
Today, it’s yet another of the KOKA varieties leftover from the Meet The Manufacturer from earlier this year! I must say that the fact that instant noodle products have long shelf lives is really a nice thing!
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Today, it’s yet another of the KOKA varieties leftover from the Meet The Manufacturer from earlier this year! I must say that the fact that instant noodle products have long shelf lives is really a nice thing!

Here’s one of those ‘dilemma’ noodles. I don’t know what the heck it is called and the bar code yields absolutely no results which are annoying. Luckily, I do have the resource of my readers and asked on the Facebook page for The Ramen Rater. A few people got they were tonkotsu, which is very helpful, although usually, ones like this are some kind of tonkotsu – like a little more detailed. But people were of the belief this was just their standard tonkotsu. Thanks for the info! Let’s dig in

Oh hey, ramen bokki! So this is a fusion of two foods: South Korean ramyun and one of the words I would say I’ve seen spelled about a zillion different ways, tteokbokki. Tteokbokki are big chewy tubes made from rice flour and they’re really good. Usually, it’s made with a spicy and sweet sauce, egg, fish cake, etc. Good stuff! So this is that but instead of with the rice tubes, you get the noodles. Let’s check it out!

Ahh, Laksa – nothing like it. In fact, there are lots of kinds of laksa; sweet, creamy, curry, fish – every area has their own take on the dish. Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about laksa –

Here’s yet another one I found up in Canada in July of 2017! Found this at HMart after having a really great dim sum lunch with some new friends at Aberdeen Centre in Richmond, BC. Okay, so Jjajang is a black bean sauce noodle. But Pororo? Let’s look at Wikipedia –

Here is a new Cup Noodles variety from Nissin Hong Kong – Laksa! It’s interesting how a lot of flavors of Malaysia and Singapore are making their way further east lately. Many different Laksa varieties exist, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one from Hong Kong before. Here’s a little from Wikipedia about Laksa –

Here’s another left over from the KOKA Meet The Manufacturer – thanks again for participating For almost a whole year I was reviewing two varieties per day – this is how I got so far ahead in my reviews. Now I’m only doing one at this point and I think I probably will for a while. You see, having a 5 month old baby girl and a very inquisitive 21 month old boy in the house can be a little crazy. He’s really interested in grabbing things and flinging them on the floor. He’s also a big fan of stealing remote controls (we got him a couple just for him, but he still steals ours). He loves the mouse and keyboard too, so I have to put those up when he’s running around.

So Zenpop.jp has sent me another box and I thought I ought to do a video. They asked about this last time and so I figured I’d go ahead and do it. I think if, at all possible, I’m going to do this whenever I get a box from now on – kind of fun to crack these boxes open and see what’s inside! These will be called ‘Unboxing Time With The Ramen Rater.’So let’s check out this box from the noodle box purveyor! I should note that they also do other boxes – stationary for example among other things.

Today we’ve got yet another one from the massive amount of varieties left over from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. Seems like I just keep pulling them out of the hamper again and again! It’s a good thing though – the more the merrier and these days, it is getting harder to find varieties locally to review. So gotta make sure to give everything a try. Tonkotsu is a classic Japanese ramen variety. Most of all, tonkotsu is famous for it’s milky pork bone broth. Next, a little more info from Wikipedia:

Here’s one left over from the KOKA Meet The Manufacturer. These soups are interesting; instead of noodles with soup it’s more like soup with noodles! Let’s have a look at this creamy soup!

Recently, I did a Definitive Guide To Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun series. However, the cup was just mentioned and not one that I have tried. Indeed, there are two I’ve not reviewed of the series – the curry version and the 2x spicy bowl (although I scarf one down in the video).

Most people don’t know, but I’ve been to Singapore. It was in 2014 – and it was a very short visit.

Here’s one left over from the Meet The Manufacturer I did with Nissin Mexico a little while ago. These are very cool – they have little packets of hot sauce in them! Indeed, I think these should be available in the United States as well. I think they’d do really well! Indeed, who wouldn’t like the Cup Noodles here to come with a little packet of hot sauce? I know I would.

Went to Uwajimaya, a local Japanese grocery store chain in the northwest the other day. So I found that you can get chashu pork there – it’s really nice for Japanese instants since I can slap one on top! Indeed what I do is get a few packs of it from the deli and then bag them individually and throw them in the freezer – it’s pricy stuff, but done this way it really stretches it a long way. So $15 or pork will yield me about 18-20 slices and since it’s frozen, it’ll last nicely until I’ve done that many Japanese reviews.

Well it’s been quite a while since I’ve reviewed anything by Dr. McDougall’s. Why? Well, the first one I tried was a disappointment. I saw this one recently and thought maybe I should give them another chance. I am not expecting this will be one I like very much though; the two lines in large print immediately contradict eachother: ‘Pad Thai’ and ‘Noodle Soup.’ This just sounds wrong. But hey – maybe this is really good stuff. Let’s give it a look.

Here’s another left over from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. Seafood rice vermicelli! In the last couple years, rice vermicelli really has grown on me – here’s a little something from Wikipedia

Here’s one sent by Colin from Massachusetts – thanks again! You might be thinking ‘man, this guy reviews a LOT of these Hong Kong CUP Noodles!’ Well, yeah I was sent 57 different varieties form Nissin Hong Kong last year so yeah – lots of them! But this one is actually from Nissin China. The packaging is similar, but different. Here’s a snippet from Wikipedia about Nissin’s footprint:

Here’s a cup I found at Carrefour in Taipei, Taiwan during my trip in November of 2016. I’ve never seen this one before and from what it looks like, it’s made for the Chinese/Taiwanese market. At least the packaging in Chinese gives that away. Also, I can see that it’s referencing www.nongshim.com – not a .cn or .tw, so these should be made in South Korea. It also has a little banner proclaiming ‘number one’ but unsure what that’s referring to. Anyways, let’s see what we have here and give these seaweed noodles a try!

