Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
In general, I don’t review plain noodles. I usually require instant noodles to have a seasoning with them or have seasoning infused into them. Well, I hadn’t told this to CarJEN and they sent lots of them – I figured it only fair to do up a recipe with them! The picture on the front of the package certainly looks like mee goreng, so I figured I’d round some things up and make some for Kit for breakfast today. Let’s check it out!
Instant noodles are usually served cooked, but there are other methods as well. These are ‘snack noodles,’ which are eaten without any cooking straight from the bag. Although not well known in the United Staes, they indeed are very popular around the world – there are multiples brands and varieties spanning Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan to name a few. Today we’ll look at an individual pack (the picture above is a ten pack). Let’s check out these J.J. Snek Mi from CarJEN!
To start things off, I felt it would be great to try this Mi E-Zee Kari. Kari (curry in english) is one of my favorite flavors since I was a kid. My mom used to make curried chicken liver over rice and it was some seriously delectable stuff. Over the years, I’ve experienced a great many kinds of curry: Japanese curry which is usually sweet, Indian curry, Thai curry and my current favorite, Malaysian curry. Let’s see how this Mi E-Zee Kari measures up!
This was sent to me by Anders E. from South Korea – thank you very much! For some time new, eMart’s Dare You! Habanero Ramen has topped The Ramen Rater’s Spiciest Instant Noodle Of All Time lists. There’s a really good reason for this too – it’s violently hot. Heat is measure in SHU – Scoville Heat Units. Here’s what wikipedia has to say about the Scoville test:
I’ve seen Maggi Vegetable Atta noodles in a variety of forms throughout the years. This one’s a little different; usually there are import stickers and other things on them, but this looks to be for export. So, what’s masala? Here’s what wikipedia has to say:
It’s still winter, so I thought something hearty would be a nice touch today. Jjajangmen is a Chinese-South Korean fusion dish. Ramyun noodles and Chajang sauce, rich and thick with black beans. Let’s have a look at this new bowl from Paldo!
One thing that tends to baffle a lot of my readers is my fascination with ‘store brands.’ I often get ‘it nothing special’ and thoughts like that. To me however, any instant noodle I’ve not reviewed before is definitely fair game and believe it or not, store brands tend to be much harder for me to source than any others. The reason for this is that large supermarket chains are mostly regional and don’t distribute their instant noodle varieties to anywhere other than their own stores. This one is particularly special – I got this one on my trip to Malaysia, and got it at the Econsave grocery store in Butterworth, Penang!
Once in a while, I get something a little different – something that contains something I’ve not seen before. This is one of those times. So it was kind of difficult to translate this one – it’s basically salt Butter and Corn flavor, although the translation I ended up with didn’t mention the corn. I decided to go ahead and add corn in the title anyways. Also, I saw lots of translations mention the word circle, although I’m not sure if that was just Google translate being weird.Anyways, this is a big bowl of noodles and I’m very curious to try them. Without any further adieu, let’s open this thing up and look inside!
The last of the batch of different Malaysian noodles sent to me by Annie T. over at MyKuali a while back – thank you again! This sounds good – curry mi goreng. I know that’s it’s curry from the word ‘kari,’ but I can’t figure out the ‘ori’ word. If anyone knows, please impart your fine wisdom! Let’s give these a try!
I must admit that in the past I haven’t been entirely fond of noodles with different colors. Not because I dislike the color (actually I find that fascinating), but because they tend to have an off taste to them and just seem kind of ‘gimmicky.’ It’s been about 300 or so reviews since I tried the Aglio Olio variety of this line. Let’s see how this Soy & Vinegar one goes!
Have you ever taken a clove of garlic and eaten it straight? I would have to say that I’ve done it with a few different varieties. Some types of garlic are extremely hot and spicy, rivaling chilli peppers. They’re no joke and they burn like fire! I had a bite of this tiny little one once – I think it was a Himalayan variant – and it was so freaking hot! Well, I like spicy things and I like garlic, so this one really piques my interest. Let’s check out this Ching’s Secret Hot Garlic and see if we can find out if the secret is hot or not.
