Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Okay so yes these are produced in Japan, however they’re for the US market. These were in an Exotic Noods box – check out their site and use coupon code RAMENRATER15 for a discount!
I’m really not a mushroom fan, so I thought I’d see how much I disliked the variety. It’s pretty rare there’s a mushroom instant that I actually like, but it has happened… Let’s check this one out!
Found this neat little box of noodles recently at 99 Ranch Market and thought oh yeah I’m trying this. The name is kind of hard for me to say – pretty long too. I don’t always like to share which has been a failing of mine I’ll admit. Maybe my daughter will try it. Then I can say I shared, but I won’t say I love to share.
I was contacted in July 2020 about a new variety of noodle hailing from Taiwan. I was very interested in trying and gave the company the go ahead. Fast forward to mid September and I’m going to give it a try – they arrived last week. These sound interesting; they’re Vegan friendly and have a minced pork sachet which is made with so protein, mushrooms, white fungus, celery and other vegetables. A chewy noodle and a ‘secret sauce’ with Sichuan pepper is mentioned in the promotional sheet that accompanied these. Let’s give it a try!
Well, well, well. Here we are yet again. Just not hot enough for you, eh? Well, maybe this will do it for you. I mean look – Hochi (the Buldak mascot) is right there, tears streaming, breathing fire… 3x Spicy – so what it 1x spicy? Well, 4,400 SHU (scoville heat units). 3x would be 13,200 SHU – I guess we’ll have to see if that’s spicy. I know it will be. Time to burn!
A big thanks for this surprise from The Fat Hipster – look him up on YouTube! This one’s saying it’s the hottest in the world. I would wager it’s really trying to challenge as the hottest in South Korea. Let’s find out!
Last year, I decided I’d bow to some readers who thought maybe like cars, lists should have the following year in the title. This caused some confusion; but I really can’t just undo this. So, going forward, lists that come out in the latter half of the year, August and beyond, will have the next year’s name in the title. We’ll see how that goes. These are my favorite cup varieties of all reviews up to number 3,545. Now, let’s look at The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Cup Noodles Of All Time, 2021 Edition.
This one comes from Zenpop.jp – a subscription box service. If you want to check out their boxes and get one, use coupon code RAMENRATER for a discount.
Today, we come to the fourth and final review of the Myojo USA Meet The Manufacturer on their Ramen range. Just got back from the store – got some vegetables to dress this one up a little – let’s check it out!
I was told this one’s their most popular product! I’m very curious – I recently tried a nice seafood tonkotsu so I’m curious how a fresh one’s going to be. Let’s check it out!
The second of four reviews of Myojo USA products – garlic miso. This again is one you’ll find in the refrigerated section. Excited to try this – let’s check it out!
Today, we have the first of four varieties from Myojo USA, a shio tonkotsu. That pic on the from of the pack says it all – this should be a milky and savory pork bone broth with really good noodles. Let’s check it out!
I received a couple of boxes with samples of products for this Meet The Manufacturer series – thank you! These are fresh varieties you’ll find in the refrigerated/frozen section. Let’s have a look at them!
Today, we start a new Meet The Manufacturer! This time its a US company called Myojo USA down in California. They produce fresh ramen, udon and yakisoba varieties. I conducted an interview with Mr. Taku Yokoyama, President of Myojo Foods USA –
I had this one a while back but the packaging was a little different, so this one gets a new review. I’ve been incredibly impressed with the laksa and ton yum kung flavor profiles coming from Sau Tao – so much that they’ve been on the Top Ten for 2 years now. What’s more is they pair them with a myriad of noodle varieties. Let’s do up some laksa!
This is your basic chicken instant noodle. It’s from ABC who I just did a short series on. We’ve been out of chicken lately and this morning I ducked out of the rain into the store and got some. $1.99/lb! That’s not bad, really. Let’s chicken it up!
Was happy to hear about new varieties coming from Mom’s Dry Noodle of Taiwan! They sent them over for me to try which was nice. Notice the rabbit on the picture above – we’re about to enter the year of the rabbit! Pretty cool – I was born on the year of the rabbit – let’s check these out!
As promised yesterday, here’s another one we found up in Canada at Smart’n’Save at the Lansdowne Centre mall. My daughter Mimi asks every once in a while these days ‘can we go to the Hello Kitty store, Papa’ and Miles immediately says ‘no Mimi, Canada is closed.’ Pretty sad. Man, I hope they come up with a vaccine for COVID-19 soon! I miss the wonders of the land to the north…
I was curious about a variety that it turns out has been retired, but happily a few new ones are now in the game – Nongshim sent those over! Thank you very much! Let’s have a look.
Okay so this one comes with an included… story! One day, the family went up to Canada to do the regular stuff – get some toys, peanut butter, hit up the Asian markets, etc. Well, we went to Smart’n’Save at Lansdowne Centre and saw these bowls. Got one and eventually drove home.