I’ve had the export version in the past but this is the version that Koreans eat in South Korea. I picked this up in Taipei at a Carrefour store. I’d never been to one before and really didn’t know anything about them other than that I knew they existed in Taiwan. Here’s some info from Wikipedia –

Here’s another left over from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. Here’s a little about XO sauce from Wikpedia –

Here’s one of the last ones that were sent by Jen in Australia – thanks! Chicken and corn sounds pretty good – let’s find out!

Okay so here’s another one of the new recipe Cup Noodles from Nissin Foods USA – thanks again for sending ’em over! The new recipe features reduction in sodium as well as no added MSG and no artificial flavors. Let’s have a look!

Another left over from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. I’ve reviewed many Nissin HK tonkotsu varieties thus far, and today we have yet another variety! This is a Tokyo Shoyu Tonkotsu. Shoyu translates to soy sauce, so this seems like it will be a kind of milky soy kind of thing? Let’s find out!!

Yet another left over from the Nisin HK Meet The Manufacturer! Man, they sent so many! Thank you so much – really helps a lot! So these are instant takes on classic Italian pasta dishes. They’re microwavable and thus far, I’ve not had one I didn’t like. Let’s see how this one fares.
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Here’s one sent by a reader named Jen from Australia – thanks again! So chow mein – very curious how this will translate. Indeed I’ve had chow mein that tastes like yakisoba, chow mein that’s just salty and soy, chow mein that’s very bland. But this one looks like it will be chow mein with a small amount of broth and vegetables which sounds odd. But wait – is it odd? As a matter of fact. Australia has it’s own take on Chinese food – here’s a little about it from wikipedia:

Here’s yet another left from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer – thanks again! Today it’s the cup version of their black garlic oil tonkotsu. Indeed, black garlic is an interesting thing – here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it –

Here’s another one sent by Jen from Australia – thanks again! I’ve seen so many different versions of chicken over the years – spicy versions, savory versions, you name it, (insert adjective here) chicken is very commonplace. But oriental chicken from Australia; what’s that all about? Let’s find out!

Here’s another one sent by Jen from Australia – thanks! This one is just plain old chicken flavor and I think should be pretty good. Let’s find out!

Here’s another one sent by Colin from the east coast – thanks again! In a review yesterday, I mentioned that I review a couple of varieties daily and that I’m around 60 reviews ahead. Well, today is November 9th, 2016 – the day after the Presidential election. The results of the election are definitely a shock to most people in my community. I live in Washington State – very liberal. In fact during the primary elections, I believe Bernie Sanders got 80+%. I’m hoping that everything calms down and things end up going okay. Rest assured I’ll be reviewing noodles during the Trump administration as well. This is a type of Cup Noodle I’ve not seen in the past – this one is made in China. Let’s check it out!

Thanks go out yet again to Jen from Australia! Beef? Beef. Sounds simple enough – let’s check it out!

Another variety from Nissin Hong Kong, leftover from an earlier Meet The Manufacturer. This is interesting – it’s not just spicy or spicy hot, this one’s red hot! Let’s see if it’s red – and hot! time cook cook!

Here’s one that Jen from Australia sent – thanks again! Braised beef sounds good… I’m mostly familiar with Taiwanese braised beef flavors – excellent stuff! Curious how this one will be – let’s have a look!

Here’s one that Janenate from Nissin Thailand sent – thank you! Very sad times in Thailand currently; they’ve lost their King. I’ve read a lot and viewed some documentaries about him and I’m amazed. He was an amazing man – he really did a lot for him people. I look at our elections here at home and just feel a sickness from it. I send my sincere condolences to the people of Thailand and I hope the King’s philosophy continues on. Let’s have a look at this cup from Thailand with some familiar and friendly faces!

Here’s one we found when in Renton, Washington’s Uwajimaya a while back. From what it looks like on the label, this is a private label for a big distributor here in the USA by a company in Singapore.I love curry but have been a little confused by this series. Let’s give it a looksie.

Here’s another one of these neat little cups from Nissin Thailand! Let’s check it out!

This is one from Australia sent by an Australian named Jen who sent out a big box of noodles a few months back – thank you very much! Mi Goreng – it’s beeh a while! Let’s do this!

Every year in January I come out with a Top Ten list of South Korean varieties. Much to the disappointment and anger of many people, this will never be on that list. Why? Simple. It’s made in the United States. People have debated me into the dirt on it too ‘so, why does it matter?’ Well, if I put Nissin top Ramen on the Top Ten Japanese list that would be a little ridiculous, wouldn’t it? The differences between the Nongshim Shin Cup manufactured here and manufactured in South Korea might be only geographic and packaging, but those are the rules. This could be on the Top Ten Made In The USA list at some point (I haven’t come out with a new one of those lists in a while – maybe next year perhaps). I’m working on getting some South Korean varieties soon, so I guess we’ll see this January!

The last Dream Kitchen variety I had wasn’t all that great; it was tonkotsu but didn’t seem to really scream tonkotsu to me. This one is soy sauce (shoyu) and hopefully will be a good one. Let’s find out!

If you follow my daily reviews, you might have noticed not just a lot, but a lot a lot of Nissin reviews lately. This is because I’ve done a few Meet The Manufacturers and they were kind enough to send more varieties than I review in a Meet The Manufacturer (15 maximum). Nissin Hong Kong sent around 50 different product varieties! That’s what we have today. Let’s check out this chicken flavor vermicelli!