
Another big meaty bowl I lugged back from Taiwan in November 2017. A reader on the Facebook page for The Ramen Rater requested I pick this one up and I found it I believe at FamilyMart.
Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002

Another big meaty bowl I lugged back from Taiwan in November 2017. A reader on the Facebook page for The Ramen Rater requested I pick this one up and I found it I believe at FamilyMart.

This one’s got horns and flying saucers on the packaging – something that denotes… Well, horns and flying saucers I suppose. I guess it more likely denotes ‘hey look at me – I’m on the store shelf!’ The double bang is for the two noodle blocks. The other variety I reviewed in this series had two in it as well and called for (like this one) 700ml boiling water. Guess we will see how this one goes as well! I remember seeing these on store shelves – I think I got all but one of the varieties (sniff) but hey – got some pretty fascinating ones. Taiwanese beef noodles, it is your time to shine.

Here’s one I dragged back to the United States from Taiwan. I know I’ve seen close to the same thing here in the USA, but I wanted to see if the non-export version could be better. I have a feeling it will be. Here’s a little info about braising from Wikipedia –

I received this as a gift from a representative of the Little Cook brand in Taipei, Taiwan at the Taiwan International Food Expo! Thank you very much! She also accepted the third place award from The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time 2017 Edition – Little Cook Green Curry – at the awards show.

Here’s one I found at a Carrefour on my trip to Taiwan in November of 2017. Okay, so it says No Brand. I think that’s pretty evident – and it also says Delicious Ramen. That too is nondescript. I searched for the bar code and found nothing from the pack code and very little from the 5 pack code – basically that it is what it is. An eBay seller had it marked as ‘Korean Noodle Ramyun Rameon’ although that’s a little less than what it says in English on the pack already. My thought is that this might just be a store brand but who knows. Ah ha – I just looked it up by the phone number on the package – 080-023-8593 – and it comes up with a lot of Paldo stuff. Perhaps this is by Paldo. Anyways, I’m guessing it’s time to crack this open and look within.

Well, here we are. This is one I found at Walmart up in Richmond, BC Canada. I’ve never had a lot of luck finding enjoyment of this brand but always gotten a lot of mail/questions about it. People have asked me many times how they can complain to the company that makes thes. I don’t know exactly why – I think a lot of the time people will store instant noodles and they’ll get banged up or the packs will get opened and after a long time will go bad. But my complaint usually has been that they’ve usually not had very strong flavors and the noodles come out funny when you follow the directions.

I’ve been doing a lot of spicy noodle videos on YouTube recently. There’s a particular one that I tried and just couldn’t handle. The main reason for this is that first off, it’s ultra spicy. The second was that I attempted it when I was sick with the flu. I mean hey – it was from Japan and I thought I should be able to handle it; never run into any spicy noodle from Japan that I found too spicy to eat.

Woot, woot! This one comes by way of Jay from Taiwan – thank you! This is a meaty one! Big retort pouch inside. These things actually have some heft to them (they weigh a bit).

I reviewed a Maitri Soto variety earlier in this series, and since Jonathan at Waroeng Jajanan gave me some Soto Betawi, I thought I ought to review the non-vegetarian version to take advantage of the niceties therein. Here’s a little about Soto from Wikipedia –

Today, it is beef. Beef is a flavor that’s very prevalent in instant noodle ranges from many countries, save a few. Very curious what this one will be like. Let’s find out!

Well, the little cheese guy has gone from a place of meekness to one of anger. Let me show you.


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.

