Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Here we have a big cup of noodles! I did a little translation on this one for you – ‘maxi’ means ‘big,’ ‘sopa’ means ‘soup,’ ‘cuchareable’ means ‘spoonable,’ and pollo means chicken. Basically, this is a chicken noodle soup one can enjoy with a spoon instead of a fork. Got it? Let’s check it out!
The name of this one – RapiFideo – is a combination of two words. ‘Rapido,’ meaning ‘Quick’ and ‘Fideo’ which means ‘Noodle.’ I reviewed these a while back – let’s revisit them for this Meet The Manufacturer!
I had always thought carne meant beef but I was wrong. Turned out carne means meat and res means beef – always learning something new about the world through the instant noodle and doing translations! Let’s check out this beef flavored instant noodle from Mexico!
To start things off, I thought it would be interesting to try one of these Cup Noodles that come with hot sauce. Definitely not uncommon around the world to find a Cup Noodle variety with a sauce sachet, however it seems to be a little less common in the Americas. Let’s give it a try!
As I’ve said in the past, I’m usually about 50 or so reviews ahead of myself. Well, today is the actual day our daughter Miriam will be born and by the time this comes out she’ll be close to two months old. Wow! It’s early in the morning – although it’s just a few hours away. Really excited! This one seemed interesting enough for a day of birth – Mexican pizza from Taiwan? I think a fiesta is in order; although I wish these were called Little Princess – but hey look at the title I think that works at least a little! Let’s check it out!
Okay so here’s another one of the new recipe Cup Noodles from Nissin Foods USA – thanks again for sending ’em over! The new recipe features reduction in sodium as well as no added MSG and no artificial flavors. Let’s have a look!
Another left over from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. I’ve reviewed many Nissin HK tonkotsu varieties thus far, and today we have yet another variety! This is a Tokyo Shoyu Tonkotsu. Shoyu translates to soy sauce, so this seems like it will be a kind of milky soy kind of thing? Let’s find out!!
Here’s another one that Colin sent – thanks! Today I was really craving something curry – it’s been a little while since I’ve had any curry to review so here goes!
Yet another left over from the Nisin HK Meet The Manufacturer! Man, they sent so many! Thank you so much – really helps a lot! So these are instant takes on classic Italian pasta dishes. They’re microwavable and thus far, I’ve not had one I didn’t like. Let’s see how this one fares.
Yet again, a donation from Colin of the east coast – thanks, bro! This is another ‘no way – I’ve reviewed this one’ kinda variety, but it turns out indeed I haven’t. It looks like the Nongshim ‘BIG Bowl’ line, but it’s definitely not the export version if it is. Let’s have a look – very curious about this one.
Here’s yet another from a reader named Colin from the east coast. He’s always surprised me a little insofar as being able to send me varieties I hadn’t reviewed yet. I mean, this totally would have been one I would’ve passed over as previously reviewed, but I can’t find it anywhere. As far as walking by it at local stores, I’ve done so countless times. Anyways, let’s crack i open and have a look!
Yep, you guessed it! This is yet another one left from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. Thanks again to Nissin HK for sending so many varieties! Sounds simple enough – it’s spicy, it’s beef. Let’s check it out!
This looks very interesting. Check out how thin these noodles are! Sesame and garlic are great flavors to marry together as well. So we’ve seen sesame sauce – the tan colored peanutty kind of stuff and today it’s sesame oil – a much lighter fare. Let’s have a look!
