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Toyomansi is a combo of soy sauce and calamansi flavors. Calamansi is a kind of citrus kind of similar to lime. This is great – rarely come across Filipino varieties and they’re some really good ones to try. Found this one at HMart with my daughter after her birthday party this year. We took her to Chuck E. Cheese – what an interesting place – very throwback. Let’s check this one out!
I can’t remember where I found this but I’m stoked. I never find anything from the Philippines I haven’t reviewed which is weird since instant noodles are so popular over there. You might be wondering what is this pancit canton – well, think mi goreng; extremely similar. What’s that chilimansi?! Well, it’s spicy and calamnsi – kind of like a lime. Okay with that out of the way, let’s give it a go I’m stoked!
Can’t remember exactly where I picked this one up, but it’s Filipino. What’s more is that it says it’s a product of the USA. Don’t think I’ve heard of this Nora Kitchen brand before – I suspect maybe it’s the same as Pamana but I could be wrong. Anyways, sotanghon time – let’s check it out!
Here’s another one for the Filipino market here in the states by Pamana. Sadly, this is the last Filipino variety I’ve got so I’m hoping someone who’s reading from the Philippines might be kind enough to send some new varieties I’ve not reviewed. Very hard to come by these days for me I’m afraid! Let’s check it out – but first, a little snippet from Wikipedia about Sotanghon – oh wait, I guess not. It appears it’s being confused with rice vermicelli – which this dish does use, but the translation in this instance would be to bihon instead so I don’t know what to do… A little research yielded use of mushrooms, however in my years reviewing, I’ve seen a lot of varieties including saltine crackers. We shall see.
The first thing I noticed about this one was toward the top where it mentioned it has real beef and real pork. I so seldom come across varieties from the Philippines that this was a real score. I think I found it up in Canada but I’m not sure. Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about La Paz Batchoy real quick –
Here’s one I tried a long time ago and I found in the USA, but this one I found up in Canada. Curious if it’s changed. Let’s find out!
This one was found up in Richmond, BC at the SuperStore. What’s funny about this one? Well, it shows chopsticks on the cup and has a fork inside. I’ve been given a ration of insults and criticism for using a fork. I really don’t understand why; I mean, here’s an Asian variety with a fork. I think it’s common for Westerners to immediately go to ‘Asian people use chopsticks and if you use them wrong you suck’ kind of thing. My logic is that if I’m in Asia, I’ll use a pair of chopsticks. In Thailamd they use a fork to push food onto a spoon and then eat it, so I did that while there. It really doesn’t matter what tool you decide to use, it’s about eating a meal, right?
Woot woot! It is so rare these days I can get my hands on a variety from the Philippines that I’ve not reviewed yet and so I’m really stoked on this one. What’s interesting is that there are two Nissin companies in the Philippines. Nissin Monde and Nissin Universal Robina. Nissin Monde is actually a company that first started out selling biscuits. Nissin Universal-Robina is an arm of the well known Japanese empire of instant noodles. Nissin Monde is responsible for the Lucky Me! brand. Kind of interesting and odd. Anyways, let’s check this yakisoba out!
Yep – another one from our trip to the Real Canadian Superstore! Cup Noodles from the Philippines! Rad! You know, it can be real tough for me to find new stuff from the Philippines and when I do,m I’m very happy. This is a little plastic cup victory, finding this! Let’s check it out.
As I mentioned at the begginning of the Top Ten Japanese list, I have added a little chat option to the site. If I’m available, I can turn it on on my phone and people can ask me questions or comment while they browse the website. Thus far, the most questions and comments are from the Philippines. I thought hey – why isn’t there a top ten Philippines list? I haven’t reviewed many from the Philippines lately and I kind of hope companies in the Philippines that make instant noodles might be interested in having me review their products – if so, please contact me. I would love to do an annual list for the Philippines, however without more reviews, there’s not a whole lot of reason to do so. So let’s have a look! These are my favorite Filipino varieties from the over 2,500 reviews I’ve posted to date.
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.
So my sister got me a neat plate a couple weeks ago at Shipwreck Day. Shipwreck Day is like a big citywide garage sale up in Anacortes, Washington – my hometown. The plate was part of a set and the lady didn’t want to break up the set, but my sister came back a little later and the lady gave in and let her buy one after she mentioned what I would use it for. The lady was originally from the Philippines and was a travel agent. I decided maybe I ought to do a review of something from the Philippines in honor of her relenting, and that’s what today’s review is about. Bihon is like bihun – it’s rice noodles. I reviewed this one originally almost 5 years ago – and really didn’t like it. Wondering if my palate might be a little more interested, I thought it’d be nice to try again, and so here we are – let’s check it out.
I recently reviewed a South Korean Jjajang instant noodle. Well, here’s another double J named instant noodle! Jjamppong! So, what’s jjamppong? Wikipedia has this to say:
Lucky Me! is a line by Filipino brand Monde Nissin. I thought today sounded like a good seafood day! Let’s see what we have here!
Today, we say farewell to the Monde Nissin Meet The Manufacturer! It’s been really neat to try all of these different varieties one right after the other – this is the 15th review! I do up to 15 in a row during an MTM. I thought today would definitely be fitting for something hot and spicy. Why you ask?
Rice vvermicelli isknown by many names in the world; bihun, beehoon, bihon – it’s all the same thing! One thing though – these noodles are made with corn starch! But pancit – let’s see what wikipedia has to say:
Bulalo sounds interesting – a beefy soup. I think I need more info though – here’s what wikipedia had to say:
There are quite a few varieties of these Pancit Canton – and in the past this one’s been my favorite. It’s been quite a while – sounds really good today.
So when I post my reviews on instagram, I use hashtags. I usually try to find ones that are decent, relevant and get the most eyes on the reviews of course, and I then look at the pics others post and like them, in hopes that hey will look and like the ones I have posted or even follow. Pretty basic method of growing a viewer base. Well, I also look at the hashtags that those people use, and I saw an interesting one – #lechon. Wasn’t sure what Lechon was, so I looked at a bunch of people’s pictures and found that it was roast whole pig. I decided to take this to YouTube and have a look. After perusing quite a few, I found this video about how Cebu Lechon is made. I’ve never tried this, but I think I would love to give it a taste someday. Anyways, enjoy and Happy Black Friday!
I think a lot of people will say that Lucky Me! Beef Na Beef is one that they’ve seen many times when visiting an Asian grocery in the USA. Beef, like chicken, is one of those flavors you see about every instant noodle manufacturer out there making. Everyone knows what beef and chicken flavors taste like (well, maybe not everyone – hi vegetarians!). The weather here is quite cold and rainy lately and nice beef flavored broth sounds really good. One thing though; the Philippines isn’t a place known for it’s chilly climate. Would a beef instant translate well for colder places that’s been made there? I think I’ll have to see! Let’s revisit Lucky Me! Beef Na Beef!
