
Camelia oil – this is a new thing to me. I was curious – why camelia oil? Wikipedia had this to say:
Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002

Camelia oil – this is a new thing to me. I was curious – why camelia oil? Wikipedia had this to say:

Once in a blue moon I find an instant noodle in my hamper of which I have absolutely NO CLUE WHERE IT CAME FROM. I mean, yeah – I know it’s made in Vietnam and that it’s a chicken curry variant, but I have no idea how it got into my hamper. Where did I get it? Hmmm… Well, it needs to be reviewed so here I am. Let’s check it out!

I’ve been asked by quite a few people in the last few months to re-review this one. It sounds like a lot of you really enjoy this one! One thing to note is that I’ve also been asked repeatedly about instant varieties that are vegetarian. Most instant noodles made in the USA will contain meat and/or seafood. Why? Well, it’s pretty hard to import chicken and beef into the United States. Standards for agricultural products are pretty strict, so the logic here is that if a foreign company builds a plant here, they don’t have to deal with these restrictions since they’re in the country, using US meat products in what they produce. Knowing this, if you stroll down the aisle of an Asian grocery store, you’ll see quite a few chicken, beef and other flavors which usually are imported and do not contain any beef, chicken or pork. So just a little tip from me – look and see where it’s made on the pack – it might have fish, but should be meat free. These noodles are made in Garden Grove, California. Southern California is the spot where most instant noodle companies that open up plants congregate – easy access to big seaports and centralized distribution has a lot (if not everything) to do with this. Anyways, let’s check out this much requested re-review of Sapporo Ichiban chicken noodles!

Paldo Foods is a South Korean company, and it looks like they’ve expanded to Vietnam with Paldo Vina. Now mushroom isn’t generally my favorite flavor, but I’ve been surprised in the last year or so at how much I’ve liked many mushroom instants. Let’s see how this one pans out.

Picked this one up this year at the PriceSmart foods in Richmond, BC in Canada during my birthday trip! This is definitely an export version. How do you know? Well, look at the myriad of languages here – French, German, Arabic and English are all here on the front. A lot of companies make export versions and sometimes they’ll make a spicy version which for their local market is spicier than for the export market. There’s so much that goes into figuring out how to tune flavors and such for different places. Let’s check out these Mamee Prawn Flavour instant noodles!

Here’s one from Vietnam. Vietnamese instants usually tend to be pho flavors for the most part, but a lot of them are Thai or in this case, South Korean styled. Let’s see why this one’s leaning South Korean, other than the flavor.

This one’s interesting – a Thai take on a Japanese classic! Tonkotsu! Here’s what wikipedia says about tonkotsu:

Here’s one from low in the hamper that needs reviewing! I’m woindering if perhaps ‘senior’ isn’t the correct word in this one; the title as it is sounds like something for older folks. Perhaps they’re going for something more along the lines of ‘classic?’ I don’t know, but it’s time to review this one – let get to it!

I’ve reviewed a few of these Hong Kong instant rice noodles in the past, but never looked up the meaning of Ho Fan. I did some research and found this on wikipedia:

Here’s one of the ones sent by Marvin R. of Ft. Worth, TX – thanks again! So he originally asked me about identifying there. They look a lot like another Vietnamese brand, but the info on the back seems to show that it’s definitely not them. I’ve found in general that onion flavor is usually a good bet – but what about satay? Here’s what wikipedia has to say about satay:

Topokki time! Okay so you’re probably thinking ‘what? Yesterday he reviewed rice porrige and now it’s rice cake?!’ Well, this one has topokki (Korean rice cake) as well as noodles in it. One thing to note as well – see where it says to keep it refrigerated? I saw pallets of these where I got it that weren’t. To be honest, I think putting that on certain instant products that have these kind of fresh noodle packs inside is a way to give the illusory guise of something less shelf stable, making one think it’s higher quality. Honestly though, that kind of thing doesn’t really phase me. So! What is topokki? Wikipedia for ya –

I got an email from a guy names Seth from Indonesia recently asking if he could send me some noodles that he has been having a difference of opinion on at his house. He likes them and others aren’t so sure, and he wanted my opinion. You got it! So I gave him my address and he expedited a package out – only one problem – I mistyped my address! Luckily, the person who got it hadn’t eaten the noodles and when DHL came to recover the package and redeliver had no problem doing so. So, after a crazy journey, the noodles are here!

