
Today I’ll be trying something new sent to me by Yongmin Park of Paldo – thank you very much! Very curious about this one as I’ve never seen it before. This is Budae Jigae – let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about it:
Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002

Today I’ll be trying something new sent to me by Yongmin Park of Paldo – thank you very much! Very curious about this one as I’ve never seen it before. This is Budae Jigae – let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Got a few varieties of these bowls a month of two ago and thought they sounded interesting. Let’s take a look!

There have been some jjajangmyun varieties sweeping sout Korea lately – very very popular. Here’s one of them! Jjajang is a black bean sauce and myun means noodle in Korean. Got it? Good! Let’s check it out!

Here’s another one sent by Colin, a reader from back east – thank you! He went to Mexico recently and sent me a ton of varieties that he found there. You’d think with Mexico being next door I’d be able to find more varieties, but actually it’s been really hard. This one’s made in South Korea for the Mexican market. Instant noodle are hugely popular in Mexico, and with spicy flavors coming out of South Korea, it’s a pretty good fit. Let’s have a look!

Here’s another one sent by Colin, a reader from back east – thank you! He went to Mexico recently and sent me a ton of varieties that he found there. You’d think with Mexico being next door I’d be able to find more varieties, but actually it’s been really hard. This one’s made in South Korea for the Mexican market. Instant noodle are hugely popular in Mexico, and with spicy flavors coming out of South Korea, it’s a pretty good fit. Let’s have a look!

Here’s an interesting one – this is a Korean product Colin brought cak from Mexico and sent my way – thanks again! This is unique; i don’t think I’ve ever had noodles in such an Easter egg pastel colored package before. Not only that; Hovenia – where is this place? Is it a place? I looked on wikipedia and maybe this is relevant –

Here’s another of the many varieties sent recently by Colin from Michigan – thanks! Cheese curry? That sounds really good – you can get cheese curry at Indian restaurants – I’m wondering what a South Korean cheese curry might be like. Let’s find out!

Instant noodle… snacks? Yeah! Snacks of all kinds have come from instant noodles – candy, crunchy bits, you name it. They’re popular all over Asia and also the United States; have you ever taken a pack of instant noodles, crushed them and added in the seasoning and shaken the bag up and eaten them like potato chips or popcorn? Well, this is popular elsewhere as well! Let’s check out my favorite instant noodle snacks from over 1,900 reviews. Enjoy!

South Korea has the highest per person consumption of instant noodles in the world. It’s not a surprise that their instant noodle are quite good – usually the noodles (known as ramyun) are thicker and accompanied by a spicy broth. These are my very favorite varieties of South Korean instant noodles – hope you enjoy!

Topokki time! Okay so you’re probably thinking ‘what? Yesterday he reviewed rice porrige and now it’s rice cake?!’ Well, this one has topokki (Korean rice cake) as well as noodles in it. One thing to note as well – see where it says to keep it refrigerated? I saw pallets of these where I got it that weren’t. To be honest, I think putting that on certain instant products that have these kind of fresh noodle packs inside is a way to give the illusory guise of something less shelf stable, making one think it’s higher quality. Honestly though, that kind of thing doesn’t really phase me. So! What is topokki? Wikipedia for ya –

As I’ve said before, some companies will make products for different markets. Shoyu isn’t really a variety you’d generally see in South Korea, however Samyang Foods is making this one for the Japanese market. Shoyu is a very common variety of ramen in Japan – here’s a little about it from wikipedia:

I thought it was about time to re-review this one. When people ask me about hot and spicy instant noodles that they can possibly find at a local Asian grocery, I usually steer them towards Teumsae Ramyun. Many consider this one to be the ultimate spiciest, although I have had one or two I think that have been hotter. That’s not to say that this stuff won’t challenge even the staunchest of spicy fans. This is mean. Real mean. If you ate a spicy pepper, the best thing to get rid of the heat would be a crunchy chip – when you chew, it scrapes the heat off your palate. Or milk, or sugar. The last thing would be beer or water. Well, this is soup. It sinks that spicy heat right down into your taste buds even deeper! Let’s revisit this spicy Paldo Teumsae Ramyun again and see why it’s been on the Top Ten Spicy List since the list’s inception.

