
Well, today we’ve got the last of the cup versions. I thought ending up with beef sounded like a good way to go. Why? Oh, I don’t know. Actually, it just sounds nice to sample something beef flavored today to be honest. Let’s give it a try!
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Well, today we’ve got the last of the cup versions. I thought ending up with beef sounded like a good way to go. Why? Oh, I don’t know. Actually, it just sounds nice to sample something beef flavored today to be honest. Let’s give it a try!

Here’s the one that everybody’s got – chicken. Very few instant noodle companies don’t have a chicken noodle soup on the market. I can think of a few, but they’re kind of far and few between. Chicken is kind of a universally accessible flavor and meat (well, except for Vegans). I think this probably will be a pretty good one. I gave it 4.0 out of 5.0 in May of 2015 when I re-reviewed it back then. I kind of remember people asking me to give them another look and so I did. Anyways, Let’s get to it!

Hey cool! I’ve been really looking forward to reviewing this one. You might not know, but this is the background for The Ramen Rater logo! It was review #652 – posted February 1, 2012. Six years ago! I really liked how the picture came out and thought hey – let’s make a new logo! But only recently have I said what the background was – didn’t think anyone would be interested. Anyways, now you know! Here’s a little about Shio ramen from Wikipedia –

Here we have the cup version of the flavor we started this Meet The Manufacturer series with – original flavor. This is soy sauce flavor, aka shoyu. Here’s a little about shoyu ramen from Wikipedia –

Today, we head to the second half of this series with the shrimp pack version. Cups and packs, packs and cups. As you may remember, I was pretty impressed by the cup version. I’ve tasted shrimp flavor instant noodles in a few different ways. Sometimes, it’s kind of like as buttery broth which doesn’t taste like shrimp, but one that shrimp may go well in. – kind of the way that oyster sauce doesn’t taste like oysters. The cup version with this brand has a nice sweetness that you find in shrimp. Let’s see how it translates to the pack version.

Alright, so I reviewed this one back in October of 2011. This was review #529- well over 2000 reviews ago. Just saying 2000 reviews ago seems crazy. Anyways to be blunt, I really didn’t like this one back then., My wife said it smelled like cooked asparagus. I’m curious whether it’s not going to be something I enjoy; about 7 years later. Hope I do! Let’s take a look.

Time for some chicken! Actually, there are quite a few chicken varieties in this range and they’re about to start showing up in this review series. Today,m we’re going to start off with their chicken instant ramen cup. Sounds like a plan – just so you know, the last time I tried this was way back at review #405! Let’s get to it and give it a try!

Beef flavor isn’t usually something I think of when I think about ramen. I generally think of pork, chicken, fish, seaweed, etc. Beef leads me more towards ramyun to be honest. But these are varieties catering to the taste of the United States – and beef is definitely a western kind of flavor as well. Let’s see how a beef noodle goes in this variety. Looks like I did a re-review ion 2017 and the first time I reviewed it was #205 in 2010! Okay – let’s get to it!

Here’s one of the four fancy varieties from Sapporo Ichiban – their miso ramen variety. Miso is a fermented soybean paste. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia

Sapporo Ichiban offers four standard pillow pack style noodles, four special varieties, and four cup varieties. It makes it easy to do a different one every day during this Meet The Manufacturer series. I have, however, reviewed them all before, but it was a very long, long time ago. I usually don’t like to do re-reviews, but I think in this case I’m very happy to make an exception. I’ve been wanting to do a Meet The Manufacturer with Sanyo Foods America for years and getting the chance to has been a lot of fun!

Thought starting things off with the original variety would make sense. So they told me that original flavor indeed was soy sauce, which also is known as shoyu ramen. Here’s a little about shoyu ramen from Wikipedia

Sanyo Foods Corp Of America sent two boxes of their Sapporo Ichiban products. In fact, these two boxes contain each and every variety that they produce here in the United States. I like it when I can do a Meet The Manufacturer series and sample each and every variety that they make. Let’s look in this, the second box.

Was really happy to get samples directly from Sanyo Foods Corp Of America for this Meet The Manufacturer series. As I said previously, one of my goals has been to do Meet The Manufacturer series with all the instant noodle companies in the United States. Let’s see what’s inside!

Interview With Sanyo Foods Corp Of America * Product Samples From Sanyo Foods Corp Of America (1 of 2) * Product Samples From Sanyo Foods Corp Of America (2 of 2) * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Original Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Original Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Shrimp Flavor Oriental Noodle Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Miso Ramen * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Beef Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Chicken Flavor Oriental Noodle Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles Hot & Spicy Chicken Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Shrimp Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Original Flavor Oriental Noodle Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Shio Ramen Japanese Style Noodles * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Chicken Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Beef Flavor Oriental Noodle Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Chow Mein * Sapporo Ichiban Tonkotsu Ramen White Chicken Broth

We end our days focusing on Little Couples Q Noodle today – thanks again for taking part in Meet The Manufacturer! This one is a bit of a mystery to me – Taiwan sauce flavor. Only one way to figure this one out – let’s give it a try!

Today it’s an oyster sauce variety. I like oyster sauce – has a nice blend of flavors to it and I’m very curious about how it will meld with a noodle. Let’s find out!

Hey who doesn’t like garlic? Okay, maybe vampires… But hey – I certainly like garlic. Fried garlic is good too. Let’s see how this one comes out.

