Category: * Stars 2.1 – 3.0

#82: Nissin Demae Ramen Miso Flavor Instant Noodles

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So as I’ve mentioned before, my options as far as varieties of Nissin Demae Ramen are dwindling quickly. I think I’ve got a couple after this one so here we go with Miso. Kitten was wondering what the heck miso actually is, and since I couldn’t give her a decent answer other than a kind of Japanese soup, I hit up wikipedia for some info…

Miso (みそ or 味噌?) is a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting rice, barley and/or soybeans, with salt and the fungus kōjikin (麹菌?), the most typical miso being made with soy. The result is a thick paste used for sauces and spreads, pickling vegetables or meats, and mixing with dashi soup stock to serve as miso soup called misoshiru (味噌汁?), a Japanese culinary staple. High in protein and rich in vitamins and minerals, miso played an important nutritional role in feudal Japan. Miso is still very widely used in Japan, both in traditional and modern cooking, and has been gaining world-wide interest.

This one came with a couple packets, one being soup base and the other being seasoning powder. I am imagining the seasoning powder was the miso. It had a slightly musty scent to it – if asked to define, fermentation wouldn’t be too far off the beaten path for the olfactory reaction here.

On the left is the seasoning powder. I was thinking of using a spoon and making a yin yang or some kind of neat design with the two colors of noodles but thought better of playing with my food.

So here’s the finished produc (click image to enlarge)t. Made something to drink (Crystal Light knock off from Walmart) and so the noodles cooked a bit longer than they normally do. They were a little slimy to be honest, but kind of a fungus like slimy. I don’t know if there truly was fungus among this, but all said and done this wasn’t a shabby bowl of noodles. The noodles kind of turned into a greasy udon-esque affair. The broth was a little salty but the flavor had some complexities I wasn’t accustomed to which I found interesting; a mustiness and pungency that I found interesting. Did I like it? Sure – not a bad bowl of noodles as I said. Will I jump off a chair and tell people to run and get it? Nope. This one gets 2.75 out of 5 stars. Get it here.

"Miso." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2010. Web. 25 July 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso> ...see full post

#78: Nissin Demae Ramen Seafood Flavor Instant Noodle

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Seeing things like this make me want to break out into a musical number like Peter does on Family Guy. Nothing more lovely than a huge mountain of instant noodles. I really enjoy seeing such things. Today, I got an extra ingredient for dinner, but I’m also going to toss it in the instant noodles too so we’ll see if it works. ...see full post

#65: Nissin Top Ramen Oriental Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup

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So after years of reviewing instant ramen noodles, here it is. Finally. Hold onto your coiffure taming device: oriental flavor. I have always considered this to be the most boring of all flavors as it really isn’t that adventurous. We’ll see if it stays in that realm of blandness as I review the latest instant noodles for ramenrater.com. ...see full post

#63: Nissin Souper Meal Chicken Flavor with vegetable medley

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Nissin
Cup
3 Stars

So I currently have a cold/giraffe flu and thought perhaps a liquid suspension of sodium and noodles would help. Being the microwave gourmet I am these days, I went for the big sucker pictured here. 1420mg of sodium and some Flonase and I’m starting to perk up! This was a marginal cup noodle. The noodles themselves are rather weak by comparison to Cup Noodle for example. Of course, one plus is the multiple packets. I’m a packet junkie as all Ramen Rater readers know. You get a little dehydrated veggie packet, one with soup base and then one that you add at the end with the mysterious beckoning ‘Finishing Touch.’ The veggies rehydrate quite well and provide a decent amount, but just like all other things, there’s never enough. As I said above, the noodles lacked gumption. As for the ‘Finishing Touch,’ its an oil – probably sesame. All in all, it wasn’t anything to call home about, but nothing to call the police about either. The whole deal surrounding this product is just that its enormous. Get it here. UPC bar code 070662007020. ...see full post

#58: Ve Wong A One Bun Tom Shrimp Rice Vermicelli

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A One: Bun Tom Shrimp

Stars: ***

Notes: This stuff was really good – had had a few beers beforehand and decided to
try it as a preventative hangover cure. Didn’t work all that great for it’s intended purpose, however it was good. The package contained a packet of dried green onions, seasoning oil and soup base. The noodles [rice variety] were strangely enough sealed in their own plastic bag. I cooked the noodles and green onions and dropped in a couple eggs and then dropped that mixture [drained of course] into a bowl with the oil and flavor base and stirred. Was a very burly dealio. ...see full post

