Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Here’s one I brought back in my suitcase from Taiwan from my November 2017 trip to Taiwan for the Taiwan International Food Expo. I really hope to live in Taiwan someday. No joke – it’s really that neat there. Let’s crack this meaty beast open and see what’s inside. By the way, no, you’re not going to find this in the United States – it’s got a retort pouch full of meat and that kind of makes it off the table for export. Let’s begin.
A few weeks ago, I commented on a post I saw on The Halal Food Blog‘s Instagram. Always really neat things to see there! Well, I saw a picture showing some instant noodles and that they were in Uzbokistan! I was immediately curious and they offered to send me some! Well, today I’ve got a box and it’s Unboxing Time, so let’s get to it!
Here’s another neat one from Zenpop.JP. Thank you! So Zenpop has all sorts of monthly boxes including ramen boxes. Nine instant ramen in one box for a good price – check ’em out! Here’s what they had to say about this one –
When it comes to my favorites and the annual The Ramen Rster’s top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time list, I like to take nothing for granted. This one has been number one for the past two years and I’m guess it will be so again this year – but I have to try it first just to make sure. Did they change the recipe? Has my taste changed? It gets a little tougher every year with this list as every year there’s about 400 new varieties I’ve been sampling. Anyways, here we go – let give it another try and see how it stacks up!
Another month, another box! The guys at Exotic Noods have been working overtime to get a neat box together and here it is. Let’s see what’s inside and what you can expect from their monthly subscription boxes.
I got a text a few weeks back asking if I’d like some Italian instant noodles. A couple from Illinois was on vacation over in Italy and they wanted to get me some. My answer of course was yes – I’m still floored how mice my readers are! Thank you so much! Let’s take a look!
Ah, curry. I’ve loved curry since I was very young. My mother would make a curried chicken liver over rice dish that to this day I crave. Unfortunately, she’s not keen on the chicken liver that they sell at the store anymore. Thankfully, curry is popular around the world and there are no end in sight of options to get my curry fix. When it comes to the instant noodle realm, this is one of my my absolute favorite avenues. It’s been on the Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time list for years – both in Wholegrain form and the original. Let’s crack it open and see what’s in this big pack of noodles!
This one really impressed me in the last year and I wanted to have it again. The folks at Mom’s Dry Noodle were kind enough to send another pack of it for review. I thought a fresh taste immediately before finalizing the top ten would be a good plan, and so here we go!
Well, it’s that time again. Since the last The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time list came out , I’ve reviewed 383 different varieties. I want to thank the companies and individuals who have sent me varieties I could not easily get. Incidentally, all of these are reviewed the same way – I follow instructions to the letter and taste each variety before I add any external garnish.. I figure that a naked bowl of noodles every day would be quite boring, plus it has given many ideas on what to add to them. As always, if you are an instant noodle company or a reader who wants me to try one that I’ve not, please contact me. With that, let’s have a look at the top ten for 2018 – the finest and most memorable instant noodles I’ve tried.
Alright so about these – I received a 5-pack from the nice folks at the Indomie booth at the Taiwan International Food Expo in Taipei, Taiwan in November 2017. I asked a little about them. This pack you see here is specifically for Taiwan. So, what’s different? Well for starters, lots of Chinese on the pack. The main difference however is the actual soizie of the package. This one’s a little bit bigger than the ones found elsewhere, and this is unique to Taiwan. You can’t get them like this anywhere else in the world. Period. A huge difference? No, but still a difference. Here’s a little info from Wikipedia –
Here’s one I found up in Canada that I was going to show during the Momofuku Ando Day #7 video, but it was already running way too long and so I skipped it. This looks to be a regular chikin ramen with soy sauce flavor – let’s look inside and see what we have here.
Today is the last of this great series! I want to thank the mighty nice folks at Mike’s Mighty Good for facilitating this Alright it’s beef pho. Very curious about what this one will be like. Let’s find out!
So this is the second pork tonkotsu variety offered by Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen – this being the non-spicy version. Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about this style of ramen –
Here’s another vegetarian friendly variety from Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen. This one’s inspired by Korean kimchi. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –
Last time it was fried garlic chicken and this time it’s just chicken. Let’s give it a try!
So today’s variety is one I’ve been curious about. This is a pork tonkotsu from the United States – something I don’t usually think is going to be great. But if it does as well as everything else has, I think it’s going to be good. Here’s a little about tonkotsu from Wikipedia-
Alright so today it’s a Vegetarian variety. To be honest, I used to enjoy a lot of condensed soup and this was my favorite flavor. So, I suppose it has a bit to live up to as far as the name. Let’s have a look inside this cup and see what lurks within!
Okay now I’m seeing a pattern. The cups exclaim that they have rich broth while the packaged versions contain insanely rich broth. All I can say is in the last two, I liked the broth. Now to the topic of miso – here’s a little from Wikipedia –
So Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen also comes in cups. Spicy beef sounds good. I’ve been a spicy fan for a long time. I just noticed on the pack reviewed yesterday it mentioned ‘insanely rich broth’ whereas today we have ‘rich broth.’ With a slightly mellower tone, let’s pop the lid and look within.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Usually, the first instant product a noodle company will put out will be chicken flavor. In fact, the first instant noodle product that was ever produced was chicken flavor. Chicken is just about universally palatable, and most don’t have a religious rule against it. A chicken instant noodle is the beginning and so that’s where we will start today. Fried garlic chicken sounds really good, and on the package, it promises an ‘insanely rich broth.’ Alright – the proof is in the noodle – let’s give it a try!