I *think* this is the last of the varieties of Shan Shoop out there – I’m sure it’s the last in my hamper. So Bombay Biryani. What’s biryani? Let’s see what wikipedia has to say…

I’ve been whiling my time looking up and down aisles of instant noodles for a very long time. When I find out about a new Asian market nearby, I am exceedingly enthused about perusing their noodle varieties. But sometimes I’ll find something a little different. This is a rice porridge. It’s not a wheat noodle, rice noodle or thread. I like to review these every once in a while because I’m sure many of you have seen them and not known exactly what they’re all about. Let’s have a look at this MAMA JokCup and see what’s inside!

So yesterday we went to the new Asian Food Center on 130th and Aurora southwest of here. Was hoping to find a lot of new varieties I hadn’t tried yet and found a couple – and this is one of them. I haven’t had much luck at all with Baijia products in the past – I think it’s just a taste that doesn’t translate well for me. However, I never met an instant noodle I hadn’t tried before that I didn’t want to. So with that, let’s have a look at this Sichuan Baijia variety.

To wrap up this Meet The Manufacturer, we revisit our old friend the Penang White Curry. This one says it’s super spicy – something that always piques my curiosity. I’ve had some instant noodles that have said they’re really spicy and they’ve been almost bland (yeah, I’m looking at you Canada and England). Usually though, something that has a little mention on the pack of heat usually isn’t kidding around. Let’s check this one out and see how spicy it truly is.

Ok, so I don’t think I’ve been bugged more by any company to try an instant variety before. I mean wow – daily asks of ‘have you tried it yet?’ The folks at MyOri are ultra excited about this one! Well, today is the day! I think I’m ready! I really like green curry, but never been a huge fan of rice vermicelli. However, rice vermicelli has been kind of growing on me in the last year, so we shall see. Let’s pop this sucker open and give it a go!

Penang, home of some of the most amazing food and culture of the world. White Curry is one of the great things about Penang – spicy, full of flavor and fascinatingly exotic. There are quite a few White Curry Noodle variants on the market, of which I’ve tried many. It’s always really great to try a new one – I’m succh a curry junkie… I could eat curry every day! My first meeting with curry was when I was a kid – my mom made curried chicken livers over rice. I really liked it quite a bit – still kind of surprises me that I would have been so adventurous at such a young ago, but back then, dinner was what your parents made and that was that. Luckily, my mom always made tasty dinner! Anyways, let’s move from past to present and try this Myori Malaysia Penang White Curry Noodle!

Nothing better than a nice box showing up on a rainy day.

Awesome! Can’t wait to try them out.
So here’s the question: What’s YOUR favorite instant noodle? You can answer this question and everyone’s votes will be announced when I announce The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition!

You might have noticed that I haven’t reviewed a lot of chicken flavor varieties recently. The main reason for this is that Io haven’t had any chicken to go with my noodles – I usually cook some in the over and slice it up nicely and then I’ve got it for a couple reviews. Well, I’ve been lazy – a bag thing. So let’s check out this chicken instant from Ruski – laziness ends here!

I’ve gotten a good amount of comments about this one. Ottogi Sesame Ramen seems to have filled an interesting niche in the noodle market! It’s pretty neat stuff – it has something called an ‘egg block.’ It is basically dehydrated egg that when introduced to the boiling water springs to life! I’ve had the bowl version (also known as a king cup) before, but never reviewed the pack. Let’s check out Ottogi Sesame Ramen!

Here’s another one sent by a kind reader in Sweden! Thank you! Master Kong is really popular in China and what surprises me is that there are no places that I’ve seen that you can get their products here in the United States. Luckily, people send them to me from time to time, but it seems to me that I really need to figure out a way to contact them and do a Meet The Manufacturer with them. The Chinese consume billions of packages of instant noodles a year and I’ve never done a Chinese Meet The Manufacturer yet! It’s about time. Well, let’s check out these seafood flavor Master Kong instant noodles!

This is one I got last month on my birthday trip to Canada! What’s interesting is that it’s one I tried to get along with a couple others from one store up there the previous year but there was some kind of thing that to use a card you’d need to spend at least $20 or something, and since the noodles I found were a far cry from that, I skipped it. I really was bummed – this is nowhere to be found here in the USA so thought this time around I’d see if the place had it – and it did! Let’s check out this Wei Lih onion variety.