#54: Hua Feng Noodle Expert Spicy Instant Noodles Spicy Seafood Flavor

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Hua Feng Noodle Expert: Spicy Instant Noodles – Spicy Seafood Flavor
Stars: ***
Notes: This stuff’s actually quite different – it comes in a round cake of noodles, and fits quite snugly into the cooking pot. After cooking it, it really sucks up water and basically turned into a big bowl of seafood spaghetti! Wasn’t too shabby with some roman peasant bread left over from mother’s day. ...see full post

#38: Lucky Me! Pancit Canton Citrus Flavor

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Lucky Me: Pancit Canton Citrus Flavor
Stars: ***
Notes: This was something new for sure – citrus ramen? Well, it didn’t taste all that
extremely fruity. I ate it without any adulterants [veggies, chicken, eggs etc]
and found it to be quite good – was like the way lemon juice highlights a good
salmon dish. Was definitely lime juice doing all the marketing here. ...see full post

#37: Lucky Me! Pancit Canton Hot Chili Flavor

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Lucky Me: Pancit Canton Hot Chili Flavor
Stars: ***
Notes: I was quite ill with horrible seasonal allergies when I tried this flavor, but
it was about perfect. What I found odd was that since ramen packs that
say hot chili usually live up to the name – not this one – not hot at all. I
suppose it could be due to the fact that I was sick and couldn’t taste much… ...see full post

#36: Lucky Me! Itnok Chicken & Egg Flavor Nutrition Noodles

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Lucky Me: Itnok
Stars: ***
Notes: This is some really decent stuff. A very tasty chicken broth and very curious noodles round out this small bag. It seems this may be a children’s style of ramen also. I wonder what Itnok means – could it be the sound of the chicken emoting sheer joy being told it will be ground into a flavorful spice sack and packaged with a smiling likeness of itself? I’m hoping so, as if it were an unhappy chicken, Bock Bagok would be the name, ...see full post

#22: Nongshim Ansungtangmyun Noodle Soup

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Nong Shim: Ansungtangmyun Noodle Soup
Stars: ***
This stuff was very odd – I enjoy odd things,
so that’s why the 3 stars. It was like an udon
style noodle first off, and came with a
seasoning packet that was enormous. I ended
up having jalapeno bread with it because it comes
out more like a hot flavor spaghetti than anything. ...see full post

#18: Ottogi Jin Ramen Hot Taste Oriental Style Noodle

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Ottogi: Jin Ramen – Hot Taste
Stars: ***
Notes:This is quite good – the noodles are pretty garden variety, but there’s a nice quantity of them. I made the noodles as per the instructions on the package, but I drained a good portion of the water off before putting them in my bowl, adding the hot flavor soup base and the veggies. I put a single fried egg on top and voila! A good, robust and filling bowl of ramen. Tasty stuff! Get it here.
 ...see full post

#15: Samyang Pojangmacha U-Dong

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Samyang: Pojangmacha U-Dong
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: These were some interesting noodles. First off, they are called ‘u-dong’ and not ‘udon.’ Second, they had something called ‘sea tangle.’ I believe that the sea tangle is the true redeeming quality of this package. As far as the flavor, it wasn’t the best in the world. Wasn’t really seafoody… I dunno – didn’t really taste different – just ‘other’ seafoody, and smelled good. I mostly enjoyed the very exciting sea tangle. ...see full post

#12: Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Shrimp Flavor Soup

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Sapporo Ichiban: Shrimp Flavor
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: Wasn’t all that jazzed about this stuff – I do think I like the Maruchan Shrimp a
tad bit better. The difference however, is that this package of noodles is very
dense – lots of noodles! A plus, but not enough to make me stoked. Get it here.
 ...see full post

#6: Vifon Nam Vang Oriental Style Instant Noodle

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Vifon: Nam Vang
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: This stuff wasn’t bad – basically a typical salty rice noodle snack ramen from Vietnam. It would not do well with an egg though, as the noodles weren’t the most strong and a lot of them turned to an almost gelatinous state – not from overcooking I assure you. Other than the weak fortitude of the noodles, the broth was fine as were the dried vegetables. ...see full post