Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
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:
Here’s a seafood cup that screams seafood. I’ve mentioned before that certain colors seem to be universal when it comes to instant noodles – red for spicy or beef, green for pork (not sure why) and yellow for chicken. Well, blue is for seafood and this cup’s text is certainly blue enough. This is a Samyang Foods product for the Japanese market. Anyways, let’s crack it open and see what makes it tick.
Once in a blue moon I find an instant noodle in my hamper of which I have absolutely NO CLUE WHERE IT CAME FROM. I mean, yeah – I know it’s made in Vietnam and that it’s a chicken curry variant, but I have no idea how it got into my hamper. Where did I get it? Hmmm… Well, it needs to be reviewed so here I am. Let’s check it out!
I’ve reviewed a few of these Hong Kong instant rice noodles in the past, but never looked up the meaning of Ho Fan. I did some research and found this on wikipedia:
Here’s one of the ones sent by Marvin R. of Ft. Worth, TX – thanks again! So he originally asked me about identifying there. They look a lot like another Vietnamese brand, but the info on the back seems to show that it’s definitely not them. I’ve found in general that onion flavor is usually a good bet – but what about satay? Here’s what wikipedia has to say about satay:
I *think* this is the last of the varieties of Shan Shoop out there – I’m sure it’s the last in my hamper. So Bombay Biryani. What’s biryani? Let’s see what wikipedia has to say…
So yesterday we went to the new Asian Food Center on 130th and Aurora southwest of here. Was hoping to find a lot of new varieties I hadn’t tried yet and found a couple – and this is one of them. I haven’t had much luck at all with Baijia products in the past – I think it’s just a taste that doesn’t translate well for me. However, I never met an instant noodle I hadn’t tried before that I didn’t want to. So with that, let’s have a look at this Sichuan Baijia variety.
Back in the day, there used to be a brand that was literally generic; they would have products with a white background and a very stark blocky black text. A can of dog food would simply say dog food. I think they’re long gone, but this is kind of the next best thing to it. No Name is a line by Canadian company Loblaw’s, a grocery store chain. Let’s give No Name a look!
Ahh what do we have here you ask? Well, this is a variety made by the same company that makes MAMA noodles – Thai President Foods. This one however is for the German market. Huhn? Chicken. Let’s check it out!
Everyone (well maybe not everyone) has heard of tom yum, a very tradition Thai soup. If you don’t know about it, here’s something about it from wikipedia:
Another one I got during our trip to Malaysia in October! I’ve heard Cintan was the first instant noodle company in Malaysia. This one looks to be fortified with protein – something I think is pretty cool. Adding some vitamins and protein to instant noodles can help make instants a little more healthy. Let’s check out this curry by Cintan!
This is one you probably won’t find in the United States (I got it up in Canada). It’s made by Nongshim’s Chinese plant in Shaghai. I’ve found that sometimes the same product can taste a little different in different regions. This one’s interesting in that the packaging look is very much like Nongshim Ansungtangmyun, but the characters are very different. Let’s have a look at this Nongshim Korean Clay Pot Ramyun!
Here’s one I got a couple weeks ago on my birthday trip to Canada! I’ve had a few varieties by Vedan before but this one sounds really good. Hot beef is always a good bet. I think I’ll try it with some Chinese sausages in the mix! Let’s check out this Vedan Wei Wei A Hot Beef flavor!
This is another of the Gonbuto bowls. Nissin Gonbuto Kitsune Udon has a unique preparation regime which was quite hard to figure out – I figured it out after a lot of research (to be honest, I read the side numbers). Let’s have a look at this Nissin Gonbuto Kitsune Udon bowl!
Last year, I found this Baixiang brand up in Canada and tried the spicy beef variety. I found this one down here in the USA a month or so ago. Let’s check it out!
A while back I reviewed the Myojo Men Black Seafood Tonkotsu. Well, this is the white creamy variety. Tonkotsu is usually made from pork bone broth – pork bones and boiled for quite a while to pull out the flavor, and it gets a milky color. This one’s manufactured in the United States by Myojo, and so pork products are present. Let’s see how this creamy tonkotsu variety stacks up/.
Deshome makes some pretty unique noodles, using ingredients I’ve never thought would go into a noodle. Aloe, bee pollen, and now, camellia oil in a sachet.Fascinating! Let’s have a look at this camellia oil variety from Deshome of Taiwan!
I’ve always heard good things about ginseng for vitality, etcetera. But vitality noodles? Hmm. I’ll admit I know little about ginseng, so here’s what wikipedia has on it:
This is one got last year on my birthday trip to Canada! Really excited that the next trip is coming up very quickly! My wife, son and sister will be coming this time, so it should be a lot of fun. Today’s review is on Myojo Desse Nyumen. So, what’s nyumen? Wikipedia had this to say:
