Tag Archives: ramen reviews

#1110: GS25 Gonghwachun Jjajangmyun

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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!

The back of the package (click image to enlarge). Not sure if it contains meat or not.

The noodle block.

The only packet included is a big one full of sauce. Decided (as I did yesterday as well) not to make a big mess by trying to fit this stuff in one of the little sake cups I usually use.

 

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added some beef, carrot and Vidalia sweet onion. The noodles good – a little chewier than usual and nice and plump. The jjajang sauce is really great – has a rich black bean flavor with a little bit of extra heartiness, especially from the potatoes. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 8801128506571.

Here’s a recipe for jjajangmyeon!

The Ramen Rater Noodle News #28

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Here we go with the 28th edition of The Ramen Rater Noodle News! I scour the Internet for articles about ramen and instant noodles and bring them to you! Here are some recent stories you might find interesting!

  • FoodBev – Piri Piri Pot Noodle – UK – Link
  • CK101 – Blogger Releases Top Ten Noodles List – Taiwan Not On – Taiwan – Link
  • Yonhap News Agency – S. Korea’s Exports To Japan Dive In 2012 – South Korea – Link
  • The Stir – Airline Passenger Gets Into Serious Trouble After Flying Into Violent Rage Over His Meal – USA – Link
  • Free Malaysia Today – BN buying votes with rice, noodles, eggs? – Malaysia – Link
  • China Daily – Lots Of Kindness Amid The Chaos In The Quake Zone – China – Link
  • Nikkei – Over 100bn Servings Of Instant Noodles Slurped In ’12 – Japan – Link
  • Akihabara News – Nissin – GooTa “Demi-hamburg-men” – Waiter, there’s a brown patty floating in my soup! – Japan – Link
  • CorrectionsOne – Inmates Get Indulgences – for A Price – USA – Link
  • The New Zealand Herald – ‘Noodle Man’ Sentenced For Boxing Day Incident – New Zealand – Link
  • Hindustan Times – I’m Hungry Instantly! – India – Link
  • The Chosun Ilbo – Nongshim Sees Booming Sales in Mongolia – South Korea – Link
  • The Miami Hurricane – Inebriation and Gluttony: Making Masterpieces out of Ramen – USA – Link
  • Arab News – Indomie Greets Its Partners For A Lifetime Of Success – Saudi Arabia – Link
  • Digital Spy – Student Live On Diet Of Instant Noodles – USA – Link
  • The Crimson White – Ramen Revolution – USA – Link
  • Wall Street Journal – Back To School With Ramen – USA – Link
  • Foodbeast – ‘Po’ Boy Ramen Sandwich For When You’re Desperate & Out Of Bread – USA – Link
  • The Prowl – Rockin’ Ramen – USA – Link
  • Parker Live – Noodletown! – USA – Link
  • allKPop – Lee Seung Gi’s Domestic & International Fans Donate 13,620 Instant Ramen – USA – Link
  • People – How To Make Andrew Zimmern’s Ramen Noodles – USA – Link

A Message To The People Of Taiwan From The Ramen Rater

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In the last week, I’ve had a lot of traffic from upset Taiwanese that none of their country’s beloved instant noodles made the list. I saw videos like this one and then this angry one. I felt a video message would be appropriate, and here it is.

#1047: New Touch Yakisoba Noodle

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Another one from my March birthday trip to Canada. I tried to translate this one but no luck – the name I got from the distributor’s sticker, so if anyone knows for sure this is the wrong name, please let me know. Let’s check it out!

Distributor sticker (click image to enlarge). Contains egg.

Detail from the side and bottom (click image to enlarge).

The lid (click image to enlarge). Note the drain spout on the top left.

Lots of Japanese yakisoba products have this drain spout.

Liquid seasoning.

Has a light Worcestershire sauce scent.

The vegetable packet.

Looks like cabbage amongst other dried veggies.

The garnish packet.

Lots of seaweed and little bits of fried tempura.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added beef sauteed with garlic and Worcestershire sauce, sweet onion, broccoli, kizami shoga (pickled ginger), and red, yellow and orange bell pepper. These noodles are nice – good texture, quantity and gauge. They’re a little chewy but not overly so. The flavor is nice – what you’d expect from yakisoba with a little extra oiliness which works well. The vegetables went well too – decent sized pieces of cabbage rehydrated well. The garnish is good too – lots of seaweed (goes nice with the noodles) and bits of tempura (lost their crunch as the meal went on). I like this one – 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 4903088008882.

A video by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.

#1046: Myojo Stir Fry Noodles Japanese Style Noodles With Sauce

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Found this one at Uwajimaya in Bellevue and thought it was worth a try. I do like Worcestershire sauce!

Back of the package (click image to enlarge). Contains egg white.

The noodle packet.

Flavoring packet.

Has a nice strong Worcestershire sauce scent.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added green onion, beef, sweet onion, red and orange bell pepper, broccoli and kizami shoga (pickled ginger). The noodles have a nice consistency – exactly what you’d expect out of yakisoba – kind of like an Asian spaghetti if that makes sense. The flavoring coats and invades every nook and cranny with a sweet and salty Worcestershire ambience. It’s great stuff! 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 011152104294.

How to make yakisoba!

#1045: Nissin Chow Mein Chicken Flavor Chow Mein Noodles

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This is one you can probably find quite easily in a grocery store here in the United States. Let’s have a look.

Here’s the detail from the bottom (click image to enlarge).

Under the wraps (click to enlarge).

The noodle block.

Liquid seasoning packet.

A good amount of dark liquid.

Veggie packet.

A nice looking mixture and decent quantity.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added red, yellow and orange bell pepper, sweet onion and broccoli along with some chicken lunch meat and a bit of Dua Belibis Chilli Sauce. The noodles are pretty good – plentiful and have a slightly broad and flat way to them. Decent consistency. The flavor is good – has a nice taste of chicken teriyaki, but not sweet. The veggies plumped up well. 3.5 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 070662087213 – get it here.

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Nissin Chow Mein TV spot.

#1044: Nongshim Shin Ramyun Noodle Spicy Mushroom Flavour

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Another from my trip to Canada for my birthday. Wow – what a past two days here! The Top Ten 2013 list came out to a clamor of Taiwanese disapproval – Taiwan didn’t make the list. But, hopefully out of it all I’ll get contacted by one of the companies in Taiwan, but so far nothing. On to other things though – that being this interesting bowl by Nongshim. This one’s made in Shanghai, China. Let’s check it out.

Very red side panels (click to enlarge).

Hey look – an included fork! A new one, too!

The noodle block.

The seasoning powder packet.

Nice and red like one would expect!

No veggie packet – this is what was in the bottom of the bowl.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added cheese, green onion, sweet onion, and sauteed beef with some mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic. The noodles were a little disappointing – had some songiness I didn’t enjoy. The quantity was good though. The broth seemed a little on the weaker side and didn’t have the ‘oomph’ that I would have expected from Shin Ramyun. Not to say it wasn’t tasty – has a nice red broth flavor as I would expect from Shin Ramyun, just not very fiery in the spiciness department. The veggies hydrated nicely and were alright. 3.25 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 6920238083016.

Making of video for Nongshim CF by T-Ara.

The Ramen Rater Movie: Almost Two Hours Of Instant Noodles

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If you watch this from beginning to end, not only proven yourself a true fan of the instant noodle, but also seen pretty much every single instant noodle review and re-review I’ve ever done. Clocking in at an hour and forty-nine minutes, this is pretty heavy duty. Enjoy!

#1043: Chewy Rice Vermicelli Satay Chicken Flavour

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Yep – another one from my Canadian birthday trip! Let’s check this one out.

 

Export sticker (click image to enlarge).

Back of the package (click image to enlarge); Doesn’t look to be any meat ingredients, but check yourself.

The wispy noodle block.

Powder packet.

Has a lighthearted, high pitched scent – like a chicken and sage smell.

The paste packet.

Reminds me of heavily herbed chicken.

Veggies.

A yellow smell; saffron and herbal notes.

 

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added a fried egg, red, yellow and orange bell pepper, sweet onion, chicken I seasoned with garlic salt and baked and some broccoli. The noodles are kind of uninteresting; they’re very thin and wispy and don’t seem to have a lot of character to them. The broth has a deep and rich chicken flavor and another flavor I can’t quite put my finger on… Like an oily chicken skin grease thing going on. The veggies did alright. This was a peculiar one. 3.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 6920377218317.

Sp my friend is in a metal band and gonna go and see them play tomorrow night. They’re called Ravages Of Time – here’s their MySpace page – listen to ’em 🙂

#1042: Nongshim Potato Pork Ramyun

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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!

The export sticker (click to enlarge). This was on the side of the 5-pack I got. Says pork bone seasoning, so not sure if that’s pork or not.

The back of an individual pack (click image to enlarge).

Potato noodle block!

A nice fat seasoning packet.

The soup base. It has a really nice flavor – one of the most porkflavor powders I’ve tasted.

Veggie packet.

A small array of bits.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added some baked pork chop I made last night with apple, onion and garlic salt, some sweet onion and some green onion. The noodles are thick and have a gauge not unlike Nongsdhim Shin Ramyun, however the consistency is different. They seem almost heartier. The broth is amazingly good – has a really good pork flavor I’ve not experienced at this caliber in an instant before. A little slight spice in there too. The veggies were good as well. This was a real surprise! 5.0 out of 5.0 stars .UPC bar code 6920238087014.

Here’s a commercial for this one.

#1041: Ko-Lee Instant Noodles Super Chow Mein Flavour

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One of the last that Joe & Gil from the UK sent a while back – thanks again! I like chow mein, but what’s ‘super’ chow mein? Let’s see!

The back of the package (click image to enlarge). Looks to be free of meat ingredients. It also looks a lot oke mi goreng!

One of the larger chunks of noodle block.

A dual packet with chili powder and powder seasoning.

A very bright red chili powder atop the seasoning powder.

There’s another dual packet (sorry no picture of it) that contains seasoned oil (the light) and sweet soy sauce (the dark).

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added beef I sauteed in minced garlic and Worcestershire sauce, sweet onion, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, a fried egg and some Dua Belibis Chilli Sauce. The noodles are thin and very light. The flavoring is great – it’s so much like a mi goreng! Has a nice sweet and spicy thing going on. This is good stuff! 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 5023751104143.

Chris Kelly of Kris Kross died today. Sucks how a rapper has to die for old school tracks like this to make a resurgence…

#1040: Western Family Instant Noodles Vegetable Flavour

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Another from my trip to Canada on my birthday! Vegetable! Let’s check it out.

Back of the packaging (click image to enlarge). Says it contains wheat and soy and may contain trace amounts of egg, fish/shellfish, nuts and sulphites.

The noodle block.

Seasoning packet.

Very light in color.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added beef, red, orange and yellow bell peppers and sweet onion. The noodles were poor – almost pasty. The broth has a very bland and slightly bitter vegetable flavor. 1.0 out of 5.0 stars.UPC bar code 062639297190.

Got these noodles at this store – actually at the one in Richmond, BC Canada.