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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!
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
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 –
Here’s one I dragged back to the United States from Taiwan. I know I’ve seen close to the same thing here in the USA, but I wanted to see if the non-export version could be better. I have a feeling it will be. Here’s a little info about braising from Wikipedia –
This was one I couldn’t leave Taiwan without. I saw this at RT Mart during my trip and passed it up since it was a 4 or 5 pack. But when I saw it again at Carrefour, I realized I’d better snag this one.
Today, we say goodbye to Meimen and their trifecta of instant noodle varieties as we take a look at their hot & sour variety. As I mentioned previously, all three are Vegan-friendly varieties. Let’s dig into this, the final noodle from Meimen for Meet The Manufacturer.
Here’s another one – the second of three varieties from Meimen of Taiwan for this Meet The Manufacturer series. As mentioned previously, all of these are Vegan-friendly. I should also mention – I really like the artwork on these! Let’s take a look at this soy bean paste variety.
To start things off, we have a tomato variety from Meimen. Just as a reminder, all of the Meimen products are Vegan.
Can’t do a Meet The Manufacturer series without samples! Here they are!
Was emailed in October 2017 by a representative of this company about trying their samples. I thought hey – of course, I’ll try them. I don’t know if I’ve ever turned down samples – the only time I do usually is when there’s a variety that’s just noodles – no flavoring. Although I’ve done reviews of just noodles and just broths that can be mixed and matched though.
I received this as a gift from a representative of the Little Cook brand in Taipei, Taiwan at the Taiwan International Food Expo! Thank you very much! She also accepted the third place award from The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time 2017 Edition – Little Cook Green Curry – at the awards show.
Here’s another one I brought home from Taiwan in November 2017. Thanks again to friends on facebook for helping with the translation.
Here’s one I brought back from Taiwan in November 2017. There are four different ones with different illustrations of different expressions – they’re pretty interesting. Now,m there’s scant few characters on this bowl I can read, so I’d like to thank everyone on Facebook for the help in translation! Much appreciated! So double bang – why double bang? Well, there’s two noodle blocks. Bang! Noodles! Bang! Noodles! Makes sense to me. Really excited as this isn’t the first one I brought back from Taiwan I’ve reviewed, but this is the first Taiwanese variety I’ve brought back from Taiwan I’m reviewing – let’s have a look!
Went to the new Daiso over in Lynnwood, Washington this weekend. I used to get lots of neat bowls from there but unfortunately, those days are over. This was one of the larger Daiso places I’ve seen but unfortunately, they had the crummiest selection of bowls. Makes me bummed out as they had super awesome ones in the past.
So here’s one I found while coming back from our big family drive to California this summer. I found it in the Beaverton Uwajimaya actually. I got about 10 varieties or so there during our pit stop on the way home.
It’s snack time! So today we have a ramen snack from Taiwan. There a whole slew of different flavors and varieties – and shapes for that matter of these products. The first thing I do notice about these is that they’re called cubes, however, they look more like short cylinders to me. This being the case, it begs the question ‘doesn’t a crunchy cylinder sound good?’ I think they went with the right name, to be honest; BBQ Cubes sounds better than BBQ Cylinders. Let’s have a look.
Woot, woot! This one comes by way of Jay from Taiwan – thank you! This is a meaty one! Big retort pouch inside. These things actually have some heft to them (they weigh a bit).
So I did this review the morning that my daughter Miriam was born one year ago today. Happy Birthday, Miri! I thought I’s repost it with a little update.
Alright, so here we go! I’ve been curious about these since they showed up in the mail.
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!
This one came out of the blue and I knew they were going to send some, I just didn’t expect so quickly!~ It really helps when I have tracking info – but then again I know companies are busy too and so while unexpected, new varieties are always welcome!
Here we have one that’s changed their packaging a bit to include instructions in English as well as mention of its place on the 2016 top ten.
This variety comes by way of Colin, a reader from Massachusetts – thank you! It was originally said by Oscar Wilde: ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.’ I have often found this to be true for the most part. Indeed, why would someone want to imitate exactly what you do unless they want to attain something that you did prior? Well, sometimes it just seems like it takes a bit of a spiral from flattery to pure copying.
I’ve tried a lot of these instant noodle snacks from GGE (aka Everybody Loves Good Good Eat). They come in little cubes, loose noodle style, round little cylinders and these strips. Let’s bust open this bag of GGE ramen snack and see what’s going on inside!
It’s been quite a year of reviewing as far as Taiwan is concerned. I brought back a trove of varieties I’d never had the chance to try before. Really opened my eyes many varieties that people had recommended I try over the years. This is the top ten – the best Taiwanese varieties I’ve tried from the over 2,500+ reviews I’ve posted to date. As always, if I’ve not tried your noodles, please contact me! I’m interested! Let’s check it out!
Here’s yet another opone of the GGE noodle snack varieties – Mexican Spicy. There are so many of these varieties its kind of mind boggling./ Actually, when you go to Taiwan and go down the noodle aisle, these aren’t there. Indeed, there’s an aisle with chips on one side and noodle snacks on the other. Why do we have so few of them here? I can’t think of any USA branded noodle snacks really at all. It’s like they came out with a few varieties of ways to offer up instant noodles here in the US and then they just stuck with those and kind of quit innovating. I mean, what about a beef stew instant noodle bowl with beef? A A spicy cheese? A pizzas flavor? Closest we get is a cheap cheese cup. I think the instant noodle world in the USA should really go and just kick some major butt and try some new things. I mean hey – no risk, no reward, right? Anyways, let’s check out this snack noodle!
Got a box today from Taiwan – wasn’t sure what it was at first then realized it was one I’ve been expecting for a couple of months! These are Happy Noodle samples! Let’s have a look!
