Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
This one usually comes out in January, but a little late this year on edits. However, this one’s ready to go! This is my list of favorite South Korean varieties from my reviews up to number 4,650. Definitely want to try more South Korean varieties – especially those only found in South Korea – not export versions if at all possible. Anyways, let’s boil some water and check out The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten South Korean Instant Noodles Of All Time 2024 Edition!
Well, hmm. I think it’s time for something spicy. It’s early August 2023 and you know – spicy food. It’s funny – the chicken here kind of looks like Terminator with a chili pepper machine gun or something. I should note that this is the first review using my new tool – the RPFD – the ramen packaging flattening device. What’s that? Well, it’s a suction cup shower handle attached to a clear piece od thick Plexiglas which does a great job of flattening packs of instant noodles on the scanner. After over 4,000 reviews and trying different things to aid in scanning problem wrinkly packs, this came to me after using a tablet screen to hold down a metallic pack a few reviews back. You can see the post I did about it here. By the way, while it’s definitely got export info for the US, it’s got it for many countries, so this isn’t specific for the US and so it gets a South Korea label. Let’s try some fire?
Thisd is a very interesting one found at GMart in Lynnwood, Washington state. This is made by Acecook Vietnam for the South Korean market. Honestly, I’ve never heard of tomyum eaten in South Korea. Do they do that? Thai food is popular in Taiwan, that much I know. Malaysia too – but they’re neighbors so that makes sense. I suppose they wouldn’t make this is nobody liked tomyum soup in South Korea. Anyways, it’s interesting – let’s checkk it out.
Ahhhh jjamppong! Awesome – I freaking really love jjamppong. Seafood and spicy and sometimes smoky – kind of imparts a grilled seafood flavor – those are the best. Let’s waste no time and give it a try!
Usually I try to track down the manufacturer and this one if rather difficult. It seems that Seoul Trading is distributing it, but not the manufacturer. It’s made in South Korea, however. There are three varieties of these – this carbonara, a spicy, and a fire spicy. This one gets a South Korea label since it’s an export version for many countries. Let’s see how spicy this stuff is.
Found this one while looking for something completely different recently at HMart. I could tell they had the new noodle type (flat/broad) and thought that could be interesting, so here we are with today’s review. I should mention I have a special guest on today’s Instant Noodle Recipe Time at the bottom, so check it out. Anyways, let’s cook it up and give it a try!
This one was found at HMart in Lynnwood, Washington. Never have seen this brand before. I’m guessing this is going to be budae jjigae, aka ‘troop stew,’ a combo of a classic Korean spicy ramyun along with bits you would find in Army rations like hot dog, salami, macaroni – stuff that will last a long time in the field. Let’s give it a try!
Here’s one that came by way of The Fat Hipster – check him out on YouTube! Thanks, man! This looks to be quite a departure from the normal Buldak fare – basil and cream seems pretty usual, but udon – hmm. It sounds pretty decent – let’s give it a try! Oh, and yes – there will be a mukbang at the bottom.
Here’s another variety I’d not seen which came by way of The Fat Hipster, a guy who has tried some fascinating things on his YouTube channel, and is also part of Section42, a group of moderators for the Ramen Junkies group on Facebook. Check both out – and thanks, bro!
Back in March of 2017, I reviewed this one for the first time. In November, I ended up going to Taiwan for the second time and it was really quite amazing. The first day there I think, I got to visit a little restaurant called ‘Love Instant Noodles.’
Been lagging on doing top ten list editing – my apologies. The weather’s been really good for walking, and in May I did over 500 miles. I included a special post at the bottom about it. I also included something of a change from how I’ve been doing things as well involving AI. Anyways, this is the annual The Ramen Rater’s Global Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls – these are my favorite varieties out of review up to #4440 which are in the bowl style. Hope you enjoy! Top Ten Cups and Bottom Ten lists should be coming soon!
Big thanks to Pher Engi for sending this along. Have you seen this one? Figured I should get it out there soon as possible for everyone to see. Definitely a departure from the multiple creamy and cheesy flavors as of late. Let’s give it a try!