Back in the day, there used to be a brand that was literally generic; they would have products with a white background and a very stark blocky black text. A can of dog food would simply say dog food. I think they’re long gone, but this is kind of the next best thing to it. No Name is a line by Canadian company Loblaw’s, a grocery store chain. Let’s give No Name a look!

This one is pretty special. When I traveled to Malaysia last year, we got to visit an island off the coast called Langkawi. We went to a couple of really nice Thai restaurants while there and I tried the tom yum soup. It was nothing like anything I’d tried previously; extremely strong broth, with a deep richness to it. It was one of the best things I got to try during my trip! I knew that MyKuali had a new Tom Yum variety and I was very keen on trying it. The day I left, I got a couple packs to bring home and try. That being said, let’s have another look at MyKuali Penang Red Tom Yum Goong and see what makes it so special.

The top ten instant noodles list is an annual post I do which is always quite a treat for me. I started reviewing back in 2002, but I really got going with it in June of 2010 – I’ve done nearly 1,600 reviews since then. It still boggles my mind that after trying so many, the industry continues to innovate and bring flavors forth that truly amaze me. With that, here are my absolute favorites – The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition.

Here’s one I got this year up in Canada on my birthday! My wife spied this one on a lower shelf . She’s got a knack of finding ones that I don’t notice which is really quite handy! It’s also interesting how many spaghetti varieties come from Vietnam! Anyways, let’s check out this New Way variety.

I recently reviewed a South Korean Jjajang instant noodle. Well, here’s another double J named instant noodle! Jjamppong! So, what’s jjamppong? Wikipedia has this to say:
You’ve probably seen the video they’re talking about in this news clip before. Not only that, you’ve probably seen many, many news articles about how horrible this is. I got an email yesterday about the video asking about my opinion. So here goes.

Here’s another bowl from Hao Way – this one a vegetarian laksa. Here’s a little about laksa from wikipedia:

I was contacted recently buy a couple guys with a neat idea and thought I would share it with everyone. They’ve started a service called Exotic Noods (catchy title, eh?) which allows you to subscribe to receive some interesting instant noodle varieties every month. Daniel and Marcus’ plan is simple: to get everyone trying something new every month. I think this is great; I see so many people having the same easy to source varieties when they couold be sampling varieties from all over the world with so many different flavor profiles and options. What’s in the box? Let’s see!

This was sent to me by Anders E. from South Korea – thank you very much! I was aware of the regular habanero ramen – the one that’s been #1 on my spicy list for a while now. But this one – jjajang ramen – it sounds pretty dang spicy. Especially if it’s anything like the other Dare You! ramen. For those of you not familiar with jjajang, here’s what wikipedia has to say about it:

Wasn’t sure what this box was that I received yesterday contained… Hmmm…

Ah! Ah Lai Penang White Curry! I reviewed this a while back – but this is the bihun version. Bihun (or beehoon) is the Malay name for rice vermicelli. Very curious about this one – will try it soon! Thanks!

Wasn’t expecting this one today – what’s inside?

One of my favorite Korean foods is tteotbokki (pronounced tah-bocky or tah-pocky). They’re like little tubes made from rice and thick and chewy. Usually it’s accompanied by a spicy sauce, egg, fish cake and more. Well, this is rabokki – ramyun with tteotbokki sauce! I had this a few years back and was really bummed it wasn’t available here in the United States. When I got this package in the mail I contacted my friend at Paldo and found out that indeed it will be on shelves here soon! Awesome!

I’ve reviewed two of these previously and haven’t been a big fan, giving one a 1.75 out of 5.0 stars and the other a 0.0 out of 5.0. I’m hoping this one will ‘break the mold’ as it were; I really like their canned soups! Let’s see if this cup has a little mmm mmm good in it!

Here’s one that’s spent a little time in my noodle hamper. I’ve been wondering what flavor it might be, although it really doesn’t say. It’s manufactured in Thailand, but definitely for the US market. Let’s check out this microwavable instant ramen.

Today is my wife Kit’s birthday! I thought I’d do up a post about the new restaurant I took her to.

These tend to be a little hard to figure out; what flavor? What brand? Luckily, I had help from Bobby Y. on the first of these I found, and knowing some of the standard flavors of Taiwanese instants, the translation I got of a page that came up from the bar code on Google was logical. Anyways, Let’s try this onion oil flavor Taiwanese noodle offering.