Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Finishing up a week of reviewing today (it’s Friday for me) in early October, 2023. It’s pretty nutty – I’m now over 200 reviews ahead, and I’ve got a feeling this is coming out in late March of 2024, maybe April. While this isn’t ramen, it’s another thing you might find on the noodle aisle. It’s a Filipino porridge made in the United States. Let’s give it a try!
This is the second of two varieties I found semi-recently. The other was a spicy one, this one seafood. Bah – it’s early morning – let’s get this day going!
Time to try another one of these. There’s four varieties. The last one I tried was rather disappointing, so I have high hopes for this one. Will it be good? Let’s find out.
Big thanks to James from Lakeside for sending this one over! I think I’ve heard of this brand – kind of curious one here. Who’s making this? It’s made in the US it says – and lists a distributor. Private label? The cup itself is on a design that I’m not familiar with for any co-packer, so kind of weird. Noodle itself looks unfamiliar as well. Hmm. Well,, let’s delve into this chicken cup.
Here’s one my lovely wife Kit looked at and said ‘what about this one?’ I’ve found there’s a universal truth in the universe: when she sees one and questions me about it and if I’ve not had it, it’s one I should review. This one’s made in China, let packaged for sale in the United States. So, let’s do so!
Well, here we go again. This is the third in a series of interesting and very different varieties by Nissin Foods USA. First, the Cup Noodles Pumpkin Spice – which people really had strong feelings about. Second was Cup Noodles Breakfast which was kind of like a McGriddle morphed into a Cup Noodles. Finally, (shouldn’t say finally and hope this isn’t the end of the road for these interesting flavors) is Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese Ramen Noodles In Sauce. This is an interesting flavor to me. A big thank you to my wife Kit for getting two of these for me, and also to Nissin Foods USA for sending me an interesting influencer box – very cool! Alright – let’s give this a try – I should note I put this in a bagel with cream cheese – see videos at the bottom of this post.
In the last couple of years, there have been some interesting changes of varieties coming from Nissin Foods USA – neat ones! The biggest are these limited edition varieties – first we got Pumpkin Spice, then Breakfast – now it’s Everything Bagel. I still have high hopes for a pizza in a cup but we will have to wait and see. I think it’s a logical next step. Maybe a cheeseburger one. What’s also cool are the media kits they send out. This one’s especially cool – it makes noise! Yup – watch the video and check it out!
You ready for a historic roadshow in a cup? This variety has gone by a few names and packaging wordings, but I’d say this is my favorite.. For example, here is review #695 – savory vegetable flavor. But wait – here’s good old review #1030 – this one is ’60 ingredients’ flavor! Back in 2011, I reviews the 60 Ingredients cup – review #553! Well, now this one’s called Vegetasty. They’ve dropped the whole looks how many ingredients and given it a very interesting name. I think this one is a troublemaker. The reason I say this is because they want to market it – and indeed it’s been pretty good – but as far as export, it’s a tough one to come up with a good name for perhaps. Vegetasty is kind of catchy, but for a Western audience, it might be a little tricky to pull off. It does bear the Vegan logo on there which is a good thing. Vegetasty sounds very monolithic; like it’s from a sprawling corporate empire. I would say completely revamp. Show farm imagery – crops being cared for or rolling fields in the sun as a background, then in the foreground a basket being held containing lots of different vegetables. Maybe a rustic theme. Then a better name – something like Nature’s Delight or Back To Nature Vegetable Noodle Soup – granted those aren’t taken already. Either way, vegetable and in particular Vegan varieties are very popular. I;ve been asked many times by companies my thoughts on how to name something for Western markets – a real honor I have to say. Anyways, yeah – let’s cook it – maybe I’m ruminate on the episode on Instant Noodle Recipe Time that appears at the bottom of this post – the finest show in the universe – and you all want to like and subscribe to. Yeah.
Here’s a Vietnamese beef pho, found at HMart recently. This one is a little interesting as instead of a rice noodle it’s a wheat noodle. Also, note that it’s not called pho, but it is a noodle soup. Mi means noodle and bo means beef. Pho? That means soup. Anyways, let’s see what happens.
