Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Found this one down in Pleasanton, California during our road trip to visit family in August. Boy – that was a journey! We took Miles (almost 2 years old) and Miri (8 months old). I can say that car seats would be comfy I think but if I were that age I sure wouldn’t want to sit in one for that long – I think the way down was 18 hours and we broke the drive back into two chunks – I think altogether that was about 24 hours with all the stops.
Recently, I added a chat feature to The Ramen Rater, allowing readers to comment and ask me questions directly. It’s been very eye-opening; great to hear about why people are here and what they’re interested in seeing. One thing I have been asked repeatedly is ‘when will there be an update to the Japan list?’ Well, I heard you. The last list came out in 2014. I’ve been reviewing a LOT of Japanese varieties lately, and it looks like there will be an influx of Japanese varieties for the foreseeable future crossing my desk. This most likely will be an annual list from now on. With that being said I should also mention that with the huge amount of varieties that are released annually in Japan, many are discontinued. While this is the ‘of all time list,’ spanning all my reviews, I try to make sure that what is on it is available. This is very hard with Japanese varieties. Finally, I should mention also that if you’re an instant noodle manufacturer from Japan or elsewhere for that matter and you’d like me to review your products, I encourage you to use the contact form and drop me a line. That being said, let’s take a look at this new list, encompassing my favorite and most memorable reviews from the over 2,500 reviews I’ve done to date.
Today we have a special set of fancy ramen. I was asked by IIppin to pick five things to check out from their store to show everyone. Ippin is an online retailer of very fancy Japanese things. Thanks! This set looked like a good bet. The package arrived from Japan yesterday. Busy day yesterday was – this and two other videos to record. Let’s have a look inside!
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Firstly, thanks to Bobby Y. with help on this variety’s translation! So I found this one up in Canada at a big Asian supermarket a month or so ago. It was at the height of pre-mid-Autumn festival, and mooncakes were in full force. I mean, this place had the biggest display of mooncake I’ve ever seen – even had special display mooncakes that were at least 2 feet across and!
Many of you will remember the rematch video I did. I tried the ultra spicy Isoyama Shoji 18 Prohibited instant ramen from Japan. It’s one I haven’t been able to conquer and just seriously spicy. I mean, this stuff just throws down and takes no prisoners! Let’s open this box and look within – not only at the instant noodles, but some other products by Isoyama Shoji.
I thought I was out of KOKA varieties to review, but definitely not yet. They sent every single SKU they produce for their Meet The Manufacturer. Thanks again – that was really awesome! I have a limit of 15 reviews for a Meet The Manufacturer series, so the extras go into the regular rotation.
So here’s one I found while coming back from our big family drive to California this summer. I found it in the Beaverton Uwajimaya actually. I got about 10 varieties or so there during our pit stop on the way home.
Here’s another one sent by Zenpop. Zenpop is a subscription box service where you can get many varieties of Japanese products sent to your door monthly. Here’s what they had to say about this variety –
Recently I was contacted by a Japanese company called Hobby Link Japan. They asked if I would be interested in picking some varieties from their instant ramen selection to show everyone and I thought this would be pretty cool. Well, let’s open up this box and see what I picked!
Today it’s a new reformulation Cup Noodles from Singapore. Nissin Singapore looks to have done newly formulated versions of pretty much all their Cup Noodles over there and they sound really good. I mean, more crabtastic chilli crab – can’t shrug that off. For those of you who haven’t tried Chilli Crab – here’s a little from Wikipedia –
Kicking off Top Ten List season, I bring you the South Korean Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time for 2018. I looked at how many varieties from South Korea I’ve reviewed to date and got 326 so far. South Korean varieties continue to evolve and innovate in different ways in order to satisfy the changing needs and tastes of the consumer – definitely keeps things interesting. As always, I ask any companies, whether in South Korea or elsewhere – that would like me to review their products to send me an email! I am happy to talk to you! Without further delay, let’s have a look at the Top Ten South Korean Instant Noodles list for 2018 – the best South Korean varieties available out of the over 360 South Korean varieties from the over 2,500 varieties of instant noodles I’ve reviewed thus far.
