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When I shot the pictures for this one, it was the last of the instant noodles I had on hand for review – until I did 5 unboxing videos yesterday. Should have enough now to get a little way into the 4400s. I’ve had this one before, although it was an incredibly long time ago – back in early 2011. Looks like I liked it. Paldo has had a logo change since then. Let’s check this one out.
Well look what we have here – something to mukbang. I haven’t done a mukbang in what seems like forever; I never find anything that’s spicy that I’ve not tried before – however, the folks at BNB Global have been kind enough to send me some samples. Definitely made in Korea, but packaged for US sales. Time to burn. Check out the videos below – the mukbang was released on Christmas 2022 but recorded August 17th, 2022 – I’m pretty far ahead. Let go.
Here’s another one made in South Korea and packaged for the US market. These use an interesting noodle style that I’ve only seen hailing from South Koreas. Let’s check it out.
This one hails from South Korea, but made in this packaging for the US market. They were sent to me by BNB Global – thanks! The mild was good – let’s see how spicy this one is.
Found this one at Boo Han Market last weekend at the end of July. So, this isn’t ramen, it’s something called sujebi. Looks different that’s for sure. Let’s try it out!
Another one from S-Mart. There’s a different one which is Black Kimchi flavor – Should be about the same is my guess but red. I remember the black one was a little sweet – maybe this one’s more spicy? Guess only one way to find out.
Here’s one made in South Korea and packaged for the Us market. This is a spicy and sweet cold noodle, perfect for summer months. As I write this, it’s just turned to August. We just had a week of temps above 90 degrees – very hot for the Seattle area – record breaking actually. Today it’s much cooler which is a relief. First day in quite a while since I remember the air conditioning being turned off.
Thanks to BNB Global for sending this along! So this looks like a ‘king cup’ but I tend to consider them bowls. I’m thawing chicken in the sink right now for this one and the previous two as well. It’s hot – it’s about 8pm and 89 degrees (July 30th) and just been a tough go. We’re about to have a record for most 90+ degree days in the Seattle area ever. It’s gross. So, what do I do? I bake pizzas, cook ramen in boiling water. It’s a challenge. Anyways, hopefully when I do this up tomorrow it’ll be cool in the morning. Let’s hit it!
This comes by way of BNB Global – thanks! So Bibim Men is a cold noodle dish – you cook and drain the noodle, rinse with cold water and then add the sauce. This is a variety of tteokbokki, rice cake tubes which are soft and thoroughly enjoyable. This uses the same type of sauce as in the cold noodle, however it’s hot. I don’t think chilling tteokbokki would work so well – probably would make them tough. Regardless, this sounds interesting and I’m very interested. Let’s give it a try!
This is an interesting one. While it says it is a stir-fried chicken flavor, below that it mentioned it has artificial chicken and beef flavor. I’m very curious – it sounds interesting. I’m excited as I’ll be reviewing some more Paldo stuff soon. Let’s check this one out – I think I found it at S*Mart in Bellevue, Washington.
It’s true – some like it hot. This list is comprised of the hottest varieties I’ve tried – that are currently available as far as I can tell. In prior years, there were some that were so hot that the #1 on here was like cotton candy. That being said, I’m guessing there weren’t many repeat customers. At the bottom, you’ll see those varieties. This list is current as of review #4300. Let’s get spicy with The Ramen Rater’s Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2023 Edition!
The Fat Hipster is a fellow ramen afficionado and has a great review channel on YouTube – check it out! He sent a box with a ton of varieties I haven’t tried before – let’s have a look!
You know, I was surprised. Thought I’d reviewed the 2x Spicy cup before – but apparently, I hadn’t! Lucky me! I’m curious if this will burn my face off. While I thoroughly enjoyed my recent review of the Curry Buldak, it was less spicy than I’d expected. How will this one fare? I’m guessing it’ll light my mouth on fire! Let’s find out!
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Here’s another interesting one, this time from South Korea. Really no clue what the ‘black’ entails, although there’s another one of these bowls that says ‘red’ on it. Let”s give it a try.
Here’s another neat and never before seen Shin variety that was sent by The Fat Hipster – Shin Bokkeummyeon. Basically, it’s a dry version of Shin – also looks to be spicy from the packaging. I hope it’s good – let’s find out!
