Tag Archives: spaghetti

#3287: Itsuki Neapolitan Spaghetti – Japan

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.

Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘Stir up the heat this winter and enjoy Japan’s take on Neapolitan spaghetti for lunch or dinner! This pack contains a tomato sauce that is full of yummy flavor. Even when it’s cold, it’s equally as delicious and Kumamon thinks so, too!’

Kumamon is the character on the package – he’s the spokesanimal-thing for Kumamoto prefecture in Japan. Let’s get started!

Itsuki Neapolitan Spaghetti – Japan

Detail of the package (click to enlarge). Unsure whether it contains meat – check for yourself. To prepare, heat 1 tablespoon butter or oil in a pan. Add in any meat or vegetables you wish. Add in noodles and cook funtil done. Add in sachet contents and stir fry until combines. Finally, enjoy!

A pouch of fresh noodles.

The dry seasoning base.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added barbecue pork and spring onion, fried garlic, and chili flake. All in all, things end up very tasty. The only problem is that everything is extremely dry, which isn’t how I usually find spaghetti to be. Just seemed a little on the off side. 3.25 out of 5.0 stars. JAN bar code 4901726005040.

176gX10 pieces Kumamoto ramen of Itsuki food Kumamon

Watch me cook on Instant Noodle Recipe Time!

Meet The Manufacturer: #1996: Nissin Cup Noodle Pasta Style Tarako Spaghetti

Comments

This is the third one from this line that I’ve tried. I have had the vongole variety as well as the bolognese in the past – really liked that bolognese. This one is made with cod roe – basically cod eggs. It’s a very common addition over in Japan. Let’s give this a try.

Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Contains fish. To prepare, take out sachets and add boiling water to fill line. Cover for 5 minutes. Use drain spout to pour off excess water. Add in sachet contents. Stir and enjoy!

Detail of the lid (click to enlarge).

Detail of the noodle block.

A dry sachet.

A granular mixture.

An liquid sachet.

A light seasoned oil.

2016_3_20_1996_010a

Finished (click to enlarge). The five minutes of steeping were just perfect to make the noodles hydrate perfectly. They have an excellent gauge and chew. The flavor is an almost lemon-but-not-lemon acidity punch with a salty fish taste. I am assuming the tiny little specks throughout are indeed cod roe. It’s tasty and interesting. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. JAN bar code 4902105232569.

Nissin Men Syokunin (3 Taste Variety Pack) (3.4ounce X 6cups) 【Japan Import】

A Nissin Cup Noodle TV advertisement from Japan.

#1646: New Way Spaghetti Instant Noodles

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Here’s one I got this year up in Canada on my birthday! My wife spied this one on a lower shelf . She’s got a knack of finding ones that I don’t notice which is really quite handy! It’s also interesting how many spaghetti varieties come from Vietnam! Anyways, let’s check out this New Way variety.

The import/distributor’s sticker (click image to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself.

Detail from the back of the package (click image to enlarge). To prepare, put the noodle block in the tray. Add boiling water to line, cover, and let steep for 4 minutes. Use the lid’s spout to drain. Add in liquid sachet contents, garnish with pepper sachet and enjoy!

An included fork!

The noodle block.

The sauce sachet.

Spaghetti sauce.

The pepper sachet.

Black pepper – made me sneeze!

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added coriander, beef and white onion. The noodles are flat and slightly broad. They have a very nice texture and chew. The flavor is a very sweet tomato sauce. The black pepper adds a nice little peppery hit to it. A nice surprise in this one. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 8936021031483.

Spiralizer® Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer, Strongest-Heaviest, 100% Risk Free with Lifetime Guarantee, Best Veggie Pasta Spaghetti Maker for Low Carb/Paleo/Gluten-Free Meals

A New Way instant noodles TV spot.

#1406: La Fonte Spaghetti with Mushroom Sauce

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Here’s another one sent by a friend in Indonesia – thank you! La Fonte is a line by Indofood, makers of Indomie. I don’t usually review boxed instants like this but this one’s really interesting. I reviewed a different one a while back and though I ought to give this one a try. Let’s check it out!

Here’s the back of the package (click image to enlarge). Contains chicken broth. To prepare, boil 550ml water. Cook noodles for 4 minutes, then drain. Put noodles on a plate and add contents of sauce sachet. Enjoy!

A little bag of spaghetti noodles.

The sauce sachet.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Sampled the noodles and sauce, then added mushroom and minced beef that was sauteed with garlic and Worcestershire sauce. The noodles were good – excellent gauge and were your standard spaghetti noodle. The sauce was nice and sweet with a strong tomato flavor. The mushrooms were of good quality. 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 8888900620113.

A La Fonte TV advertisement.

Meet The Manufacturer: #1387: Takamori Red Pepper & Garlic Peperoncino

2 Replies

Well folks, this is it. The last one for this Meet The Manufacturer. I really have enjoyed reviewing all of these fresh noodle varieties quite a bit, and I think it’s finally gotten me to look at the possibility of a The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Fresh Noodles Of All Time list. They don’t exactly fit into the Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time lists as they’re usually on a different playing field; they’re not fried blocks, but fresh pouches. So that might be something coming up in the near future. I’d like to thank Yuji for the help in making these reviews happen – I’ve messaged him plenty of times with questions throughout as there’s no English on any of the packaging, let alone the title sometimes. Let’s have a look at this interesting variety from Takamori Kosan of Japan as we bid them a fond farewell for now. Yuji has mentioned that there will be new varieties coming, so it’s not goodbye, but til next time.

Here’s the back of the package (click image to enlarge). Not sure if meat is present. To prepare, sautee some meat and veggies about halfway and set aside. Add a spoonful of water to a skillet and heat. Drop in the noodles and cook a little and then drop in the dry sachet content. Mix thoroughly and then add in your meat and veggies. Cook until done. Enjoy!

The fresh noodle pouch.

The seasoning sachet.

Definitely a garlic scent present!

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added pork, chopped Fresno pepper and sweet onion. The noodles come out nice – good chewiness and gauge. The flavor is nice and harlicky with a little zing of pepperiness. I liked it – 4.0 out of 5.0 stars.UPC bar code 4901959100314.

Growing up, I watched a lot of cartoons. The best of them all was Star Blazers, known in Japan as Space Battleship Yamato. Well, I thought I would let those of you who also enjoyed this cartoon know that they made a live action film based on it! Here it is – enjoy!

#1318: Nissin King Spa王 (Spa Oh) Tarako Spaghetti

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I’ll admit when I first saw the packaging, I thought this stuff was called Spaz! I kind of wish it was as that would be exceedingly humorous, but I digress… This is Tarako Spaghetti; so what is tarako? Wikipedia tells us:

Tarako (鱈子^?), in Japanese cuisine, is a salted roe food, usually made from Alaska pollock,^[1] although tara (鱈^?) actually means cod in Japanese.

Tarako is served in a number of ways:

Plain (usually for breakfast)[2]
As a filling for onigiri
As a pasta sauce (usually with nori)

So I’m guessing we’re talking the last on that list. My son Andy picked this one to try today – a very adventurous choice considering he tends to gravitate towards chicken flavor almost exclusively; tarako sounds interesting. Let’s have a look under the hood of this big bowl of noodles!

Detail of the side panels (click image to enlarge). As far as containing meat, I’m guessing there’s fish involved but I’m not sure. To prepare, take everything out and then put the noodles in. Add boiling water for 1 minute then drain. Add liquid and powder sachets and stir. Garnish with seaweed. Enjoy!

Here’s detail of the lid (click image to enlarge).

A fresh noodle pouch.

Powder base sachet.

Has a seafood taste kind of like kamaboko. Since Andy really likes kamaboko, I think I might throw some in there as a garnish for him.

The liquid ingredient sachet.

Guessing this is oil and the tarako.

A garnish sachet perhaps?

