Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
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.
So the folks at Exotic Noods (www.exoticnoods.com) sent another box for you to check out! This is the October box and I’ll also be sharing with you the November and December 2018 boxes! By theway, you can use coupon code BOOM for a great discount! Let’s check it out!
Hey look! Tapatio flavor instant noodles? Yeah! I know many of you have loved Tapatio on your noodles for years and they heard that as well, so here we are. Here’s a little about Tapatio from Wikipedia –
Hey what’s this? An interesting box from Nissin Foods USA?! Hmmm… I’m very curious about this – this is kind of out of the ordinary to see from an American instant noodle company – maybe it’ll start a trend among them? Let’s check it out!
Here’s one that was sent by Exotic Noods – a company that sells subscription noodle boxes. Thanks! This one is a spicy take on Zha Wang, a popular product from Nongshim – this one’s their spicy version. Zha Wang might sound a lot like Jjajang – that’s no accident. Zha Wang is basically jjajang but with a different name. Let’s give it a go!
It’s been awhile! I did a Meet The Manufacturer series with Blount a while back. Well, they’ve got something new – pho! You can find it in the fresh (not frozen) section – more info at www.blountbowls.com. Very curious as to how it will be. Let’s find out!
It kind of confuses me on this one – I mean, yeah, it says ‘the original’ and doesn’t really say that there’s been a recipe change. But there has – now there’s no MSG and no artificial flavors., plus a reduction in sodium. These aren’t bad things at all of course, but I’m just kind of left wondering – so shouldn’t it say new and improved instead of ‘the original?’ Anyways, let’s see what’s in this, one of the Vegetarian varieties in the Top Ramen range.
Got an email from Blount Fine Foods the other day about a new product they’ve got – Beef Pho! It was packed on ice and sent overnight – so I had to open it as quickly as possible. Let’s check it out!
I thought it would be cool since I got a set of those Egglettes things to make soft boiled eggs and I also have chashu and all my veg to make something from the cold case. I’ve been eyeballing these Myojo refrigerated varieties for quite some time now and thought hey – let’s get one and cook it up! So, that’s what I’m doing and here we go!
Hey look at this! A Tapatio instant noodle! I’ve seen people douse their instant noodles in this stuff for years on Instagram. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –
Yesterday, I needed a new pair of pants. I’m not into ultra fashionable stuff – like paying $100 for jeans, so we went to Walmart. Walmart is an interesting place – you’ll see some interesting people there – especially at the one in Lynnwood, Washington. When we got out of the car, there was the sound of some guy at the other side of the parking lot screaming obscenities at someone or some thing – unsure. But that was entertaining. In the store, we g ot to see a lady with a very small dog barking at everyone and every thing ( apparently, if you have an ’emotional support’ dog you can bring it with you, but this dog needed emotional support and was definitely not providing it for anyone). I did get some new pants, and they were extremely cheap. $16 for pants. It’s been a while since we’ve been to Walmart so I thought a trip down the domestic instant noodle aisle might be in order. Surprisingly, they had a very small amount of them, however they did have this pack. Creamy Chicken has been one of my absolute favorites for a very, very long time. I am curious to see whether or not they’ve changed the recipe as that seems to be a popular thing to do in the US instant noodle market right now. Let’s crack open this new package design and give it a try!
Well would you look at that! Top Ramen. An American original. You might be thinking ‘aww that’s Japanese,’ but this stuff is as American as it gets. The flavor is made to appeal to the local market. What bums me out is when I say ‘an American original’ all I can think about is my favorite political show which is no more. My dad used to watch The McLaughlin Group for years and I finally hit an age after he was gone that I checked it out and got hooked on it. I’d torture poor Andy and make him watch it all the time. But Dr. McLaughlin died a couple years ago, and they ended the series long run. I would be curious how it would have been if he would have stayed alive longer – how the show would be these days. Anyways, I’ve gone way off track. So soy sauce is known as Shoyu in Japan. This is a kind of Shoyu ramen. Let’s check i tout!
When the Very Veggie line came out, my first thought was that it would just be varieties for Vegans and Vegetarians. Surprisingly, there was no option for this crowd. Well, it seems that that has changed! This one was sent to me by Robert Z. from Kentucky – thanks man – go check out his cooking blog www.dadbert.com! He found this at a local grocery store – nothing about this and the other new Cup Noodles he found and sent on their site or mentioned on Instagram. This has led me to think that perhaps he’s in what’s called a ‘test market.’ In some areas, a product will be introduced to meter how it’s received by the public – if it sells really well, it’ll go nationwide. If not, it might be pulled. Let’s pop the lid and look under the hood.
