Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
During this week, we’ve been reviewing different types of yakisoba – but what is Futomen yakisoba? Futomen is a variety with a slight wider gauge noodle than the regular soba noodle. Also I am told that the flavoring is a little spicier. Let’s check it out!
We;ve had some nice sunny days already this spring here in Washington. Had a day that got close to 80 degrees! Was really nice. The review today is on a noodle dish that is served cold. Cold noodles are enjoyed throughout Asia, but it’s really something that isn’t commonly seen in the United States. Let’s have a look at this unique variety.
Hey it’s curry time! Japanese curry is much different from other curries around the world. Often with a sweet and less spicy hit, it’s really excellent stuff to behold and taste. I’m really curious about this one – let’s dig in!
This was a welcome surprise – shio yakisoba! Shio is a popular variety of ramen, but I’ve never heard of it as a version of yakisoba before. Shio translates to salt in English, but that doesn’t mean that it”s just flavored with salt. Wikipedia has this to say about Shio ramen:
I’ve always liked yakisoba. It’s a brothless soba noodle that’s fried in a skillet with some meat, veggies, and a nice Worcestershire sauce flavor. It’s great stuff! I’ve always been curious though, how Worcestershire sauce made it into Japanese culinary culture. I dug around and found this on Wikipedia:
On the menu today is something I’ve been very curious to try – yaki-udon! As you might surmise, the yaki prefix means fried. Yakisoba are fried soba noodles, and so yaki-udon are fried udon noodles; simple! Anyways, it sounds really interesting – let’s have a look at this one.
Thought a neat one to start with would be this. It’s kind of like a twist on yakisoba and spaghetti and sounded really neat. Let’s have a look!
Here’s one that came to me by way of Abbie C. of Hong Kong – thanks! Spicy garlic – that sure sounds good! This pack hold four little blocks. The blocks have the flavoring infused into the noodles! Let’s check it out!
Here’s a Canadian variety. I’m familiar with Campbell’s – they make really nice canned soups I would add to copious amounts of saltine crackers when I was a kid. I mean copious! Let’s see how this little cup fares.
Here’s a neat one! These little square pieces of rice curl up like ziti when they are cooked! Usually served with pig offal or duck, but I have neither so I opted for chicken. This is only the second time I’ve sampled these, thanks to the package my friend from Indonesia sent me a while back – thanks! Let’s check it out!
Last year, Taiwanese were unhappy that they didn’t make it on The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2013 Edition, and this year they’re pretty annoyed that they didn’t this year as well. I thought today I ought to review something from Taiwan to at least make them a little happy. I was lucky in that A-Sha was kind enough to get me a neat box set of these and a spicy variety a while back. Instant noodles are kind of like a fine wine to me; you gotta open em at just the right time, and I think today’s the right time for some Taiwanese Hello Kitty noodles! Let’s check em out!
Nissin has factories all over the world – even one in Germany! This is one of the varieties manufactured there. Soba is a type of noodles. Yakisoba is that noodle being fried (there’s yakiudon as well). These cups are really neat – let’s pop it open and look inside!
Last June, I’d never heard of Penang, nor really had tried many varieties of Malaysian instant noodles for that matter. I had no clue what to expect and was absolutely elated with this one – my core interest in reviewing instant noodles is that I want to try new things every day. This was definitely something new to me. Let’s look inside the package and see why it’s on the 2014 top ten list!
There’s a reason there are three Prima Taste products are on the top ten list – they’re amazing. Two big sachets with serious ingredients and noodles that are so nice and tasty. I’ve really enjoyed the products they’ve made and hope they make lots of more noodle varieties in the future! Let’s give this one an up close and personal look.
When I first had curry it was when I was a kid. My mom would make curried chicken liver over rice and it was really good. Yep – liver. I really liked some things I don’t think my 8 year old son would touch with a ten foot pole! My mom would use curry powder and it came out really good. Since then, I’ve relished on many, many different curries. I think my favorites by far have been in paste form; there’s such variety and strong flavors that are involved – a true playground for the senses. Let’s have a look and see why this one made the last two top ten lists.
Today’s the last of the Mamee Double-Decker Meet The Manufacturer. It’s been really neat trying all these varieties – not a single re-review – really shows how few of their products I’d tried previusly. Today I thought I’d go with one of my favorite all time flavors in the world – curry. There are so many different takes on curry in the world – Malaysian, Singaporean, Japanese, South Korean, Indian and British to name a few. Let’s check this one out as we bid a fond farewell to this 15 day journey through some of Mamee’s products.
