Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
When I recently redid The Big List, I noticed some things. One of them was that I have never reviewed this one, nor it’s Beef or Shrimp fellow Instant Lunches! Talk about an oversight on my part… I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do a Meet The Manufacturer with Maruchan soon – thanks to everyone who has asked me to do one, it’s just I’ve never been able to successfully get in touch with them. Well, here we go with a close up and personal with Maruchan’s Instant Lunch: Chicken Flavor.
This is one that came from Courtnay N. of Surrey, BC – thanks! Maruchan makes lots of instant noodles that can be found in the USA, but of course they make varieties that are only available in Japan – this is one of them.
Haven’t done one of these in a while! This is another one donated by Ramen Place. Spicy vegetable huh? That’s a kind of weird flavor. I have seen vegetable / vegetarian flavor and then spicy varieties, but not usually spicy vegetable. Well, let’s try it out!
Here’s another one from Ramen Place! Thanks! I think this should be a tasty one – let’s see!
Such a classic – almost as American as it is Japanese! Actually, this packet was made in California. Just like rival Nissin, Maruchan has a huge southern California factory. Here’s a re-review of this standard that probably everyone has had once in their lifetime.
I remember reviewing this one a while back up in Anacortes – got it and was really stoked as I’d never seen it before!
Here’s one that we got at a northern Oregon Chevron of all places. Man, I’m still jonesin’ to try the Beef Taco and Jalapeno Cheddar flavors!!!
Here we go with review 600! Yep – this is why there were all the re-reviews last week! Thanks go to Mike M. of Staten Island, NY for pointing out that I’d reviewed the Roast Beef but not the regular beef flavor!
Been awhile since I’ve had a domestic Maruchan Yakisoba! This one was purchased on our drive back from our honeymoon this summer in mid-July. Got it and another one at a Chevron in northern Oregon of all places!
Got this one at Walmart. Was pretty sure I hadn’t tried it and was right so here goes.
I’ve tried many of the Maruchan noodles line and I’d thought I’d had all of their packaged noodles for the US market – then this shows up. The Market At Anacortes had it – never seen it before. My wife loves mushrooms so hoping she likes it too.
So here’s some Instant Lunch. Haven’t done one of these in a while and I’m sure that there’s a ton of them I need to do still. So hot & spicy beef – let’s give ‘er a try.
Okay so here’s something completely different for the most part. You’ll possibly remember my review on Maruchan’s Kitsune Udon? Well, this looks the same except its in a bowl whose label has more of a green label. I found the name after a search on Google as all I could read was Oriental Noodles. So something interesting I found was what this stuff’s title translates to – green raccoon! Here’s an except from a page on thisnext.com:
So this looks kind of interesting. Hmmm… I should make a list of the Maruchan Instant Lunches I’ve ingested and then I can go to the store and get all the ones I have not and then bam bam bam… Cheap noodle week!
So been really curious how this one’d pan out. I’ve tried mac and cheese-esque noodles before, but never in a cup…
Yep! Another Maruchan variety. Roast Beef! Shall we begin?
One packet of fun.
The powder in the bowl awaiting the cooked noodles and boiling water.
Here’s another new one brought from California by my lovely lady. Thanks, Kit! On with the review!
So my friend Todd hooked me up with this stuff – thanks man! Haven’t seen this one before, so let’s give it a try.
Yeah – seriously. I’ve always liked this kind of thing – I know Nissin Top Ramen had a variety in the past too… So let’s try this out.
So what a shocker – we were strolling down the aisle of a big box grocery store and saw this sitting there. I like how they incorporated the Mexican flag into the packaging too! While trying to find a commercial for the last review (#319: Maruchan Oriental Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup) I found a TON of homemade videos for Maruchan Instant Lunch as well as official ones. It was insanity! test
So my son is over today and he loves noodles too, so I get a bite of his and get to review it while he gets to eat it. It’s a fair deal I think! So here’s Maruchan Oriental – and yeah; it is a surprise that I haven’t reviewed it isn’t it?
These are some noodles my son Andy got from his Grandpa Gary from California! Andy was kind enough to allow me a bite so I could review them in exchange for preparing them for him.
Sweet & sour chicken? Is it possible that it could taste like sweet & sour chicken? We shall see…
Roast chicken? As opposed to the regular chicken eh? Okay I’m game…
Powder base and veggies in with the noodles. awaiting the pain of the boiling water.
So chicken flavor this time. Thought maybe I’d spruce it up with some leftover turkey!
So teriyaki beef. Here we go…
Click image to enlarge. Up to the fill line, 4 minutes of microwave…
So the local grocery store had four different varieties of this stuff so I thought I might as well run through them. So roast chicken huh? Alrighty…
So continuing the cavalcade of cup soups, here we have some Maruchan Instant Lunch. Not a very standard rameny flavor but we’ll see how it tastes.
So here’s one of the large noodle bowls I have. If you’ll recall, I’ve reviewed Kitsune Udon before – I did Sapporo Ichiban’s. This one’s a little different. The Kitsune is much bigger this time. Also, it’s a bowl!
So yeah – really. I haven’t reviewed the standard chicken flavor Maruchan seen on every store shelf from here to hell and back. So it’s time. Chicken time!
So this looks to be one of the more exotic flavors out there as far as the more ‘domesticated’ ramens go. What I find curious is whether this is marketed towards the Hispanic or the Filipino populations. The combination of chili and lime are popular in both cultures and products marketed with a pepper and a green lime are very common.
Okay so I was falling asleep the other night and thought to myself “I wonder if there is pork flavor ramen… Does it exist, and does it taste remotely like pork?” Answer: yes there is and other answer is not really.
Maruchan: Noodle Soup – Shrimp Flavor
Stars: **
Notes: I don’t know why, but the ramen companies that cater to the U.S. customer really dropped the ball here – there’s only one packet and the noodles are of very poor quality. However, this type of ramen’s saving grace is it’s ability to be used to make a bastardized version of ‘Spaetzel,” a Scandinavian dish. Get it here.