Here’s a new Jjamppong King Bowl from Paldo. The king bowl is yet another instant noodle form factor. There are cups, king cups, bowls and king bowls. I think the main different between cups and bowls are really the portability factor. I think a king cup and a king bowl hold the same amount of liquid though; I’ll have to compare them some day. But I digress. This is Jjamppong – here’s a little from Wikipedia about Jjamppong who are unclear about what it is:

Woot woot – potatoes! These sounded good today – potato ramen… I really like the little Ms. Potato Head on the packaging. Ottogi makes some interesting varieties – I reviewd many of them waaaay back when I moved to Edmonds, WA. I would walk every day and pick up a single pack and bring it home, cook and review. Those were in the #100-#300’s. Seems like forever ago! These noodles are made primarily with potatoes, which give them an extra chewiness. Let’s check out Ottogi Potato Ramen!

Here’s a new variety of Paldo’s Bibim Men line to come out recently. Jjol means ‘chewy.’ Bibim Men – now this is slightly trickier but isn’t that hard. Bibimbap is a mix of vegetables, meat and an egg topped with gochujang (a spicy sauce) over rice. It’s one of my favorite Korean dishes, often served in a stone bowl and sizzling like nothing else! Well, the ‘bap is rice. In Jjol Bibim Men, the Men is the same as -myun or myeon, which means noodles. So what you have here is a cold, spicy, chewy noodle dish. I’m hungry – let’s get to it! Bring on the Jjol Bibim Men!

My friend Moses over at Paldo America sent me a package!

Wow these are really big bowls! Jjajangmyen is a noodle with spicy black bean sauce and Jjamppong is a spicy seafood noodle soup! Thanks!

Here’s a new one from Nongshim, and it’s definitely unique. It’s a stir noodle, which means that there’s no broth, but a sauce that it stirred in to coat the noodles. Another unique thing is that it can be served hot OR cold! I was thinking of using a special divided bowl I have, but one side is bigger than the other and so I came up with an idea: since they sent a few packs, I’ll make one hot, sample it and then make one cold and sample it – easy enough. Something else I found interesting was on the right and left sides of the package. It says “NONGSHIM BLACK CLASS NOODLE DISH.” The final interesting this about this one is the inclusion of chipotle. Chipotle? Now that’s different – don’t think I’ve come across that being used in an instant before. Well, let’s open this one up and see what’s inside!
Yeah – it’s that time of year again! Cups are interesting; they usually hold a lot less water than a bowl, so the steeping process is a little different and so are the noodles. I’ve had some horrendous cups over the years, but then there are some that are really quite good. This last year has been a great one where cups are concerned! Let’s have a look at the best of the best! The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Cups Of All Time 2014 Edition!

Samyang Foods’ Buldak Bokkummyeon. I’ve had the pack form and did up a recipe a while back involving a way to cool the heat. This is the bowl – and a fiery bowl at that. This stuff doesn’t mess around; there’s no broth. The noodles have a violently hot coating that really means business! It’s so hot that people challenge each other to devour a bowl as fast as they can on YouTube all the time! Let’s open up this bowl and see how fiery this one is!

I thought I’d make one for my wife today. Kit loves cheese. I mean she really loves cheese! I don’t know anyone who gets happier when cheese is mentioned! I thought this would be a perfect one for her. Cheese noodles for a cheese lover. Let’s check it out!

Here’s another one we got up in Canada earlier this year during my birthday trip! I wasn’t sure at first if I’d reviewed these; a long time ago I reviewed a series of products by Vina Acecook called King Cook. This is King Chef, so it’s different! I wasn’t sure when I was looking at them up in Canada – glad I went ahead and snagged them. The more noodles, the better. Let’s have a look!

I got a message from my pal Moses over at Paldo America while back asking if I’d like to review some instant ramyun that hasn’t been put out yet but is being sampled with college students to see what they think. I was absolutely rceptive to the idea – prototype instant noodles sound very interesting! Let’s see how barbecue ramyun tastes – this is the first of two versions, the other I’ll try soon.

Hey look! A friend at Paldo America said he had something to send me!

It’s a pot! It’s square for square ramyun blocks!

Here’s a little cup that’s been sitting in my box for a while. Sounds good – something a little spicy and seafoody! Let’s check it out!

Here’s something new and different from Nongshim. The name might seem a little odd, but it’s a play on the name of a traditional South Korean beef soup called Seoulleongtang, which has a broth which is simmered for a long time with ox bones. I’ve liked non-spicy South Korean beef noodle soups in the past – let’s see how this one fares!

