#36: Lucky Me! Itnok Chicken & Egg Flavor Nutrition Noodles

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Lucky Me: Itnok
Stars: ***
Notes: This is some really decent stuff. A very tasty chicken broth and very curious noodles round out this small bag. It seems this may be a children’s style of ramen also. I wonder what Itnok means – could it be the sound of the chicken emoting sheer joy being told it will be ground into a flavorful spice sack and packaged with a smiling likeness of itself? I’m hoping so, as if it were an unhappy chicken, Bock Bagok would be the name, ...see full post

#34: Maruchan Ramen Noodle Soup Shrimp Flavor

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Maruchan: Noodle Soup – Shrimp Flavor
Stars: **

Notes: I don’t know why, but the ramen companies that cater to the U.S. customer really dropped the ball here – there’s only one packet and the noodles are of very poor quality. However, this type of ramen’s saving grace is it’s ability to be used to make a bastardized version of ‘Spaetzel,” a Scandinavian dish. Get it here.
 ...see full post

#32 & #33: Koka Mi Hai Cua Crab Flavor and Prawn Flavor

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Mi Hai: Crab Flavor and Prawn Flavor Stars: *** 1/2
Notes: This is some really decent stuff – not a whole lot to it, but definitely tastes like crab and prawn.
The noodles are better than expected too. One note though, it does tend to give me extremely bad
heartburn. I don’t like that. ...see full post

#31: Myojo Ippeichan Yakisoba Japanese Style Noodles

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Myojo: Ippeichan Yakisoba Japanese Style Noodles
Stars: ****
Notes: This stuff was way cool – it comes in a box with four seasoning packets. So ya take em’ out and fill it up to the line with boiling water for 3 minutes. Then, you drain it [the lid has very keen drain spouts] and mix in the flavors. There’s vegetables, nori, soba sauce and this very odd packet of mustard mayonnaise. Wish that Dijonnaise tasted half as good. So yeah – very good box of ramen, and lives up to it’s claim of being Japanese style. [AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”B0028PDFQG”]
 ...see full post

#29: Namchow Mee-Jang Tom Yum Shrimp Bowl

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Namchow: Tom Yum Shrimp Bowl Stars: *** 1/2
Notes: Just polished it off a minute ago. Not extremely complicated but a very satisfying bowl.
Upon opening the packaging, the consumer is greeted by two small but very clear pouches
of which one contains a mix of chili oil/seasoning oil, and the other a base with
dehydrated meat ad vegetables. After leaving it to steep with some boiling water, the
end product is a bowl full of bright red broth and some really greasy noodles. Wasn’t a
really hot bowl; on the contrary, it was very citrussy flavored. But very very greasy. I
can’t begin to describe how greasy it is! A worthy bowl of noodles on it’s own. ...see full post

#28: Nissin Chikin Instant Ramen Noodles

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Nissin: ORIGINAL – 1958
Stars: *****
Notes: This is where ramen noodles all began. In fact, this is what
really got me into noodles. A long long time ago, I was able to get
Nissin brand ‘Roasted Ramen’ noodles at the normal supermarket.
For ages I tried to find it again, but finally found it at the local
oriental grocery. This stuff is awesome – it’s got the seasoning in the
noodles. You can also eat this stuff uncooked – like potato chips,
or sprinkle it on salad etc. This is a score – try it! ...see full post

#27: Nissin Demae Ramen Curry Flavor

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Nissin: Curry Demae
Stars: ****
Notes: Oh sweet elixir of life that brings exquisitely painful heartburn, curry be thy name. This stuff was excellent – very good curry flavor! The ‘demae’ variety is what we call Top Ramen in the United States. The character depicted on this pack is called ‘Ching Chai,’ and there’s a big following for this little guy in Japan. Really good with some sliced hard boiled egg on top of fried egg with runny yolk makes the broth richer. Get it here.
 ...see full post

#26: Nissin Yakisoba Noodles w/Mustard/Mayo Squirt

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Nissin: Soba Noodles w/Mustard/Mayo Squirt
Stars: ****
Notes: A very decent box noodle – lots of the squirty mayo/mustard goop and the noodles tasted very much like Sapporo’s chow mein style. The best part is squirting the magical mayonnaise-mustard packet all over the place! It’s very difficult to have the control needed to make the beautiful latticework as shown in the serving suggestion, so a picture of myself eating noodles was what I went for. Worth a try for sure. ...see full post

#23: Nissin Top Ramen Creamy Chicken Flavor

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Nissin: Top Ramen Creamy Chicken Flavor Stars: **** 1/2
Notes: As I have said before, dropped the ball here – really pedestrian. If you’re looking for something authentic, this isn’t it. One thing though – this is the company that originated ramen! This flavor caught my eye today as I feel under the weather and was
hungry. I threw a good tablespoon or two of minced onion [dehydrated] in it
and was pleasantly surprised. If I had another package of it, I would be hard
not to eat it right this instant. The high marks are earned for the flavor, but as far as adventure, it gets a single star. ...see full post

#22: Nongshim Ansungtangmyun Noodle Soup

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Nong Shim: Ansungtangmyun Noodle Soup
Stars: ***
This stuff was very odd – I enjoy odd things,
so that’s why the 3 stars. It was like an udon
style noodle first off, and came with a
seasoning packet that was enormous. I ended
up having jalapeno bread with it because it comes
out more like a hot flavor spaghetti than anything. ...see full post

#21: Nongshim Champong Oriental Style Noodle

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Nong Shim: Champong Oriental Noodles
Stars: **
Notes: First off, this was a pretty big package; more like very big. There was
a pack of dehydrated fish as well – octopus, cuttlefish, seaweed etc.
Also, the noodles were Udon style [extra thick]. After I made it, I
realized that the broth was quite dark and deep red. The octopus was
black too – and after the noodles, drinking the last bit of broth was
what I imagine a ton of fish blood and salt would be like. ...see full post