Hello fellow instant noodle enthusiasts! Whether for lunch or a snack, instant noodle cups are popular the world over for their convenience and ease of preparation. I’ve samples over 2,800 different instant noodle varieties, and a great deal of them are cups. Out of those, here are my absolute favorite varieties – updated for 2018! As always, if you’re an instant noodle cup (or otherwise) company, please contact me if you’d like to have your products reviewed! Hope you enjoy!
Many you probably no and many of you probably don’t – Tapatio, the popular hot sauce – now has their own range of spicy instant noodle products called Tapatio Ramen Noodle Soup! Want a chance to be the envy of your friends at lunch with some of these bowls? Read on to find out how – it’s really easy to enter to win!
Well this is very nice to see. This is a popular variety in Japan. Cup Noodle Seafood has been around for some time. Well, Nissin USA has brought it here to the United States in a microwave form with no added MSG and no artificial flavors. Here’s a little tidbit from Wikipedia about Cup Noodle –
Reader Artur was kind enough again to send some more goodies from the Ukraine! Very kind – great to be able to try some new things! Let’s open up the package and see what’s inside!
Every month, the folks at www.exoticnoods.com send me over a box so I can show you what they’ve got going on. There’s some really great stuff in this month’s box and I’ve alkso got a coupon code for you – it’s BOOM! Use it to get a discount! Let’s see what’s in here!
Here’s one of the two new flavors of Nissin Foods’ domestic Cup Noodles range from the United States. I’m very curious about this one and the other (Teriyaki Chicken). Let’s crack it open and have a look around!
We were lucky to have my wife’s Aunt com eover and watch the kids – had a little last minute Christmas shopping and were going out to dinner. The next day was the aniiversary of the first time we met each other and We agreed to try Shibu Ramen in Juanita.
Thanks as always to Aunt Cindy for watching our rugrats and giving us an fternoon out ! It’s been awhile – last time we had an outing just us was around review #2761 – another ramen restaurant – in December! Further back we went to Hokkaido Santouka in Bellevue, WA and people there as well as at the mall mentioned this Kizuki place. So this time we thought we’d give it a try.
It’s time for another top ten list and this time it’s The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls Of All Time 2018 Edition! The first list debuted in 2013 – I can’t believe this is the sixth list! As always – if you are a company who would like me to review your products, please contact me via the contact link – I want to talk to you! These are my favorite instant noodle bowl selections from my over 2800 reviews to date. Let’s get started!
Check it out! Readers Arthur and his boys Vincent and Xavier sent me some Ukrainian varieties! Really super nice of them and I’m pretty excited about it – let’s take a look and what’s in this package, shall we?
Alright o as you all know (at least I think you all do), I do a Top Ten Spiciest list every year. I used to review hot sauces (did 250 of them on Saucerater), and do a series of YouTube videos called Spicy Noodle Mukbang on YouTube. So when a variety with a pepper gauge and mention of being XXtra hot crosses my desk, I’m interested. So let’s see if this one is truly as spicy as it certainly looks like it’s going to be.
Well, this was something that upon hearing about, made me extremely happy. Curry. From Nissin Foods America. I mean wow – this is something now made and available in the United States! How awesome is that? Not only this one, but the Seafood Cup Noodle is available too. They’ve changed the recipe a little and now have no artifical flavors and no MSG. Plus, you CAN MICROWAVE IT! Wow – pretty awesome! The lid says these are the #1 curry cup noodles in Japan. I’m going to go out on a limb and say these are the same for the United States as I do believe they’re the ONLY curry cup variety in the United States. So let’s see if these are good – I really, really hope they’re going to stick around for a while!
A couple years ago, I was contacted by a company in the Midwest called NuTek Food Science. They noticed I reviewed a lot of instant noodles and thought I might be interested in learning about what they do. They flew me to Omaha, Nebraska to their HQ and I did a blind taste test between foods containing their sodium lowering product and ones with regular salt. I was immediately impressed. This is an unboxing of their consumer product – let’s check it out!
