
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!
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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!

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 something I’d not seen before – I know, that’s kind of a redundant statement; I try to review something new every day, so… But this is very different. Often, cold noodle varieties from South Korea pop up, but not usually ones that come with a cold broth – they’re usually broth-free. I think that may have been the longest sentence I’ve ever typed on this blog, so apologies for that.

Bowls, cups, , trays, packs, and boxes. Well, I haven’t done a list of boxed or tray-style instant noodles – maybe that will come soon. But I think that separating these is important. The experience that a cup is meant for is different than a cup or bowl. Cups are more for a snack on the go, packs for when you’ve got a stove, and bowls are, well, for lunch. Although in the finished shots of these you’ll see them plated here, generally people will be looking at the bowl they came in, possibly using the plastic fork they came with, and tossing everything once they’re done. These are my favorites, current as of review #3545. Let’s have a look at The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls Of All Time 2020 Edition.

Okay. This one’s interesting. This product is produced by Paldo Vina, a Vietnamese branch of Paldo Food of South Korea. It is for sale in Taiwan (formerly called Formosa). It was sent to me by Daniel – one of the guys from www.exoticnoods.com who visited Taiwan recently and brought it back for me – thanks again! Let’s check it out!

This one is the first I’m reviewing from a ship that Nongshim America was kind enough to send – thank you! I should mention that James from Lakeside California sent one of these – thanks everyone! So from the little word-cloud above the name Soo, I’m guessing perhaps that the word Soo means excellent? I looked it up and it can (as a family name) mean water or shore/riverbank. I’m going to guess water will be the logical one here since these are air-dried noodles and not fried. That has a nice little logic to it, at least in my head. Let’s give them a try.

Looks like this is a local version (I do’t know that there is export ones) of Paldo’s Jjol Bibim Men. After a little researxh, it looks lik the difference between this as their Bibim Men are the noodles are chewier in this one. Let’s give it a try!

First off, let me say that I did a mukbang with this one an it’s at the bottom. Definitely the spiciest one I’ve done in quite some time.

What do we have here? The second of two big bowls from Paldo! I’m in the mood for sampling spicy today- it’s cold outside. It’s snowing. Weatherman says we’re looking at 5 more inches of snow and gusty winds. It’s cold in here. Time to cook!

Okay so yes – these are mad ein South Korea. They’re made for the French market though. I recently reviewed the spicy flavor variety and made this one in the past and shared with daughter Miriam and really liked it as well. Let’s crack it open and give it a go!

Thus far, I’ve been quite pleased with all the different Mr. Kimchi varieties – soups and dry noodles. This is the cup, so I’m guessing it should be about the same as the dry noodle pack and bowl. Let’s find out.

This is a longstanding favorite of mine and probably the first cold noodle I came in contact with. First time I had it I wasn’t so sure, but over time it definitely grew on me. This is usually enjoyed in the summer months, but seeing as the folks at Paldo sent it to me recently, I’d give it a go right now. Let’s cook it up!

Well, Merry Christmas! Hochi has her Santa hat on for this one. Meat spaghetti, huh? Sounds interesting. Christmas is over, but they must have had some leftovers – got these last week and thought hey – maybe some burning would do me good. Let’s give this new variety a try!

Special thanks go out to Normalgorl for shooting this over! Much obliged! So what the heck is this? Corn?! I’m thoroughly fascinated. Let’s check it out!

Okay, I think I found this one at HMart up in Richmond BC at Aberdeen Centre. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure. Anyways, yeah this is topokki. Why, you ask? Because topokki is wonderful stuff and lives in the section with the noodles, so there. Let’s get it on!

It’s been quite a while since a new Shin variety came out I think. On the edge of the package it mentions it being ‘Shin Black Class’ but I mean look at the packaging. Clearly, this is Shin White – am I wrong?I’m guessing this is going to be quite different – fried vs non fried noodles are like night and day, and I expect I’m going to like this one to be honest. Let’s find out!

Kimchi is really great stuff – and it’s not just cabbage. There’s lots of different vegetables that can be kimchi – radish kimchi is my favorite. Now I want some Korean BBQ! Okay, okay – let’s give this one a try.

Here’s the last of the Aloha! bowls. I figured I’d just run through them and then tomorrow a last one from the last box from Samyang. Let’s give this kimchi variety a try.

Here’s another one of the Aloha bowls that Samyang sent recently. I’ve always been fascinated by the bowl noodle concept – they end up in convenience stores and gas stations a lot of the time and they’re honestly pretty good. Let’s check it out!