Here’s another one that came by way of an Exotic Noods subscription box – use coupon code RAMENRATER15 for a discount! So these are kind of fancy – higher grade of noodle and dry as well as liquid base. Let’s check it out!
A while back I got a few boxes of donations from a reader in Lakeside, California named James. Well, he’s struck again and sent another box – thanks! I’m always surprised that even though we’re both on the west caoast, the varieties he’s finding as opposed to the ones here and very different. Let’s have a look inside!
Found this over at India Supermarket in Bellevue, WA. One of many ‘four-in-one’ packs. India. Curry. Let’s do this!
I was contacted recently by a fellow names Cian from Dublin about trying out some store brand instant noodles he found over there. He said they weren’t the greatest, but I am always interested in store brand varieties – so of course I accepted the offer – thank you! First varieties from Ireland to cross my desk! Let’s check ’em out!
Decided to start off the week with a couple Sau Tao varieties today (you should be seeing the second one tomorrow). They sent a ton for a Meet The Manufacturer series (okay, not a literal ton – just 400lbs of samples). Let’s check out their QQ Rice Vermicelli!
Alrighty – it has been staring at me for a few weeks and today it’s time for a mukbang. This is a super spicy one from Mamee of Malaysia. I love curry stuff, spicy stuff – and Malaysia. Let’s give it a try!
Here’s the second variety shipped by PLN Food Co. Ltd. of Taiwan. Really appreciate them going to all the trouble shipping these over – I can’t even imagine how much it costs to ship a 90 pound box express international via FedEx! This one’s got a spicy paste involved and sound really good – let’s check it out!
Jesse over at Lonolife sent some samples recently to try out of their new chicken and beef bone broth instant noodle cups! 20g of protein per cup is pretty impressive! Let’s check them out!
Here’s the first of two varieties that PLN Food Co. Ltd. of Taiwan sent over. This is not an instant variety – this is a frozen variety! They went to extreme lengths to send it over for my review and I’m really excited to try them! Let’s have a look.
Shinsegae Mamee makes this Ghost Pepper Chicken Daebak noodle that’s seriously spicy – check out the video to see and watch a video I did two years ago attempting to polish it off!
Really enjoying giving these Indian varieties a try – I don’t get a lot of them so I’m happily going through everything I got recently. Chicken sounds like it should be a good bet. Let’s go!
You might be saying ‘gosh, you’re reviewing a lot of Sau Tao stuff!’ Well, yes I am – as I have a lot of different varieties in a couple boxes in our bedroom currently. I’m trying to review things that are big to shrink things down so they’ll fit in the hampers.
This yeah has just been rough – for everyone I know. After the hardest part of it for me – the passing of my mother – I took a week off from walking after doing 1,000,000 steps on my Fitbit in June and dove in to working on top ten lists. I did four of them, all current as of review 3545. This list hasn’t been updated since 2017. I’ll be rolling out lists here and there for the next couple of months and maybe do this again a little ways down the road. Here’s The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles Of All Time 2020 Edition.
Hooray! Let’s go to India! Actually, I went to India Supermarket in Bellevue, Washington last month! They have a really great selection of varieties from India. It’s pretty common that Indian varieties come in these wide 4 packs. They had a ton I’d not tried and you’ll be seeing them rolling on through shortly. I got some neat stuff to add in as well Let’s go!
Hey look – another Unboxing Time With The Ramen Rater! This one came today and we brought it inside set up the lights, shot the video, edited it and boom here it is! Lots of neat stuff in this box! Check it out! Get yours here: http://bit.ly/UmaiCrate
Use coupon code THERAMENRATER for extra discount!
Recently, I finished a Meet The Manufacturer series with Sau Tao. They shipped a whole pallet of samples of a myriad of different styles and varieties. A PALLET! Well, the upshot is that I still have so many different styles and varieties to review! Here is one of them.
After over 5 days of travel, I was really worried that this big box of noodles just was going to show up thawed and warm – but lo and behold, everything was frozen solid as a rock! Watch me crack this huge box open that started out at 90+ pounds and ended up easily lifted over my head!
Here we have the second of two varieties (one spicy, this one not), clad in paper. Pretty neat – they have character, that’s for sure. Let’s give this non-spicy variety a try!
Those crab claws there look really nice. Man, that sounds so good right now! I remember when in Penang, Malaysia, sitting around a table which was on a little dock – one of many that were roped together and you picked the seafood you wanted and they prepared it. It was amazing – and we got crab. The meat was so good! We also had duck and sea cucumber – that’s an interesting thing. They work well together, but sea cucumber by itself wasn’t my favorite thing. Anyways, I digress – black pepper crab it is!