Today, I have a box that came a couple days ago to show you – the latest offering from Exotic Noods. You can buy a single box or subscribe to their boxes monthly. They offer varieties from all over the world. Let’s have a look inside and see what’s going on here!
So this is one that the company sent to me – thanks! So this is one of the new Taste Of Asia series, a range that has some really great varieties. I really liked the Sukiyaki Beef from their first three kinds and then they came out with this one and also a Tom Yum which I would say is my favorite so far.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve had a version of Neoguri to review. Actually, wait – not that extremely long – they came out with the Neoguri dry stir noodle one recently. So this is one I got up in Canada a couple of months ago.
It’s snack time! So today we have a ramen snack from Taiwan. There a whole slew of different flavors and varieties – and shapes for that matter of these products. The first thing I do notice about these is that they’re called cubes, however, they look more like short cylinders to me. This being the case, it begs the question ‘doesn’t a crunchy cylinder sound good?’ I think they went with the right name, to be honest; BBQ Cubes sounds better than BBQ Cylinders. Let’s have a look.
Seven years ago I first heard about Momofuku Ando Day. I was curious about it and very happy it existed – so much so that I decided that since I devote so much time to instant noodles and reviewing them, I ought to pay homage to their creator.
Found these while up in Canada. So my wife found a show a while back called 90 Day Fiancee where two people either meet online or when one is on vacation in a foreign country and think they want to be married. It then follows their process of getting a visa to spend 90 days in the United States and then whether they indeed are married or not. There’s a new show called Before The 90 Days before a proposal has been made. So on this show, we were watching and they follow a man who goes to the Philippines and meets a girl he’s been talking to online. Well, she picks him up at the airport and the next day brings him to her family’s home and they put on a big spread and cook up Lechon. Lechon is a roast pig, turned over a fire pit for hours and hours that’s been stuffed with chicken and vegetables like spring onion. Long story short, her family is far from wealthy and they came together to make this big feast and he turns his nose up at it.
Been forever since I tried Shanxi cold noodle. I think perhaps I cooked them wrong. Regardless, I know how to cook them correctly thanks to the nice folks at Snackoo! Snackoo is a subscription box service startup in San Francisco. They’ve got a lot of neat products – many I’ve never seen before – check ’em out!
I could be wrong but I think I might be done with all of the KOKA varieties they sent – wow! So these ones have been a joy to review – a thick soup with bits of noodle – less of a noodle soup, more of a soup with noodles. Let’s have a look!
I believe this is the last of the new Straight Noodle/Bar Noodle Demae Ramen range from Nissin Hong Kong – really sad that I’ve tried them all! So let’s look at shoyu and then tonkotsu – Wikipedia if you please –
I read an article posing the question ‘is $8 ramen worth it?’ and decided I’d better find out. Well, I went to eBay and found no $8 ramen because it was $14.98. Let’s take a look.
These came by way of Snackoo – a company that supplies you with great snack boxes, containing all sorts of fascinating things as well as ramen noodles. Why not check them out?
Well, this is something completely different. Definitely a departure from their usual line . Maruchan’s Instant Lunch range is very popular in the United States. The flavors are generally in the domestic flavor profiles ranging from your standard chicken to California Vegetable to Cheddar Cheese.
Yet another leftover from the KOKA Meet The Manufacturer series. I’ve still got a bunch more! Wow! So this one should be really great – I love KOKA’s Laksa Singapura every time I try a different version. They make it in quite a few – rice, wheat, fried, non-fried. Let’s crack into this bowl and see what’s within.
Alright – bring on the confusion, the shock and the WTF’s. Yes, mayonnaise is very popular as a topping in Japan. Why? Well, it’s freaking awesome – it’s tasty and works very well. Yakisoba without it is just not as good.
