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Here’s the seond of the pho bowls – chicken! Let’s give it a try!
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add everything to the bowl and add boiling water to the fil lline. cover for 4 minutes. Stir and enjoy!
Here’s one my sister got me from up in Canada for my birthday! Thank you! Walmar instant noodles!
Here’s another one of the many cups that Jen from Australia sent a few months back – thank you again! Very curious about this one – how hot and spicy will it be? Let’s find out!
The next edition of The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time will be coming out in about a month, and so I’ll be cramming in as many late ones to arrive as possible. Today, one of a trifecta by A-Sha Dry Noodles – microwavable trays! Definitely something I’ve not seem out of Taiwan before that I can think of. Anyways, let’s give it a whirl in the ol’ microwave!
Before I start, I wanted to thank Happiness Engineer Anne and the folks at Automattic, makers of the Jetpack plugin for WordPress. There was a bug in the way it handled mobile themes with their newest release and I asked for help. In less than 2 days, a fix was out and everything’s looking nice again!
Found this one at the Uwajimaya in Renton, Washington. Never had seen it before and by what it looks like on the label, this is a private label for a big distributor here in the USA by a company in Singapore. Unsure which company makes it though. Let’s check it out!
Thanks again to Jen from Australia for sending this and myriad of other Australian varieties! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a chicken and sweet corn flavored instant noodle before. Let’s crack it open and see what we have here!
I’m still a little surprised at how much I’ve liked these Walmart instant noodles from Canada; they’re really not at all bad. Sure, they’re very basic, but then again what do you expect? My sister got me these for my birthday! Thanks again, Sue! Well, let’s dig in!
It’s been pretty nice lately – I’ve been seeing more domestic products coming to market! I like when I can find something I really like and tell people here in the states that they can just run down to a local supermarket and find it. Found this one at Uwajimaya a few weeks ago. Let’s check it out!
I had a bit of trouble figuring out what this variety was called – until I scanned the back of the package and noticed it on the top left corner. This is one that I received from Apple Daily of Hong Kong for a special news feature. Kung Tak Lam is a popular vegetarian restaurant in Hong Kong. Let’s crack it open and give it a try!
Here’s the first in the special series I did for Apple Daily of Hong Kong. I’ve reviewed varieties from Four Seas in the past – in fact, this looks kind of like a bowl version I’ve had before. Beef and radish, huh? Sounds interesting – let’s check it out!
A while back, I was all but out of instant noodles and put out a call for some. One of the people who responded was Prima Taste – they sent some from Hong Kong and this is one of them – thank you! My wife is a big fan of Hello Kitty and we’ve tried the Curry flavor one in the past. Let’s have a look in this soy sauce flavor one!
Another one from Colin – thanks again! I believe he picked these up at an Asian grocery in Mexico. What’s neat about these is that I’ve reviewed a lot of Wai Wai, but never any that are from India. Chicken and shrimp! Let’s get to it!
Okay so here we go. Pad Thai. In an instant and quick prep scenario, pad thai has gone through the ringer. I’ve had pad thai that comes this way be pretty decent, however many I’ve had taste like peanut butter and black vinegar with some chopped nuts on top. It’s not a real tricky one to translate to a processed food, but it seems a lot of the time that companies will draw on certain flavorings and try to mimic the flavor but end up with something completely different. Let’s hit up this one and see how it goes!
Okay, I think this is the very last of the ones that were sent to me by James B. of the Netherlands – thanks again! Let’s crack it open and have a look.
I could be wrong, but I believe this is the last one of the donations sent by Casey P. of Hong Kong – huge thanks to you! So this one looks interesting – it’s definitely much bigger than the standard Cup Noodle, that’s for sure. After a little research, it looks as though ajillo is a Mexican/Spanish dish which features shrimp, vegetables and sliced garlic. That definitely sounds good – let’s have a look.
Here’s one from Colin of Arlington, MA! He sent a great big box of varieties after I called out to readers for new stuff to review! Thanks! This one surprised me; I haven’t reviewed anything by Doll brand in a very long time and I know it’s a popular brand in Hong Kong. It’s interesting that Colin has access to such a different range of products on the east coast… Anyways, from what I can surmise, mifun might also be known as maifun. These are rice vermicelli. Let’s check it out!
Here’s one of the few I have left that were sent by James B. of the Netherlands – thanks again! I’m real curious whether this will have a strong tandoori chicken flavor or just a nice spicy mixture. I guess there’s only one way to find out! Let’s crack open the pack and have a look!
At the local grocery store, they have this deal. It’s called ‘Cheep Chicken Monday,’ and you get 8 legs and wings for $4.99 on Mondays. It’s a pretty good deal – as long as the deli has a big mound of it, you know it’s fresh and hasn’t been sitting. It’s good stuff – thought I’d use some with this variety. Let’s check it out!
Here’s another one James B. sent me from The Netherlands – thanks again! I’ve reviewed these varieties in cup form, but not the packs and I’m really pleased to be able to. These come from Nissin Germary! Let’s have a look!