Today it’s soybean paste noodles. Chajang, Jjajang, soy bean paste. Lots of different names for it. Let’s look inside!

The place I usually like to start with a dry noodles company is their Sichuan style spicy noodle. They usually have one and so it’s kind of a good baseline. Let’s have a look!

During my trip in November 2017 to Taiwan, I met some folks at a booth that had a slew of different noodle varieties. They knew who I was and were keen on me giving their products a try. They wanted to hand me samples but I couldn’t – my luggage was full and so I recommended a Meet The Manufacturer series – and here we are.

Interview With Little Couples Q Noodle * Product Samples From Little Couples Q Noodle * Little Couples Q Noodle Spicy Taste * Little Couples Q Noodle Taiwan Soybean Taste * Little Couples Q Noodle Fried Garlic Taste * Little Couples Q Noodle Oyster Sauce Taste * Little Couples Q Noodle Taiwan Sauce Taste

Today is the last of this great series! I want to thank the mighty nice folks at Mike’s Mighty Good for facilitating this Alright it’s beef pho. Very curious about what this one will be like. Let’s find out!

So this is the second pork tonkotsu variety offered by Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen – this being the non-spicy version. Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about this style of ramen –

Here’s another vegetarian friendly variety from Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen. This one’s inspired by Korean kimchi. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –

Last time it was fried garlic chicken and this time it’s just chicken. Let’s give it a try!

So today’s variety is one I’ve been curious about. This is a pork tonkotsu from the United States – something I don’t usually think is going to be great. But if it does as well as everything else has, I think it’s going to be good. Here’s a little about tonkotsu from Wikipedia-

Alright so today it’s a Vegetarian variety. To be honest, I used to enjoy a lot of condensed soup and this was my favorite flavor. So, I suppose it has a bit to live up to as far as the name. Let’s have a look inside this cup and see what lurks within!

Okay now I’m seeing a pattern. The cups exclaim that they have rich broth while the packaged versions contain insanely rich broth. All I can say is in the last two, I liked the broth. Now to the topic of miso – here’s a little from Wikipedia –

So Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen also comes in cups. Spicy beef sounds good. I’ve been a spicy fan for a long time. I just noticed on the pack reviewed yesterday it mentioned ‘insanely rich broth’ whereas today we have ‘rich broth.’ With a slightly mellower tone, let’s pop the lid and look within.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Usually, the first instant product a noodle company will put out will be chicken flavor. In fact, the first instant noodle product that was ever produced was chicken flavor. Chicken is just about universally palatable, and most don’t have a religious rule against it. A chicken instant noodle is the beginning and so that’s where we will start today. Fried garlic chicken sounds really good, and on the package, it promises an ‘insanely rich broth.’ Alright – the proof is in the noodle – let’s give it a try!

After I had quite a few people asking me if I’d tried or had any information on Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen, I decided to reach out to the company. They were receptive to doing a Meet The Manufacturer series and so that’s what we have going on today! Here’s the unboxing of the samples that they sent for review.

Interview With Mike’s Mighty Good * Product Samples From Mike’s Mighty Good * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Fried Garlic Chicken Flavor Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Spicy Beef Flavor Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Savory Miso Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Vegetarian Vegetable Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Spicy Pork Tonkotsu Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Chicken Flavor Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Vegetarian Kimchi Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Pork Tonkotsu Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Beef Pho Ramen Soup

Today, we come to the end of our Mr. Noodle journey with a black vinegar variety. Black vinegar tends to give foods a kind of tart or sour hit – one I immensely enjoy. Let’s bid farewell to Mr. Noodle Meet The Manufacturer.

This one sounds interesting. While not a big fan of mushrooms, I do find that the onion is probably my favorite vegetable next to bell peppers. Well, maybe at par with bell pepper. I really like onions and bell peppers, let’s just leave it at that. Let’s take a look inside and see how it is.

Today we’ve got a green package. I’ve kind of tried to review them in the order of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, violet) and while there’s no blue I think it’s going pretty well in that respect. Hey! Here’s a little info from Wikipedia about pesto –

Today, it’s a flavor I don’t honestly see a lot in Taiwanese noodles, that flavor being curry. Barbecue curry sounds interesting too – very curious about this one.

Today, it’s a spicy sesame paste variety. For a long time, I thought anything sesame flavored would be from sesame oil. This most certainly is not the case. Sesame paste is much different – a much different flavor. It’s almost like a peanut flavor. Let’s take a look.

Sometimes it’s hard for me to pick what I want to review. I mean, I have quite a few options sitting next to me in the high security noodle vaults… So I took the box of samples over to my wife and opened it. There are six in all and the tops have different colors but no mention of what they are on top. I asked her to simply pick three. Well, here’s the first one.

A box arrived from Taiwan. These are product samples from Mr. Noodles – a company I met at the Taiwan International Food Show in November 2017. They offered to give me samples then and there, but I had to decline as my luggage was already packed with noodles.

Interview With Mr. Noodle * Product Samples From Mr. Noodle * Mr. Noodle Sichuan Flavor Spicy Hot Noodles * Mr. Noodle Spicy Sesame Paste Noodles * Mr. Noodle Barbecue Sauce Curry Taste Noodle * Mr. Noodle Pesto Sesame Taste Noodles * Mr. Noodle Onions Mushroom Spice Taste Noodle * Mr. Noodle Black Vinegar With Spicy Taste