First – this doesn’t taste like roses. This was sent by The Fat Hipster – thanks man! So, rose is like a chili-cream kind of thing. I tried a rabokki that was rose before and loved it, so we’ll give this a try with high hopes. I want to also thank Samyang Foods for something very exciting to hear – from the Korea Times: ‘For customers who are blind or visually impaired, the company for the first time printed Braille dots on the packaging of Rosé Buldak Stir-fried Noodles.’ This is referring to the cup versions. I think this is truly excellent. I’m legally blind and while I don’t read braille, I think some day I may need to. Really top notch of them – high marks from me. Let’s see if the flavor matches this kind innovation.
Here’s one of the last two from The Fat Hipster – check him out on YouTube as he has eaten pumpkin spice cup noodles, topped with pumpkin spice spam, with whipped cream atop. This is really great. So these noodles are like an extra creamy carbonara as far as I can tell without knowing anything about them. But, I will cook them up and then do a mukbang where I eat them and I will let you know how they taste. Let’s get started.
Here’s another Buldak variety that came by way of The Fat Hipster – he’s got a great YouTube channel you should check out! This guy drank s’mores flavor Pepsi. You should really look at what he’s up to!
A big thank you to The Fat Hipster from YouTube for sending this over – so I figured this sounds like a good place to start. Why? Well, I realized in my post schedule for YouTube that this would come on Valentine’s Day, so hearts, Valentine’s day – not an extreme stretch. This appears to be a less spicy version – but it’s also got something else going on. The packaging scheme looks a lot like Buldak Light.
I’ve a couple fascinating varieties from the Shin range by Nongshim which came by way of The Fat Hipster – thanks man! He’s got a YouTube channel where does reviews you should check out. This is one I though was only in the UK but from the labeling it’s distributed throughout Europe – there fore its getting the South Korea stamp as it’s not just for one country but many. Let’s give it a try!
I thought this one was a combo tteokbokki and noodle like the other one I reviewed a little while ago but that isn’t the case. Rose is when you have a carbonara and a spicy tteokbokki sauce mixed together – spicy and creamy. I couldn’t just let it be so I made it and it’s freaking good – here you go.
So this one might look like a variety simply for the US market but there’s a difference. The nutrition facts are valid for Canada as well. This one get’s the country of origin’s tag on it, although it’s most certainly an export product. It’s been quite a while since I’ve reviewed a South Korean variety I’ve not reviewed. Quite a while! Let’s hit it up and give it a try!
Been wanting to try this one for a while – Ottogi makes some good ones. My favorite has been the Jin Jjamppong – nice smoky seafood flavor. Let’s give this one a try!
Nope it’s not ramen so don’t start, but it was on the ramen aisle at local store Boo Han Market in Edmonds, Washington. Let’s check it out!
After a couple years, here’s The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten South Korean Instant Noodles Of All Time 2023 Edition. It’s been a sort of tough go lately; so few new Korean varieties have crossed my desk. Usually they’ve all been ultra spicy ones, and while good, they’ve not been ones that are top ten listers. There should be a few new ones to the list for next years list that have yet to be published, though. If you’ve an instant noodle company in South Korea, I’d love to review your products. I used to receive samples from the larger companies quite often, but unfortunately not so much recently. This list is comprised of varieties from South Korea that I’ve reviewed up to my 4,300th review. With that, here’s The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten South Korean Instant Noodles Of All Time 2023 Edition!
Found this one at Boo Han Market last weekend at the end of July. So, this isn’t ramen, it’s something called sujebi. Looks different that’s for sure. Let’s try it out!
Another one from S-Mart. There’s a different one which is Black Kimchi flavor – Should be about the same is my guess but red. I remember the black one was a little sweet – maybe this one’s more spicy? Guess only one way to find out.
This comes by way of BNB Global – thanks! So Bibim Men is a cold noodle dish – you cook and drain the noodle, rinse with cold water and then add the sauce. This is a variety of tteokbokki, rice cake tubes which are soft and thoroughly enjoyable. This uses the same type of sauce as in the cold noodle, however it’s hot. I don’t think chilling tteokbokki would work so well – probably would make them tough. Regardless, this sounds interesting and I’m very interested. Let’s give it a try!