Today I’m trying something really interesting. This is Paldo’s new spicy octopus ramyun! I thought I couldn’t make this stuff without adding some octopus, but I’d never cooked it before and was a little reserved and slightly nervous. Octopus? Hey, why not! I went to the Korean grocery and picked some up. It was a bit of a surprise how many different kinds of packaged octopus there are. I settled on frozen baby octopus. Let’s see how it turns out!

Ottogi sent me a box of noodle samples a while back in hopes of doing a Meet The Manufacturer series. Unfortunately, timing and language barriers made that hard to come to fruition, so I figured I ought to review some of the varieties they’ve sent over time. This one’s Japchae – a traditional South Korean dish of clear noodles, vegetables and meats. Good stuff, at least what I’ve tried in a restaurant! Let’s have a look to see what this is like.

Here’s a new one from Nongshim for the vegetable crown. At first, I thought it would be a tofu based variety; the reason was that I’ve gone to a local Korean restaurant and ordered ‘Soon Tofu’ a few times, which is a spicy soup with tofu in it. Well, ‘soon’ translates to ‘soft.’ Well, tofu is a vegetarian friendly construct, so I thought I’d give it a try today with this new one. A few people have been asking about this one, so with that, let’s check it out.

Thanks go to James K. of KoreAm for translation help as well as educating me on this one! Ramen? Nope. Ramyun? Nope. Udon? Nope. This is tteokguk! Tteok is South Korean rice cake. They’re flat and chewy! It’s often served on Lunar New Year and other special holidays. Let’s give it a try – Happy Lunar New Year!

I did an appearance on a show called Cam Fu & Friends which was recorded at Microsoft on January 7th, 2014. Cam the host and I met because of instant noodles a while back. He did instant noodle reviews on The Noodle Freak for a while and then went on hiatus from it, telling folks to come check out my site, a real honor. So we actually met in person the first time the other day. He really was hoping I’d do a review on the show, and so I had to come up with something to review. Well, this one fit the bill; easily prepared during the taping! Further below, you can watch the video! Let’s check this one out.

On my Top Ten Spicy list, the package version of this is #1. Hottest thing ever – hands down! Well, they also sent me the cup version – let’s see how spicy this sucker’s gonna be!

Here it is! Now you can get a big cup of Namja here in the states! I reviewed the South Korean Namja King Cup before, and there are differences between the two. If you’re wondering, Namja means ‘men’s’ or ‘guy’s’ – still wondering if they will make a ramyun for the ladies. Let’s check this new one out.

Whoa hey what’s this? Here’s another snack made from instant noodles! This one’s from South Korea – let’s check it out!

Gotta love the name. This is a South Korean combination of Jjajang (a black bean dish) and noodles. They usually end up nice and hearty with just a sauce and no broth. Let’s check it out!

This was sent to me by Kristina W. of Arizona – thank you! Jjajangmyun is basically a noodle that is coated in a black bean sauce. Let’s check it out!

Here one that came from Korea by way of Kristen W. of Arizona! Thank you so much! I’ve wanted to review this one for a long time! Let’s check this unique variety out.

So these last two days have been crazy – so many people from Taiwan just coming in droves to the site and declaring their passion for the instant noodles of their country! You should be proud of yourselves; I’m never going to look at Taiwanese noodles the same again, that’s for sure! I’m sure I’ll be reviewing more very soon so keep your eyes on The Ramen Rater!

Another one I got while in Canada for my birthday. I’m sure many folks will immediately ask ‘where did you get this’ and ‘where can I get it,’ and I’ll just say I’ve only seen this in Canada. See, they get stuff in the Vancouver area from not only the Nongshim plant here in the states but the one in Shanghai, China. Got a couple more coming down the pipe of reviews soon that hail from China. Let’s check this out!

Time for some extremely spicy noodles! This is another one from eMart, makers of Dare You Habanero Ramyun. Dare You weighs in at 5,930SHU (Scoville Heat Units) – the hottest I’ve had thus far. This one’s 3,960SHU – not as fiery hot, but definitely not to be trifled with! Jjampong is a seafood soup. You ready?

Today is the last review of the Samyang Foods Meet The Manufacturer spotlight. Rest assured, there will definitely be more of their products reviewed in the future – I only do a maximum of 15 reviews in a row for a company during a Meet The Manufacturer and they sent more than 15, so lots of neat stuff coming! I want to thank Samyang Foods for their samples and everything else – really nice people!