Category: * News / Noodle News

UPDATE #3: The Ramen Rater Humbly Asks For Your Help

UPDATE 2/8/2024 – It’s pretty daunting. The end is in sight though. Currently, just paid for the security package for the blog – $200. It’s a lot but after being hacked a couple years ago, that’s one thing that can’t go unpaid or delayed. $2 to my name. They just started charging for my wife’s meds out of the blue – sounds like a new year thing. So we’re both in the crapper as it were. Tax return should be alright but about a month til we’ll see that we reckon. Want to thank everyone who has helped so much – without your kindness, we’d be is an even worse spot than we are, although pretty grim currently. Hopefully the next update will be much better, but for now if you can send something it would be appreciated. Been broke since October. Tough thing to get used to. ...see full post

Meet ‘The Ramen Conqueror!’

A friend of mine shared a link with a great article today about a guy who I haven’t heard from in a while. Ramen Conqueror Piki! He saw what I was doing and decided he needed to do the same over in South Korea! Below is an interview I did with him in 2017 – he was kind enough to include pictures of me and my family in the book . This is from six years ago. Hope he’s doing well! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten South Korean Instant Noodles Of All Time 2024 Edition

The Ramen Rater's Top Ten South Korean Instant Noodles Of All Time 2024 Edition

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! ...see full post

The Wonderful Easy Ramen Grilled Cheese!

I went out walking yesterday morning and it was cold – like 17 degrees cold. That’s -7 to those blessed with the mtric system. Anyways, wind chill dropped it to 8 and it was cold – bitter cold. While out walking, I had a thought – it would be fun to make something weird in the kitchen after I did my regular reviews for the day. So, that’s what I did and here it is. ...see full post

The Frango Chocolate Review

If you live in the Seattle area (and parts beyond), you have probably heard of Frango chocolates. Originally, they were at Frederick & Nelson – a big department store. They were acquired by Macy’s who kept these things going. They’re a pretty standard fixture of Christmas around here. This video shows a pretty in depth review of all the flavors. I don’t knwo if they have added more since this, but if so, we ought to do them – let us know if so. Anyways,, Merry Christmas – here’s the big one! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2024 Edition

The Ramen Rater's Top Ten Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2024 Edition

As far as content people are looking for on www.theramenrater.com, the most popular is this list and all things hot and spicy. Apparently, you like it hot and this is the annual big heat of everything year. Well, these are the spiciest out of 4,650 reviews. I should mention there are some special announcements below, including a fundraiser I hope you can help out with. With that, let’s commence with The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2024 Edition! ...see full post

UPDATE: The Ramen Rater Humbly Asks For Your Help

UPDATE 12/8/2023 – I want to personally thank every single one of your for your donations – it’s really been kind and immensely helpful to my family. We could still really use your help, though. If you can, we would really apreciate it. Again, thank you so much for helping with donations!

I’ve been reviewing instant noodles since 2002, doing episodes of Instant Noodle Recipe Time, The Chocolate Break with my wife, Professional Mukbang, Unboxing Time With The Ramen Rater and more. Right now, we’re in a pretty crummy financial situation and hoping that some of the fans will be able to help out. I really loathe asking like this. I’ve set up a GoFundMe. It really is strange – you hear about statistics like ‘this percentage are one paycheck away from financial ruin.’ I love going to the thrift store and finding some trinket on the cheap. Right now, that’s a luxury I can’t even fathom, really. What’s crummy too is the time of the year that this is happening. Holidays plus my daughter’s birthday is a week before Christmas. Ugh. Here’s the link if you can help out. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time 2024 Edition

If there’s one thing that’s a certainty, companies from Taiwan tend to send me product samples more often than from any other country. They’re constantly innovating and refining, coming out with neat new things. Taiwan is a great place I’ve had the luck to visit twice. On one visit, I went to a large store and they had two aisles of just instant noodles that I really wish I would have taken pictures of. Now, what you’ll see on this list is mainly Taiwanese dry noodle. An ‘instant’ noodle is one that you can simply cover in boiling water for a short time and they spring to life. These require cooking. I hope to hear from Taiwanese instant noodle companies in the coming year; this is an invitation to you! It would be really nice to release a list of instant noodles alongside a list of dry noodles. This list is comprised of reviews of Taiwanese noodles up to #4650. Please check at the bottom for some special messages as well. With that, I hope you enjoy The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time 2024 Edition! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater Humbly Asks For Your Help

I’ve been reviewing instant noodles since 2002, doing episodes of Instant Noodle Recipe Time, The Chocolate Break with my wife, Professional Mukbang, Unboxing Time With The Ramen Rater and more. Right now, we’re in a pretty crummy financial situation and hoping that some of the fans will be able to help out. I really loathe asking like this. I’ve set up a GoFundMe. It really is strange – you hear about statistics like ‘this percentage are one paycheck away from financial ruin.’ I love going to the thrift store and finding some trinket on the cheap. Right now, that’s a luxury I can’t even fathom, really. What’s crummy too is the time of the year that this is happening. Holidays plus my daughter’s birthday is a week before Christmas. Ugh. Here’s the link if you can help out. ...see full post

Ultimate Air Fryer Ramen Recipe – Instant Noodle Recipe Time EXTRA

Ultimate Air Fryer Ramen Recipe - Instant Noodle Recipe Time EXTRA

Perhaps there’s something to the term ‘third time’s the charm.’ After a couple fact-finding missions seeing what happens when cooked ramen is placed in an air fryer, we arrive at this one, and it turned out pretty well. Of course, some will immediately have a bit of a fit concerning this. ‘Why are you doing this?’ Why not? I know, it’s outside of your comfort zone which makes me want to do it more. Second, despite the promises made in the past of winning so much I’d be sick of winning, I decided not to rely on those making these promises and just work on the winning myself. ...see full post

Exclusive: Top Ramen Instant Noodles In An Air Fryer

Recently, my wife and I inherited an air fryer. We’re pretty late to the ‘revolution’ of a tabletop convection oven on steroids that can make crispy french fries and chicken nuggets like nothing else. But of course, you probably guessed instant noodles wouldn’t be far behind. This is my first attempt, but most certainly not my last. I didn’t do any research – I decided to just wing it after making a few things over the past two days. Let’s see what happened! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Bottom Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2023 Edition

The Ramen Rater's Bottom Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2023 Edition

Quite a few years ago, July 8th, 2013 to be precise, I came out with my first The Ramen Rater’s Bottom Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time. I got the idea from a guy who worked at one of the world’s leading instant noodle companies. He asked ‘you have top tens, why not a bottom ten?’ I weighed the idea carefully. I could really piss off a great deal of people with my list. But what the hell – I do that already with my top tens – people are always disagreeing, and that’s fine. Ten years later, it’s time for my tenth installment of The Ramen Rater’s Bottom Ten Instant Noodles list. These are the worst (in my personal opinion) varieties I’ve ever had – mind you this is out of 4,400 reviews. Definitely not a list anyone wants to be on. What companies like I’m sure is when a product falls off the list and a new one gains my ire. This time it’s a horror show theme, done up with AI. Well, let’s check them all out – and remember, if you like some of these, that’s fine with me – just don’t expect me to eat them with you. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Global Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls 2023 Edition

The Ramen Rater's Global Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls 2023 Edition

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! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater Diet: How I Lost 56lbs in 92 days

I’m sure you’re a little confused, so here goes. I was told by my doctor back in 2018 that I needed to lose weight – I was at 364lbs and looking at pre-diabetes and going on a statin drug as well. So, I got a stroller and started pushing my daughter around a lot and limited intake. In six month, I’d lost around 60 pounds. I ended up down to 200 pounds in the next year which was pretty good. Well, In 2021 my mom died and early the next year I got COVID and ended up in the ICU. I gained 88 pounds back – definitely not what was on the menu but it happened. In early March, I saw my doc and he said I was back at 288lbs and said to lose weight again. I modified the diet I had done back in 2018. The next visit was in June and I’d lost 56 pounds which is an average of 0.6 pounds per day for 92 days. ...see full post