Okay so this is the local South Korean version of this variety. I’ve had it before as an export. Let’s see if it’s any different!

Here we have the latest in the long line of Buldak varieties from Samyang Foods. This is Buldak Light – so let me explain. This one has only 375 calories. The noodles are not fried, so all that oil used in frying isn’t present. But not only is it lighter on calories, it’s lighter on heat. It’s 40% less spicy than original Buldak Bokkeummyun clocking in at 2,600SHU compared to the original’s 4,400SHU.

So this is an export variety from the company that brought you the fire noodle. I’m not exactly sure why the Hawaiian theme, but that’s kind of cool. Let’s give it a try!

I’ve honestl been hoping to find this one for a long time – and I finally did up in Richmond, BC at the HMart in Aberdeen Centre. I was getting the stuff to do the Shin Ramen Prison Burrito! Anyways, Gomtang is a horse of a different color in the realm of Korean instant noodle soups. It’s never spicy (although a spicy Gomtang sounds kind of neat). It’s a kind of creamy beef soup – stick to your ribsy and comforty. Good stuff! Let’s give Nongshim’s offering a try!

This is an interesting name. I have a feeling lid might be hat? I’m unsure so if anyone’s got better please let me know. I’m guessing this will be a spicy beef in the traditional style. Let’s crack this open and have a look!

I’m going to take a wild stab at something here – that this one contains…. EGGS! I like noodles and eggs quite a bit – I’ve been curious about this one but didn’t know if Samyang was going to send this but I decided to hold of in case. So, I finally got it at 99 Ranch Market! Let’s check it out!

I’ve known about Paldo for a long time however never have I seen this one before. Paldo was kind enough to send some local variants I found on their website! Let’s check this bowl out and give it a try!

Here’s an export variety from Paldo. The other day I tried out the Mr. Kimchi with broth – this one has no broth. Sounds good – let’s hit it!

I’ve had quite a few kimchi flavor ramen varieties over the years. Hell, I used to have a huge jar of kimchi in the fridge all the time when I first started doing reviews – I’d eat tons of it. It’s good stuff and lots of evidence supporting that it’s one of those ‘superfoods’ that promote health.

I was visiting a prominent spot in the local Safeway supermarket which I walk to almost daily. That area would be the endcap where the mung bean sprouts are located. I noticed this and another bowl I hadn’t really noticed before sitting there and though what the heck I’ll give it a try.

Yeah wait, what? Buldak Corn? The mukbang will be out December 27th! Stay tuned!

It’s summer right now (I wrote and reviewed this on the last day of July) and one thing that happens during the summer months is that South Korean brands put out their cold noodles. This one is a play on bibimbap – instead of rice, it’s noodles. Here’s a little about bibimbap from Wikipedia –

Two days in a row of varieties with long names! This one does NOT include noodles, however it’s topokki. What’s that? Wikipedia, if you please –

My buddy Paul in Australia and I met when he mentioned this one on the facebook page. ‘Have you tried this?’ I found it at a local HMart – he tried the bowl version – I ound botht he pack and the bowl. It sounds good – I like kimchi a lot. I like how often they say real on the package – no dude, it’s real – it’s really really real.

I got three different version of this up in Canada. After a little translation work, it looks to be Jjajang

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a great while. Happily, they were sent along by my new contact at Paldo! Thank you very much! This one screams mukbang to me but as some of you might know already, mukbang is something that’s getting harder and harder for me these days. I used to eat a LOT mre, and now I exercise and my diet is much more regulated. To put it bluntly, scarfing down a big block of carbs is easy when you do it more often than I do now.But of course, I’ll give it a shot.

Sometimes it can be tough to get my little girl to cooperate with an unboxing but this time it went pretty well!

So I’ve been getting a lot of neat samples from Paldo South Korea lately! This one’s a box with less export kind of things and more local styled varieties. Let’s check it out!

Here’s another one I found over at Boo Han Market in Edmonds, Washington. This new O’Taste brand seems to be cropping up a lot lately. It’s interesting as it’s not exactly a Nongshim variety, but it’s Taekyung Food & Processing, and I’m unsure exactly how they fit in with the Nongshim corporate structure. Maybe I should find out.

Found this one yesterday at Boo Han Market in Edmonds, Washington. So it had a sticker on the side which pulled a bit off but I can still make out the cooking instructions from what’s left. The sticker mentioned ‘Korean pasta’ which I found compelling. This is sujebi – let’s see what Wikipedia has to say –

Oh wow okay so I’ve been kind of hanging on to this carbonara topokki for a little while. Today seemed like a god day for this one. Is it? Well, let’s find out!