Today we finish this MNeet The Manufacturer with the newest variety to be born of this range, the white chicken broth tonkotsu. It’s been quite a week of reviewing here! I did two on Monday, four on Tuesday, 2 on Wednesday, four on Thursday and one on Friday. I’ve found that running through a series with a lot of varieties goes better when I do them in a shorter period of time as I don’t get any kind of burn out on doing the same brand, although I don’t think I could have this time. This was a very nice stroll through memory lane as I’ve reviewed all of these before. So today, we bid a fond farewell to Sanyo Foods and their wonderful Sapporo Ichiban range! Let’s give this one a try!
Well, hello there! You know, if I’m not mistaken, we’ve met here before. Oh yeah – multiple times on the top ten list back in it’s infancy! To be honest, this has been one I’ve loved for ages – perhaps decades. Boy, that makes me feel old… I think I should just let this variety speak for itself – let’s have a look at the contents and give it a try!
Well, today we’ve got the last of the cup versions. I thought ending up with beef sounded like a good way to go. Why? Oh, I don’t know. Actually, it just sounds nice to sample something beef flavored today to be honest. Let’s give it a try!
Here’s the one that everybody’s got – chicken. Very few instant noodle companies don’t have a chicken noodle soup on the market. I can think of a few, but they’re kind of far and few between. Chicken is kind of a universally accessible flavor and meat (well, except for Vegans). I think this probably will be a pretty good one. I gave it 4.0 out of 5.0 in May of 2015 when I re-reviewed it back then. I kind of remember people asking me to give them another look and so I did. Anyways, Let’s get to it!
Hey cool! I’ve been really looking forward to reviewing this one. You might not know, but this is the background for The Ramen Rater logo! It was review #652 – posted February 1, 2012. Six years ago! I really liked how the picture came out and thought hey – let’s make a new logo! But only recently have I said what the background was – didn’t think anyone would be interested. Anyways, now you know! Here’s a little about Shio ramen from Wikipedia –
Here we have the cup version of the flavor we started this Meet The Manufacturer series with – original flavor. This is soy sauce flavor, aka shoyu. Here’s a little about shoyu ramen from Wikipedia –
Every month, the folks at www.exoticnoods.com send me over a box so I can show you what they’ve got going on. There’s some really great stuff in this month’s box and I’ve alkso got a coupon code for you – it’s BOOM! Use it to get a discount! Let’s see what’s in here!
Today, we head to the second half of this series with the shrimp pack version. Cups and packs, packs and cups. As you may remember, I was pretty impressed by the cup version. I’ve tasted shrimp flavor instant noodles in a few different ways. Sometimes, it’s kind of like as buttery broth which doesn’t taste like shrimp, but one that shrimp may go well in. – kind of the way that oyster sauce doesn’t taste like oysters. The cup version with this brand has a nice sweetness that you find in shrimp. Let’s see how it translates to the pack version.
Alright, so I reviewed this one back in October of 2011. This was review #529- well over 2000 reviews ago. Just saying 2000 reviews ago seems crazy. Anyways to be blunt, I really didn’t like this one back then., My wife said it smelled like cooked asparagus. I’m curious whether it’s not going to be something I enjoy; about 7 years later. Hope I do! Let’s take a look.
Time for some chicken! Actually, there are quite a few chicken varieties in this range and they’re about to start showing up in this review series. Today,m we’re going to start off with their chicken instant ramen cup. Sounds like a plan – just so you know, the last time I tried this was way back at review #405! Let’s get to it and give it a try!
Beef flavor isn’t usually something I think of when I think about ramen. I generally think of pork, chicken, fish, seaweed, etc. Beef leads me more towards ramyun to be honest. But these are varieties catering to the taste of the United States – and beef is definitely a western kind of flavor as well. Let’s see how a beef noodle goes in this variety. Looks like I did a re-review ion 2017 and the first time I reviewed it was #205 in 2010! Okay – let’s get to it!
Here’s one of the four fancy varieties from Sapporo Ichiban – their miso ramen variety. Miso is a fermented soybean paste. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia
Sapporo Ichiban offers four standard pillow pack style noodles, four special varieties, and four cup varieties. It makes it easy to do a different one every day during this Meet The Manufacturer series. I have, however, reviewed them all before, but it was a very long, long time ago. I usually don’t like to do re-reviews, but I think in this case I’m very happy to make an exception. I’ve been wanting to do a Meet The Manufacturer with Sanyo Foods America for years and getting the chance to has been a lot of fun!
Thought starting things off with the original variety would make sense. So they told me that original flavor indeed was soy sauce, which also is known as shoyu ramen. Here’s a little about shoyu ramen from Wikipedia