Xian Bian Mian is a new line from Howsler Foods. They all use straight noodles and are a bit different from the Mom’s Dry Noodle line. These tall narrow packs have three servings in each. So matcha has become really popular – but what is it? Let’s ask wikipedia:
Here’s one sent to me by Colin – thanks again! So this one is kind of interesting – I’ve reviewed lots of Mr. Noodles in the past, however they’ve been from Canada. I think there’s also a Mr. Noodles in India as well – unsure if they’re related to this Bangladeshi brand though. It seems to me that with so many Mr, Noodles out there (lest we forget Mr. Noodles from Sesame Street as well), there’s bit of confusion. In fact, I get comments quite often actually from the Mr. Noodles customers in Canada asking where to go to contact them. Of course as far as the Canadian ones go, all I can find is a distributor and nothing else. So very sorry, Canadians…
Another one from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. This one is really popular overseas – I think I saw it on some list as a favorite. Here’s a little from wikipedia on the might Cup Noodles:
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Here’s one sent by a reader named Jen from Australia – thanks again! So chow mein – very curious how this will translate. Indeed I’ve had chow mein that tastes like yakisoba, chow mein that’s just salty and soy, chow mein that’s very bland. But this one looks like it will be chow mein with a small amount of broth and vegetables which sounds odd. But wait – is it odd? As a matter of fact. Australia has it’s own take on Chinese food – here’s a little about it from wikipedia:
Here’s another one from Colin – you da man! He got these during a trip to Mexico earlier this year and sent them along. It’s funny; it still kind of boggles my mind how few instant noodles from Mexico I’ve had the chance to try until only recently. I mean, Mexico is pretty darn close. But then again it’s kind of the same way with Canada – I live about an hour and a half from the border and until we went up there a few years back for my birthday, I hadn’t tried much of anything from up there. Anyways, let’s check out this chicken flavored instant ramyun from South Korea for the Mexican marketplace.
Here’s yet another left from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer – thanks again! Today it’s the cup version of their black garlic oil tonkotsu. Indeed, black garlic is an interesting thing – here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it –
Here’s one my friend Paul S. brought me back from a trip to Mexico – thanks again, bro! So instant noodles are very popular in Latin America. A lot of flavors that reflect the local tastes, this one being shrimp. Let’s check it out!
Yet another leftover from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer! What’s XO Saucve? Here’s a little info from wikipedia –
Finally, after decades of sticking with the same recipe, Nissin has decided to go with something new. On Cup Noodles’ 45th anniversary here in the USA, they’ve changed it to make it healthier. Some changes are no added MSG and no artificial flavors. Furthermore they’ve lowered the amount of sodium in these cups from the previous versions using potassium chloride. So, let’s give this Spicy Chile Chicken a try!
Here’s a new one from Colin – thanks again! Don’t think I’ve reviewed anything by this brand before – let’s have a look!
Here’s another one sent by Colin from the east coast – thanks again! In a review yesterday, I mentioned that I review a couple of varieties daily and that I’m around 60 reviews ahead. Well, today is November 9th, 2016 – the day after the Presidential election. The results of the election are definitely a shock to most people in my community. I live in Washington State – very liberal. In fact during the primary elections, I believe Bernie Sanders got 80+%. I’m hoping that everything calms down and things end up going okay. Rest assured I’ll be reviewing noodles during the Trump administration as well. This is a type of Cup Noodle I’ve not seen in the past – this one is made in China. Let’s check it out!
Here’s another one sent to me by Javier from Box From Japan. Box From Japan has subscriptions for all sorts of neat Japanese things. I regret to say that I was informed that they won’t be taking subscriptions for their ramen boxes for now – hopefully that will start again soon. He mentioned that you can purchase instant noodles from them here. Here’s what he had to say about this particular variety:
Okay so most of your should be familiar with the popular ‘fiore noodle’ challenge. That’s where you take a bowl of Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkummyun (spicy fried chicken flavor) instrant noodles and scarf ‘e,m down in one sitting really quick. If you don’t know about this, just go to YouTube and type in fire noodle challenge – you’ll get a ton of videos. Nobody’s ever challenged me to do this; kind of bummed. Anyways, this is a new variety – I think there will be three of these spin offs, but right now we have cheese. Let’s see is the cheese chills this fiery noodle out or if it still has the burn of burns.