Little strips of seaweed.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added some kamaboko. The noodles cooked really quick – only a minute, basically just heating them up. They had a nice texture as one would expect from spaghetti. The flavor was pretty good – had a strong seafood kind of flavor and a slight greasiness from the liquid sachet content. The seaweed strips were much better than I expected here; they complimented and were enjoyable. Andy liked it – not as much as his chicken noodles, but still he liked them. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 4902105216163.

This is a pretty weird TV commercial for Nissin Spa王.

#1109: La Fonte Spaghetti With Bolognese Sauce

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You’re probably wondering what the deal is here. Well, I’ll tell you! These were sent along with a slew of other Indonesian (yep – it’s from Indonesia!) instant noodles. These are made by Indofood, the same company that makes Indomie! They only take 4 minutes to make, and I think they’re unique enough that I’d review them. Thank you to my friend from Indonesia for sending me noodles I could never lay my hands on here! Let’s check ’em out!

Here’s the back of the package (click image to enlarge). It says it contains beef broth and ‘meat.

Spaghetti noodles. Definitely a single serving.

The sauce packet.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added beef, Vidalia sweet onion and red bell pepper sauteed with a little garlic salt. The noodles are what they claim to be – pretty standard spaghetti. The have a nice color and chew. The flavor’s great – the sauce has lots of little bits of what I figure it ground beef and has a nice tomato flavor with a little sweetness. Excellent – 4.25 out of 5.0 stars.UPC bar code 8888900600115.

Looks like a school assignment where students make a commercial for this product. Pretty nice!

#1014: Nissin King Spa Oh Peperoncino Spaghetti (日清生タイプSpa王ペペロンチーノ)

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Here’s one from Nissin Japan. Not a lot of English on this package so I had to do some research. What I found is that this is part of a series of spaghetti instant noodles. You add boiling water to the noodles and veg and let steep for one minute, then drain and add the oil and dry powder packet contents. Let’s give it a try!

Here’s the distributor’s sticker.

The side panels (click image to enlarge).

The noodles seen here are made or durum wheat and fresh.

Dry seasoning.

Has a nice flavor with some herbs and maybe a little cheese?

Vegetable packet.

Little bits and pieces.

The liquid oil packet.

Has a buttery garlic scent.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added sweet onion, green bell pepper, rib eye steak sauteed with minced garlic and Worcestershire sauce and a sprinkle of Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake.Excellent noodles – definitely spaghetti. Nice texture and chew. The flavor is interesting. First, it’s light – don’t look for a strong flavor in this one. It’s subtle and works extremely well. I really liked it – 4.25 out of 5.0 stars. Added UPC bar code 4902105216170.

A Nissin Spa-Oh commercial.

#975: Ottogi Spaghetti Ramen

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Here one that came from Korea by way of Kristen W. of Arizona! Thank you so much! I’ve wanted to review this one for a long time! Let’s check this unique variety out.

Side panels (click image to enlarge).

The noodle block.

The powdered flavor packet.

The powder had a sweet flavor to it.

The veggie packet.

Corn and meatybits!

Here’s the sauce packet – lots of red stuff in here!

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added sweet onions, light ham and Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake. The noodles are pretty standard ramyun noodles. The seasoning powder that stirs in has a light sweet’n’salty taste. The spaghetti sauce? Sweet and just a little spicy. The veggies are decent. This is a lot of fun and tastes great! 4.5 out of 5.0 stars – unique and enjoyable!UPC bar code 8801045571416.

Old Ottogi TV commercial.

Looks like an older Ottogi TV commercial!

#627: Omachi Xốt Spaghetti Beef

4 Replies

Thanks to Todd T. of Everett, Washington for hooking me up with this one – he got it from a Vietnamese client. Spaghetti from Vietnam eh? Sounds interesting. Nothing at all is in English on this packaging, so I’m going to be winging it.

The back of the package (click image to enlarge). So to any of you who don’t speak Vietnamese or read it for that matter, here’s the deal – and I learned it the hard way. You put the noodle block and the veggies in a bowl, add 400mL boiling water and cover for 3 minutes and then stir and put the liquid packet on top.

