
Today seemed like a good day for as fancy Japanese bowl of noodles.

Here’s what was on the bottom of the bowl…
Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002

Today seemed like a good day for as fancy Japanese bowl of noodles.

Here’s what was on the bottom of the bowl…

Well, today’s the day! The first Ramen Rater Momofuku Ando Day! I hope people out there are enjoying noodles today! Been a great day here – had some good noodles (which you’ll see shortly in the video) and was featured on the Seattle Weekly’s blog! Today I decided to review the closest thing I had to the 1958 Nissin Chikin noodles – the first instant noodles that were produced ever. I went with Nissin’s Top Ramen Chicken flavor; kind of the great grandchild of the Nissin Chikin! So sit back, relax, and check out the video. Happy Momofuku Ando Day!

Kitsune Udon Gozen, as I type thy name into here, I am pretty sure you’ll be remembered as one of my all time favorites. This was purchased during a recent trip to Seattle to Uwajimaya. It was there that I truly began my journey into the world of the instant noodle so many years ago.

Ah, my old adversary – the GreeNoodle! I’m hoping I like this one better than the ones I’ve had in the past – Yakisoba should be tasty; I hope!

After tasting those last two earlier, I was ready to have something that looked really good – and here it is! Tom Yam noodles, made in Thailand and from Japan!

Aha -= this is one of my favorite! Number four on the Top Ten Instant Noodles of All Time as reviewed by The Ramen Rater. Thanks go to Greg B. of Marathon, Florida for sending a pack my way!

It dawned on me – why not a ton of videos about how instant noodles are made around the world? Well, here you go!

Assorted seasfood eh? Trout and octopus? Sardine and shrimp? Crab and sea cucumber? Not sure but Let’s find out.

Such a classic – almost as American as it is Japanese! Actually, this packet was made in California. Just like rival Nissin, Maruchan has a huge southern California factory. Here’s a re-review of this standard that probably everyone has had once in their lifetime.

You might be viewing this website today because of the article they did about me in The Everett Herald – or not! Either way, I thought I’d break out something I found last week that I’m really stoked on. This is a bowl I got at Uwajimaya, a Japanese grocery in Seattle (there’s one in Bellevue, too).

What an awesome bowl of noodles. First, it’s a new brand to me – Yamamoto. Second, it’s got tempura in there as well as udon. Third, there’s a couple tanuki on the label.

Here’s another from the bottom of the hamper! My sister Sue got this one for me on a trip to Canada earlier this year. Looks like this’ll be the last noodle to be reviewed in 2011! But these aren’t your ordinary looking noodles, are they? Instant macaroni! Let’s try it!

Made a trip to Seattle and hit up Uwajimaya and got a ton of new noodles – lots of Japanese bowls! Anyways, let’s start with this prawn tom yam…

I remember reviewing this one a while back up in Anacortes – got it and was really stoked as I’d never seen it before!

Here’s one that we got at a northern Oregon Chevron of all places. Man, I’m still jonesin’ to try the Beef Taco and Jalapeno Cheddar flavors!!!
Hello fellow “Rameners” My name is Greg, and I am a Ramenholic. As a new contributor to RamenRater.com I thought it would be appropriate to use my first post to share how I prepare Ramen noodles.

Here we go with review 600! Yep – this is why there were all the re-reviews last week! Thanks go to Mike M. of Staten Island, NY for pointing out that I’d reviewed the Roast Beef but not the regular beef flavor!

My father introduced me to this film when I was young and I found it to be quite fascinating. This movie is really quite bizarre; it has a storyline involving a Japanese John Wayne type and a girl attempting to create the perfect noodle. Interspersed throughout are short scenes with different aspects of food culture. The sloppy eater. The seeker of fine gourmet luxury. The glutton. These all come together to create a film experience best enjoyed while having some noodles! I recommend this very highly! I totally love this movie; its strange, weird and funny. It is subtitled, but you’ll deal with it. This is the finest noodle film ever and any true fan should have it. I’m sure you can view it on Netflix, but you can buy it here.

From time to time, it’s a good idea to revisit a baseline. Top Ramen Chicken is something I compare all noodles to in one way or another. The noodles themselves are classic – they’re not bad and soak up the flavor well. They’re not mushy although not exactly what one would call chewy. When reviewing chicken instant noodles I always think to this stuff. Of course, when I see an article someone has blogged or written on the Internet about ramen, a good 80% of the time there’s a nice big picture of the product you see above. Youtube’s no stranger to this either; there are about a zillion videos telling you simply how to prepare a packet of instant Top Ramen. It’s not only good but its everywhere. Eaten raw or cooked, people seem to like it. Well, I like it too and so I revisit it with a sore throat and runny nose. Here we go!