On my last trip to the Asian grocery store, I had a though. I thought maybe I ought to toss in some of the varieties I’ve not reviewed in a while that I’ve recommended quite a bit to people since they’re relatively easy to source and quite good. This one’s a perfect example. My first favorite instant growing up was the Japanese Nissin Chickin Ramen. After trying a few varieties, I found Indomie Mi Goreng line and was all about it. When we’d go to Seattle we’d come back with a couple bags full of them, and I don’t think my parents minded too much since it was around 25 cents a pack. I tried many different varieties in the Indomie Mi Goreng line – there are quite a few. I used to go for the Satay flavor mostly, but then found the Barbecue Chicken one to my liking. Then there’s the Rendang which is a really great one, gracing the top ten list a couple times I think. This one today is the original version. If you’ve not tried this stuff, you’ve got to; it’s a real treat and easily modified to taste. There’s five sachets ioncluded- quite a few in an instant noodle pack and I’ll explain them all here. Anyways, let’s bring on the Indomie Mi Goreng!
Still got some duck left from our special anniversary lunch the other day! It’s pretty rare that I have any duck at all! Let’s check out this Perisa Itik (duck flavor) instant noodle from Mamee!
Duck! What’s awesome is that we went out for a special dinner the other day and got some braised duck. Leftovers! i can actually make duck instant noodles accompanied by the duck! Awesome. Let’s do this! I think there’ll be a couple ducky reviews for the next couple of days!
Here’s another one my wife got me during my annual birthday trip to Canada this year – thank, Kit! So this is the Canadian version of Sapporo Ichiban Chow Mein. There are a couple differences between this and the version for sale in the United States packaging wise, but does it taste different? I’m guessing it’s going to be about the same but it could be different. Let’s find out as I tear into the Canadian version of Sapporo Ichiban Chow Mein!
Here’s one my wife got me during my birthday trip to Canada earlier this year! Thanks, Kit! This is a neat one. First, it’s a South Korean brand, but it is definitely for thye Japanese market; everything on the label is in Japanese for the most part, and a curry cup falls in line as well. This line also has a Shoyu cup, another Japanese ramen flavor. As I’m sure all who follow my blog know, I’m a big fan of curry, and so my hopes here are high! Japanese curry is much different from Indian or Malaysian curries; it’s usually not spicy and has a sweetness to it. Let’s see what’s under the hood of this Samyang Curry Noodle!
I believe my wife got me this one for Christmas last year – thanks sweetie! What’s so nice about instant noodles is that they have such a long shelf life, and so they can sit in my noodle hamper for a while before I have to get to them. Anyways, here’s one that sounds good today – Thai Pavilion Pad Thai. This one is made in Thailand but made for the US market. Let’s check it out!
Hungrooo! This is great – a new noodle word! It evokes a thought of a big monster that’s really hungry, or what a stomach might say. It’s fun to say too – Hungrooo! I recently did a Meet The Manufacturer with Maggi Singapore and have reviewed many varieties from Maggi Malaysia as well. Maggi is a brand from Nestle, a Swiss brand and seems to have many instant noodle varieties catering to the local flavors seen around the world. This one’s from India, and since not everyone’s familiar with Indian food, I thought I’d grab a snippet from Wikipedia about masala:
One thing that really surprised me during our trip was seeing that a lot of the fast food chains that are popular here in the United States are also popular in Malaysia. Burgers, fried chicken and even pizza were well represented by popular chain restaurants over there (I will say that there was no sign of the ubiquitous taco chain here). They all had different ways of serving things to fit with the local taste; like spicy fried chicken with rice or seafood pizza. This got me thinking that maybe a fusion of pizza and MyKuali White Curry might work in some way. I thought about it for a while and decided today was the day. We got the ingredients together and The Ramen Rater’s MyKuali White Curry Pizza was born! Check it out!
Okay so first off, I want to thank the person at the company who made the decision to use paper as the material for the outer packaging. One of the big tasks I have for the reviews is to do a lot of editing in Photoshop, mostly removing glare from packaging. Since they’re plastic wraps usually, they pick up the lighting and so angling the packs to get the least glare and reflection is key, but then sometimes it’s just not possible to get rid of all of it. Then I have to scan the packages and there’s always a good amount of glare there. This will be the first review I’ve ever done of Miliket instant noodles, so let’s check therm out!
