Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
A big thank you to Artur, a friend of The Ramen Rater! This is the very first dessert-style instant noodle I’ve ever tried. Ever! Not only that, It’s fromthe Ukraine! I’ve seen dessert yakisoba before in chocolate as well as strawberry shortcake flavor, and I expected those would be what I would eventually get to try. But this was way out of nowhere. Thank you again! Let’s give it a try! It’s banana time!
Here’s one of the many varieties I still have from Rooster, a range made in China for Canada’s Loblaw’s company. Loblaw’s owns The Real Canadian SuperStore, and that’s where I found these. Just think of Walmart, but slightly different and Canadian owned – not American. Let’s check this one out – the others in this range have been surprisingly good despite the very plain look to them.
A lot of people enjoy visiting Trader Joe’s and trying their products. Actually, there aren’t many products if any that I think are actually ‘their’ products – they get companies who make a good product to do a ‘private label,’ often the same product or some with a couple tweaks and then packaged with Trader Joe’s graphics. I believe this one to be actually a cup of Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen. Anyways, let’s check this new cup out!
The second of two new varieties (the first being Black Pepper Crab) that Uncle Sun sent my way. Chili Crab is considered the national dish of Singapore. Let’s check it out!
This is interesting in a couple ways. First off, this variety has been called Original in both the cup and pack versions up til not – in the bowl, however, it’s getting the stamp of Soy Sauce. Not only that, I did see that they also have the Shio version available – not sure about the Miso but I do think I may have seen that. Let’s crack into this one and give it a try!
Here’s the first of a new range from Nissin Mexico that they sent recently – thanks again! This is a shrimp variety in the new spicy trio that should be pretty spicy! Let’s find out if the ‘fire shrimp’ means business!
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Found this one up in Canad at a market in Richmond, BC called China World. I’ll be the first to admit that I like chicken, but abalone just isn’t my thing usually. Hopefully this one will be pretty good. Let’s find out!
Here’s one sent by the folks from HALAL Food Blog – they’re from Singapore and got it during a trip to Uzbekistan! Definitely a well-traveled pack of noodles! Let’s dig in!
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Another one sent by way by Robert over at www.dadbert.com – thanks again, man! So like their Cup Noodles Very Veggie range,Nissin USA has gone with a cup that instead of a large amount of vegetables has gone with more meat and seafood. To be honest, I like this new direction Nissin is moving towards. However, I think marrying the two concepts – why not lots of meat and lots of vegetables? Call it something like Cup Noodles Gold Label or Cup Noodles Supreme or Cup Noodles Real Loaded or Cup Noodles Fully Loaded… I dunno – just seems like it would be pretty rad. Let’s check this one out!
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘Kimchi and ramen are both nice and delicious foods, and when they are combined, the result is fantastic! If you are not a hot food person, don’t worry, this is just a slightly spicy ramen with a mild but rich kimchi flavor.’
Here’s the last of the Uni-President varieties my wife spotted a few months ago at Foody World up in Richmond, NC! They were $1.50 apiece which seemed very good. Really like the graphic on this one – looks really neat. Let’s crack into this one and give it a go!
Well, it finally happened. Samyang Foods originally released their 2x Spicy Buldak Bokkeummyun in South Korea a while back – for a limited time. In fact, it was supposed to be for a limited time everywhere. Well, it was in South Korea. But as of December 3rd, 2018 they brought it back. The original 2x was 8,706 SHU. This one is 10,000 SHU. This would then be 2.25x Spicy as the original version was 4,404 SHU. But one could round it up to 2.3, and if we’re rounding up I suppose one could round 2.3 up to 2.5. Regardless of how you look at it, it is indeed spicier. Let’s take a look!
After searching during four – count them FOUR – trips to Canada looking or them, I finally found them with the help of a reader/viewer from YouTube – THANK YOU! So you may know these as dumplings, gyoza, or potstickers – thy’re all the same thing. Just call them dumplings, please.
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
The second of the Fantastic Noodles varieties getting a look in this Meet The Manufacturer. I’ll be the first to say I really like scallion sauce noodles from Taiwan. Curious how these will fare – only one way to find out!
The first of two varieties for this Fantastic Noodles Meet The Manufacturer series. From what I gather, Spicy Dolar sounds like a Sichuan pepper infused variety with some extras going on. Let’s find out!
Thought today would be a good day for some fried green onions! The kind folks at Wu-Mu sent these over a little while back and I thought I’d better review it! Here’s what they have to say about it –
Here’s another one sent by the nice folks at Yum Yum – thanks again! It’s been crazy lately – doing the whole YouTube thing is very time consuming and had a couple weeks recently where reviewing has kind of hit the back burner. This week has been different and it’s really nice. I’ve been able to crank out quite a few reviews and get to many varieties I’ve wanted to. Here’s one of them – let’s check it out!
Here’s another one from Wes, a reader in northeast Canada. Thanks! He’s a big fan of products from Tokushima Seifun – and this is one of them. These Kinchan cups are interesting – they’ve got a neat character to them. Here’s what he wrote about this particular cup – ‘They started a new line of noodles supposed to taste like instant noodles of yesteryear. Says it is rich in aromas from red miso and vegetables.’ Sounds interesting – let’s check it out!
Today, we have a traditional Italian variety – from Taiwan? Yup – Italian noodles from Taiwan! Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about bolognese –
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘When the theme of the pack is all about salty noodle dishes, we can never leave out Sapporo Ichiban Shio Ramen. The soup has an authentic umami taste of chicken, pork, and vegetable. The aromatic flavor of sesame makes it complete and exceptional.’
Got an email awhile back about a couple new Uncle Sun varieties. I’d not tried anything from them since their white curries and was happy to hear about their black pepper crab and chili crab offerings. Really want to try this one… Well, no time like the present!
I know a lot of people are really into Trader Joe’s. What I’ve seen is that they find brands and products they think would be good with their packaging and then get the company that makes it to do a private label for them and sells it under their name. I think that’s what it looks like here. In fact, maybe these should be known not as Trader Joe’s but Trader Mike’s – as everything looks about the same as this one. Yup – I’m pretty sure these are made by Mike’s Mighty Good. Anyways, let’s have a look and give it a try!
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Here’s one sent by Daniel from Brazil – thanks again! A new brand I’ve never tried – Panco! So Galinha I have been told is kind of like a ‘young hen’ flavor. I’ve also been told it’s a little oilier. Anyways, spicy chicken is what I’m guessing here – let’s see what it’s all about!
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Here’s one from Wes up in north eastern Canada – thank you again! He has time and again sent really interesting varieties by Kinchan of Japan – really hard to find stuff. This one’s a shoyu tonkotsu – let’s check it out!
Here we have what you call a ramen snack or noodle snack. These are popular throughout Asia but little known in the United States. In a way. It was often I heard about people taking a domestic pillow pack of instant noodles here in the states and pulverizing it while still in the package and then the seasoning dumped on and held closed, then shaken to distribute the flavor. This was commonly considered a somewhat of a lazy teenager’s way of cooking one of the easiest products to cook around. Well, they’ve been creating products that are prepared in this way for a very long time in Asia. Spicy, sweet, salty – you name it. Here’s Samyang’s Sriracha Ramen flavored one for you to see today!
This one comes by way of a reader from Taiwan who visited t he Philippines and saw this and a spicy version there. This is most definitely an export version. First, lots of English text. Now, you’ll never see this in the United States as it does contain beef. Casn’t go wrong with braised beef – well, I guess you could if it’s bad, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case here. Let’s find out!
First off, thanks to Kyle K. for help with translating this one! I found this up in Canada at FoodyWorld – a huge Asian supermarket which is a must see for anyone doing the tour of Asian grocery stores up in Richmond – lots of fun and much to see. These were on sale and looked neat so I went and got all the varieties. Let’s give this one a try!
One of the waning few I dragged back from Taiwan with me from my 2017 trip! This is a fascinating variety – it’s one that has a soup and a noodle. Wait, how? What?
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one –
This one was sent by Robert Z. over at www.dadbert.com – he’s a good friend of mine who has just entered the blogging world with his really technical and awesome cooking recipes – be sure to check out his site! Anyways, he found this one in Kentucky, and I suspect this is a test market for these. They’re not mentioned anywhere to speak of, and so I wanted to give these a try as soon as possible. This new line looks to have a LOT of meat in there! Let’s crack it open and take a look.
We found this one up at Foodyworld in Richmond, BC. They were on a great sale – 2 for $3CAD! Not bad at all! I have to say I love this packaging’s graphic. The food is all sharp and colorful and contrasts so well with the background. Very old school Chinese! Let’s have a look!
This one comes by way of Daniel from Brazil – thanks again! Well, my friends – pizza. I love reviewing pizza instant noodles. Why? Because it’s awesome, that’s why! I’ve actually tried quite a few – the first was from Pakistan, then India, then Indonesia and I think there are more. Now Brazil enters the hallowed realm of the pizza flavor instant noodle. Let’s give it a try!
Here’s another of the Russian varieties that were found in Uzbekistan and sent by the kind folks at halalfoodblog.com – thank you! They’re in Singapore – so to sum up: Some nmice Singaporean folks visited Uzbekistan and found Russian instant noodles then mailed them to me here in the United States. Truly a well-traveled pack of noodles! Let’s take a look!
Here’s another one kindly sent by Artur of Illinois – thanks again! This is another Ukrainian variety – and again as I’ve said before, European varieties are VERY hard for me to come by. Let’s get to it!
Alright here we have a variety that’s been one of my favorites – and it translates to Drunken Noodles! Here’s a little something about it from Wikipedia –