Here’s probably the last of the Menraku varieties available, another tempura.

Yep – directions. I like that they are pretty vigilant about not microwaving the Styrofoam…

Been awhile since I’ve had a domestic Maruchan Yakisoba! This one was purchased on our drive back from our honeymoon this summer in mid-July. Got it and another one at a Chevron in northern Oregon of all places!

Was digging in the noodle hamper and found this little gem so thought I’d have it for breakfast today with a couple eggs boiled in with the noodles.

Well here’s something I haven’t had in a while – Goku-Uma. Sounds like a tasty breakfast so I shall begin.

Had a hell of a day today. Tried my bus card but it didn’t beep (figured the reader was at fault) so hopped the bus. Well, the fare cops had me get off the bus and checked out my card and it was screwed up. The fare cop said don’t worry just hop back on and get a new one at the bus station. Thinking ‘hey that went well ,” a different fare cop pulls me off the bus further down the line! Ugh. Long story short, I eventually got to the bus sttion and got a new card that won’t work for 24-48 hours… But I got to and from work and now I’m home – and hungry. This sounded especially good.

One of my favorite things in all the world of cuisine is curry. Hot curry, curry soup, curry beef, curry chicken, curry vindaloo, curry powder, curry paste, green curry, yellow curry, masaman curry, Indian curry and Japanese curry. This sounded good and I’m starving.

A new find today at a big Korean supermarket nearby. Been a while since I’ve reviewed anything by Sapporo Ichiban. What’s interesting too is that the packaging proclaims that it’s new! Also on the back it says it’s three servings! Boy, this economy sure is hitting everyone hard! Now instant noodle rationing!

Whilst digging through my bin of packages of instant noodles for a particular one I was sent to review tomorrow, I realized I wasn’t hungry for a big pack tonight so went for the cup noodle you see here. Spicy seafood sounds relaxing.

Here’s another Menraku coming atcha. Been weird the last two days; gotten over 10,000 visits to the blog from people using StumbleUpon and ending up on the ‘Recipes’ page… Pretty cool! Anyways, this looks like an interesting bowl of noodles and should be tasty. Let’s dig in.

Haven’t had a fresh noodle bowl in a while. This one comes from Shirakiku and claims to be a hot one. It definitely looks nice on the packaging. I’m still under the weather so the spicy stuff helps with the sinuses!

I woke up with a sore throat, runny nose, sore joints and a bit of sneezing. I’m sick. This sucks. I thought maybe some miso would bring me back from the brink. I guess we’ll see how it goes…

My sister brought these back for me from Canada a while back and I’ve been coveting them for a special occasion. I thought closing in on the 500th review would be a good time to break out the tippy macaroni! So here we go!

Got this one at Walmart. Was pretty sure I hadn’t tried it and was right so here goes.


This one was a puzzle – the only things in English on the packaging wwas a website called itomen.co.jp. I sent out a call for help in identifying this one and got help from a reader named Eric Z. from Parkland, FL! He scanned the bar code on the image and found it on Google! Not too shabby! Thanks again! Now let’s open this one up and see what’s inside.

Got this one at the new Bellevue Uwajimaya. Shio means salt, so I suppose this is salt ramen. Let’s give it a try!

Yet another one of these Myojo bowls from Japan. I don’t think I’ve found one I’ve really disliked a lot yet. This one, soybean baste flavor , should prove tasty – at least I hope so!

I thought I’d tried all of these but it appears I was wrong. So here’s yet another Souper Meal – Nissin’s answer to America’s need for another ‘Hungry Man’ style food product.

“The hell you say!” you may be saying, but yes indeed my fellow noodleheads, it’s true. I reviewed 461 other instant noodles but decided to have today be the shrimp flava Top Ramen. Why you ask? Why not is your answer. So the package is very pink is just itching to be reviewed so here we go.

Got a new ramen container – we moved some stuff around and now I have our wicker laundry hamper for noodle storage! It’s actually quite nice – and also makes it easy to just put my hand in and grab a random ramen to rate. I’m sure I’ll post a picture of it sooner or later. Anyways, today I picked This one – hoping that it’s good as I’m famished and this just isn’t the day for a bad bowl of noodles.