Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Found this one at Evergreen Asian Market up in Everett, Washington. I don’t often make my way that far north for instant noodles but I did find one or two things there (including Chocolatey Tree Stumps). This one is made in the Russian Federation for the US market – even says on the label which I find interesting. Anyways, let’s check this one out!
Well look at this! I’ve seen something like this before…
I did a post way back in April of 2013, extolling the virtues of Chapaguri! No clue where I’d heard of it back then – maybe from Nongshim, IDK. I’d long forgotten about it and then I saw this and was like ‘hey – that’s the logo I made!’ It’s a pretty easy conclusion to do something like this from a design perspective and I think it looks nice. If they got the idea from me, I’m honored, but I’m guessing they had the idea of it when it was a popular item back then. Well, let’s see how it tastes!
I found this at the Asian Family Market on Aurora, north of Seattle. It was my first venture in a car in two months!!! Let me explain.
I first must thank the reader from Montana for shooting these over a month or two ago. Now, I’ve heard from people all over about how these have replaced another brand in Walmart and it seems people are losing their minds! One thing that will always fascinate me about instant noodles is how they really evoke an emotional response. I’ve gotten comments, complaints, rants, sadness, and anger about this. It’s really interesting. Well, let’s give this beef one a try!
I think the last time I had this is was called Five Flavors Beef or Five Spice Beef – that was a long time ago let me look it up…
I don’t I’ve mentioned lately how absolutely wonderful my wife is. I should just do a standalone post every week saying that and extolling the reasons why, but here’s one thing she did that was absolutely wonderful. We had a car accident in mid January (as I write this it’s early March) and we’ve had a loaner as it gets fixed. Yeah – early March. Since mid January, I haven’t been in a car. We’ve got two kids, two car seats, and one just won’t get in there right and so someone has to stay at home and since I don’t drive, that’s me. Well, the local grocery store I walk to had some sad mung bean sprouts and it’s Sunday – a week without mung bean sprouts is a sad ordeal for me. She drove to the 99 Rach Market out of town, got my veggies and then proceeded to send me individual photos of different instant noodles in hopes of finding some I’ve not reviewed. I’m super low on varieties I’ve not tried which is serious no bueno. She did find a few though and this is one of them. So I say thank you to my kind and wonderful wife. Let’s have a look at this rice noodle variety!
This one gets the USA tag since it’s an export version for the United States. It’s from South Korea though – spicy beef! Sounds great for a Friday – let’s check it out!
I hear it already – ‘but it’s from Korea!’ Look. Just humor me. Look. Lower left. Made in USA. Unless you visited South Korea and brought some back from Canada (they’re probably from their Chinese factory if so), then you’ve been eating Korean style instant noodles made in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Their factory is a really neat place – first one I ever had the fortune to visit and it was really neat.
Thanks again to Daniel in Montana for sending this over! So Since I did the unboxing video, people have been commenting and it turns out these are showing up in Walmarts all over the country. Didn’t expect that – I figured Montana was a test market. I can say that I have made contact with Albany Farms and if all goes well, we’ll be doing a Meet The Manufacturer soon! Let’s check this cup out.
These come by way of Yukhong at Golden Bay Supply – thanks! Hey sent me some neat Thai products to try recently to try out and so here we are. I’m guessing this will be a beef and basil kind of thing but I don’t know. I’m intrigued! Let’s give it a try.
This is the last of the pillow pack style Ramen Express varieties and I’m guessing this one is going to be really good like the other two. Let’s find out!
I have to say – I like boxed varieties. They always seem to house more premium stuff, and this is continuing that observation. Beef and tendon, dry noodle, and a huge retort pouch.
Here’s one from the folks that also bring you Ramen Express. This cup has 20g of plant protein – which is a lot. Let’s check it out!
Thanks to Cian (pronounced kee-yan – like Ian with a K) from Ireland! Thanks so much! These are very interesting in that the sachet kind of gives away the original manufacturer. The motif on the sachet is the same as those found at Real Canadian Superstore up in BC – and these come from a grocery store chain in Ireland, so either they’re related or just using the same private label company. The ones in Canada were labeled Rooster brand. They were good, so I’m hoping these will be as well. Let’s find out!
Here we go with this short Meet The Manufacturer series. This sounds interesting – 20 grams of protein in a cup noodle? That’s pretty good – calorie count isn’t too bad at all either. Let’s see how it tastes!
The first thing I noticed about this one was toward the top where it mentioned it has real beef and real pork. I so seldom come across varieties from the Philippines that this was a real score. I think I found it up in Canada but I’m not sure. Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about La Paz Batchoy real quick –
Here’s yet another box from Taiwan – they’re getting more popular these days for companies who want to roll out a premium variety. I like boxes; they look fancy and usually mean meats will be at play. Here’s a little about Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup from Wikipedia –
I constantly hear all this anti-Chinese sentiment coming from different places. Well, today I’m engaging in some noodle diplomacy. Pickled cabbage is tasty stuff. There are so many neat flavors that come from China that really need to be experienced by everyone I think. I mean one thing we all have in common – we all eat. This is definitely a bridge to understanding and happiness. Okay – let’s see if my belly is happy after sampling this one.
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Here’s the first of this three review series on Ramen Express’ range. They’re all pretty low cal and Vegetarian to mention a couple features. This one’s beef flavor. Let’s give it a try!
I went to 99 Ranch Market looking for mung bean sprouts and found seven different varieties of these big cups! I love these things. I like to call them flower pots. Very curious about these – last time I found some was up in Canada. I miss Canada… But these have a ton of sachets – so if you’re a fan of lots of sachets, take a look at these style cups. Let’s check it out!
I heard about these a while back and have been curious… These came by way of The Fat Hipster – big thanks, man!
I got the chance to try the range of Mr. Lee’s products when they were only available in the UK. Now, they also are making them here! This one’s got freeze dried beef and vegetables, plus it’s gluten free. Time to see if this one’s the same as what I’ve tried from the UK!
Today, we come to the end of this Meet The Manufacturer series of Thien Huong products. I want to thank John and C&T Produce Wholesale for sending over the samples and participating in this, the first ever Vietnamese spotlight series. Now, let’s give this beef variety a try and wrap things up.
I thought it fitting to start things off with probably the variety most familiar to people – pho, and in particular, pho bo. There are a ton of pho restaurants nearby me – haven’t been in a while and as I type this in after reviewing this one, I’m thinking I need to visit one. It’s been too long! Unfortunately, no restaurants open at this point – luckily, I’ve got a series of Vietnamese varieties to review! Let’s check this one out!
This sounds really good – and spicy! It mentions using different amount of spice sachets to increase or decrease the heat. I’m hoping this is a real barn burner! Let’s find out.
I first tried Baixiang noodles a few years ago when I found the little elephant’s brand up in Richmond, BC on one of our early visits before it became a regular thing to do.
Tis time for beef on the trolley! I never found out anything really as per why these are called trolley noodles, but hopefully will at some point. Let’s give them a try.
Here’s the second of the Boys & Girls varieties I’ve found up in Canada. The first was a tomato and egg one which was truly excellent. Let’s see is a spicy beef will follow suit.
This one is the first I’m reviewing from a ship that Nongshim America was kind enough to send – thank you! I should mention that James from Lakeside California sent one of these – thanks everyone! So from the little word-cloud above the name Soo, I’m guessing perhaps that the word Soo means excellent? I looked it up and it can (as a family name) mean water or shore/riverbank. I’m going to guess water will be the logical one here since these are air-dried noodles and not fried. That has a nice little logic to it, at least in my head. Let’s give them a try.
So Canada… It had been a while since we headed up to Canada. But finally, we had the chance to go! Went and got some groceries and hit an Asian market and found these and a couple other ones. I’ve never seen a variety claiming to be ‘slightly spicy.’ The noodles are in a clear container. It looks really fascinating!
Ah ha! I knew I had more of these bowls! I walk by this every time I go to 99 Ranch Market but I don’t buy more because I swore I already bought all of them. Well, here’s another one. Bowl is a little dented (okay, a lot dented) but it’s fine. Let’s give it a try!
Well, here we go!I did a Meet The Manufacturer with Mr Lee’s a couple of years ago, and now they’re going to be producing in the USA! Sounds like starting May 2020 their products will be available (and also made) here as well as in the UK. They’ll be available on Amazon and I’ll do reviews of the Us made versions when they become available. This one’s only 218 calories! Not only that, this is one of the few manufacturers that use freeze dried rather than dehydrated bits. Let’s check it out!
Good morning! I’m getting this post ready at 2am. I actually shot the pictures around 1am. Did 18 miles of walking yesterday and so when my buddy Matt decided to play with his Google Nest device and call me at 11:50pm and wake me up and alerted me to a bad leg cramp about o catch fire I ended up staying up. I’ll sleep tonight… Anyways, yeah – been a while since some pho – fingers crossed. Let’s give it a go!
These are made in Hong Kong for the US market. I found a myriad of cup varieties at 99 Ranch Market recently. These also are complimented by a full line of pack versions, but I’ve reviewed most of those over time from varieties sent by a reader back east.
Okay so yes – these are mad ein South Korea. They’re made for the French market though. I recently reviewed the spicy flavor variety and made this one in the past and shared with daughter Miriam and really liked it as well. Let’s crack it open and give it a go!
Here’s another one of these bowls I picked up at 99 Ranch Market. There’s still a couple more to go too! Let’s give it a go.
Okay so this one should be interesting. The last one I had from this company was alright. Taiwanese beef noodle is kind of a big deal over in Taiwan. Curious how this one will be. Let’s find out.
It’s like a parallel universe! Where am I?! WHO CAN EXPLAIN THIS??
Okay so what’s the problem? This is from Hong Kong. It says flavor not flavour. I don’t understand.
So this is an export variety from the company that brought you the fire noodle. I’m not exactly sure why the Hawaiian theme, but that’s kind of cool. Let’s give it a try!
