Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
This came by way of James from LAkeside, California – thanks again! So this company is based in the United States and makes foods for the Filipino folks who live here. While this isn’t an instant noodle, chances are you’ll come across it on the instant noodle aisle. Let’s cook it up !
Here’s one I found in an Umai Crate from Japan Crate! They have boxes full of neat Japanese varieties! Check out www.japancrate.com and use the coupon code THERAMENRATER to score a sweet discount and get some neat noodles!
This is one I tried when it debuted way back. There were a couple of versions as well. This one is made in South Korea and packaged for sale in the US market. Jjambbong is like a spicy seafood stew. This on the other hand is the same but with a more milky broth. This is a really great one when I’ve had it in the past – let’s visit it again!
Here’s another Miliket variety I found over at HMart recently. I’ve seen a ton of different varieties by this company as of late – it’s an invasion! Nice to see Vietnamese stuff I’ve not yet reviewed. This one is a Phnom Penh styl enoodle – Wikipedia had this to say –
Here’s another instant ramen bowl from Zenpop. Zenpop offers boxes of ramen among other things from Japan – pretty good stuff and definitely worth checking out! Here’s what they have to say about this variety –
While this isn’t a beginning (and most certainly not an end), this is something I want to handle delicately and with a balanced approach. It’s not every day I review my 5000th product. So, I thought I would ask the advice of those around me.
Back in October of 2021, I penned a review of the wheat noodle version of this one. It was brought to me locally by a fellow named Andres who found it in Canada and he met me at the local grocery store. I ended up not only reviewing it, but doing a ‘How I Review’ style video which details the nuts and bolts of how I do a review, from photography to image editing, cooking, making the Instant Noodle Recipe Time show, and more. It was published in January of 2022 and you can see it here.
Got this one at HMart recently. This one’s made in Vietnam but packaged for the US market. I’ve not tried a lot of Vietnamese varieties that blow me away, but I have high hopes for this dry noodle variant. Let give it a go!
I was doing a lot of curies for dinner recently and butter masala was a neat thing I enjoyed for a little while.
I have been doing unboxing for a long time and two of the ones I was doing stopped doing ramen boxes. They were both from Japan and that was a worrisome thing for me; I didn’t think I’d be able to continue really reviewing Japanese varieties as I relied heavily upon one of them every month. Well, that problem has been solved and then some. I want to introduce you to MiauMall’s Nakama Noodles box. You can get their monthly selection of 8-10 varieties – and this box they sent was full of varieties I’ve never reviewed before, plus they include PACKS!!! I’ll be doing unboxings for them and have a coupon code you can use – THERAMENRATER (of course)! Watch the video below – you’ll see why I’m excited.
Here’s the last of the Vite Ramen varieties, and this one sounds like a departure from the other. Bun Rieu is a Vietnamese soup – this is made in California and boasts crab flavor. We shall see how it goes!
Sure looks like a basic packaging design, doesn’t it? My friends, what lies within this package is history. This is the pack version of a beloved classic in Taiwan. This isn’t a noodle soup, a soup, or a dry noodle. This is a noodle AND a soup! Read the direction below and you’ll understand.
Found another one of these! This time, not at S*Mart but at the Lynnwood, WA HMart – along with quite a few other things. Usually don’t find a lot there but it was a good haul the other day. I also found a pair of ‘chopsticks for kids that my daughter went crazy for and since she accompanied me in the store, I figured why not. Tonkotsu is one she likes as well, so maybe she’ll get this. Let’s give it a try.
Found this neat one at Boo Han Market on Highway 99 in Edmonds, WA. Rapokki is a combination of noodle and rice cake – a great combo of textures and usually really quite good. Hopefully it works out well – seen a few microwavable varieties not go so well – hopefully this is one that gets a good score as rapokki is a favorite.
Found this one at 99 Ranch Market recently. I’ve had to make trips to Asian grocery stores as my stock has been greatly depleted late. But I have found tha there’s an easy way to counter this – one review per day. I had been working on four per day and getting really far ahead. I published #4583 toda, so I’m about 200 reviews ahead. That’s quite a bit.
This one came by way of James from Lakeside, California – thanks! I think this one looks interesting, but I think this might be a river snail varietal, which I’m not incredibly fond of. Let’s give it a go.
There’s a new generative AI feature in Google I’ve been using and it’s not bad but usually kind of annoying. However, I used it this time to ask what mazedaar means – here’s what it said:
Well, damn. I thought that this was a rapokki but I was wrong. So, time to review a bowl of tteokbokki. Not quite a noodle, but found where the noodles live. Let’s cook it up.
“What’s this? What’s this?’ A famous line from the juggernaut critically acclaimed film Max Max: Beyond Thunderdome, uttered inspiringly by Tina Turner. Well, Auntie Entity, I’ll tell you. There are shelf stable fresh noodle from China. Found them at 99 Ranch Market and figured this would be a good one to start with as there are a few different varieties. I have a good feeling about them – let’s cook.
Alright – so if you like plants – in particular, eating them – this is for your. Definatly one for the Vegan crowd. I know a lot of non-Vegan people who poo-poo Vegan foods. I must say though – Vegan stuff is really quite good. Gluten Free stuff is excellent as well. I eat a lot of meat and glutenous things, but I’m totally open to these other things, and often like them more. I’ve enjoyed this flavor before that they make and the v3.0 stuff is really great thus far – let’s cook some up!