Today I’m reviewing something new that the folks at Nissin Foods USA sent recently. Pad Thai is a popular dish people get at Thai restaurants – pretty accessible for people in the United States since it’s usually not super spicy and is kind of like an Asian alfedo. Well, technically, it’s nothing like that but I think you know what I mean – it’s something that people aren’t extremely scared of, and a lot of the time, the first time Thai food taster will try it, like it, and decide they like Thai food but only order it when they go out for Thai food. Sad but true, especially when there are so many amazing flavors of Thai food out there. But it’s kind of like Chinese food – it’s Americanized so they get repeat customers. Americanized Thai food is very tasty though – I will definitely say I enjoy it. Let’s give this Pad Thai a try!
Here’s another one that was sent to me from Thailand by the Thai President Foods folks. This is made in Hungary. Let’s have a look!
I’ve had what I believe to be the pack variety of this before. Was pretty good! Let’s see how this bowl version fares.
Here’s another one of these interesting snack noodles from Myanmar! This pack is very small – 15g actually! Let’s see what’s within!
I did a bit of research on Wikipedia about char mee. It was a little vague but I am hoping what I gleaned was right. So, this is like Hokkien mee without broth. Let’s see what this is all about.
Well, this is embarrassing… From time to time I’ve accidentally pasted the watermark twice and one ends up in the middle of the image. Sorry about that! About a month or so ago my wife and I were at the Edmonds 99 Ranch Market and she noticed a whole bunch of varieties and asked if I’d tried them. I’m legally blind, which basically means my eyesight is there, but so poor that it’s hard for me to cross the street, would be a menace behind the wheel, and miss a lot of instant noodles that my wife catches at the store! Let’s check out this Tom Yam flavored mi goreng!
Here’s a neat one. During my trip to Thai President Foods’ Agent Meeting in Bangkok last month, I went to a seminar for a large group of European distributors. There were a couple guys who were there that I met from the Thai President Foods Hungary factory, and I was able to obtain samples of many of the products that are manufactured there, this being one of them. I noticed that on the label, an Austrian company is distributing this one. Let’s have a look!
Got an email a couple months ago from Casey P. in Hong Kong. He’s been following the blog for years and wanted to send some things for me to review and this is one of them – thanks again! Today, we have a pasta style Cup Noodle. There are a lot of instant in Japan that have a kind of Italian skew to them – tarako spaghetti, napolitan and peppercino are popular variants. Let’s check out this pasta style Cup Noodle!
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No. It’s a superhero which is a leek. Leeks, negi and Welsh onion – they’re all the same thing. I got this one from my friend Shinichi – he’s working with Mr. Yamato of Yakantei, a purveyor of very unique instant noodles to bring the harder to find tastes of Japan to your door! Very excited to try these hard to find varieties! Thanks, Shinichi for bringing noodles over to my apartment! Everybody – go and check out Ramen Mania!
Here’s another one that was sent to me by James B. from The Netherlands – thanks! These are from The Netherlands and made by Unilever. Let’s check ’em out!
Another one from James B. over in The Netherlands – thanks! I thought this one looked really interesting; it’s made in Singapore specifically for Koh Thai brand in The Netherlands. Let’s crack this one open!
Another one my lovely wife found for me at BigLOTS. This one’s made in Thailand for the US market it seems. Spring onion is an interesting thing; it’s also known as green onion and also as scallions. Another one like that is coriander, which in the USA is known as cilantro – at least uin it’s fresh form. In a seasoning jar, it’s known here as coriander. Weird. anyways, let’s check out this bowl!
Here’s another one that was sent to me by James B. from The Netherlands – thanks! So this one is made in Thailand for the Dutch market. Vegetable flavor can be interesting; there are so many vegetables and so many takes on what ‘vegetable’ flavor is. Some taste like mushroom predominantly while other have a strong broccoli flavor. Some even taste like butter! Very curious to see what kind of vegetable flavor this one has – let’s find out!
Yep – another one we brought back from Malaysia! I think I’m almost through them all. Shallot chicken sounds nice – let’s have a look!
Another one from last year’s Malaysia trip. Turns out I still have a few more I haven’t gotten to so it’s time to run through them before they expire. Curry. Malaysia. Super. Let’s check it out.
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Justin M. from Winfield, BC up north of here in Canada! Chili chicken sounds like it’d be pretty good; a familiar flavor and a little bit of spiciness? Sure – let’s have a look at this cup.
My wife and I were at the grocery store the other day and she saw this series by Myojo. ‘Have you tried these yet?’ she asked. It’s funny – she finds lots of varieties for me that I never even notice – it’s pretty awesome! Since she’s a fan of udon, I thought I would make her some today. Let’s check ’em out!
Here’s one we found up in Canada during my birthday trip earlier this year. This one’s a little tricky to figure out; the distributor/import sticker mentioned shiitake, but another site I saw mentioned carrot, and indeed there’s a carrot on the package. Anyways, this one looked kind of interesting so let’s have a look.
Here’s another one I got at a 7-11 in Bangkok in May. Yep – they have 7-11’s there!
Here’s a cup from Vietnam’s Vina Acecook. It’s been sitting in my hamper a little while so thought today’d be a good day to give it a try. So I looked up satay and found this:
