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The last one of these I tried was quite good. This one is a sesame paste flavor. Many would liken it to peanut butter, but it’s a bit different usually. It’s really a nice way to liven up dry noodles, that’s for sure. I’ve had it cold on the streets of Taipei – and it was really delicious. I have to say, visiting Taiwan has been a highlight of my days on Earth. It’s a vibrant place full of new things to try. Yeah – don’t be a square – visit the beautiful island of Taiwan.
You know, I can’t find anything anywhere about this one and what it’s actually called; I’m guess it’s an apt title, and the label looks to be an import label from the actual company itself. However, I bet the name is different. I bet. A dollar. I have a dollar. I’d have to open the piggy bank to get the cash out, but I’m good for a buck. It’s definitely a rice noodle as opposed to a wheat noodle – and I’m guessing that would be mentioned on the packaging. I looked further on the Sempio website –
You know, my favorite foods always have ambiguous and generalisms in them. Well, not really, but my favorite titles do. Miscellaneous sauce? Could be assorted sauce? This is one where the distributor’s label has a bit of a translation error I’m guessing. But this is how you’ll find it if you get it here in the United States, so I’ll leave it. Anyways, let’s give it a try.
Onto the third review! There are four varieties of these you can find over at www.ashadrynoodle.com. This one is another of Hello Kitty’s friends. I don’t believe it’s frog flavor, but probably more akin to the Hello Kitty supercute soy sauce flavor with some heat. Let’s give it a try!
Well, folks – this is it. The end of the road on these Hai Chi Jia varieties with Bobby Yip on them. At least the last one I’ve got. They’ve been pretty good – I get it. Definitely. Let’s check this last one out.
Well, I’ll have you know that my daughter is incredibly pleased this was sent to me. She’s a big fan of Hello Kitty and her friends. My daughter’s name is Mimi, which is the name of Hello Kitty’s sister. Now where it gets weird is that the creator of Hello Kitty says is that she is NOT a cat. She is a girl named Kitty White. Oddly though she does have ears, whiskers, and no mouth. Well, she does in the cartoon and she talks too. Let’s give them a try – definitely one Hello Kitty fans will want to try – should be able to find them at www.ashadrynoodle.com.
This is the third variety of the Hai Chi Jian varieties I got. They’ve been pretty fascinating so far and this one sounds pretty good -let’s give it a go! But wait – who is the guy on the cup (image is below)? I have found out. I found it on a website called GoodyFeed.com – here’s what they had to say –
A number of years ago, I thought I’d see what would happen if I cooked up some noodles and ran a camera as I did it. It’s kind of funny – a lot of the large projects in my life have started with ‘let’s see what happens.’ I had thought for years the idea of shooting video while I cooked noodles for reviews was a purely idiotic idea; I would have to edit every video, which would take so much more time than the way I did things. Well, I found a way around that.
Found a whole series of these locally at 99 Ranch Market (yeah that’s how you say it). They all have this fellow on them who I’m pretty sure is a comedian or a magician – I’m not sure. This one is immensely popular in China and features a mala (spicy) broth with chicken notes and special crisp rice. Let’s look within…
Nearby where I live, I walk past a community free books/food pantry. I’ve found some interesting things in there – most recently a canned ham. I found this in there and there were a ton of them but only needed one. What is it? It’s a snack, that’s what it is! Let’s check it out.
Went through my bins and found everything I’d not reviewed. Guess what? Only four things. Yep – I’ve all but caught up! Which is good because more should be here tomorrow with more on the way. I’ve been on a roll lately – really found my groove again. Here’s how my day goes (if anyone cares). Get up, get stuff ready for kids, get stuff ready for reviewing. Review. Get my boy on the bus. Have some oatmeal and peanut butter with my daughter. Edit images and video for the reviews I did. Do some walking back and forth in the apartment. Get my daughter ready. Get her on the bus. Walk ten miles. Get home and get my daughter off the bus. Then my son off the bus. Then start taking pictures of the stuff I’ll review the next day and get those posts ready. Then we get the kids dinner done, put em to bed, have our dinner, try not to fall asleep/wake up on the couch and then start the whole thing over. Today is a little different. Today is a new tradition I started a couple of weeks ago. It’s B-roll Sunday. What’s that you probably don’t ask? Well, I go out walking with my rucksack on my back with my monopod, the phone I use to shoot Instant Noodle Recipe Time, and a battery brick in search of benches that have decent views and shoot ten or more minutes of video to do time lapse videos. Today I walked to Seattle – and should have some good intros and outros in store for this and the next couple of episodes of the show. But enought about me and this behind the scenes look at things you probably aren’t interested in. Let’s try this one from China.
First, off a huge thanks to Kyle over at Mom’s Dry Noodle for help in translating this. According to him, this is a special dish – here’s what Wikipedia had to say about it –
This is a Shaanxi cold noodle. So, what’s that? Well, it’s from a region of China. It’s really quite good, but a bit of trouble to cook. But I’m going to cook it. You can always watch me battle with it in the episode of Instant Noodle Recipe Time at the bottom of this post. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel as I have a new episode of the show every single day. Anyways, let’s give it a try!
It’s time for something different in this series – something a little spicy – but wait. I think the next two will be spicy as well, so be prepared! Let’s get the guinea pigs on their treadmills and fire up the ‘ol microwave and give this puppy a try! NOTE: we don’t actually make the guinea pigs run on treadmills to power the microwave. Yet.
Here’s the second of the two varieties I’ve rushed out that arrived in the mail from MH from the Ramen Junkie group. So… Four cheese… This one’s interesting. First, this is made in South Korea, but packaged for sale in the United States. Second, Hochi looks like she’s dressed up for Halloween. During my research on this one, I found that it’s been in South Korea as well. I also found people trying this variety four months ago – kind of interesting. I wonder if they’ve just been test marketing these in a limited fashion prior to now. In the mukbang video below, I mention I thought I’d only 2 varieties not tried, however that’s not the case. In addition to the creamy carbo and the rose, there’s a jjamppong and a ‘lovely’ variety. Would like to add them to my reviews if anyone’s got some to donate! I did read that someone thought carnitas would go very well with this, and luckily my wife made some last night so I ended up with some nice garnish. Let’s cook these up – don’t forget to watch the mukbang at the bottom as well!
Here we are at the end of the line of three varieties from Thailand – chicken flavor. What’s Khao Soi though? I looked it up on Wikipedia –
I’ve reviewed quite a few varieties by this new company – I call them new since they’ve only been around for a couple of years. I will say that I’m truly impressed by their products – the pack versions in particular. Really tasty and enjoyable. Let’s give this new soy sauce variety a sample.
Here’s an interesting one from Japan found in a Zenpop box – check out zenpop.jp and use the coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount!
Here’s one that came in a Zenpop.jp box – use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a groovy discount!
Here’s one I found in an Umai Crate from Japan Crate! They have boxes full of neat Japanese varieties! Check out www.japancrate.com and use the coupon code THERAMENRATER to score a sweet discount and get some neat noodles!
Here’s an interesting one from Japan found in a Zenpop box – check out zenpop.jp and use the coupon code RAMENRATER for a discount!
For those who aren’t familiar, a ‘spread’ is a term referring to a special meal made in prison by inmates. Here’s what Wikipedia had to say about them –
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.
This is a tricky one to translate. Big thank you to Kyle over at Mom’s Dry Noodle for your help! I found this one 2 days before Lunar New Year – fancy stuff. XO sauce is really nice stuff too. Let’s give this a go.
This one was in an Umai Crate – a monthly subscription box from the folks at Japan Crate! If you order one, be sure to use coupon code THERAMENRATER to get a nice little discount!
This is the third of three varieties from this company and I’m very curious. This one has a lot of sachets with it – a lot. Check them out below! Let’s give it a go!
Here’s a big box with two servings. This looks really fancy – curious about it – let’s give it a try!
My mother died two years ago on June 30th. I thought I’d share the recipe she came up with that honestly is why I started reviewing instant noodles. It’s very basic, but it’s really good and as a young child it was a special treat.
Here’s one that came from an Umai Crate – they’re subscription boxes full of all sorts of Japanese ramen and DIY stuff! Check ’em out at Japan Crate and use the coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount!
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!
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!
Another one found just before Lunar New Year at a local market. These have all been fun to review as they’re all very mysterious; the way to translate and research these is always different and usually requires a lot of digging. Let’s check it out!
I think I was able to try the non-export version of this when I was in Thailand at the MAMA rice noodle factory. I was part of an Iron Chef judging competition where a contestant from Iron Chef Thailand was there and she made all the varieties from this range.
Here’s one that came in a Zenpop.jp box – use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a groovy discount!
Here’s one that came in a Zenpop.jp box – use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a groovy discount!
Here’s one that came in a Zenpop.jp box – use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a groovy discount!
Hey look! It’s a Taiwanese product specifically for the US market. This one is a spicy sesame paste dry noodle – this should be good! Let’s give it a try!
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!
Another one I found during sales on Lunar New Year products. Very curious about this one and kind of confused as to how to prepare it, but I’ll figure it out. Let’s give it a look!
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!