Found this at the Apna Bazar store in Bellevue, Washington. This is BIG! There’s eight blocks of noodles in here and it’s over a foot wide. I tried making the background reflect that fact but didn’t have a lot of luck – just imagine the squares in the background are much smaller. This is a new brand to me – let’s give it a try!
Here’s one that came in a Zenpop.jp box. Here’s what they had to say about it – ‘Nissin’s popular UFO series gets its name from the shape of the bowl. The UFO line are all Yakisoba, or fried noodles. These are eaten without soup, but with amazing topping, spices and sauce. This month’s ZenPop UFO is a summer limited edition BBQ cup, only accessible in Japan and will be sold out once summer is over.’
Found this one the other day at 99 Ranch Market. This one is interesting as the range is very easy to find here, however there was a lot of confusion whether it was another brand – Master Kang. Master Kang translates to Kang Shi Fu, and also has a little chef guy for it’s logo. I remember getting a phone call from a lawyer about it a long time ago asking my opinion on it. It’s been such a long time though that I’m guessing that whatever legal issues were involved are probably kaput at this point, so here we are. Soyed beef – is that like corned beef? Interesting. Let’s cook this stuff up.
After a hunt for instant noodles, here’s one I found locally at Boo Han Market in Edmonds, Washington. This style of noodle is interesting – while a rice noodle, it’s got a kind of different thing going on. Let’s steep ’em up.
Well, this is it. This is the last of the varieties that were so kindly sent by Pher Engi from Australia and it’s sad to see the end. So many great flavors – really bumped up my list of Indomie varieties I’ve tried by a ton! Thank you so much!
Here’s a great one found at Apna Bazar in Bellevue, WA. I wouldn’t have expected an Italian themed one from India – very curious about it because it will be made to be approved for the tastes of people in India. Definitely a different fusion!
Protein and vitamins and fiber and low sodium and pretty low calories for the size of the serving. Let’s begin.
Here’s one that came in a Zenpop.jp box. Here’s what they had to say about it – ‘An offshoot from the Nissin Famous stores series! This special cup was inspired by young Japanese people’s interest in Korean food. It stands out by actually having tiny pieces of Japanese Chili baked into the noodles themselves! But the spiciness is balanced out with cheese, ginning it a sweet n’ sour touch.’
While this post will publish long after today, I would like to congratulate the people of India on this day! Why? Well, India has landed a craft on the moon! Yeah! I’ve always been into both science fiction as well as science fact. This is very cool stuff – and it looks like there’s a new space race going on currently. Unfortunately, a Russian lander crashed on the moon which is an expensive setback – a couple days ago. Can’t wait to see what the future is like a hundred years from now (don’t worry – I’ll still be around reviewing instant noodles).
Okay so this is all new to me and required a bit of research to figure out a couple things. What’/who is Onigiri in this one?
Here’s one that came in a Zenpop box. Here’s what they had to say about it – ‘This line of noodles let you try regional variations from all over Japan, with its base being “W Dashi”: a deep flavored soup made with bonito. This noodle series is famous for udon and soba. This time we have one of the udon bowls, with donbei beef flavor.’
Another exotic variety from Indonesia sent kindly by Pher Engi of Australia – thank you yet again! So what’s rica-rica? Wikipedia was nice enough to have some backstory –
Well, look at this! Thanks to The Fat Hipster for sending this over! It’s kind of funny – this is the first of three varieties sent and I’ve been kind of slow to get to them as they’re not instant noodles, they’re curry sauces. However, lately I’ve been making curries constantly lately. I’ve learned the way of black cardamom too. But here we have one by a company also known for their spicy instant noodle. I actually made butter chicken last night too. Let’s see how this one goes.
Hey check out the new packaging on the Vite Ramen! This is version 3.0 – I tried the cup version which was pretty cool previously, and here is the new pack 3.0. They sent a slew of new stuff – let’s check it out!
This one was for a special occasion – the 2,000th episode of Instant Noodle Recipe Time. I thought hey – why not let my wife and daughter have some fun making this one. I figure I’m not going to be doing a great job on this one lol – gooey and gummy stuff sounds frustrating, so I figured I’d leave it to them. They’ve never done an episode together either, so I thought hey – why not? The episode is at the bottom. Let’s check it out!
A big thank you to Pher Engi of Australia for sending this! So there are many varieties of soto, and they are regiolnally different. Herew’s a translation of some info I found on the Indonesian Wikipedia –
I’ve reviewed something like this before I’m pretty sure but this is new packaging so an update is in order. Couldn’t get that sticker off the side so unfortunately you can only imagine what’s underneath it, so put on your thinking caps… Imagine – hard! Yeah, not too exciting. Anyways, let’s make mi goreng!
Oh no – the last one… I really liked these – I sincerely hope the make even more varieties. Some of the best stuff I’ve had from China. Well, let’s give braised beef a try!
So, it was a Friday. Didn’t feel like doing reviews and hads a day of laundry and hanging with the kids. So, I thought I’d shoot a quick video and mess with AI.
A big thank you to Pher Engi for sending these along! I’m getting really low on varieties to review at this point – I’ve been doing four reviews a day lately and have been trying to do so all the way up to my kids going back to school. Twenty days to go until they’re back! They’ve had a lot of fun this summer, but they miss their friends from school of course. So – what is cakalang? It’s skipjack tuna. Many years ago, you could easily find an Indomie variety here (among others you can’t anymore) which mentioned skipjack tuna flavor. Let’s give this one a try.