A couple years ago, Nissin Foods USA came out with something called Cup Noodles Pumpkin Spice. Honestly, I really enjoyed it and made many different recipes out of it, stretching it to the limit. This time, it’s a breakfast variety. I couldn’t find it, but luckily Stumpy from North Little Rock, AR, James from Lakeside, CA and Nissin Foods sent me cups which I truly appreciate. Here, I will go into meticulous detail about the product, and create five different things with it. With that, here’s The Ramen Rater’s Definitive Guide To Nissin Cup Noodles Breakfast.
Been wanting to try these for a while. We found them at Whole Foods market in Lynnwood, Washington. I’ve tried emailing the company a couple of times, but never received a response. Ah well. These are curious – they really look like Taiwanese dry noodles. Let’s check out this one with more to follow soon.
Gomtangmyeon is probably not what you immediately expect when you’re thinking about Korean ramyun noodles. That’s because it’s kind of a creamy beef noodle soup instead of a spicy one. Gomtang is nice and savory – let’s cook some up!
Here’s another one sent by James from LAkeside, California – thanks again! This one says it’s gluten free so my wife will be giving this a try. Let’s hit it – oh and I know it’s not ramen.
Here’s one made in South Korea for the US market. GS25 is a convenience store chain in South Korea – and I believe all their instant noodles they have as a house brand are made by Paldo. Let’s give this one a try.
Now this is a name I can get behind – Ginataang Monggo sounds like something from Flash Gordon! But it’s not. It’s porridge – I really like foreign languages! Anyways, yeah this one sounds interesting – let’s give it a go – by the way big thanks to James from Lakeside, California for sending this along!
This came by way of James from LAkeside, California – thanks again! So this company is based in the United States and makes foods for the Filipino folks who live here. While this isn’t an instant noodle, chances are you’ll come across it on the instant noodle aisle. Let’s cook it up !
This is one I tried when it debuted way back. There were a couple of versions as well. This one is made in South Korea and packaged for sale in the US market. Jjambbong is like a spicy seafood stew. This on the other hand is the same but with a more milky broth. This is a really great one when I’ve had it in the past – let’s visit it again!
Got this one at HMart recently. This one’s made in Vietnam but packaged for the US market. I’ve not tried a lot of Vietnamese varieties that blow me away, but I have high hopes for this dry noodle variant. Let give it a go!
Alright – so if you like plants – in particular, eating them – this is for your. Definatly one for the Vegan crowd. I know a lot of non-Vegan people who poo-poo Vegan foods. I must say though – Vegan stuff is really quite good. Gluten Free stuff is excellent as well. I eat a lot of meat and glutenous things, but I’m totally open to these other things, and often like them more. I’ve enjoyed this flavor before that they make and the v3.0 stuff is really great thus far – let’s cook some up!
Found this one the other day at 99 Ranch Market. This one is interesting as the range is very easy to find here, however there was a lot of confusion whether it was another brand – Master Kang. Master Kang translates to Kang Shi Fu, and also has a little chef guy for it’s logo. I remember getting a phone call from a lawyer about it a long time ago asking my opinion on it. It’s been such a long time though that I’m guessing that whatever legal issues were involved are probably kaput at this point, so here we are. Soyed beef – is that like corned beef? Interesting. Let’s cook this stuff up.
After a hunt for instant noodles, here’s one I found locally at Boo Han Market in Edmonds, Washington. This style of noodle is interesting – while a rice noodle, it’s got a kind of different thing going on. Let’s steep ’em up.
Protein and vitamins and fiber and low sodium and pretty low calories for the size of the serving. Let’s begin.
Okay so this is all new to me and required a bit of research to figure out a couple things. What’/who is Onigiri in this one?
Hey check out the new packaging on the Vite Ramen! This is version 3.0 – I tried the cup version which was pretty cool previously, and here is the new pack 3.0. They sent a slew of new stuff – let’s check it out!
I tried the shoyu variety recently and it was pretty good. Both are definitely packaged for sale in the United States. Let’s try the miso today!
