
A box came today!

A box of product samples – wow these looks interesting…

These are all different kinds of rice that Lotus Foods sells – I’ve had the Forbidden Rice before, but didn’t know they made this many!
Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002

A box came today!

A box of product samples – wow these looks interesting…

These are all different kinds of rice that Lotus Foods sells – I’ve had the Forbidden Rice before, but didn’t know they made this many!

Pho is a great noodle soup enjoyed world wide. I’ve had varieties in packs and bowls before, but really nothing like this; it’s truly something completely different from what I’ve had in the past. It’s in a bowl, frozen, and water is added. Very different in respect to design and cooking for sure. Also, never tried any frozen pho varieties either. Let’s give this a try!

As their products are frozen, they wanted to make sure I’d get it quick and non-thawed. This box is big – and I mean big!

Well, today is the last day of the Meet The Manufacturer for Sakura Noodle Inc. It’s been interesting – I don’t think I’ve had udon so many days in a row – I was surprised how much I enjoyed it! One thing that was nice was that there’s only one gram of fat in these, which is a far cry from the amounts I usually have. Anyways, let’s have a look at this one – beef!

I’m sure you’re gonna say it – this looks familiar. Well, it’s part of a really neat coincidence that happened recently. I reviewed this one by Takamori Kosan of Japan the other day. Well, it was actually made by Sakura Noodle in Los angeles, California for the US market under their name! This one here is also made by Sakura Noodle but under the Shirakiku name. Are they different? Yep! If you look at the ingredients and nutrition facts on eacvh, there are some subtle differences. What’s interesting is that I contacted Takamori Kosan about doing a Meet The Manufacturer with them and they seem quite receptive, so keep an eye out for it coming soon! A day or so later, I was contacted by Sakura Noodle. I looked at their website and noticed this chow mein and asked if perhaps Takamori Kosan had contacted them, but they hadn’t – neat coincidence!

Today is a good day for spicy noodles. I just did my big walk of the day – something I’ve not been able to do for a week or so – it’s been raining alot here just north of Seattle. A lot. In fact, there was a weather alert for landslides due to so much rain… Sheesh. Walk was good and now I’ve got the pre-season baseball audio going – Giants vs Royals today. I’m a Giants fan – my wife converted me from being a Mariners fan when we got together as she used to play softball and got quite a few trophies. The first year I started following the Giants was 2010, and lo and behold, they won the world Series! Then again in 2012. I think as long as we win the even years, we’re good to go. Anyways, spicy udon sounds really good today and I think I know just what to add to it – Fresno chilli peppers! They’re playing the game today in Scottsdale, AZ, and a lot of their minor league players get a chance to get a chance to be in the roster. Many of them are from the Fresno, CA AAA team. Let’s check these noodles out!

I got some really good sized shrimp the other day at the store thinking they’d go really well with this. I like shrimp – they’re tasty! The ones I’ve been getting are frozen and have a thin layer of ice all around them so they don’t stick together. Pretty brilliant – quite enjoyable. Anyways, today it’s shrimp. Let’s shrimp it up!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms. I’ve liked them a little more and more over time, but they’re really not something I seek out and enjoy thoroughly. On the other hand, my wife absolutely loves mushroom.s and savors them. She also really likes udon, so I thought I’d make these for her. Let’s open this bag up and see what’s inside.

I asked my wife to pick today’s variety and she picked this one. I was thinking – what is Oriental flavor? Well, the French version tells us. I tried Google’s auto translate and it thought it was Spanish for ‘nice.’ In French, bonito means bonito. So, what does bonito mean? Simple.

Here’s the first of the Sakura Noodle Inc. Meet The Manufacturer! I thought I’d start off with chicken. I haven’t been using a lot of chicken lately and it sounded like a nice little departure from the norm lately. Usually I save the chicken varieties for my son to eat when he’s here – chicken noodles are his favorite. Let’s give this one a try!

Walked to the apartment office today to pick up a package.

Wow – no wonder it was so heavy! That little box was chock full of udon and yakisoba! Can’t wait to dig in!

Interview With Sakura Noodle Inc * Product Samples From Sakura Noodle Inc * Sakura Noodle Inc Chikara Brand Udon Chicken Flavor * Sakura Noodle Inc Chikara Brand Udon Oriental Flavor * Sakura Noodle Inc Chikara Brand Udon Mushroom Flavor * Sakura Noodle Inc Chikara Brand Udon Shrimp Flavor * Sakura Noodle Inc Chikara Brand Udon Hot & Spicy Flavor *

Today, we come to the end of this Meet The Manufacturer. Fifteen reviews! Let’s have a look at this one.

My son Andy got me a bowl and a plate for Christmas! Yesterday I used the plate – today the bowl! Hot and spicy chicken sounds really good – let’s see what kind of heat this one’s packing!

Only a couple left for this Meet The Manufacturer! Of the remaining varieties, I thought Andy might like this one the best. Let’s check it out!

Hope everyone who celebrated had a Merry Christmas! My son got me a new plate and bowl – today I’ll be using the plate as it’s mi goreng on the menu! Let’s check it out!

The last ten reviews have been varieties that are now available in the US. The next five will be ones sent to me by ABC President that are only available in Indonesia. Let’s check this one out!

As I said in the last post, today is the anniversary of the first time my wife and I spoke to eachother, four years ago. More on that in the video at the bottom. I had the fortune to be able to try real rendang yesterday! They make it at Waroeng Jajanan! I’ll do a special post about it soon! This one was really good last time – let’s revisit it!

Close to 100 reviews ago, I tried this for the first time. Four years ago today, my wife and I had our first conversation! It’s a big anniversary for us – check out the video at the end for more on that. Let’s revisit this one by ABC President!

I wanted to do something special with this one. Recently, I visited Waroeng Jajanan, an Indonesian grocery nearby. As it turns out, they make Indonesian style meatballs! I didn’t want to make this without sampling them, so this is a really exciting one for me! Honestly, I’ve never had Indonesian food other than instant noodles before! Let’s check it out!

This is a little different – fried dumplings! Basically they’re little chips of fried wonton as a garnish. These were present in one of the Eat & Go cups I reviewed earlier. Let’s check it out!

This is an interesting one; there’s ABC and there’s President. I’ve seen the logo on products made in other regions too – Taiwan most notably. Let’s see how this one tastes!

This is a really good one – it placed #8 in my Top Ten Indonesian Instant Noodles 2013 Edition! Let’s revisit this one!

I got an email from Mario over at ABC President in Indonesia this week. He said a package with some more samples were on it’s way!

Mi goreng means fried noodles. To those not familiar with mi goreng, you’ve absolutely must try it! There’s no broth involved and very strong and delicious flavors. I would wager that if I looked through all my reviews, I’d be hard pressed to find a mi goreng that I didn’t like. Well, there was one, but it was a Chinese take on it and the spices were really off. What’s really nice is the ability to pair it with so many different things. Let’s delve into this one; I have a good feeling about it!

To begin this Meet The Manufacturer, I decided that curry chicken flavor sounded good today. One thing I’m a big fan of is curry; from India, Britain, Thailand, Japan and of course Indonesia. In the past, I’ve been pretty amazed at everything that they put inside these Eat 7 Go cups. Let’s see what awaits within!

A box came the other day – noodles!

Four varieties of pillow pack instants by ABC President.
Interview With ABC President * Product Samples From ABC President * Eat & Go Curry Chicken Mi Instan Cup * Mi ABC Mi Goreng Mi Instan Cup Mi Goreng Spesial Special Fried Noodle * Mi ABC Selera Pedas Mi Instan Goreng Hot Chicken Lemon Flavour * More Product Samples From ABC President * Eat & Go Spicy Chicken Mi Instan Cup * President Chicken Flavoured Fried Noodle * Eat & Go Chicken Onion Mi Instan Cup * Mi ABC Mi Goreng Pangsit Fried Noodle With Dumpling * Eat & Go Rasa Baso Sapi Meat Ball Mi Instan Cup * Mi ABC Mi Instan Rebus Rasa Ayam Bawang Onion Chicken Flavour * Eat & Go Rendang Beef Flavor Fried Instant Noodle * Mi ABC Mi Cup Rasa Kari Ayam Chicken Curry Flavour * Mi ABC Selera Pedas Mi Goreng Cup Rasa Ayam Pedas Limau Hot Chicken Lemon Flavour * Mi ABC Mi Cup Rasa Ayam Bawang Chicken Onion Flavour * Mi ABC Selera Pedas Mi Goreng Cup Rasa Gulai Ayam Pedas Hot Gulai Chicken * Mi ABC Mi Cup Rasa Soto Ayam Chicken Soto Flavour

Just wanted to congratulate Chris Johnson on his success with his Rapid Ramen Cooker – his invention that allows you to cook a standard pack of instant noodles in 3-4 minutes in the microwave with 1/2 the sodium. He was on Shark Tank last week and got himself a great deal! Here’s the interview I conducted with him last December and my rigorous test of The Rapid Ramen Cooker – see the video below!

Here’s the last of the Asian Thai Foods Meet The Manufacturer. Fatafat means fast fast! Let’s check it out.

Well, we’ve almost come to the end of this Meet The Manufacturer. It’s been fun and interesting to find out about and try new varieties from Nepal! Here’s one that I found particularly interesting when I sampled the vegetable curry variety. Krrish is a action film series popular in India and Nepal and this ties into that fandom. Let’s check it out.

The vegetable version of Pretti was really good and got very high marks – curious how the chicken flavor will stack up! Let’s check it out.

Chicken sounds good – This is an example of a vitamin fortified instant noodle. In areas of the world where many people eat a large amount of instant noodles, vitamins are added to make them healthier. Let’s check these out!

Nope – this is not a reference to the popular South Korean K-Pop group – it’s a reference to the time of day. 2pm is a common time for a quick bite to eat in the afternoon. Let’s have a look.

I think this is one of my new favorite packages – those kids are rockin’ out! Fatafat means ‘fast fast,’ referring to the fact that you can just pop it open and eat it as well as a smaller size for a quick meal. I decided to try the only cooking method I’ve seen this brand mention that I hadn’t tried yet: cook, drain, fry and add seasonings. Let’s check it out!

Here’s another journey into something different. It was mentioned that a lot of people will have these noodles uncooked with the seasoning/oil packets mixed in. Adding tomato ketchup and mayonnaise as well was mentioned. I enquired as to whom the fellow on the package was: “Well it’s the superhero for India. It’s actor Hrithik Roshan on the package. You can Google the movie. Krrsh 3 will be releasing soon this year. Do watch the trailer on YouTube. This product was made to attract kids.” Wow cool! I figured let’s try this out!

Here’s another brown noodle variety from ATF. Rumpum is the flagship product for them. Let’s check it out.