Sauce on left, veg on right.

Yeah – the sauce shouldn’t be there. Epic fail for the noodle guy (me).

Click image to enlarge. Despite the spaghetti sauce being steeped with the noodles, it came out very nicely! The noodles were tasty and on the brink of weak but sturdy enough to get good marks. The sauce (I tried some straight from the packet before I added it) was delicious – very much like canned ravioli tomato sauce but seemed like it had a little beef going on in it – like real beef! The veg? Meh – was a little too much to be honest and wasn’t great. Altogether though, it was like slightly watered down spaghetti. With my mistake in mind, I would give this one 3.75 out of 5.0 stars is made correctly. I liked it the way I did it and sure it would be even better. UPC bar code number is 8936017361815.

Hey here it is!

Wow this is really disturbing.

#526: Annie Chun’s All Natural Asian Cuisine Ramen House Soy Ginger Ramen

2 Replies

Well here we go with some domesticated ramen. This is a fresh pack by a supermarket available brand.

The noodles look nice and inviting – nice color. The packet is festive in its purpleness.

So the purple packet contains the purple packet contents. This looks to be a liquid soup base. I think the instructions were a little weird; you boil the noodles for a minute and then drain them. Next, rinse the pot and add one cup of water and the sauce, then add to the noodles.

Click image to enlarge. Here we are. The noodles are very weak; they practically fell apart and were of a mushy consistency – was almost exactly like soggy spaghetti; an insult. Then the broth was very very light flavored. This was some of the most boring noodles I’ve ever had – I would say a pack of Nissin Top Ramen Chicken flavor was much more of an adventure than these. 1.50 out of 5.0 stars. You can get it at many grocery stores or here.

Annie Chun’s commercial.

This is what happened when the San Francisco Giants won the World Series last year!

#240: Sanyo Foods Aunt Mentaiko Durum Spaghetti

1 Reply

So first off, I’d like to thank Walnuts4Gold from reddit.com for helping me figure out the name of this stuff. The only thing I had to go on was the phone number on the bottom. From that I figured out with a little research that Sanyo Foods makes these noodles. Then Walnuts4Food sent me a link with some other varieties including this one. This one is the Mentaiko variety. What’s mentaiko? Wikipedia states it is…

Mentaiko (明太子^?) is the marinated roe of pollock, and is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine. Mentaiko originated from myeongran jeot (명란젓) of Korean cuisine and was introduced to Japan after the Russo-Japanese War. Kawahara Toshio, a Busan-born Japanese, adapted Korean mentaiko to Japanese tastes in Fukuoka in the 1950s. The name is derived from the Korean word for Alaska pollock (mentai, 명태 : myeongtae in Korean) and the Japanese word for “child” (子, ko^?). The typical seasoning and flavor is slightly different in Japan.

Mentaiko is made in a variety of flavors and colors and is available at airports and main train stations. It is usually eaten with onigiri, but is also enjoyed by itself with sake. A common variety is spicy mentaiko (辛子明太子, karashi mentaiko^?). It is a product of the Hakata ward of Fukuoka City.

It makes perfect sense that this must be what it is….

Click image to enlarge. Pretty easily followed instructions…

Pasta sauce and topping…

Looks like spaghetti to me…

Snazzy drain spout!

Click image to enlarge. So the pasta sauce was a deeper red but really infused into the noodles. The topping was seaweed and a nice addition. It was a spicy and slightly fishy affair – very flavorful and very interesting. I quite liked it – I have never had anything like it before. Was really surprised at just how good the noodles were – they were perfect as far as I’m concerned.

Don’t know if you can discern it really but the light orangish dots are the fish roe (eggs). This was an interesting thing; fish egg spaghetti. I am highly enthused. What was also interesting is that the use by date was 12.25.2010 – Christmas! 4.5 out of 5.0 stars – Weird, tasty and good.

Sanyo Foods owns Sapporo Ichiban just to let you know…