noodles. Let’s have a look!
So Pad Thai might immediately come to mind as that noodle dish with lots of thick peanutty sauce and some meat and veggies popular here in the United States. But you might not know it but pad Thai simply means Thai noodles, and they’re able to be used in anything. Today I’m going to juxtapose them with a Pho broth, broth from Nona Lim. Let’s get started.
I thought it a no-brainer to pick Hakata Ramen to try with the miso. The other I’ll try with it will be the Tokyo Ramen. Anyways: Hakata Ramen. What is it, Wikipedia?
So for this Meet The Manufacturer, things are a little different. Nona Lim makes noodles and broths, so you can mix and match them. First, we’ll start with these Pad See Ew Rice Noodles. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Pad See Ew –
So for this Meet The Manufacturer, things are a little different. Nona Lim makes noodles and broths, so you can mix and match them. First, we’ll start with these Pad See Ew Rice Noodles. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Pad See Ew –
