
Here we have a Shin Ramyun cup – this one was bought in South Korea and brought back to me by Kristen W. or Arizona – thanks! Let’s check it out!
Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002

Here we have a Shin Ramyun cup – this one was bought in South Korea and brought back to me by Kristen W. or Arizona – thanks! Let’s check it out!

You might be thinking, ‘hey – didn’t he already review this?’ Nope – I reviewed the Shin Ramyun Black cup from South Korea. This is the one that is manufactured here in the United States in Rancho Cucamonga, California.So what is this ‘Pot-au-feu’ flavor? I consulted Wikipedia and found this:

Recently, I came up with the ramyun slider. I thought since I’ve got some Shin Black on hand, why not a full-fledged ramyun burger? This recipe came out great and really wasn’t that hard to do.

Got a nice and hefty box in the mail!

Nongshim America sent three of my favorites (they all made the Top Ten USA list) as a thank you for recognizing their products worthy of being in the list! Thanks! Think I’ll attempt a Shin Black Ramyun Burger for Labor Day!

When we got home from the hospital yesterday, I called the apartment office to see if there were any packages – they said there was one. A mailer from Nongshim America – what’s inside?

The instant noodle originated in 1958 in Japan, but since that time, they’ve expanded in popularity all over the world, including of course, the United States. Seeing this, instant noodle companies thought it wise to start building plants here in the 1970s. Since then, many brands operate factories here in the US, mostly in southern California. This is a list of my favorite varieties produced here, encompassing my over 1,100 reviews to date. With that, here’s your top ten, America!

Here’s one that I’ve waiting to review for a while. This is a variety specifically marketed for the summer months – cold South Korean noodles! Thought I’d consult Wikipedia to give some more information on South Korean cold noodle dishes:

After more than a year of pondering and reviewing since the last list, here’s the new top ten instant noodle bowls. This encompasses all instant noodle bowls reviewed up to today, June 15th, 2013. With no further adieu, the top ten instant noodle bowls of all time, 2013 edition.

Another from my trip to Canada for my birthday. Wow – what a past two days here! The Top Ten 2013 list came out to a clamor of Taiwanese disapproval – Taiwan didn’t make the list. But, hopefully out of it all I’ll get contacted by one of the companies in Taiwan, but so far nothing. On to other things though – that being this interesting bowl by Nongshim. This one’s made in Shanghai, China. Let’s check it out.

Another one I got while in Canada for my birthday. I’m sure many folks will immediately ask ‘where did you get this’ and ‘where can I get it,’ and I’ll just say I’ve only seen this in Canada. See, they get stuff in the Vancouver area from not only the Nongshim plant here in the states but the one in Shanghai, China. Got a couple more coming down the pipe of reviews soon that hail from China. Let’s check this out!

Got a call from the office at my apartment complex about a package…

Awesome! So Nongshim America had a contest around Easter on their Facebook Page and I was one of the winners!

The FedEx guy knocked on my window the other day with a package!

Holy cow – a flat of Neoguri and a flat of Chapagetti! I did a review of Chapaguri a couple weeks ago and to say thanks, they made sure I can make it whenever I like! Thanks!

I’ve heard of recipes people make where they combine two different types of instant noodles to make something new. Well, here’s one from South Korea that is very popular right now! Chapaguri! 짜파구리 !

Hey look at that! The new Shin Ramyun Black cup! Been wanting to review it since I first saw it. I reviewed the other Shin Ramyun Black cup (which was onion flavored) a while back and really enjoyed it immensely. This one’s being promoted by PSY! Yep – Mr. Gangnam Style himself. Let’s check it out…

The FedEx guy apologized for the box getting a beating…

Its contents however were resilient!

I’ve been wanting to re-review this one for a while, and so here we are. Potato noodles! Chewy! Let’s check it out.

Kristen W. of Arizona sent me some noodles she got while she was in South Korea!

This is a great little collection of South Korean varieties you can’t easily find here! Ottogi Cheese Ramyun and Spaghetti bowls – been wanting to try them for a while! The two above are Paldo Korea varieties – I think Rabokki and Jjajang. The Nongshim Shin Cup in the lower right is the South Korean version. Thank, Kristen! Soon as they’re made, some The Ramen Rater stickers will be coming your way!

I reviewed the original version (non-microwavable) quite a while back and really liked it – it even made the Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls list. Today I’m going to check out the new version.
First, I’d like to say that tomorrow, a new Meet The Manufacturer will kick off! Sakurai Foods of Japan has been kind enough to send samples and do a quick little interview! It promises to be quite interesting!

My Aunt and her daughter went to an Asian store in San Francisco and picked up some noodles for me! Here’s one of them. Been wanting to re-review therm for a while! Thanks!!!

I got a couple of these family packs sent as samples from Nongshim America the other day…


Hey – a package from Nongshim America – but what’s inside?

This just came out for sale in the USA and I can’t wait to try it! If it’s the same as what they make in Korea (see review), then it’s some serious 5.0/5.0 star stuff. Made for sale here in California! Awesome! Thanks to Ray A. and Hanna C. over at NSA! Might do this review later today!
I am in charge of throwing the turkey in the oven this year at noon. I figured breakfast shouldn’t have anything turkey like involved and pardon the turkey at least ramen-wise for a day. Then Black Friday will be a day that the turkeys will cower – planning on using turkey in some ramen meals for the next week or so – should be awesome! But for now, here’s something I decided to make for breakfast. By the way, here’s what I did for 2011’s Thanksgiving.

You’re probably wonder ‘gee, he sure reviews that Jinjja Jinjja quite a lot – what gives?’ Well, they sent me a lot of it and since I really like it, I want to enjoy it before it expires. Well, actually it expired in September, but I’m just about out of it. Here’s the last full review of it.

Here’s the last of the new Nongshim cups – looks like a good one too!

Here’s a close-up of the lid.
Lunch (click to enlarge)!!!So I decided to have some of the Nongshim Jinjja Jinjja that they sent me a while back for lunch. I’ve reviewed it before – here’s the link. I added a slice of cheese, Crystal hot sauce, some Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake, an egg that I boiled with the noodles, some new odeng and onions. Oh – and of course kimchi! This is the first instant noodle that I devoured with the help of chopsticks! Yep – The Ramen Rater is going to be a chopstick eater! Funny; I wasn’t able to use them very well before but I tried them with kimbap, then some yakisoba I had at a restaurant and finally today and I’m stoked! Woot woot!

If you look at review #911, #912 and now #913, I think you can see a theme here. Yeah – shrimp! I don’t usually have any shrimp on hand so I thought I should take advantage of it. This is a new one from Nongshim – spicy shrimp. Let’s check it out!

Unless you’ve been hiding under a proverbial rock for the last couple of months, you have heard the song ‘Gangnam Style‘ by South Korean pop star PSY at one time or another, seen the horse dance, etc. Well, After he sent Nongshim a video asking if he could do a commercial for them, they said yes.

Here’s something new – Neoguri Spicy in a cup! Kind of interesting; Neoguri usually has a wider Udon-like noodle and I don’t know that I’ve seen anything like that in a cup form before. Well, let’s have a look.

10/17/2012
I saw a video recently about PSY being a huge fan of Korean instant ramyun – Nongshim’s Shin Ramyun in particular. He sent a video showing him eating their noodles with a definite excitement and pride. He wants to be the next representative of their products! I got to say, this was really was cool to see. I feel a definite kinship with PSY on this matter – instant ramyun is amazing stuff!

Been a while, but here we go with the 20th edition of The Ramen Rater Noodle News!
I search the ‘net for interesting news and view on instant noodles and beyond. Oldest articles start at the top. Here you go!
Decided to do up a video of the nice Golden Pot that was sent to me by Mr. Shin, President of Nongshim Holdings – very kind thank you! Thought it fitting to try it out with some Shin Ramyun Black. Check out the video!

Realized I haven’t reviewed the new version of the Shin Bowl. A lot of people have asked if I noted any difference from the old version (non-microwaveable) and the new one. Well, I guess we shall see!

Here it is! This is the Chapagetti Bowl Noodle from Nongshim America. Pretty cool – got to sample this during my trip to Nongshim
America in May – even got to see them made. Let’s have a look at this new product!

Today I got a big box in the mail from Nongshim America! Wonder what’s inside…

Bowl Noodles! But wait – Chapagetti in a bowl? Yep! This is one of the things I got to try while at Nongshim America in May. Not only did I get to try these new bowl products in their R&D department but was able to watch them being made – from raw ingredients to wrapped bowl all in an efficient straight line. Twas amazing! I’ll be reviewing these very soon! Keep your eyes peeled! Thanks go to Mr. Ray Adams and everyone else at Nongshim America for sending these along!
Click image to enlarge. Not a new review today – here’s the last full review of Nongshim’s Jinjja Jinjja. Today I thought I’d add some peanut butter, a could slices of processed cheese, some oven baked chicken, an egg and some veggies. Was really good. Hope everyone’s having a good Saturday! [AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”B00DSXERRI”]

Well, time for another try with cold noodles! Been really enjoying them recently – curious how these will fare – look pretty fancy!

Thanks to Moon Hee Wi of the JoongAng Ilbo for sending me these! She wrote this article about me. So I’ve reviewed the Chapagetti that’s available here in the US, but this is the Korean version so it gets its own review. I’ve always done this and now I’ve got more reason to. I was talking to a manufacturer of instant noodles from Korea and they said that they use chicken in their instant noodles. The only problem is that the Food & Drug Administration doesn’t like Korean chicken for some reason. So they have to import chicken from a big poultry supplier in the USA into Korea, process it and package their product and then ship it back to the US for the blessing of the FDA. Not sure if that’s the case here, but regardless, it’s interesting to think that this kind of this has to happen to bring instant noodles to us from abroad.

It’s been a couple months since our trip to Nongshim in Rancho Cucamonga, California. I was sent a very nice gift from the president of Nongshim America to thank us for visiting and for our reviews! Thank you! This is a golden pot, a very standard cooking item in Korea used to make ramyun!

Good news and bad news. Bad news: no reviews for about a week (we’re going on vacation). The good news: I will leave you with the first ever bacon monstrosity!