This is great – I saw this at S*Mart and couldn’t resist. I generally resist purchasing multipacks as I usually just need one, maybe two package to do a review. I was thinking though perhaps my daughter might like this one so there will be extras. Definitely made in Taiwan, packaged for US sale. One thing too – you might think this is pronounced Vey-dan – it is not. The ve is pronounced ‘way’. So now you know – let’s cook!
Well, here we are. The standard stuff. This was found at GMart in Lynnwood, Washington. So, what is it? It’s a combination of ramyun and tteokbokki – which are tubes of rice flour that are chewy and truly wondrous. Anyways, these really have been hit and miss on preparation – either dry or exploding in the microwave. Let’s give it another try.
A reader asked if I’d tried Ramen Bae recently and I hadn’t, so I reached out to the company. I got a reply from founder Jonathan Tan and a nice note mentioning he’d send some samples, and here we are. Since this unboxing, I’ve tried both and they’re really quite wonderful – if you’re looking for something like this, this is great stuff. I should also mention he sent another box with the Spicy Garlic version which I’ll share soon! Let’s check this one out.
Yet another packaging design – it should also be noted that this one doesn’t say spicy masala and just masala. I found this at Indian Sweets & Spices in Shoreline, Washington yesterday. Yesterday was a day of finding particular things. I’ve been doing a lot of curry lately and I got some nice basmati, some noodles, some black cardamom and mango pickle there. I also went and got a half pork belly at Double DD Meats, a great butcher shop and holy grail for hot sauces and all things spicy. I must note that while this is made in India, it’s certainly an export version specifically for sale in the United States. Anyways, time to cook.
Here’s one I’ve wanted to get my hands on for quite a while. I like tantanmen – usually thick and spicy stuff – a denser, sloppier ramen. Let’s give it a go!
Well folks, this is the last of the Trader Joe’s stuff I had. Honestly, these pouch noodles and sauce bowls have been surprisingly decent. The only problem are the bowls – you can’t just cut it up and scan it before you use it – rather irritating for yours truly, however my issues with the bowl itself probably aren’t an issue for 99.99% of those eating this. Let’s see how the garlic one is.
Looks like Yamadai/New Touch is getting into the export market game with this and another one I found at S*Mart. Shop smart. Shop S Mart. You may have noticed I keep saying that – it’s where the main character in the film Army Of Darkness works before he’s launched into a bizarre comedic hellscape. Anyways if you’ve not seen that movie you should. Let’s make some shoyu ramen.
Well, dang. I really would have loved to been able to review this sooner but tough to get samples from companies in the United States for some reason. Ah well. I found this at S*Mart – yup – shop smart, shop S Mart. Not sure if they just did a repackaging of the old version or not, but I’m guessing it’s a bit more than that. Let’s give it a try!
Made in South Korea and packaged for US sale. I’m curious if this one will work better than the last one which just kind of exploded in the microwave. Hopefully this one’s a gem.
This one came from James of Lakeside, California – thanks, man! Pulmuone leans towards the healthier end of the stick when it comes to food manufacturing. I believe I read a while back about how there is in fact a large farm Pulmuone runs that is also a school on heritage farming for students in South Korea – pretty cool. Let’s make some crab ramen!
Man, I’ve been itching to get my hands on this stuff for quite awhile and finally it showed up at my local grocery store. This is a pretty good range – especially the sizzlin’ rich pork – that one’s excellent. Let’s see if the Mongols can conquer them all!
I reviewed the bowl version of this quite a while back and they were pretty good, so when I saw the cups, I decided to give them a shot. Here’s the first one I’ll be doing. This is made in South Korea and packaged for the US market.
This is manufactured in South Korea, yes – but this one’s specifically for the Us market. I’ve had the pack version and it was really great. Let’s cook up a bowl!
Found this one at GMart – that’s yet another Korean grocery, one in Lynnwood, Washington. Cool place actually – especially since I’ve not been there awhile so found some groovy stuff. Let’s try this, the pack version – made in South Korea, packaged for the US market.
Another one from James of Lakeside, CA – thanks! He noticed me reviewing the Norita products and that I was curious about more, so he sent this. Let’s see what we have here.