Today, we say farewell to the Monde Nissin Meet The Manufacturer! It’s been really neat to try all of these different varieties one right after the other – this is the 15th review! I do up to 15 in a row during an MTM. I thought today would definitely be fitting for something hot and spicy. Why you ask?
Rice vvermicelli isknown by many names in the world; bihun, beehoon, bihon – it’s all the same thing! One thing though – these noodles are made with corn starch! But pancit – let’s see what wikipedia has to say:
There are quite a few varieties of these Pancit Canton – and in the past this one’s been my favorite. It’s been quite a while – sounds really good today.
So when I post my reviews on instagram, I use hashtags. I usually try to find ones that are decent, relevant and get the most eyes on the reviews of course, and I then look at the pics others post and like them, in hopes that hey will look and like the ones I have posted or even follow. Pretty basic method of growing a viewer base. Well, I also look at the hashtags that those people use, and I saw an interesting one – #lechon. Wasn’t sure what Lechon was, so I looked at a bunch of people’s pictures and found that it was roast whole pig. I decided to take this to YouTube and have a look. After perusing quite a few, I found this video about how Cebu Lechon is made. I’ve never tried this, but I think I would love to give it a taste someday. Anyways, enjoy and Happy Black Friday!
I have tried a few quick spaghetti in the past – from South Korea, Japan and Indonesia, but never from the Philippines! I had a look to see if there’s a particular way in which spaghetti is enjoyed in the Philippines and as it turns out, I found some recipes that included hot dogs. Interesting! Well, let’s have a look at this unique instant variety = Lucky Me! Curly spaghetti!
Pancit Canton is a Filipino favorite whose roots began in China. It is also very much like Mi Goreng, an Indonesian dish. Basically, noodles and cooked, drained, and then combined with a dry powder and oil and sauce combination to create a tasty broth-free dish. These Lucky Me! Pancit Canton come in a variety of flavors, this being their original flavor. I’ll be reviewing more of these during Meet The Manufacturer as well, since it’s such a prominent product of theirs. Let’s check out Lucky Me! original Pancit Canton.
Macaroni is used in a lot of Filipino cuisine. One I’ve tried in instant form is Sopas, a soup with macaroni in it. The weather here is really quite cold (at least for Washington). It’s gotten down to as low as 26 degrees Fahrenheit the last few nights. This looks like a nice warm stick-to-your-ribsy kind of thing. Let’s check it out!
It’s been a while since I had any Lucky Me! Pancit Canton. This is a re-review of the 40th instant I ever reviewed! That puts it around 2002 or 2003 being the last time I tried this one. Not only that, it’s been about 1,000 reviews since I had any Pancit Canton. So what’s Pencit? Wikipedia has this to say:
This is one by Nissin Singapore. Thomas from MyKuali got me a bunch of instant varieties during our trip to Malaysia – this was during our trip to the Econsave in Chain Ferry, Butterworth. I thought today would be a good day for a really short geography lesson.
Okay, I’m familiar with yakisoba, but what’s Gotsumori sauce all about? After some scouring of the Internet, I didn’t find a whole lot. I found on the manufacturer’s site that the sauce is spicy and also has a sachet of Kewpie karashimayonnaise (kind of a mayo-mustard thing). Anyways, yeah I’m definitely coming up short on this one! Let’s have a look.
Another one sent by a kind reader from Sweden – thank you! I’ve had Yum Yum noodles in the past, but I’ve never seen any instant noodle that was wasabi flavor. I did have a Zaru Soba once that had dipping sauce that had a strong wasabi flavor, but none where wasabi was the only flavor! Yum Yum is a popular brand in northern Europe – I heard recently that people refer to many brands of instant noodles there simply as ‘Yum Yum.’ Wasabi eh? Let’s check it out!
