Category: * Stars 4.1 – 5.0

#4211: MAMA Pad Thai Meal Kit – Thailand

#4211: MAMA Pad Thai Meal Kit - Thailand

About seven years ago, I had the fortune to be invited to visit MAMA’s instant wheat and rice noodle factories in Thailand. It was so amazing; these places are so amazingly clean and full of the most fascinating people I’ve ever met. By the time this is released, my guess is that my Definitive Guide To MAMA Tom Yum will be out. They’re celebrating their 50th year and that’s pretty darn cool. I’m really excited about it! Let’s check out this Pad Thai though – I’m guessing it will be quite good. ...see full post

#4193: Bull Head Dry Noodle Spicy Sichuan Pepper Flavor – Taiwan

#4193: Bull Head Dry Noodle Spicy Sichuan Pepper Flavor - Taiwan

Here’s one that came from Daniel over at www.exoticnoods.com – check ’em out – you can use the coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount, too! So I saw these at a local Asian market and was curious, but didn’t want to buy a multipack, so receiving this was really great. Taiwanese dry noodles. Let’s check ’em out! ...see full post

#4191: Kung Fu Noodle Spicy Duck Blood With Mung Bean Noodle Soup – Taiwan

#4191: Kung Fu Noodle Spicy Duck Blood With Mung Bean Noodle Soup - Taiwan

The guy in the corner says ‘hey check this out’ and hey I will buddy just hold on a second! I’ve had duck and pork blood many times in the past. While many Westerners might think this is far too exotic and wouldn’t ever think of trying a dish with blood as it’s main feature, let me tell you a little something about it. Pork blood cake in Taiwan is exquisite. It’s a little wonderful square with a very rich and tasty flavor. Duck blood is a bit different, but very, very rich. Coagulated duck blood is popular in white curry in Malaysia as well, and pork blood is popular in dishes from Thailand and Vietnam too. The last Taiwanese duck blood noodle I tried was exquisite; let’s see how this one is! ...see full post

#4164: JTM Food XO Sauce Seafood Noodle – China

#4164: JTM Food XO Sauce Seafood Noodle - China

This is another one I found a couple days before Lunar New Year. The bar code came up with nothing which was a little troublesome, but I did manage to find the website on the packaging. The XO definitely is a reference to XO sauce, and it being blue and pics of the bowl definitely mean it’s gotta be XO sauce seafood. At least, I think so. Let’s check this one out! ...see full post

#4162: I’m E Choice For You Spicy Min Saeng Ramen – United States

#4162: I'm E Choice For You Spicy Min Saeng Ramen - United States

I found this yesterday while looking for Lunar New Year specials at a big Asian grocery store. I immediately knew what I was looking at when I saw the font. These are from eMart. They’re a really big hypermarket chain in South Korea which now is opening stores in the United States. Now, this is a private label product, so one of the big companies in South Korea is making it for them . Not sure which one, but in the past it’s been Samyang. Let’s check it out! ...see full post

#4160: Lin Jia Ya Tou 2x Spicy Salted Egg Yolk Flavour – China

#4160: Lin Jia Ya Tou 2x Spicy Salted Egg Yolk Flavour - China

I’m getting this post ready to go the day before Lunar New Year – – we went to a big Asian grocery just north of Seattle yesterday and shopped for noodles. They usually have some really neat things in store for the special holiday! This is supposed to be an extra spicy salted egg variety – very curious about it – let’s check it out and see if it’s truly ultra spicy! I should note that I had no clue my lens was so greasy – which is a bummer since I did three shows and a mukbang while it was like this… So, forgive me. It’s clean now, although a little late… ...see full post

#4155: Kung Fu Noodles Premium Braised Beef Noodle Soup – Taiwan

#4155: Kung Fu Noodles Premium Braised Beef Noodle Soup - Taiwan

From the folks that brought you the unique goose oil dry noodles, we now have a braised beef variety. This looks really quite fancy – definitely a super premium range. It’s joined also in this range by a Duck Blood Mung Bean Noodle variant which also sounds good – let’s give this one a try from Kung Fu Noodles, a newcomer to the Taiwanese Top Ten. ...see full post

#4141: Sichuan Baijia Lanzhou Artificial Beef Flavor Noodle – China

#4141: Sichuan Baijia Lanzhou Artificial Beef Flavor Noodle - China

I think I recently did another version of this a little while back – that’s usually means it’s been months. Anyways, pretty crazy here now what with Omicron – so I’ve gotten two emails from the kiddos school district saying be prepared if things get worse they’ll be back home with their school tablets again. That would be incredibly unfortunate; they get so much out of socializing. Then again I don’t want my kids getting sick. My son’s fully vaccinated and my daughter got her first one a day after her 5th birthday just before Christmas. ...see full post

#4132: Nissin Cup Noodles Fish Head Curry Flavor – Singapore

#4235: Nissin Cup Noodles Fish Head Curry Flavor - Singapore

This is an interesting review. Usually, the reviews I post daily have been done months in advance. However today’s review was probably done the day prior. It’s Monday night right now, the kids are having dinner, the guinea pigs a weeping waiting for theirs. I’m writing this framework for review #4235. The thing is that this product was introduced in Singapore on April 4th and only made for 3 weeks, so they’re already running out. They sent me a special box with some samples and I posted the unboxing today. So I’m going to review it tomorrow (Tuesday), and release it on Wednesday. So that being said, I’ll have to switch the number of this review with the one that was going to come out on Wednesday. Should be fine. Since this is so limited edition, I just want people to see it while it makes sense for them to see it. Anyways, there you are. I hope it’s good! ...see full post

#4131: Soupply Chicken Pho Bowl With Real Meat & Collagen – United States

#4131: Soupply Chicken Pho Bowl With Real Meat & Collagen - United States

Here’s the second of two products from Soupply containing retort pouches. This is really quite awesome – something I’ve wanted to see for a long time. Retort pouches are like flexible cans that can contain meats, vegetables, broths and more. This gives a serious boost to noodle soups that are shelf stable. Let’s check it out! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2022 Edition

The Ramen Rater's Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2022 Edition

It’s been twenty years since I started this crazy journey of reviewing instant noodles. I never even envisioned I’d be doing it for twenty years; it was just something to try out way back when. There have been ups and downs in the past – and recent past. I ended up getting COVID (as did the rest of my family) in early January this year. It wasn’t too bad in itself, but the repercussions were. I ended up in the ICU for blood clots in my lungs. It’s happened before when I slept ten hours on a cramped flight – but this time didn’t make sense as I walk a whole lot. Anyways, I’m better now, but it’s been a tough go to be sure. I hope all of you reading are happy and healthy! ...see full post

#4129: Soupply Filet & Brisket Pho Bowl With Real Meat & Collagen – United States

#4129: Soupply Filet & Brisket Pho Bowl With Real Meat & Collagen - United States

For a long time now, I’ve thought something that would be really quite amazing would be if instant noodles in the US would take a cue from the outside world. That cue is the retort pouch. Retort pouches are basically like flexible soup cans; metallic pouches that can hold meats and vegetables, sauces and more to give a noodle dish a serious boost while retaining shelf stability. I’m really curious about these – I reached out to the company to find out about samples and that worked out well as I’ve got some to try. There are two versions – a beef and a chicken. Let’s start with this beef one and in a couple reviews, the chicken. ...see full post

#4128: Paldo Teumsae Cheese Tteokbokki – South Korea

#4128: Paldo Teumsae Cheese Tteokbokki - South Korea

Here’s one from James in Lakeside, CA – thanks again! Wow – this looks burly. I had to read around to verify cooking instructions and they aren’t hard to cook – just wanted to do it right. This will be my first mukbang I’ve done in ages – not only that, I’ve been hardcore on diet and exercise lately, so not only will it be spicy, it’s going to be a gut buster. Egad. Let’s give it a shot! ...see full post

#4115: Nan Chuan Dao Sheng Wuhan Sesame Hot Sauce Konjac Rice Noodle – China

#4115: Mingdao Wuhan Sesame Hot Sauce Konjac Rice Noodle - China

Konjac noodles generally are very chewy and rubbery – unless they have a gauge that works well with them. That being said, they’re also quite low in calories – extremely low. This one seems to marry konjac and rice together for the noodle. However, if it were simply konjac, it would be much lower. Anyways, let’s see what we have. ...see full post

#4112: Red Chef Hae Bee Hiam Dried Noodles – Singapore

#4112: Red Chef Hae Bee Hiam Dried Noodles - Malaysia

This one was on the global top ten list last year, but under a different brand name. This time, it’s by Red Chef. But does it taste the same? One easy way to find out! I remember a strong prawn flavor that was just relentless – and if you like sweet prawn sauce like me, you’re going to really lose it over this. Let’s check it out! ...see full post

#4109: Hi-Lai Foods Lai Noodle Vegan Sesame Paste Flavor – Taiwan

Hi-Lai Foods Lai Noodle Vegan Sesame Paste Flavor - Taiwan

Definitely excited about this one – today I got home from a ten mile walk and found a big box at my doorstep. I haven’t even edited the unboxing video yet – and here we are. This as far as I can tell, is their Pepper Sesame Lai Noodle – it also sounds like it’s the favorite of an influential lady in Taiwan. Let’s check it out! ...see full post