Mamee Monster is a snack noodle. Snack noodles are instant noodles that aren’t cooked, but rather crushed into snack bits and enjoyed as a crunchy snack. I’d always wanted to review them and I got my first chance to try them a few days back when I reviewed the chicken flavor variety. First I’ll show your this, the ten pack and then the individual pack. Let’s check this one out!
The other day, I reviewed the pack version of this one and found it to be absolutely excellent. Today, I’m going to try the cup. I’m glad I had two different versions as I found something on Mamee’s page that I was really excited about.
This is the second of the two Mie Goreng Indonesia cup varieties Mamee Double-Decker sent me for Meet The Manufacturer. The first one was really good! This one sounds good too. Sambal is spicy stuff! I like spicy. Today before I do the review, I’m going to trek up to our local Indonesian grocery Waroeng Jajanan. They clued me in about a couple of great additions to mie goreng – Kerapuk Aci and BonCabe! Kerapuk Aci is a big round Indonesian cracker made with tapioca and other ingredients. It’s crunchy and goes really well with mie goreng when I’ve made it in the past. BonCabe is a spicy chilli seasoning – bits of chilli powder, flake, some salt and crunchy bits as well as other spices are in it and it’s great stuff! Off I go to the Indonesian grocery to find some additions…
Mamee makes two extra spicy curry varieties – this one and one called Xtra Pedas which I reviewed a short while back. Of the two, this Berapi is not as spicy, but looks like it’s pack a punch! Curry sounds good – let’s dig in!
The 2013 top ten list I did was highlighted by two flavors at the very top: laksa and curry. Here we find both together! This is one of Mamee’s new Mamee Chef line of premium instant noodles. They use a technology that emulates ‘la mian,’ or hand-pulled noodles. I went to the store yesterday to see if I could find some nice acompaniments for this special pack – let’s check out how laksa and curry play together!
Mie goreng is one of my favorites – – noodles with a sweet, salty and spicy flavor. To be honest, it was mie goreng that really got me fanatical about instant noodles many years ago. Let’s have a look at this Malaysian take on an Indonesian standard.
I thought today I would try this interesting variety. A lot of people are very health conscious these days and are looking for something that is also ‘Earth friendly.’ Well, here’s an option. This is a new brand I’ve never heard of before. There’s really no information about them online and their packaging has no information about where it’s made, nor a website to check out their company. Hmmm… Well, let’s have a look at this one – I’m really curious!
Today’s the last day of this awesome Meet The Manufacturer, and I wanted to save the one I found most curious for the end. I’ve NEVER seen anything like this before. These noodles are dark – almost black! They’re made from Lotus Foods’ Forbidden Rice – something I’ve enjoyed for a long time. Forbidden Rice was originally served to Chinese emperors – who resided in the Forbidden City.
Here’s the second of three varieties of this new ‘Rice Ramen.’ This one is a bit different than the last as it boasts a red miso and uses millet and brown aspects for its noodle. What’s really great about these new products is that they’re Vegan friendly and gluten free – lots of people have asked me about gluten and vegetarian instants and I’m thinking these might be a nice one for those folks to try. Let’s check this one out!
The first of these three new Lotus Foods Rice Ramen varieties I’ll be reviewing is the Jade Pearl Rice Ramen. I thought I’d look on their site to see what they had to say about the main ingredient, the Jade Pearl rice. Here’s what they had to say about it:
I’ve been trying lots of new varieties from Malaysia lately. Malaysian varieties have a lot of interesting tastes and flavors. I find it fascinating that there are so many countries in the world using so many different ingredients in a multitude of ways. Let’s check out this curry.
Here’s a brand I’ve never tried before. Got it up in Canada last year in July. I’m pretty excited – Friday’s my birthday and we’re headed up to Canada on Saturday to do some noodle hunting! I’ve had quite a few Pad Thai ‘make at home’ dishes before – some that were pretty good and some that tasted absolutely nothing like Pad Thai. Curious how this one will pan out – let’s have a look!