#19: Nongshim Shin Ramyun Noodle Soup

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Nong Shim: Shin Ramyun
Stars: ***

Much better than the Neoguri but much the same.
This stuff’s pretty spicy and salty, and the noodles
are a bit better than Neoguri. Like Neoguri, they
are udon style and the noodles are in a condensed
round shape out of the package, easily dropped into
a small round pot. Get it here.
 ...see full post

#18: Ottogi Jin Ramen Hot Taste Oriental Style Noodle

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Ottogi: Jin Ramen – Hot Taste
Stars: ***
Notes:This is quite good – the noodles are pretty garden variety, but there’s a nice quantity of them. I made the noodles as per the instructions on the package, but I drained a good portion of the water off before putting them in my bowl, adding the hot flavor soup base and the veggies. I put a single fried egg on top and voila! A good, robust and filling bowl of ramen. Tasty stuff! Get it here.
 ...see full post

#16: Samyang Kalgug-Su (Spicy)

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Samyang: Kalgug-Su (Spicy)
Stars: *** 1/2
Notes: A very good package of noodles. This one took quite a bit of looking around to find out what brand/type it is. So the noodles are very much like Indomie’s special – but they are VERY wide – wide as egg noodles! Was a great bowl of soup with the
only exception being that it had some dehydrated mushrooms in it that were
extremely foul. I thought since the name Kalgug sounded like an overture to regurgitation, that word must refer to the mushrooms. ...see full post

#15: Samyang Pojangmacha U-Dong

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Samyang: Pojangmacha U-Dong
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: These were some interesting noodles. First off, they are called ‘u-dong’ and not ‘udon.’ Second, they had something called ‘sea tangle.’ I believe that the sea tangle is the true redeeming quality of this package. As far as the flavor, it wasn’t the best in the world. Wasn’t really seafoody… I dunno – didn’t really taste different – just ‘other’ seafoody, and smelled good. I mostly enjoyed the very exciting sea tangle. ...see full post

#13: Sapporo Ichiban Chow Mein Japanese Style Noodles

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Sapporo Ichiban: Chow Mein
Stars: ***1/2
Notes: Now this stuff is quite different – and quite good as well. It definitely
tastes like a greasy, heavily sauce laden noodle. The broth is dark brown
mainly because of all the soy, but it’s not all that salty. It is quite good
and I highly recommend it. One of the more compelling packets in this one is a little cellophane pouch of ‘green laver.’ It’s seaweed powder and adds a delicately mossy green shade to the concoction if added like pepper evenly to the top. This is a must for the adventurous and keen on the weird factor.
 ...see full post

#12: Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Shrimp Flavor Soup

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Sapporo Ichiban: Shrimp Flavor
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: Wasn’t all that jazzed about this stuff – I do think I like the Maruchan Shrimp a
tad bit better. The difference however, is that this package of noodles is very
dense – lots of noodles! A plus, but not enough to make me stoked. Get it here.
 ...see full post

#10: Smack Vegetable Beef Ramen Noodles

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Smack: Vegetable Beef
Stars: * 1/2

Notes: Receiving the one and a half stars primarily because of its’ bold daring name,
‘Smack’ is still even in this form not my drug of choice. An American Union
Made noodle through and through. Says it only takes three minutes, but the
noodles were dense and very spiteful. The flavor was a standard, unoriginal
vegetable beef which you’d find in a can of soup. Would only recommend this
brand to those who would just use the noodle for frying with eggs, and still I don’t
think eggs require that much punishment. ...see full post

#9: Sutah Cup Noodle

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Sutah: Cup Noodle
Stars: **
Notes: What a strange little cup noodle… A deep red broth with some strange
little bits of something. Not sure what they are – possibly soto? Not sure. One
of the items I was happily able to purchase across the street at the Markette Deli
on State Street in Marysville, Washington. UPC bar code 8801073101197
 ...see full post

#6: Vifon Nam Vang Oriental Style Instant Noodle

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Vifon: Nam Vang
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: This stuff wasn’t bad – basically a typical salty rice noodle snack ramen from Vietnam. It would not do well with an egg though, as the noodles weren’t the most strong and a lot of them turned to an almost gelatinous state – not from overcooking I assure you. Other than the weak fortitude of the noodles, the broth was fine as were the dried vegetables. ...see full post

#5: Vifon Phnom Penh Style Asian Style Instant Rice Noodles

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Vifon: Hu Tiu Nam Vang [“Phnom Penh” style] Asian Style Instant Rice Noodles
Stars: ***1/2
Notes: Good bowl of noodles – Rice noodles with floating vegetable things [don’t think they were mushrooms, but they definately were onions] and a clear broth. The broth was quite good and went very nicely with the noodles. Probably the best cambodian style noodles I’ve had. ...see full post

More about the old

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So first a bit about one of my favorites and one of my nemeses. First, Indomie Jumbo BBQ Chicken instant noodles. This stuff is a perfect example of well thought out noodles, in that they have a few packets in there for more preparation fun, and there’s a lot of noodles. These are of the five star ilk, but I have but one complaint about them: unless you eat them quickly, after you cook ’em, they dry out and get frumpy and obstinate on the fork. ...see full post

Back from the deadness…

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Over 7 years have passed since the inception of ramenrater.com. For much of the past few years though, I haven’t really done much with it due to other interests. I’m happy to say I’ve decided to spend more time with ramenrater.com again and update it. Above, you can see the A-M and N-Z links – they do as the old site did. Reviews will be done in blog format from here on out, and henceforward will be searchable by brand and flavor, etcetera. ...see full post