Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
I’ve had a lot of Taiwanese dry noodles in my day, but never any hailing from Hong Kong as far as I can remember. Maybe, but I don’t think so. These noodles are without a broth – they’re from simple ingredients, too. You boil, drain, add in some ingredients, stir and eat. These are also considered mix noodles. Let’s mix it up and see what we get!
Okay, I know what rice vermicelli is, but I’m unsure about Xiao Qiao. Let’s ask Wikipedia –
I thought it would be a good plan to look up Jiangnan cuisine in order to impart a little more info about this variety aside from the XO Sauce reference – if you’re interested in that, look at yesterday’s review – but I found that Shanghai is in Jiangnan and got a list of notable seafood dishes from there you might find interesting and truly wonderful from Wikipedia –
Here’s the third of three new single pack offerings from Hakubaku. Miso is a style of broth is either love or hate. I have a feeling this one isn’t going to fall into the latter category. I’ve been trying a lot of instants for a long time and really hoping this one fits the ‘approval’ bill. Let’s find out!
A few days back I tried this one in cup form. Today, it’s the pack. Berapi translates to ‘fiery,’ and where the cup version is concerned, that’s an apt description. Let’s check the pack version out.
This one came out of a Zenpop subscription box. Zenpop has great boxes featuring different themes every month with 7 different instant ramen varieties from Japan. Use the coupon code RAMENRATER for a discount!
Here’s yet another one sent by James from Lakeside, California – thanks! Man, I’m beat – woke up at 12:30am. I have one night every once in a while that I end up starting my day exceedingly early. I know I’ll sleep really well tonight. It’s funny too as I’ll be hanging out with the kids in the morning and nod off. They run up to me and yell ‘Papa! Wake up! Wake up!’ I think that’s going to be going on this morning… Luckily, my kids are cute and awesome… Today my plan is to go get a ton of steps in. Starting at 3:30am. Let’s get this done.
First things first – thanks to James of Lakeside, CA for sending this one! Alright, so no, this is not produced in the United States, but it’s definitely produced for the United States. It sounds interesting, honestly – miso rice noodles. I don’t know that I’ve seen miso rice noodles before however I could be wrong. Let’s see what we have.
Check this one out! You ready for a spicy snack? These are snack noodles. You eat them dry without soup – kind of like potato chips.
Ah – it’s curry day. I love curry in every way, shape, and form. Curry noodles, curry chicken, curried lamb, curry kimchi… Yeah curry everything. This is a spicy curry – let’s give it a go!
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
I’ll be honest – I really don’t know for sure where this one came from. I’m going to guess Uwajimaya but I could be totally wrong on that. Either way, noodles, yakisoba sauce – usually something good comes of this combination! Let’s find out.
Here’s another fancy one from Mom’s Dry Noodle! Now, many of you probably haven’t tried anything with blood in it. Let me reassure you that I have and there are some really great foods that do contain it from many places. Malaysian White Curry often contains coagulated duck blood, while in Taiwan I’ve tried pork blood rice cake which was absolutely wonderful stuff. I know it’s popular in a Vietnamese soup as well.
First off, yes – this is produced in Japan, however this product is packaged for distribution in the United States.
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
This is the next to last one of these I’ve got. They’re been fun to be honest! Freaky dude freaking out on the packaging – that’s fun. But what I enjoy is trying new varieties, especially from China. Let’s give this one a go!
A big thank you to Daniel from exoticnoods.com – her recently traveled to Taiwan and brough me back a trove of neat varieties and this is one of them!This is the second I’ve tried from this company. The last one was a delightful salted egg. Now it’s spaghetti. Let’s do this.
This one comes from Zenpop.jp – a subscription box service. If you want to check out their boxes and get one, use coupon code RAMENRATER for a discount.
Here’s another one from James of Lakeside, California – thanks again! Sounds interesting – let’s give it a go!
Here’s one from an Umai Crate subscription box! Go to https://bit.ly/UmaiCrate and use the coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount.
Here’s another one I got at the Osaka Supermarket up in Richmond BC at the Yaohan Centre. These style cups have been a lot of fun and I’ve got three more! I think I’m going to do them all in a row.