I’m sure you’re gonna say it – this looks familiar. Well, it’s part of a really neat coincidence that happened recently. I reviewed this one by Takamori Kosan of Japan the other day. Well, it was actually made by Sakura Noodle in Los angeles, California for the US market under their name! This one here is also made by Sakura Noodle but under the Shirakiku name. Are they different? Yep! If you look at the ingredients and nutrition facts on eacvh, there are some subtle differences. What’s interesting is that I contacted Takamori Kosan about doing a Meet The Manufacturer with them and they seem quite receptive, so keep an eye out for it coming soon! A day or so later, I was contacted by Sakura Noodle. I looked at their website and noticed this chow mein and asked if perhaps Takamori Kosan had contacted them, but they hadn’t – neat coincidence!
Today is a good day for spicy noodles. I just did my big walk of the day – something I’ve not been able to do for a week or so – it’s been raining alot here just north of Seattle. A lot. In fact, there was a weather alert for landslides due to so much rain… Sheesh. Walk was good and now I’ve got the pre-season baseball audio going – Giants vs Royals today. I’m a Giants fan – my wife converted me from being a Mariners fan when we got together as she used to play softball and got quite a few trophies. The first year I started following the Giants was 2010, and lo and behold, they won the world Series! Then again in 2012. I think as long as we win the even years, we’re good to go. Anyways, spicy udon sounds really good today and I think I know just what to add to it – Fresno chilli peppers! They’re playing the game today in Scottsdale, AZ, and a lot of their minor league players get a chance to get a chance to be in the roster. Many of them are from the Fresno, CA AAA team. Let’s check these noodles out!
Here’s some more noodles I picked up last July in Canada. It’s been a while now, so I’ll tell you the story of the July trip. I saw a blog post from a guy up in Vancouver, BC who was talking about my top ten list. He had a really neat little graphic icon that looked cool, so I tried to figure out where it was from. Finally, he was the one who let me in on it. It was a graphic someone had made of my top ten list! I was curious to find out where it had come from…
This one was sent by the folks at A-Sha – thank you very much! I’m always on the lookout for Hello Kitty instant noodles. Why? Well, my wife really likes Hello Kitty. They wanted me to be sure to let people klnow that these cannot be found for sale in the United States – sorry folks – gotta pack your bags and fly to Taiwan! This one’s spicy – which seems a little funny to me. I would think anything Hello Kitty would be very light in flavor and tame for the kids. I think the kids over in Taiwan can handle their spicy stuff! That’s rad! Let’s check it out!
Here’s another one sent to me by Annie T. over at MyKuali – thanks again! As I’ve said before, I love curry. There are so many different curries out there – sweet, spicy, slightly bland. Pastes, powders, sauces… It’s pretty enjoyable! I’ve been really enjoying reviewing curries from this region – Malaysia and Singapore – wonderful places that make some awesome curry instants! This one purports to be ‘xtra pedas’ which translates to extra hot. Let’s see if this stuff is really spicy or not.
A co-worker named Joan at my wife’s work recently went to Hawaii and went out of her way to find something I hadn’t tried yet! She looked through the Big List and lo and behold, I hadn’t tried this chow mein! Thank you very much! These are fresh noodles, usually found in the cold section. They’re also a broth free variety. You might be more familiar with them as yakisoba, a noodle dish that can be found at little teriyaki joints all over. Let’s give this a try!
In Taiwan, there is a huge market for snack noodles, among them Little Prince. You don’t cook them; they’re seasoned and crunchy and in little snack baggies. Here’s a great example of them – you get a big bag with 20 little bags inside. Noodles oodles! They come in a range of flavors – original, seaweed, kimchi and bacon. Yes, bacon! Here’s a link to my review of the bacon variety. Let’s delve into this snack insanity from Taiwan! Noodles oodles from Little Prince!
Ottogi sent me a box of noodle samples a while back in hopes of doing a Meet The Manufacturer series. Unfortunately, timing and language barriers made that hard to come to fruition, so I figured I ought to review some of the varieties they’ve sent over time. This one’s Japchae – a traditional South Korean dish of clear noodles, vegetables and meats. Good stuff, at least what I’ve tried in a restaurant! Let’s have a look to see what this is like.
My wife got me this one for Christmas! Thanks, Kit! The last one of these I tried was pretty good – curious how this one will be – let’s check it out.
Here’s the last of the A-Sha line of instant noodles they sent. These are a leaner line; not with the different gauges that the other products they make have. Not to say they don’t taste good, though! Let’s see how original this one is!
Here’s one with a flavor I’ve never heard of – well, except for the tom yum part. Here’s what Wikipedia had to say about the yentafo:
