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.
#20: Nongshim Neoguri Seafood & Spicy Noodle Soup
Nong Shim: Neoguri [Seafood’n’Spicy]
Stars: **
This stuff is salty and weird. The noodles are nasty, but
the broth is very potable and potent. Becomes a
darkish red rust color and is strangely thick with bits
of octopus etc in it. Get it here.
#19: Nongshim Shin Ramyun Noodle Soup
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.
#18: Ottogi Jin Ramen Hot Taste Oriental Style Noodle
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.
#17: Quickchow Pancit Palabok
Quickchow: Pancit Palabok
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: This is an odd one. I have tried quite a few Filipino ramens, but I would have
to say Quickchow is probably the best. This is a rather dry rice noodle ramen. The flavor
is interesting. Only way I know how to describe it.
#16: Samyang Kalgug-Su (Spicy)
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.
#15: Samyang Pojangmacha U-Dong
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.
#14: Samyang Hot
Samyang: Hot
Stars: *** 1/2
Notes: A pretty big, pretty good bowl of noodles. Make sure to cook it for extra long as it’s not good stuff, just not the best quality noodle. Dropped a couple eggs into it while cooking – came out awesome. 2 packets of seasoning, one vegetables and dehydrated meat, one just soup base.
#13: Sapporo Ichiban Chow Mein Japanese Style Noodles
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.
#12: Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Shrimp Flavor Soup
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.
#11: Six Fortune Chicken Flavor Instant Soup Noodle
Six Fortune: Chicken Flavor Instant Soup Noodle
Stars: **
Notes: Your basic chicken flavor noodles. The only reason it got two
stars was that it had pretty good noodles.
#10: Smack Vegetable Beef Ramen Noodles
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.
#9: Sutah Cup Noodle
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
#8: Tung-I Chinese Beef Flavor Instant Rice Noodles
Tung-I: Chinese Beef
Stars: ***
Notes: This was quite good – the base tasted like nothing I’ve tried before. Very much
like a Mongolian beef sauce – was really good.
#7: Ve Wong Mushroom Pork Flavor Instant Oriental Noodle Soup
Ve Wong: Mushroom Pork
Stars: *
Notes: Yuck, This stuff smelled and tasted like mushrooms.
In fact it had bits of dehydrated mushrooms. I don’t
really enjoy mushrooms all that much, especially
the ones that are slimy. The soup wasn’t even edible.
#6: Vifon Nam Vang Oriental Style Instant Noodle
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.
#5: Vifon Phnom Penh Style Asian Style Instant Rice Noodles
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.
#4: Wai Wai Oriental Style Instant Noodles
Wai Wai: Oriental Style Instant Noodles
Stars: *
Notes: One star. It reminds me way too much of their other ramen, called ‘Sour Soup.’ This is pure gut-wrenching heartburn ladies and gentlemen! Make sure you have some Tums and a bed available for the next day or so.
#3: Wai Wai Tom Yum Shrimp Flavor
Wai Wai: Tom Yum Shrimp Flavor
Stars: **
Notes: Some pretty damn hot noodles! On the back they have put this style’s motto: ‘Softer Noodles,
Quicker To Be Served.’ It was true, these cooked up quickly, but they were insidiously hot, and
this annoyed me. Also, not even a hint of shrimp flavor.
#2: Wai Wa: Tom Yum Chili Flavor
Wai Wai: Tom Yum Chili Flavor
Stars: **
Notes: Some pretty damn hot noodles! On the back they have put this style’s motto: ‘Softer Noodles,
Quicker To Be Served.’ It was true, these cooked up quickly, but they were insidiously hot, and
this annoyed me.
#1: Westbrae Miso Ramen
Westbrae: Miso Ramen
Stars: 1/2
Notes: This stuff ranks very low on my chart of good ramen. It’s marketed obviously to the
‘health conscious’ ramenphile, however, it’s $3.00 a pack price and paltry, weak wheat
noodles lacked character, as did it’s bland tasteless broth. I was very, very, very
b DISAPPOINTED.
More about the old
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.
Back from the deadness…
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.