Another super recent find from S-Mart. This one sounded like it would be good. This is definitely for export, but for multiple countries so it’lll get the South Korea label instead of for a specific country being exported to. Let’s try some kimchi noodle soup!
If you’ve been following my reviews lately, you might wonder why this isn’t marked as for the USA – but the thing is if you look, it’s in English as well as French. This definitely means this is for the US and Canada – so, since I can’t pin it down for one or the other, this one gets the country of origin’s stamp on the review.
Here’s the second of two Sempio varieties I found recently. This one’s anchovy flavor. Sounds simple enough. Their noodles are unique, that’s for sure. Let’s give this a try!
You know, I can’t find anything anywhere about this one and what it’s actually called; I’m guess it’s an apt title, and the label looks to be an import label from the actual company itself. However, I bet the name is different. I bet. A dollar. I have a dollar. I’d have to open the piggy bank to get the cash out, but I’m good for a buck. It’s definitely a rice noodle as opposed to a wheat noodle – and I’m guessing that would be mentioned on the packaging. I looked further on the Sempio website –
It took a little finagling to wrap my head around this one – insofar as translation. Bar code was a no-go and the only English text referred to the caloric content and not much else. But what helped was that phone number with the 070 prefix. Boom! They were even kind enough to have an English version of their website. So, let’s check out this South Korean variety!
Here’s one that was sent by James from Lakeside, CA – thanks! I’ve been on a reviewing tear the last week – actually the past couple of weeks. I’m trying to empty bins of varieties I’ve not tried yet. This was in a box above the bins. Anyways, yeah – this is made in South Korea for the US market. Let’s check it out!
Here’s the second of the two varieties I’ve rushed out that arrived in the mail from MH from the Ramen Junkie group. So… Four cheese… This one’s interesting. First, this is made in South Korea, but packaged for sale in the United States. Second, Hochi looks like she’s dressed up for Halloween. During my research on this one, I found that it’s been in South Korea as well. I also found people trying this variety four months ago – kind of interesting. I wonder if they’ve just been test marketing these in a limited fashion prior to now. In the mukbang video below, I mention I thought I’d only 2 varieties not tried, however that’s not the case. In addition to the creamy carbo and the rose, there’s a jjamppong and a ‘lovely’ variety. Would like to add them to my reviews if anyone’s got some to donate! I did read that someone thought carnitas would go very well with this, and luckily my wife made some last night so I ended up with some nice garnish. Let’s cook these up – don’t forget to watch the mukbang at the bottom as well!
Welcome to my newest installment of my experimentation with instant noodles and breads/pizza dough! This one was a real win IMHO – both came out exceedingly well! First, I made an Indomie pie which presented some questions – how do I make the sauce? Butter. How about a cold pizza with Paldo Bibim Men? Never baked a pizza that would be refrigerated before serving. It’s summer and really hot here right now. Cold sounds good. I’ll give you the recipes for both which are pretty simple. Let’s hit it!
Okay so for those of you who don’t know what tteokbokki is, you needsta figure that out because it’s really quite nice! This is both tteokbokki and ramyun; hence, rabokki. Let’s give this a try.
I found this yesterday while looking for Lunar New Year specials at a big Asian grocery store. I immediately knew what I was looking at when I saw the font. These are from eMart. They’re a really big hypermarket chain in South Korea which now is opening stores in the United States. Now, this is a private label product, so one of the big companies in South Korea is making it for them . Not sure which one, but in the past it’s been Samyang. Let’s check it out!
Thanks to Jessica K. for clueing me in about this stuff! She said it’s good stuff and I got a good deal on it on Amazon so figured what the heck. Anyways, this is a dry version of Paldo’s Teumsae and a mukbang sounds good – only 18 degrees Fahrenheit outside right now. Let’s give it a try!
Here’s one from James in Lakeside, CA – thanks again! Wow – this looks burly. I had to read around to verify cooking instructions and they aren’t hard to cook – just wanted to do it right. This will be my first mukbang I’ve done in ages – not only that, I’ve been hardcore on diet and exercise lately, so not only will it be spicy, it’s going to be a gut buster. Egad. Let’s give it a shot!
