Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
It’s time for another top ten list and this time it’s The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls Of All Time 2018 Edition! The first list debuted in 2013 – I can’t believe this is the sixth list! As always – if you are a company who would like me to review your products, please contact me via the contact link – I want to talk to you! These are my favorite instant noodle bowl selections from my over 2800 reviews to date. Let’s get started!
Found this one up at Hen Long Market up in Canada recently. It was kind of spendy, actually and I remember seeing they had a miso variety too. These are made in Taiwan by Chering Chang- I had a little trouble figuring out what the brand was/what they’re called, but on a bar code search I found them on a Vegan website, so I’m guessing they may be Vegan friendly. Anyways, let’s take a look and give these a try!
With the advent in the popularity of the Taiwanese dry noodles sector, larger companies have entered the fray. For those of your that don’t know, dry noodles basically are noodles with a sauce – dry meaning that they do not include a broth. They’re also not fried but either air or sun dried. They’re gaining popularity – let’s have a look at this mainstream Taiwanese brand’s take on a standard dry noodle variety.
I think I got this one at the Hi Life store at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei. This looks to be a pork variety. The Term ‘Double Bang’ refers to the two noodle blocks within. Let’s check it out!
Here’s another one I dragged back from Taiwan. I’ve tried a lot of these noodle snacks, but ones with Mexican flavor kind of have a special place in my heart. You see, the day my daughter Miri was born, I was up early in the morning and I thought I’d do a review. It was a Mexican snack noodle. My plan is to attempt to review something somewhat like it every year on her birthday. I can already see the confused look on her face as a teenager… Well, let’s crack this one open – by the way it’s a long ways until she has her birthday.
So a student in Taiwan contacted me. She asked if I could aid her by doing some research – by reviewing noodles. I said sure! So here we are – a box of noodles from Taiwan. Let’s have a look!
found this one at RT-Mart in Taipei during my recent trip. At first, it looked like a regular beef noodle but after looking around for information about it, it sounds a little more spicy! Lety’s check it out!
You’re probably thinking ‘dang dude, you sure get a lot of samples coming from Taiwan.’ Well, you’re right! The competition in Taiwan is extremely fierce, and people know who I am there, so it makes sense. This box has some tape from TATLTOB, aka ‘the agency that likes to open boxes that aren’t theirs.’ Hopefully all is intact! Let’s find out!
Well, here’s another one from Taiwan. I recently completed a Meet The Manufacturer series with Wu-Mu (you start seeing posts pretty soon) and now they’ve come out with two more products! Let’s crack open this package and have a look inside to see what’s what.
Here’s a box that came from Taiwan recently. Taihodien restaurant is well known for their spicy hot pot and lo and behold, they’ve come out with a dry noodle! Let’s crack this box open and have a look inside and check things out.
We end our days focusing on Little Couples Q Noodle today – thanks again for taking part in Meet The Manufacturer! This one is a bit of a mystery to me – Taiwan sauce flavor. Only one way to figure this one out – let’s give it a try!
Today it’s an oyster sauce variety. I like oyster sauce – has a nice blend of flavors to it and I’m very curious about how it will meld with a noodle. Let’s find out!
Hey who doesn’t like garlic? Okay, maybe vampires… But hey – I certainly like garlic. Fried garlic is good too. Let’s see how this one comes out.
Today it’s soybean paste noodles. Chajang, Jjajang, soy bean paste. Lots of different names for it. Let’s look inside!
The place I usually like to start with a dry noodles company is their Sichuan style spicy noodle. They usually have one and so it’s kind of a good baseline. Let’s have a look!
During my trip in November 2017 to Taiwan, I met some folks at a booth that had a slew of different noodle varieties. They knew who I was and were keen on me giving their products a try. They wanted to hand me samples but I couldn’t – my luggage was full and so I recommended a Meet The Manufacturer series – and here we are.
Interview With Little Couples Q Noodle * Product Samples From Little Couples Q Noodle * Little Couples Q Noodle Spicy Taste * Little Couples Q Noodle Taiwan Soybean Taste * Little Couples Q Noodle Fried Garlic Taste * Little Couples Q Noodle Oyster Sauce Taste * Little Couples Q Noodle Taiwan Sauce Taste
Since 2013, A-Sha Foods USA has been sending samples of their products. A-Sha Dry Noodle is located in Taiwan, and they make all sorts of products. Let’s crack open this really big box and have a look at what is inside!
Here’s one I brought back in my suitcase from Taiwan from my November 2017 trip to Taiwan for the Taiwan International Food Expo. I really hope to live in Taiwan someday. No joke – it’s really that neat there. Let’s crack this meaty beast open and see what’s inside. By the way, no, you’re not going to find this in the United States – it’s got a retort pouch full of meat and that kind of makes it off the table for export. Let’s begin.
This one really impressed me in the last year and I wanted to have it again. The folks at Mom’s Dry Noodle were kind enough to send another pack of it for review. I thought a fresh taste immediately before finalizing the top ten would be a good plan, and so here we go!
Well, it’s that time again. Since the last The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time list came out , I’ve reviewed 383 different varieties. I want to thank the companies and individuals who have sent me varieties I could not easily get. Incidentally, all of these are reviewed the same way – I follow instructions to the letter and taste each variety before I add any external garnish.. I figure that a naked bowl of noodles every day would be quite boring, plus it has given many ideas on what to add to them. As always, if you are an instant noodle company or a reader who wants me to try one that I’ve not, please contact me. With that, let’s have a look at the top ten for 2018 – the finest and most memorable instant noodles I’ve tried.