Here’s a brand I’ve been hoping to review for a while but have had a seriously hard time finding. Ching’s Secret is a company from India that produces Chinese inspired foods. This flavor is a little puzzling though – Manchurian? What flavor is that? I consulted Wikipedia and got some information:
A week or so ago, I reviewed Mamee Chef Gold Recipe Mi Kari Seribu Rasa. This however is Mamee Chef Gold Recipe Bihun Kari Seribu Rasa. What’s the difference? Well, ‘mi’ means noodles – as in instant wheat flour noodles. Bihun is the Malaysian term for rice vermicelli. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about bihun:
Here’s another one sent to me by a reader in Sweden – thank you! This is a Swedish brand – Katoz and is manufactured by MAT Kompaniet. Swedish instant noodles are a new thing to me; this is the second review I’ve ever done involving instant noodles from Sweden. One unique thing about Swedish instant noodles – they are really into the metric system. Usually on the instruction for preparation, the amount of water is called for by cups (more Western) or cc (cubic centimeter) or mL (milliliter). Well, in Sweden the go with decaliter, which is 100cc. This one requireds 4 dl of water, or 400cc/400ml. I’ve NEVER seen decaliters used before, and the only reason I knew what was going on was from elementary school. Yes kids, I know it seems ridiculous at the time, but you will use this information later in life – especially when making Swedish instant noodles! But I digress. Let’s check out these Katoz Spicy Chili noodles from Sweden!
Been quite a while since I’ve had some miso ramen, and this will be only my second Sunaoshi review. This one was in my hamper asking to be reviewed today and so I thought why not give it some attention. Ready? Set? Miso.
I figured since I have some cabbage I need to use before it goes bad, yakisoba would be a good call for today. This is one of those interesting ones. The product is from a Hong Kong company called Chewy, made in South Korea, and a Japanese flavor. Yakisoba is great stuff – vegetables and meats fried with noodles and oil and some flavoring. Time to have some breakfast – let’s check out this one from Chewy.
We tried this new grocery store (new to me at least) in Bellevue called Asian Food Center. Thought we’d give it a peek and found they had quite a few neat things. This is one of the noodles I found. I want to send a really big thank you to Bobby Y. up in Canada for help translating this one – mystery solved, thank to you! Now here’s a note on contention between me and the entire country of Taiwan. If you look in the lower right corner, you’ll see a little warning. It reads: This product is not the instant noodles. Please boil the noodles before eating. They can’t be steeped; okay, we got that. What is kind of ridiculous is the fact that they only take 3 minutes to cook. That’s the same amount of time as noodles that can be steeped. Logically, the amount of time needed to cooking something should be relevant to whether it is deemed instant as well, don’t you think? I would call these instant noodles – that require a different cooking method than other instant noodles. But I digress – I don’t think Taiwan is going to get on board with this, and that’s alright with me. I’m thinking next year I might to a split Taiwanese Top Ten list – half the ones that can be steeped and half the ones that can’t, basically a pair of Top Five lists. It seems to really matter to them, and far be it for me to poo-poo any country with such a fervent passion for noodles. Let’s proceed!
It’s kind of hard to tell the size of this little mini Kitsune Udon, so let’s have a look at this.
Today we have a new one from Mamee Chef. Mamee Chef’s products made not only the Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2014 list, but also topped the Top Ten Instant Noodle Cups Of All Time 2014 list. Really exceptional stuff! They have come out with two varieties in this flavor: one with their ‘mi tarik’ noodles (noodles made in a way to emulate hand-pulled noodles) and a version that comes with bihun (pronounced bee-hoon, it’s a very thin rice noodle). Today I’m reviewing the wheat noodle variety.
This is one I got when by friend Matt B. was kind enough to take us on a trip to a place called Imran’s Market up the road a ways from here. It’s kind of interesting; this will be the third Pakistani instant noodle I’ve reviewed and they were all got within about 5 miles from eachother! I think it does make me want to Shoop, although I’m not exactly sure how to shoop… Regardless, let’s have a look – today we’re going to a new Asian grocery in Bellevue, so I might have a new post about that place tomorrow. Stay tuned, and enjoy the Shoop BBQ!