Thanks as always to James from Lakeside, CA for sending this over! I like this brand – wonder who Mr. HOO is though. Whomever he is, he must have a moustache. Let’s give it a try!
Here’s one that came by way of James of Lakeside Californica – thanks again! This brand has particularly good kimchi varieties – curious how this one will be. Let’s check it out!
Back in 1986, a South Korean company called Nongshim 농심 (which translates to Farmer’s Heart), introduced a product called Shin Ramyun. Since then it has been one of the most popular varieties around the world. In this post, I’ll do a deep dive into the product – a tear down of the package and it’s contents, my tips of preparation, and some things you might not know about it. While not my favorite variety I’ve tried, chances are it may be yours. I run a group called Ramen Junkies on Facebook and the topic and focus of the bulk of posts on there surround this product.
Another one sent by The Fat Hipster – thanks again! So this is by the same folks as did the other Devil Of Fire Bulmawang variety, however this one is without broth. Very curious how this will go. Let’s find out – mukbang below!
A big thanks and shout out to The Fat Hipster for shooting this one over – been curious about it and thought today would be a good day to see how strong the burn is. The name translates to King Of Hell – let’s see how fiery this guy is.
One thing I’ve noticed – spicy is in. This list tends to be the most popular on my website The Ramen Rater every single day. People just want to get all the spicy they can get. Why is that? Spicy is intense. Spicy compliments flavor. Spicy will knock you on your butt. The challenge and chase for the endorphin rush that ultra spicy things give people is extremely tempting for many. These are the spiciest varieties I’ve had the opportunity to sample as of my 3,950th review. Ready to burn? Let’s get to The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2022 Edition.
I’ve seen a lot of these Yopokki variants lately and this one definitely piqued my interest and my wife loves tteokbokki and cheese – and then there’s ramen in there too! It’s a win, win, win! Found this at Asian Family Market on Aurora and 130th in North Seattle – rad store – go check it out! Let’s crack this big pack open and see what dwells within!
Yesterday we found ourselves in Bellevue and about to go home, Kit asked me if there was anywhere we should go over there before we left. I looked to see if there were any Asian grocery stores I’d not been to and found a few, but one had a name that stood out. S-Mart. Yeah – if you’re familiar with the film ‘Army Of Darkness,’ you know why this piqued my curiosity. It seemed that Korean grocery stores usually have a letter followed by the word Mart. It was only a matter of time; we have an HMart nearby, and a GMart (formerly KS Mart), and there’s more of them. Well, we decided to shop smart and shop S-Mart. That’s where I found this one – something I’ve never seen before. It always floors me – I’ve been to tons of Asian grocery stores in this area and then whammo – one that has a variety I’ve never seen around here. In fact, I found a few of them. Let’s give it a try!
Last time this came across the desk was June of 2011. This one came from an Exotic Noods subscription box. You can get one or a subscription to them and they’ve got all sorts of neat varieties in them. Use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount! Let’s delve into this one!
Here’s one that came via Exotic Noods – check ’em out and use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount!
Had this just over 7 years ago – it can take another shot. Well, this is one I’ve enjoyed very much in the past – a Top Ten list variety. I think revisiting this with a heap of cheese is the right thing to do.
Wow – it’s been forever since I had this one, so it’s getting a fresh and new review today. Namja mean’s it’s for men in Korean – sorry ladies! I dunno though, it could be an ingenious marketing ploy – tell women it’s not for them, they might just go and eat copious amounts of it to prove that they can handle the heat and garlic. What’s interesting is that I would say when it comes to gender specific ramen, I would say I’ve seen more that are purposefully geared towards women. Anyways, let’s check this one out!
I left it to the folks over at the Ramen Junkie Facebook group to pick which #ramenbread would be next for me. I really wanted to do something that incorporated a South Korean variety – last time I tried that though, it was a big fail as I tried to make flour with the noodles. I’ve learned that is definitely NOT the way to go, but using cooked noodles and bread flour in a good mix makes for a nice moist cake and crisp crust. Well, here it is! Best loaf yet and infused with chashu, cheese, and egg. Let’s see what happens when I try to put a ton of stuff in a little loaf of bread with a big block of ramen in it!
