Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
It’s definitely been a while since I reviewed anything by Ottogi that’s for theSouth Korean market. Actually, this one is an export version, but the more recent ones have been for Mexico and so this is more of a South Korean variety. So, what is jjambbong? Wikipedia has this to say about it:
Here’s a cup I found at Carrefour in Taipei, Taiwan during my trip in November of 2016. I’ve never seen this one before and from what it looks like, it’s made for the Chinese/Taiwanese market. At least the packaging in Chinese gives that away. Also, I can see that it’s referencing www.nongshim.com – not a .cn or .tw, so these should be made in South Korea. It also has a little banner proclaiming ‘number one’ but unsure what that’s referring to. Anyways, let’s see what we have here and give these seaweed noodles a try!
So here’s something new I found at HMart. This is going to be battle for me, however you might wonder why. Well, much of the package is shiny gold colored. Unfortunately, shiny gold and silver packages are evil. I mean, not really, but really at the same time. Indeed they look nice, but they add a bit of an issue to my process. Indeed, scanning gold or silver foil packs presents a real problem. No matter what, there are wrinkles in the packaging, and ones I usually can use Photoshop to get rid of. However, these wrinkles when in a shiny foil wreak havoc with the scanner and the images come out extremely light and dark in spots. Anyway, just a little behind the scenes on what I do when putting out a post.
Well, today is my birthday and I’m up at 5am getting this post ready. Actually it’s 6am now – I’ve been getting all my ducks in a row (actually chickens har har) in order to post The Ramen Rater’s Definitive Guide To Samyang Foods’ Buldak Bokkeummyun. It’s a total of 9 posts including the guide itself that I’m putting up today. A lot of work, that’s for sure and I’m rushing to get it up.
Here’s the newest variety from Samyang Foods’ Buldak Bokkeummyun line. Curry! I make no illusion to the fact that I absolutely think that curry is the finest thing in the universe. I freaking love curry. Here’s a little about Korean c urry from Wikipedia –
Today it’s the cold variety. Indeed, cold noodles with spicy sauce have long been around in South Korean ramyun varieties. However I’m guessing while cold in temperature, these will probably surpass most other in their hot flavor. This particular one is the export version, sent by a reader named Colin from Massachusetts. I noticed that the liquid sachet didn’t say ‘ice’ but ‘cool.’ Was this to be the original name? Well, I asked!
Alright. Today’s the day. I heard about the double spicy Buldak Bokkeummyun a couple of months ago. After hoping to simply find it at the store with no luck, I received a few of these packs – first, I got one from Anders from South Korea which is a reader who’s sent varieties in the past – thank you! Since I wanted to try these as soon as possible, I (for the first time) ordered some from an eBay seller called 1theKorea – they’ve got all sorts of neat South Korean varieties, and lots of the spicy ones that aren’t the easiest to find or are unavailable in the USA. I also got a ton of varieties from Samyang Foods – including the bowl versions of this one and the Stew as well as a couple snack variants.
I’ve reviewed a lot of snack noodles in my day and still delight in the comments I get about them. I get people telling me about smashing domestic US varieties, sprinkling the seasoning on them and eating them raw; kind of like they’ve uncovered something fascinating, new and innovative. Unfortunately – I have to break it to y’all, but this isn’t anything new. Moreover, varieties designed and sold in South Korea to be smashed and sprinkled and enjoyed have been around for a long time.
This one came by way of eBay seller 1theKorea – they’ve got all sorts of neat South Korean varieties, and lots of the spicy ones that aren’t the easiest to find or are unavailable in the USA.
This one came by way of eBay seller 1theKorea – they’ve got all sorts of neat South Korean varieties, and lots of the spicy ones that aren’t the easiest to find or are unavailable in the USA. .
This one came by way of eBay seller 1theKorea – they’ve got all sorts of neat South Korean varieties, and lots of the spicy ones that aren’t the easiest to find or are unavailable in the USA. This is the variety that set off the Fire Noodle Challenge. In reality, Buldak Bokkeummyun is spicy fried chicken flavor. In South Korea as well as many places in Asia, fried chicken is extremely popular. Korean fried chicken is great; double coated and comes in violently spicy, regular and honey garlic to name a few.
You’re probably thinking ‘wow – he’s sure getting a lot of stuff from South Korea lately’ and you’re right! My birthday is on Tuesday and I’ll be rolling out something special – The Ramen Rater’s Definitive Guide To Buldak Bokkeummyun. The ‘Fire Noodle Challenge’ has been done over on YouTube plenty of times and I thought it would be good to give a little background on these noodles and what they’re all about. Let’s have a look in this box.
I’ve had the export version in the past but this is the version that Koreans eat in South Korea. I picked this up in Taipei at a Carrefour store. I’d never been to one before and really didn’t know anything about them other than that I knew they existed in Taiwan. Here’s some info from Wikipedia –
Buldak Bokkeummyun is the Korean name for what people all over the world have been enduring in the Fire Noodle Challenge. It’s a seriously spicy variety – #3 on my Top Ten Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2016 Edition. Well, they’ve come out with a spicier version that’s supposed to be just amazing. I contacted them and they sent me some along with other varieties – let’s check it out!