Here’s another one sent to me by Javier from Box From Japan. Box From Japan has subscriptions for all sorts of neat Japanese things. I regret to say that I was informed that they won’t be taking subscriptions for their ramen boxes for now – hopefully that will start again soon. He mentioned that you can purchase instant noodles from them here. Here’s what he had to say about this particular variety:
Here’s a rather striking purple cup! This one’s from Nissin Hong Kong – they sent it along with over 50 other varieties for Meet The Manufacturer. Since I only review up to 15 varieties in a row for a Meet The Manufacturer, the rest go into the daily rotation. I’m curious about whether this will be hot and spicy – let’s find out!
Another one sent by Nissin Hong Kong for the Meet The Manufacturer they participated in! Thanks again! This is a lower calorie option instant cup – rice vermicelli is usually fat-free, which definitely cuts the calorie. Let’s give a Hong Kong product with a Korean skew a try!
Another variety from Nissin Hong Kong, leftover from an earlier Meet The Manufacturer. This is interesting – it’s not just spicy or spicy hot, this one’s red hot! Let’s see if it’s red – and hot! time cook cook!
I tried the Burning Dry Noodle variety of this line a few days ago and was quite pleased with it. That one was a brothless variant while this one will have soup. It sounds interesting – a spicy and sour taste to behold… Well, I suppose I’d better give it a try!
Here’s another one sent by Jen from Australia – thanks! Although not an Australian brand, the distributor’s sticker mentioed Australian distribution and so here we are. Sounds good – been reviewing quite a few beef ones lately it seems. Let’s check it out!
Here’s one that Jen from Australia sent – thanks again! Braised beef sounds good… I’m mostly familiar with Taiwanese braised beef flavors – excellent stuff! Curious how this one will be – let’s have a look!
Here’s one big bowl of noodles! I like these – they kind of remind me of what we have here in the US – Nissin makes a line called the ‘Souper Bowl’ and it’s big too. OF course, there aren’t any Black Garlic Tonkotsu or Kimchi Pot flavored ones here. I always wish there were, but tthe fact that every country has it’s own flavors is what I really love about reviewing, and since the USA is a country, we’ve got our own. Anyways, Spicy! Kimchi! A friend of mine sent me a jar of kimchi in the mail and I go t it yesterday! Perfect timing! Let’s check this one out!
The first time I tried bibimmyun a long time ago I really didn’t get it. Spicy, sweet, and worst of all, it was cold. Yep – when I first started reviewing, the thought of cold noodles made me cringe. I found this one recently at HMart and honestly have been holding back on it since I just reviewed a bibimmyun a couple weeks ago – but no more. It’s getting colder outside – rainy too. Bibimmyun is really a dish for the hot summer months when something cool and refreshing really hits the spot. Well, maybe there will be a sun break today even though the forecast is for 10 days straight of rain… Let’s check this one out!
Here’s another one that was sent by Marvin R. of Fort Worth, TX – thanks again! So you may have seen Wai Wai before coming from Thailand. This is a Wai Wai for India – by the Chaudhary Group. Let’s have a look!
Here’s one that Janenate from Nissin Thailand sent – thank you! Very sad times in Thailand currently; they’ve lost their King. I’ve read a lot and viewed some documentaries about him and I’m amazed. He was an amazing man – he really did a lot for him people. I look at our elections here at home and just feel a sickness from it. I send my sincere condolences to the people of Thailand and I hope the King’s philosophy continues on. Let’s have a look at this cup from Thailand with some familiar and friendly faces!
Let’s start with the brand name of this one – Farmer’s Heart. I think many of you will be surprised that it’s a translation of a brand that’s very well known – Nongshim. Usually Nongshim’s flavors lean towards Korean flavors – logically. But this one’s definitely Vietnamese. I’m really curious about it also because not only are these rice noodles, but they can be made in the microwave. Let’s check it out!
I haven’t reviewed anything by this brand in a long time – they were ubiquitous for a while then kind of disappeared, then came back with more traditional Japanese ramen flavors. Let’s check out this tonkotsu bowl!