Here’s a fancy one from Japan found in a Zenpop box – check out zenpop.jp and use the coupon code RAMENRATER for a discount!
Continuing the cavalcade of Chinese varieties lately, here’s a neat one. These cups so far have been a real treat. Hot and sour sounds like it could be really good – or a deluge of Sichuan peppercorn which might not be so great for me personally. But I’ve got high hopes. I think the number six on this one refers to the tons of sachets in there – it’s pretty ridiculous as you’ll see below.
I got this one up in Canada just like the one yesterday. I’ve seen a lot of these ice cream pint style noodle cups lately from China… I like them they’re pretty neat. Unsure who Mr. Meng is, but I found it at the Osaka Market in Yaohan Centre up in Richmond, BC. Now, let’s give it a go.
Here’s a fancy one from Japan found in a Zenpop box – check out zenpop.jp and use the coupon code RAMENRATER for a discount!
Little Couples sent me two varieties – an Onion one that was about as good as can be, and this one which I’m curious about. This one won’t be noodles with sesame oil. Instead, in Taiwan sesame is more of a sesame paste with peanut notes and soy sauce which pulls it all together. My wife found this out in the early years of my reviewing one time when we got some sesame noodles and she was very excited, but when she tasted peanut she was really quite unhappy. She is not a fan of peanut butter, and that’s what it reminded her of.
Looks like this is a local version (I do’t know that there is export ones) of Paldo’s Jjol Bibim Men. After a little researxh, it looks lik the difference between this as their Bibim Men are the noodles are chewier in this one. Let’s give it a try!
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Last night, we had to do a Walmart Neighborhood Market run. It’s basically just a grocery store Walmart – kind of nice – wide aisles, lots of stuff… Anyways, I always look in the noodle aisle. There are two areas actually; domestic and ‘ethnic.’ Well, this was in the ethnic category. What is very interesting is that this is made in California. What’s kind of funny is how it says ‘#1 Ramen Noodle Soup In Hong Kong.’ This version is much different. The Hong Kong version includes fishcake with the little delivery guy’s face on it. Also, the bowls are more like the king cups – much taller.
First off, let me say that I did a mukbang with this one an it’s at the bottom. Definitely the spiciest one I’ve done in quite some time.
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off!
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off!
KOKA released 3 varieties in this range and this is the second of the three I’m reviewing today. Duck is a bit of a mystery to me. I love duck and I feel that it is the most neglected meat in Western cuisine. In Asia I’ve had duck on every visit – it’s everywhere and it’s such wonderful, tasty meat.
Here’s another one from James of Lakeside, CA – thanks again! This is an interesting one – a rice noodle tantanmen from Japan. The packaging certainly is neat looking, and it’s gota brand I’ve not heard of which is always something I like. New is goo, although from what I see this brand has been around for some time. Let’s take a look.
Here’s one from Menraku – these are indeed made in Japan, but definitely for the US market. This was sent by James, a reader from Lakeside, CA. I’ve reviewed a slew of Menraku varieties in the past, but recently seen a few new varieties and have been rather impressed. Let’s check this one out.
Right now it’s about 3 weeks until Lunar New Year aka CNY. This is another neat variety found at 99 Ranch Market. They’ve got lots of treats and specialty items to celebrate the holiday and to be honest, this is one of my favorite times of year. This will post probably 3 months afterwards though. Special thanks to Annie T. for help in translation! Let’s check it out!
Here’s one from the trove of varieties sent by James from California – thanks again! I swear I had tried this but nope – never had. Let’s check it out!
We didn’t stay up to ring in the new year. Sad I know. Must be getting old. We did however head up to Canada on new year’s day. Found this while up there! Let’s give it a try!
Here we are, yet again. It’s hard – I really like the packaging at least. I’ve tried two of these Taihodien varieties and hoping this will be one I like. Thus far, they’ve been just to violently filled with Sichuan pepper. Just mean stuff! Hopefully for them the third time is the charm. Let’s give ’em a go.