Alright so about these – I received a 5-pack from the nice folks at the Indomie booth at the Taiwan International Food Expo in Taipei, Taiwan in November 2017. I asked a little about them. This pack you see here is specifically for Taiwan. So, what’s different? Well for starters, lots of Chinese on the pack. The main difference however is the actual soizie of the package. This one’s a little bit bigger than the ones found elsewhere, and this is unique to Taiwan. You can’t get them like this anywhere else in the world. Period. A huge difference? No, but still a difference. Here’s a little info from Wikipedia –
five years ago, there was a big kerfuffle involving myself and the entire island of Taiwan. They weren’t on the Top Ten 2013 Edition and they were angry – to put it mildly. I decided that a little noodle diplomacy was the ticket here and so put out a call for Taiwanese companies to contact me, send me samples and see how it goes. A-Sha was the first company to come calling and since then they’ve kept me updated on their new offerings – let’s have a look at their new Guanmiao noodle!
I got this box the other day and I honestly expected it to be samples for an upcoming Taiwanese Meet The Manufacturer. Well, as it turns out these were samples I didn’t know were coming or what they were! Have a look at this video to see what’s going on here!
This one sounds interesting. While not a big fan of mushrooms, I do find that the onion is probably my favorite vegetable next to bell peppers. Well, maybe at par with bell pepper. I really like onions and bell peppers, let’s just leave it at that. Let’s take a look inside and see how it is.
Today we’ve got a green package. I’ve kind of tried to review them in the order of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, violet) and while there’s no blue I think it’s going pretty well in that respect. Hey! Here’s a little info from Wikipedia about pesto –
Today, it’s a flavor I don’t honestly see a lot in Taiwanese noodles, that flavor being curry. Barbecue curry sounds interesting too – very curious about this one.
Today, it’s a spicy sesame paste variety. For a long time, I thought anything sesame flavored would be from sesame oil. This most certainly is not the case. Sesame paste is much different – a much different flavor. It’s almost like a peanut flavor. Let’s take a look.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to pick what I want to review. I mean, I have quite a few options sitting next to me in the high security noodle vaults… So I took the box of samples over to my wife and opened it. There are six in all and the tops have different colors but no mention of what they are on top. I asked her to simply pick three. Well, here’s the first one.
A box arrived from Taiwan. These are product samples from Mr. Noodles – a company I met at the Taiwan International Food Show in November 2017. They offered to give me samples then and there, but I had to decline as my luggage was already packed with noodles.
Interview With Mr. Noodle * Product Samples From Mr. Noodle * Mr. Noodle Sichuan Flavor Spicy Hot Noodles * Mr. Noodle Spicy Sesame Paste Noodles * Mr. Noodle Barbecue Sauce Curry Taste Noodle * Mr. Noodle Pesto Sesame Taste Noodles * Mr. Noodle Onions Mushroom Spice Taste Noodle * Mr. Noodle Black Vinegar With Spicy Taste
Today, we’ve got a box from Mom’s Dry Noodle. Mom’s Dry Noodle has been on my Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodle lists for a few years now. Really nice folks who work really hard on their products – and it shows in their quality. If you want to check them out, here you go! Also, some snacks in here! Let’s crack it open and take a look!
Brought this back from Taiwan. Pretty much everything I brought back came through the rigors of baggage handling unscathed; but not every single thing did. Alas, this was one of them that didn’t. To be quite honest, it did better than some I’ve brought back before from abroad – a little crushing of noodles isn’t bad – I’vbe had ones whose noodle blocks were reduced to crumbs. Let’s have a look at this one – I found it at RT-Mart in Taipei.
Here’s the second of the Happy Noodle varieties sent to me from Taiwan. The first one was really quite good and so curious about this second one. The box is interesting – kind of looks like a tissue box in a way but definitely nothing like that inside. There are four packages inside and they are accompanied by four sachets. Let’s take a look at this unique variety from Taiwan!
Another one I found in Taiwan. This one is quite interesting as far as the packaging goes. Not only do you see Korean print but Chinese as well. This product is definitely for sale in Taiwan only – an export version. As far as the recipe changing from place to place, I have no clue. Here’s a little about kimchi from Wikipedia –
Another big meaty bowl I lugged back from Taiwan in November 2017. A reader on the Facebook page for The Ramen Rater requested I pick this one up and I found it I believe at FamilyMart.
Found this one up in Canada at a place called FoodyWorld – awesome! Okay so this is an odd variety so let’s hit up Wikipedia for some info on what this is all about:
This one’s got horns and flying saucers on the packaging – something that denotes… Well, horns and flying saucers I suppose. I guess it more likely denotes ‘hey look at me – I’m on the store shelf!’ The double bang is for the two noodle blocks. The other variety I reviewed in this series had two in it as well and called for (like this one) 700ml boiling water. Guess we will see how this one goes as well! I remember seeing these on store shelves – I think I got all but one of the varieties (sniff) but hey – got some pretty fascinating ones. Taiwanese beef noodles, it is your time to shine.
This was one variety I didn’t want to leave Taiwan without. I was lucky – we walked around the food expo in Taiwan last November and didn’t see it. Then We went through the beer, wine and spirits section and boom – there it is! A huge booth for TTL (Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor) and a guy asks is he could answer any questions. ‘Where are the noodles?’ Well, I showed him my event badge and he knew who I was which was very cool. Nice guy who went by the name of Ben – if you see this Ben, contact me – would love to do an interview about this product line!
I’m sure you can guess – I found this one in Taiwan. Got this at RT-Mart, a huge grocery and department store in November of 2017. So XO sauce – here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –