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 –

Colin from Massachusetts was kind enough to shoot this one my way! Thanks again! So Gomtang is a flavor I really like -it’s kind of like a creamy beef soup broth. What’s kind of funny is that I’ve only sampled Gomtang made by Paldo. I know there are other brands making it in South Korea, yet I’ve never found any here. Let’s look up[ Gomtang on Wikipedia:

This one was sent to me by Chef Ron of Mama Pat’s Foods – thanks again! This is the first Yum-Mie variety I’ve ever tried and hails from Ghana, a country in Africa. Really like the name ‘Yum-Mie!’Here’s a little about Ghana –

Here’s a new one from Samyang Foods – Pagaejang. It is similar to Yukgaejang. I looked up Yukgaejang and found this on Wikipedia –

This is the second variety I’m trying of the Very Veggie range from Nissin Foods of America. Soon as I heard about these products I was extremely curious. Will they have enough vegetables? Will these vegetables be good?

This one was sent to me by Chef Ron from Mama Pat’s Foods – hey thanks! This is from Ghana in Africa! Nice to be able to try varieties from Africa; I’ve had so few! Let’s give this beef one a try.

So for a long time, I’ve wanted to review the South Korean version of Shin Ramyun Black, and I know lots of people have wanted me to. Here in the United States, we have Nongshim America (NSA) in Rancho Cucamonga. Anywhere you find Shin Ramyun Black in the United States, it originates in California. However, Nonshim Korea (NSK) is its origin. You can thank Anders and his girlfriend Ji-Min from South Korea for sending this along! Thanks again! Here’s a little something about the Shin from Wikipedia –

A guy named Mengzhe Z. from China sent me this – thank you again! I think the first time I saw the export version of this one it was called beef and sauerkraut. Cabbage is definitely popular in Asia – goes well with yakisoba, pickled in soup and fermented in ramyun. Let’s give this a look!

Here’s one I got at 7-Eleven in Taipei, Taiwan in November of last year. I’ve been wanting to review these bowls for a very long time, but never have been able to get any through – nobody’s ever tried though. So what is this ‘Man-Han Feast’ anyways? Here’s some info from Wikipedia –

Here’s a bowl version clad in the trapping of olde. Samyang Ramen was the very first instant ramyun to come out in South Korea – in 1963. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –

For awhile now, I’ve been trying to get my hands on some of this that actually is from South Korea. Thanks to Anders and his girlfriend Ji-Min, here we are! Here’s some info from Wikipedia –

Now for the third year, I’m coming out with the latest Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles list. Rice noodles have some benefits as opposed to their fried wheat counterparts. First, they’re virtually fat-free. Also, they’re not fried. Rice noodles are gluten-free by nature, although the ingredients in the sachets that come with these varieties might not be. People ask me for a gluten-free list often, but that would be rather difficult as I’d have to pore over every ingredient list on every review to do this. Well, let’s have a look at these great rice noodle varieties – the best instant rice noodles varieties of the almost 2,500 reviews to date!

Here is where we part ways with Nissin Germany – this is the fifteenth review of Meet The Manufacturer. It’s been a lot of fun trying these European takes on instant noodles! Let’s give this final variety – spicy beef – a try.

I’m really stoked – Nissin Germany sent a few new Soba varieties! I like these – not only are they really good, they have neat plastic cups with draining lids. But Sukiyaki Beef – let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about sukiyaki –

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls Of All Time 2017 Edition is a list of the best bowls I’ve tried of the over 2400 reviews posted to date. Bowls are interesting insofar as they often contain extra things, since there is more room for sachets, spoons, fork, etcetera. As always, I implore instant noodle manufacturers to contact me – I would love to review your products and all it costs is sending some samples and your time! So sit back, grab a bowl, some hot water, peel back the lid, stir – and enjoy!

There are some varieties that I hear people raving out about a lot and I start thinking ‘I should re-review this one.’ Well, today’s the day. I even have a little story about these which is sort of funny.