After I had quite a few people asking me if I’d tried or had any information on Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen, I decided to reach out to the company. They were receptive to doing a Meet The Manufacturer series and so that’s what we have going on today! Here’s the unboxing of the samples that they sent for review.
Interview With Mike’s Mighty Good * Product Samples From Mike’s Mighty Good * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Fried Garlic Chicken Flavor Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Spicy Beef Flavor Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Savory Miso Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Vegetarian Vegetable Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Spicy Pork Tonkotsu Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Chicken Flavor Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Vegetarian Kimchi Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Pork Tonkotsu Ramen Soup * Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen Beef Pho Ramen Soup
five years ago, there was a big kerfuffle involving myself and the entire island of Taiwan. They weren’t on the Top Ten 2013 Edition and they were angry – to put it mildly. I decided that a little noodle diplomacy was the ticket here and so put out a call for Taiwanese companies to contact me, send me samples and see how it goes. A-Sha was the first company to come calling and since then they’ve kept me updated on their new offerings – let’s have a look at their new Guanmiao noodle!
I’ve been kind of on a weird crusade lately. It has come to my attention that the popular Mala variety of Buldak Bokkeummyun is being touted by many people across the Interwebs as 4x Spicy. This is totally untrue – it’s really more like 0.5x. I did an informative video presentation about it – check it out here!
This one comes by way of Japan Ramen Box. Japan Ramen Box is a new subscription box outfit with neat varieties to check out! Go visit their website and have a look!
I got this box the other day and I honestly expected it to be samples for an upcoming Taiwanese Meet The Manufacturer. Well, as it turns out these were samples I didn’t know were coming or what they were! Have a look at this video to see what’s going on here!
Thanks go out to a fellow names Daniel from Brazil for sending along a box of different instant noodles from his home country! I’m really excited as while I’ve only reviewed a scant few from the South American country, what I’ve tried I’ve been really impressed with. Let’s check it out!
I’ll be honest – I’m a huge fan of green curry. I’ve loved it for y ears. This one from Yum Yum sounds interesting and I’m definitely curious how it stacks up against other I’ve tried. Here’s a little from Wikipedia about green curry –
Alright, folks! Today I bring you the brand new Samyang Foods Jjajang Buldak Bokkeummyun. 1,920 SHU is the heat level. But wait – what’s jjajang? Let’s find out with some info from Wikipedia!
What we have here is a squid snack – what’s that you ask? Well, they dehydrate squid somehow and seasoning it. I read once there was a a package of this kind of thing that said ‘chewing gum of Asians. Here’s some background on this from Wikipedia –
Okay so a week or so ago I got a big package from Prima Taste over in Singapore (thanks again!) – full of tasty stuff! Well, last Sunday I ended up getting the worst stomach flu I think I’ve ever had and it was really crummy. Really did a number on med and put me in bed a few days. This was not from what they sent – let’s make that clear – the stomach flu ios going around. Well, once the clouds started to lift, I was hungry. Didn’t want to do anything spicy and something tasty. My wife made me this Prima Juzz’s Mee with some hard boiled egg and cut up breaded chicken (yeah they’re chicken nuggets – we have kids and hey it’s protein so don’t give me any guff) and some instant rice thrown in there too.
Today, we come to the end of our Mr. Noodle journey with a black vinegar variety. Black vinegar tends to give foods a kind of tart or sour hit – one I immensely enjoy. Let’s bid farewell to Mr. Noodle Meet The Manufacturer.
This one sounds interesting. While not a big fan of mushrooms, I do find that the onion is probably my favorite vegetable next to bell peppers. Well, maybe at par with bell pepper. I really like onions and bell peppers, let’s just leave it at that. Let’s take a look inside and see how it is.
Today we’ve got a green package. I’ve kind of tried to review them in the order of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, violet) and while there’s no blue I think it’s going pretty well in that respect. Hey! Here’s a little info from Wikipedia about pesto –
Today, it’s a flavor I don’t honestly see a lot in Taiwanese noodles, that flavor being curry. Barbecue curry sounds interesting too – very curious about this one.
Today, it’s a spicy sesame paste variety. For a long time, I thought anything sesame flavored would be from sesame oil. This most certainly is not the case. Sesame paste is much different – a much different flavor. It’s almost like a peanut flavor. Let’s take a look.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to pick what I want to review. I mean, I have quite a few options sitting next to me in the high security noodle vaults… So I took the box of samples over to my wife and opened it. There are six in all and the tops have different colors but no mention of what they are on top. I asked her to simply pick three. Well, here’s the first one.
A box arrived from Taiwan. These are product samples from Mr. Noodles – a company I met at the Taiwan International Food Show in November 2017. They offered to give me samples then and there, but I had to decline as my luggage was already packed with noodles.
Interview With Mr. Noodle * Product Samples From Mr. Noodle * Mr. Noodle Sichuan Flavor Spicy Hot Noodles * Mr. Noodle Spicy Sesame Paste Noodles * Mr. Noodle Barbecue Sauce Curry Taste Noodle * Mr. Noodle Pesto Sesame Taste Noodles * Mr. Noodle Onions Mushroom Spice Taste Noodle * Mr. Noodle Black Vinegar With Spicy Taste
This box arrived by way of my buddy the DHL driver. So I initially thought they were something else and started the video – then I see it’s not so if it seems like I’m a little funny in this one, it’s sheer embarrassment because of that… I had to improvise because I’d opened it – so watch for that. Okay – let’s crack it open!
