Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
When we get boneless skinless chicken, the pieces are massive. So, I usually roll up my sleeves (I hate that term) and get all meat-mucky, cutting and bagging then tossing in the freezer. I do a lot of small pieces for reviews, but some not. Yesterday’s review employed a larger than necessary piece, so I have leftovers. I figured I’d better find a chicken variety and here’s the one I picked. Sounded nice – here we go!
You might be surprised, but this is a different version of this. Here is the version I got from an Australian friend. If you look at that review, you’ll notice a key difference; one that I’m sad and rather surprised was omitted as it was really the most unique part of it. Let’s give it a try.
After hunting for ages for this one I looked it up on the Walmart website and boom – here it is. Why this wouldn’t be everywhere alongside the tonkotsu and Korean styled variants I’ve no clue. I figure this could go two ways and hopefully the direction it does go is a good one. Let’s boot up the microwave and give it a try.
Been wanting to try this one every since I saw it was out – saw it at 99 Ranch Market but ultimately got it at Boo Han Market in Edmonds, Washington. Dig that crazy font! It certainly looks like Shin from the imagery, however must be somewhat different. Let’s find out! Made in South Korea and packaged for US sale.
Found this at the HMart in Lynnwood, WA. This one is interesting; it’s an export version, but specifically for where isn’t clear – so it gets the Indonesia checkbox. It’s made in Indonesia, but labeling shows it being for the US market. Let’s cook.
Here’s the last of a set of varieties that came in an enormous bucket I found at a local grocery for CNY. These have been pretty good! Let’s try this last one.
I tried this right when it came out – it used to have different packaging to a slight degree – the logo as well has changed, and since my son wants to try every Buldak out there, here we are. Let’s check it out!
This was a score. Why? Well, I hit Grocery Outlet yesterday in search of noodles to review (it happens from time to time) and saw these. I had to do a double take – the multipack was $1.99. Why so cheap? Expiring next month. No prob lem there. I’ve not reviewed this in ages so I thought an update would be nice especially at that price point. Let’s cook it up!
A neat thing recently is how my son who has been incredibly inflexible on foods he would try now is interested in noodles. Albeit only dry varieties as he’s not into soup whatsoever, it’s quite a departure for him and really nice to see. He actually ate a pack of Indomie on two occasions recently for dinner! The thing we do is exclude the fried onion – it’s all about texture for him and those wonderful little bits would kill it for him still. I think he’ll get there one of these days though. Let’s cook it up!
Alright so I think this is it. I’ve reviewed the cups, the bowls, and the pack versions of this and the spicy version once this is done. They really did a sweeping rebranding – even the name., Let’s cook it up!
A new costume change for this one. I’ve been reviewing this range literally for decades – they’ve always been readily available and honestly pretty good. Let’s give this spicy flavored variant a sampling.
Think I found this at Asian Family Market on 130th & Aururoa. Anyways, it’s all in Korean with a nondescript info sticker. A little image translate and bar code lookup helped with this one. Last one of the week.
Didn’t think I’d see one of these again unless it arrived from overseas – but I found this in a local Asian market which made me very happy. This contains a stewed egg which I’ve never seen in anything I’ve found in the United States. Egg! Golden broth! Two types of noodle! Wow. Let’s give this a look!
Hit a couple Asian markets last weekend and found this and its non-spicy counterpart. I’ve been trying to get my hands on everything in this new Otoki range. Not a super fan of the new labeling; I really liked the standard yellow style. But who knows this might be a bit of a recipe change. Let’s give it a try on this rainy day.
Here’s another one from HongKongFoodies.com! Go check ’em out as they’ve got a treasure trove of hard to find Demae Iccho variants! This is a straight noodle variant with two servings and the black garlic oil. Let’s kick it into high gear.
Found this locally… I think I saw this called Ramen Daren years ago up in Canada. Tang means soup in Chinese, and daren means master so it’s really the same thing but a little goofy since the first or sencond word is a different language than the first. Either way, I’m happy about these – I found 5 different varieties of them. Let’s try this Chinese take on Korean style ramyun a try.
Well, well, well… My son now is very interested in trying tteokbokki. It will go one of two ways. I’ll do it up then we shall do a mukbang (both videos below. So he will either like it or barely try it and say I don’t like it. I guess we shall see. He does like carboinara Buldak, so it’s possible he’ll like it – we will just have to wait and see…
Time for the second variety from the mega bucket! Found this at the new Y&Y Supermarket in Lynnwood, Washington. Was the only thing I got but there were quite a few other things I wish I had. It’s a big bucket maybe 15 orso inches tall, containing a lot of different varieties. $13 was indeed a good deal for such a large thing. CNY promos are where it’s at! Let’s try this one out.
Here’s another Rap Snacks variety sent by The Fat Hipster – thanks! As usual, not expecting a lot from these but I guess we shall see. Let’s give ’em a try.
Here’s another one from HongKongFoodies.com! Go check ’em out as they’ve got a treasure trove of hard to find Demae Iccho variants! This isn’t ramen – it’s macaroni. It’s not macaroni and cheese but macaroni and broth – should be quite nice! Let’s cook it up!
Another one in the long line of Korean toowoomba variants. This one looks a little different – it seems like this is definitely more pasta than an instant noodle. Let’s delve into the depths of this bowl.
My son Miles is in full swing obsession with trying everything Buldak. This is an enormous switch for him. Miles is on the spectrum and doesn’t generally venture out of his comfort zone at all when it comes to foods. I’m impressed that he’s making such an effort here – there’s a mukbang below! Let’s give it a go.
Big thanks to The Fat Hipster for sending this along! This is a yellow curry and crab flavor variant and it sounds very interesting. It could either be really great or pretty awful – only one way to find out. Of course, I will be joined by my son Miles for a mukbang below. Let’s get started!
I mentioned previously that I’d made a big mistake a few years back. The logic was that the Top Ten lists for the first half of the year would have the current year in the title, and the ones published after June would be the following year edition with the logic that it would be more active in the following year. Well, that ended up confusing and annoying a great many people. So, some lists have been skipped in order to do this reset. But in this case, I wanted to do a new one – a 2.0. I’m announcing today also that the video versions of the topo tens are going to be limited from here out. They take a huge amount of time to film, edit, compose, etc. So only a couple lists now will have these videos. With that, let’s check out The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Singaporean Instant Noodles Of All Time 2026 Edition 2.0!
Time for the second variety from the mega bucket! Found this at the new Y&Y Supermarket in Lynnwood, Washington. Was the only thing I got but there were quite a few other things I wish I had. It’s a big bucket maybe 15 orso inches tall, containing a lot of different varieties. $13 was indeed a good deal for such a large thing. CNY promos are where it’s at! Let’s try this one out.
Okay, here’s another chicken that isn’t exactly right. It’s pork flavored. When as AI was asked about the idea of chicken in carbonara –
Here’s another one from HongKongFoodies.com! Go check ’em out as they’ve got a treasure trove of hard to find Demae Iccho variants! Today’s Friday for me – maybe for you too. I did a ton of walking this week – about 30 miles and I am thinking this will be a nice reward. Aka tonkotsu has a vibrant orange red broth and some heat – had it before and it’s a beautiful thing. I think this is a great one for today.
Found this one at HMart. The Otoki variants are for the US while Ottogi ones are for the Korean market – at least that’s what it seems like, but I could be wrong on that as I don’t have any official comment from the company. What I do know is that westerners saying Otoki is closer to the hard g/soft k kinda thing. Anyways, let’s have a nice kimchi bowl!
Here’s another one from HongKongFoodies.com! Go check ’em out as they’ve got a treasure trove of hard to find Demae Iccho variants! This is instant macaroni andyes, it’s not a noodle. It’s gonna be okay. This is something you’d find on the ramen aisle. Let’s cook it up and give it a try!
Previously we tried the Big Bowl version. Our local Albertsons affiliate has had tons of Buldak all of a sudden – would be nice if they do more exclusives as they’re going to be easy for me to get my hands on. Let’s check out this pack version – mukbang to follow as well!
Found this at the new Y&Y Supermarket in Lynnwood, Washington. Was the only thing I got but there were quite a few other things I wish I had. It’s a big bucket maybe 15 orso inches tall, containing a lot of different varieties. $13 was indeed a good deal for such a large thing. CNY promos are where it’s at! Let’s try this one out.
Big thanks to James from Lakeside for this one! I recently got a comment on my reviews for my ‘poor sentence structure.’ Well, I write the way I speak (mispelling omitted of course). I used to try and flourish things a lot but I kind of left that behind as it seems ingenuine to me. I had a guy who used ChatGPT to reply to my emails – it was awful. So perky. Anyways, this is a cold one; that works well as its wintertime and this should post in the summer. Let’s cook!
Big thanks to The Fat Hipster for shooting this over. So I’ve sampled Rap Snacks instant noodles before with pretty low scores. I’m hopeful that this new set will be better, but I guess I’ll have to try them to know for sure. I do like trying things even when I really expect to be underwhelmed. The potato chip flavor these are based on is quite good, so hopefully this will follow suit.
The tteokbokki train keeps a rolling! I even got kimchi! Let’s cook it up!
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Contains fish. To prepare, add in sachet contents and hot water to line. Microwave at 1000W for 90 seconds. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Today, I’m reviewing the next to last of these tteokbokki varieties – big thanks to Good Seoul for sending them over! Let’s microwave it up! It’s cheese time!
Another from James of Lakeside, California – thanks again! So this is the third and I’m guessing final variant in the Thai Connext range. This sounds incredibly up my alley. It’ll be the third review on a Friday and the last of this week. All over it – let’s cook!
Here’s yet another from James of Lakeside, California – thanks! Here we have a fusion of Indian and Chinese flavors. I recently reviewed one in this style by a different company from India. Let’s try this one out!.
UPDATE – When I originally posted this, it was review #2023. I thought it a fitting throwback for today. Happy 4th of July – the 250th anniversary of the country, aka the semiquincentennial
Here’s one of those varieties that really makes ne scratch my head. Says it’s made in Vietnam, but it’s got Chinese on it. I remember going down the rabbit hole on this one and finding it was made for the Taiwanese market, however that text on the front is Japanese. Whatever. It’s a kimchi noodle cup. Let’s give it a shot, eh?
A big thank you to a donor from Instagram for this – she sent two varieties of Chun Noodles after seeing my initial review. Taiwanese dry noodle is truly a favorite of mine – let’s cook it up!