Today we have a rice noodle variety. Pho is a noodle soup that hails originally from Vietnam – here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –

Here’s one I picked up during my November 2016 trip to Taiwan. So I found this one at 7-Eleven I believe. Indeed for years I’ve been told by people from Taiwan to give this one a try. They’ve been downright exclamatory about it, but nobody ever sent me one to try. Moreover it took me actually bringing one home from Taiwan to get it and so here we are. This is part of Uni-President’s Man Han Feast range. Here’s a little about Man Han (short for Manchu Han) Feast from Wikipedia –

This is something new from MyKuali as part of their new MeeKuali line. It’s a beef flavor rice vermicelli! The packaging and everything is definitely a departure from their regular MyKuali line which is very popular and are some of my favorites I’ve ever tried. I looked up rempah on Wikipedia and found this –

I reviewed this probably over 1000 reviews or more ago, but I noticed on this one it says it’s got a new formula. So bihun is rice vermicelli. But baso sapi – what’s that? Wikipedia, if you please:

Here’s another one that was sent to me by Colin from Arlington, Massachusetts – thanks again! This one has really proved to be a touch one to translate this morning. Cooking shouldn’t be an issued, however figuring out what the name/variety is on this one is tough. Searched by image, searched by barcode, hit the company’s website… I see other ones with the little ‘angelic baby’ on the packaging, but none that look just like this one. UPDATE – Thank you to Bobby Y., my friend from Toronto – he figured it out. It was too late for my friends in Southeast Asia so I had to look west! So the noodles are hot but I guess I will put chilled prepared beef in with them. Alright – let’s check it out! UPDATE #2 – my friend Mengzhe Z. who is in China told me actually it isn’t chilled beef – just beef.

Yet again, one of the waning few left from Meet The Manufacturer: Nissin Hong Kong. Last year was the 45th anniversary of Cup Noodles! Let’s see what wikipedia has to say about the history of Cup Noodles:

Well, it has been a long time coming but here it is. This is the one I’ve been looking for. For three years. Why so hard to get? It’s really popular in Taiwan – why couldn’t I get it? Simple. Beef. There’s a big pouch of beef in here – not artificial beef, but real beef. I got this in Taiwan and brought it back with me. It’s kind of stupid; if someone sent this to me in the mail, it’d get stopped by the USDA inspectors that check the mail. I go there and pack it in my stuff, it comes through fine. What’s nice too is that it is in perfect condition; like I went to the store here and bought it and brought it home. Let’s crack this thing open and take a gander at this huge pack of noodles.

Here’s an interesting one I was sent by Colin recently – thanks again! A new brand to me – I mean wow – look at all those 9’s! This sounds interesting… Here’s a little something about Sichuan from Wikipedia –

Okay so here’s another one of the new recipe Cup Noodles from Nissin Foods USA – thanks again for sending ’em over! I did a kind of experiment a while back – one that ended pretty well. See, on Instagram I often see people enjoying their instant noodles alongside a beer as well as some form of Chee-Tos, whether they be regular, Flamin’ Hot or Flamin’ Hot Limon. What’s kind of funny about it is that it sort of makes sense. See, Chee-Tos kind of have the same effect on instant noodles as tempura. Weird but true – they’re crunchy but also work well in broth. It’s alright if you think I’m crazy, but I do find this somewhat poetic. Let’s check it out.

So here’s something new I found at HMart. This is going to be battle for me, however you might wonder why. Well, much of the package is shiny gold colored. Unfortunately, shiny gold and silver packages are evil. I mean, not really, but really at the same time. Indeed they look nice, but they add a bit of an issue to my process. Indeed, scanning gold or silver foil packs presents a real problem. No matter what, there are wrinkles in the packaging, and ones I usually can use Photoshop to get rid of. However, these wrinkles when in a shiny foil wreak havoc with the scanner and the images come out extremely light and dark in spots. Anyway, just a little behind the scenes on what I do when putting out a post.

Here’s another one from a reader named Colin from the east coast – thanks again! It amazes me how many varieties he can find from the other side of the USA that I can’t get here. Fascinating; you’d think you could get most things anywhere but apparently companies distribute different things in different places. Anyways, this sounds good – spicy beef! Let’s check it out.