This is an interesting one. While it says it is a stir-fried chicken flavor, below that it mentioned it has artificial chicken and beef flavor. I’m very curious – it sounds interesting. I’m excited as I’ll be reviewing some more Paldo stuff soon. Let’s check this one out – I think I found it at S*Mart in Bellevue, Washington.
It’s true – some like it hot. This list is comprised of the hottest varieties I’ve tried – that are currently available as far as I can tell. In prior years, there were some that were so hot that the #1 on here was like cotton candy. That being said, I’m guessing there weren’t many repeat customers. At the bottom, you’ll see those varieties. This list is current as of review #4300. Let’s get spicy with The Ramen Rater’s Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2023 Edition!
The Fat Hipster is a fellow ramen afficionado and has a great review channel on YouTube – check it out! He sent a box with a ton of varieties I haven’t tried before – let’s have a look!
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Here’s another interesting one, this time from South Korea. Really no clue what the ‘black’ entails, although there’s another one of these bowls that says ‘red’ on it. Let”s give it a try.
Here’s another neat and never before seen Shin variety that was sent by The Fat Hipster – Shin Bokkeummyeon. Basically, it’s a dry version of Shin – also looks to be spicy from the packaging. I hope it’s good – let’s find out!
Another super recent find from S-Mart. This one sounded like it would be good. This is definitely for export, but for multiple countries so it’lll get the South Korea label instead of for a specific country being exported to. Let’s try some kimchi noodle soup!
If you’ve been following my reviews lately, you might wonder why this isn’t marked as for the USA – but the thing is if you look, it’s in English as well as French. This definitely means this is for the US and Canada – so, since I can’t pin it down for one or the other, this one gets the country of origin’s stamp on the review.
Here’s the second of two Sempio varieties I found recently. This one’s anchovy flavor. Sounds simple enough. Their noodles are unique, that’s for sure. Let’s give this a try!
You know, I can’t find anything anywhere about this one and what it’s actually called; I’m guess it’s an apt title, and the label looks to be an import label from the actual company itself. However, I bet the name is different. I bet. A dollar. I have a dollar. I’d have to open the piggy bank to get the cash out, but I’m good for a buck. It’s definitely a rice noodle as opposed to a wheat noodle – and I’m guessing that would be mentioned on the packaging. I looked further on the Sempio website –
It took a little finagling to wrap my head around this one – insofar as translation. Bar code was a no-go and the only English text referred to the caloric content and not much else. But what helped was that phone number with the 070 prefix. Boom! They were even kind enough to have an English version of their website. So, let’s check out this South Korean variety!
Here’s something I bet you didn’t know about! Two new varieties joining the popular Buldak range! Big thanks to MH for sending these along! Well, have a look – people are having trouble finding them, but I’m guessing if you look really hard you will.
I recently got an email from a company called BNB Global who is a big distributor for Paldo products here in the US. Paldo is a South Korean company that makes some great varieties – some of which I haven’t tried yet – here’s a special look at some of these new varieties! Enjoy and check ’em out!
Welcome to my newest installment of my experimentation with instant noodles and breads/pizza dough! This one was a real win IMHO – both came out exceedingly well! First, I made an Indomie pie which presented some questions – how do I make the sauce? Butter. How about a cold pizza with Paldo Bibim Men? Never baked a pizza that would be refrigerated before serving. It’s summer and really hot here right now. Cold sounds good. I’ll give you the recipes for both which are pretty simple. Let’s hit it!
Okay so for those of you who don’t know what tteokbokki is, you needsta figure that out because it’s really quite nice! This is both tteokbokki and ramyun; hence, rabokki. Let’s give this a try.
I know you’re wondering ‘why does he do these things?’ I pose the opposite question – ‘why don’t you do these things?’ I’ll be honest – I’m playing with food. It’s something different to try. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but I’m finding many times it does work and it works pretty well! Let’s make some stuffed bread with a popular variety!