I got an email a few weeks back asking if I’d tried the new 2x Spicy Buldak Bokkeummyun. I hadn’t and really wanted to. The email was sent by Anders and his girlfriend Ji-Min who live in South Korea and were kind enough to send some varieties along! Let’s see what’s inside!
Here’s a new jjajangmyun from Paldo of South Korea sent by Yongmin Park of Paldo. Thank you very much! For those of you unfamiliar with jjajangmyeon, here’s some info from wikipedia:
Yet again, a donation from Colin of the east coast – thanks, bro! This is another ‘no way – I’ve reviewed this one’ kinda variety, but it turns out indeed I haven’t. It looks like the Nongshim ‘BIG Bowl’ line, but it’s definitely not the export version if it is. Let’s have a look – very curious about this one.
Here’s another one from Colin – you da man! He got these during a trip to Mexico earlier this year and sent them along. It’s funny; it still kind of boggles my mind how few instant noodles from Mexico I’ve had the chance to try until only recently. I mean, Mexico is pretty darn close. But then again it’s kind of the same way with Canada – I live about an hour and a half from the border and until we went up there a few years back for my birthday, I hadn’t tried much of anything from up there. Anyways, let’s check out this chicken flavored instant ramyun from South Korea for the Mexican marketplace.
South Korean instant noodles are known around the world as being spicy and beefy for the most part. However, there are many different styles. In fact, seafood jjamppong, black bean jjajang, cold noodles, and creamy beef noodles exist in the scene. Today, I’ll do a rundown of my favorites – the best of the highest rated South Korean varieties from over 2,300 unique varieties I’ve reviewed from around the world. Finally, I would like to note that it’s tougher to find South Korean varieties. Therefore, any instant noodle companies from South Korea should contact me promptly to be considered for upcoming top ten lists. Let’s get started.
Okay so most of your should be familiar with the popular ‘fiore noodle’ challenge. That’s where you take a bowl of Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkummyun (spicy fried chicken flavor) instrant noodles and scarf ‘e,m down in one sitting really quick. If you don’t know about this, just go to YouTube and type in fire noodle challenge – you’ll get a ton of videos. Nobody’s ever challenged me to do this; kind of bummed. Anyways, this is a new variety – I think there will be three of these spin offs, but right now we have cheese. Let’s see is the cheese chills this fiery noodle out or if it still has the burn of burns.
I’ve liked jjamppong for a while now. For those of you not familiar with it, it’s kind of like a spicy Korean seafood hnoodle soup. Let’s check it out!
The first time I tried bibimmyun a long time ago I really didn’t get it. Spicy, sweet, and worst of all, it was cold. Yep – when I first started reviewing, the thought of cold noodles made me cringe. I found this one recently at HMart and honestly have been holding back on it since I just reviewed a bibimmyun a couple weeks ago – but no more. It’s getting colder outside – rainy too. Bibimmyun is really a dish for the hot summer months when something cool and refreshing really hits the spot. Well, maybe there will be a sun break today even though the forecast is for 10 days straight of rain… Let’s check this one out!
A few weeks back I was at an HMart – the one on 184th next to Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, Washington state. I saw this perky orange pack practically jumping off the shelf at me saying ‘pick me, pick me!’ I’ve reviewed this one a couple times in the past, but it just screamed eat me. Today, I’ve got so much craziness going on – I’ll let you in on it. First, I want to say that if you take really long flights, you should get up and walk around every hour or so. Why? Well, when you don’t, you can end up with blood clots in your legs. Then those blood clots can get into your lungs. Then you can end up in the hospital like I did last weekend with my first IV in my arm and a very timid feeling for the universe. Luckily, I’ll be fine, but it could’ve been much worse (i.e., no more The Ramen Rater). I’ve been having to get my blood checked, get injections this week… Not much fun. On the up side, I should be fine – the only pain I’m in is from shots (fleeting little bits of pain when I’m jabbed) and the clots will go away naturally. The other crazy business is that in 9 days Kit and I expecting our second child together! We’re very excited and I’ll definitely post pictures of her when she’s born! Those are the bigguns – aside from those, I have a sore tooth (drove me bonkers in the last 24 hours but totally eased up now), it’s about to snow any minute now, and oh yeah – Christmas is just around the corner! A lot in a small period of time. New life and dodging a bullet. Wow. Today, I slept in a little and decided to skip reviewing. Well, couldn’t figure out what to have for lunch – I didn’t want anything that would anger the tooth again, and so again this orange pack of noodles was staring at me. Today is your day!
Here’s another one sent to me by a reader named Colin from the east coast – thanks again! This is one he got on a recent trip to Mexico. Let’s check it out!