Once you get outside the United States, cilantro is known as coriander. This is actually the second coriander variety I’ll be trying from Japan. Didn’t expect that to be a popular flavor for Japan, but hey, why not. I really like coriander. This one comes from Zenpop.jp. They have monthly ramen boxes that are a really great deal – definitely, check them out! Okay – let’s crack this one open.
Here we are again with the Fire Noodle Challenge. This is the Samyang Foods Mala Buldak Bokkeummyun. So, all over YouTube, people are wincing and screaming as they choke down packs of Mala – why? Well, for some reason, they are under the impression that it’s 4x spicy. Don’t get me wrong – it’s quite spicy – it’ll kick your butt. But it is a far cry from the 2x Spicy Nuclear Fire Noodle, that’s for sure.
This is one we found at an Indian grocery in Pleasanton, California this Summer. I really like the fact that India has so many different instant noodle varieties and that I’ve not tried so many of them – like every one that I find is a little precious gem. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Manchow –
Here is another one of the KOKA varieties I have left over from their Meet The Manufacturer of earlier this year. So as I said yesterday – not a particular fan of mushroom. But also as I said today, I’m hoping today will be a day of mushroom goodness. Let’s have a look!
Happy New Year! This is a new box from Zenpop.JP – they do a few different kinds of boxes but this one’s just ramen. Nine varieties – pretty impressive! Use coupon code RAMENRATER to receive a discount at http://bit.ly/2TPTca5 ! Let’s have a look inside to see what’s going on!
So here’s one I got up in Canada in July. So Nissin Japan does regional varieties – there are tons of Nissin branches all over the world – Nissin Germany is one of them. This is one for the Japanese market and looks a lot like the German Cup Noodles varieties.
I’ve been doing a lot of spicy noodle videos on YouTube recently. There’s a particular one that I tried and just couldn’t handle. The main reason for this is that first off, it’s ultra spicy. The second was that I attempted it when I was sick with the flu. I mean hey – it was from Japan and I thought I should be able to handle it; never run into any spicy noodle from Japan that I found too spicy to eat.
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 –
Yay! Another new variety of the popular Buldak Bokkeummyun ‘Fire Noodle Challenge’ series. This one’s called Carbo. At first, I saw the name and the heart and thought low carbohydrate, but that’s definitely not the case here.
This is the MyKuasli Penang White Curry Noodle variety that comes from Singapore – rather it’s made for Singapore. I don’t believe it’s different except for the packaging, but to be honest, any chance UI have to review another MyKuali pack is worth it to me to do so. It’s just a no-brainer; I love their stuff. So let’s have a look.
Here’s another from the spicy Hot Heads series from Maggi India. From the picture, it certainly looks tasty – although the picture doesn’t show a barbeque pepper but an onion or shallot. Regardless, I would have to say the onion is my favorite vegetable. I could eat onions on anything – Well, maybe not pie. Unless it’s a meat pie. I’m talking a dessert kind of pie – yeah, I wouldn’t prefer onions on that. But who knows. Alright, enough of this – let us have a look!
Got this big box of fascination and had to wait a whole day before I had the chance to do the video unboxing! This was a serious struggle but that’s what I do for you – you get to see what’s in the boxes I do the videos of at the same time I do! Let’s tear into it!
Sp here’s one I haven’t tried before from a nice premium series by Nissin Singapore. They have a Kyushu Black and a Tokyo Shoyu as well. A couple days ago I tried a different one – Nissin Hong Kong’s Bar Noodle Hokkaido Miso Tonkotsu. A little further west we have this one! So here’s a little refresher on miso ramen from Wikipedia –
Here’s a pretty well known variety from Japan but actually made in Indonesia for Singapore and Malaysia. This one was sent to me by Nissin Singapore (thank you!) and has some big differences when you compare to it’s Japanese cousin – spicy mayonnaise to start with. Let’s unwrap this yakisoba and have a look inside U.F.O.!