Every year in January I come out with a Top Ten list of South Korean varieties. Much to the disappointment and anger of many people, this will never be on that list. Why? Simple. It’s made in the United States. People have debated me into the dirt on it too ‘so, why does it matter?’ Well, if I put Nissin top Ramen on the Top Ten Japanese list that would be a little ridiculous, wouldn’t it? The differences between the Nongshim Shin Cup manufactured here and manufactured in South Korea might be only geographic and packaging, but those are the rules. This could be on the Top Ten Made In The USA list at some point (I haven’t come out with a new one of those lists in a while – maybe next year perhaps). I’m working on getting some South Korean varieties soon, so I guess we’ll see this January!
Here’s a flavor I don’t usually have all to often – anchovy. Salty little fishies! I am hoping it’s tasty but not too fishy; there’s a fine line between yes and yecch when it comes to such things I believe. Let’s give it a go!
SPECIAL ELECTION MESSAGE
I wanted to take a second to talk about the events that have happened concerning the Presidential election here in the United States. I’ve got to say, I wasn’t expecting the outcome we’ve seen here. I live in Washington state – a very Liberal state – where Bernie Sanders won over 80% of the votes for the primary. Personally, I think we’d have a different President today if the DNC hadn’t played politics and made it impossible for him to win. Our delegates here all went for Clinton – even though the people voted otherwise. I decided not to vote for either Clinton or Trump as I didn’t like either of them. My friend Raffael over at Happy Souper in Germany has posted a review – and he mentioned people there are kind of freaked out about our new President. I guess we’ll see what happens. I’ll keep reviewing noodles. I did this video a long time ago – wish he would’ve gotten the nomination.
Here’s a new Jjamppong from Paldo of South Korea sent by Yongmin Park of Paldo. Thank you very much! I really like jjamppong so let’s check it out!
Okay so I guess karma will get you. I dunno. Let me explain… So I got this pack along with a couple others at HMart a week or two ago (great store, HMart by the way) and they had one of this series in single packs to buy, but the other two were in 5 packs that were around $9 each. Well, I went to the trouble of opening a couple of the 5 packs and taking out one each . Now, I’m unsure if this is truly a horrible thing to do; I’m sure they just put them on the shelf with the others that are sold in singles. Plus hey – I got them at HMart (there – the third time I mentioned HMart! Ooh a fourth!), so if you want to get these you can find them there. Well, as it turns out I reviewed this one in May and now I’m reviewing it again! Wasn’t my plan to do a re-review today but here we are. So perhaps the pulling of single packs from the multipack is why this happened. But probably not; I’m just getting old. Anyways, this is a jjajang/zha jiang (black bean sauce) noodle. Let’s hit it!
Crabby crab from South Korea! This one was sent to me by colin from the east coast – thanks! Not a lot of ramyun I’ve seen out there with crab as a main flavor. In fact, I think this might be the first ramyun I’ve seen in this vein. You might say ‘hey – you’ve reviewed noodle that have crab flavor before’ but this is ramyun. ramyun is strictly a South Korean thing – it’s really has to do with the noodle gauge and the chewiness. Originally it was beef broth and spicy, but different things have come into the mix during the years – like crab! Let’s give it a try!
First, I want to send a special thank you to Yongmin Park for sending me product samples! See, every year I do the Top Ten South Korean Instant Noodles list and each year it’s starting to seem like I get fewer and fewer products to try from South Korea. People have been getting grumpy about the list too – see, it’s only for products made IN South Korea, not elsewhere. Let’s have a look inside and see what awaits!
After perusing Nongshim America’s website, I saw these noodles I hadn’t heard of before. A quick message to my contact at Nongshim and these magically arrived in a couple days! This is what you would call a Summer variety – the noodles are served cold with a spicy sauce. It’s made in South Korea, but definitely in packaging for the United States. Let’s give it a try!
A big rice noodle bowl from South Korea graces my desk today. I must say, this is the only one I’ve ever seen mentioning ‘clean room’ on the label. Unsure if this is in reference to where it’s produced or has to do with ‘clean eating.’ Either way, let crack it open and look within.
Got a few varieties of these bowls a month of two ago and thought they sounded interesting. Let’s take a look!
Here’s another one from Colin – thanks! Pojangmacha are street food stalls found in South Korea – I really hope to try this some day! This is a spicy seafood soup from South Korea. Let’s check it out!
Seems like it wasn’t that long ago I came out with the first Top Ten Rice Noodles list – was thinking I might not do an update since I hadn’t reviewed a ton of new ones in the last year but since a couple were definitely worthy, here it is. Here’s The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles Of All Time 2016 Edition!
There’s been a lot of hub bub coming out of South Korea lately – all the big companies have brand new Jjajang and Jjamppong varieties it seems. They’re all going a little more premium than their old offerings. This is awesome for me, well – as long as I can get my hands on them. I finally was able to score this one at the local South Korean grocery. Let’s crack it open and see what we’ve got here.
Instant noodles sold in bowls are very popular as they provide a certain convenience to those ‘on the go.’ They’re great to pack in a bag for a trip or for the office at lunch. These are the best of the best that I’ve tried out of my over 2,060+ reviews to date. With that, open lid halfway, pour in some boiling water, stir – and enjoy!
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 one I’ve been curious about. Looks like South Korean take on rice noodle spaghetti perhaps? It certainly looks tasty… Hmm! Let’s check it out!
