Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
It’s so awesome! Every month, I get a box of instant noodles from Javier over at www.BoxFromJapan.com. There’s always 4 bowls and cups (he also has boxes of unique Japanese candies as well!), 4 pairs of chopsticks and a note about the box. To date, I’ve NEVER RECEIVED ONE I’VE REVIEWED BEFORE. This is truly amazing to me! Shall we look inside the September box?
Here’s another one that was sent to me by a reader named Colin from the east coast – thanks again! Still amazes me how many varieties of instant noodles are available in the United States I’ve not sampled yet. Let’s dig in to some seafoodiness today!
Here’s one that’s been lingering in the hamper a little – sent by a reader named Colin who sent a ton of varieties a few months ago – thanks again! So this is hot and sour – kind of surprised that his even exists as all the Raoh varieties I’ve tried in the past were traditional – shoi, miso, shoyu , tonkotsu et al. Let’s give this one a try!
This is the fourth year of The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time lists. The list definitely has had a lot of movement every year – a good sign as those who produce instant noodles in Taiwan are innovating and producing new styles and flavors all the time! Here are my pick of the tastiest and most memorable Taiwanese varieties from my over 2,000 reviews to date.
I thought that after making The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2016 Edition and winning The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of all Time 2016 Edition, it would be nice to revisit this tasty noodle! What do you think? Let’s dig in!
As we wind down this Meet The Manufacturer, I’ve been saving one that I found very interesting to be towards the end. I use coriander in the ‘finished’ photo of many instant noodle varieties – but never have I seen an instant noodles whose primary flavor is coriander. I’m very curious about this one – let’s check it out!
I thought the first thing to do would be to look this up on Wikipedia. I found an entry for nam tok and here’s some of what it said:
I’ve always been curious about the clear soups; where are they enjoyed and who enjoys them and with what? Well, let’s find out what it’s like!
Here’s the third of the more European varieties in this series. Chicken! Let’s check it out!
Here’s the seond of the pho bowls – chicken! Let’s give it a try!
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add everything to the bowl and add boiling water to the fil lline. cover for 4 minutes. Stir and enjoy!
This sounds interesting! I don’t think I’ve heard of rice vermicelli in gravy before. It looks like it will be beef gravy from the picture. Guess we’ll see! Let’s have a looksie…
Today, we bid a fond farewell to the President Rice instant series with this Bihun Goreng. This product is probably self-explanatory to many, but I’ll give a little more to those who are unfamiliar. Mee goreng is a noodle that is boiled, drained and then seasoned and garnished. Bihun goreng is basically the same, however done with rice vermicelli. Let’s give it a try – and my thanks to President Rice Products for making this Meet The Manufacturer happen!
A few days back I reviewed the flat noodle version of this one. What will this one be like? Let’s find out!
It’s been a while since I’ve done any re-reviews and there will be a couple in this Meet The Manufacturer. This is from a long time ago – last time I had this bowl was in review #304 which I posted February 20th, 2011. Yep – very old review and should be interesting to see how I like it now as opposed to back then. I know it’ll look nicer than back then – I used to drop two fried eggs in with EVERYTHING and a lot of the time it looked like a hideous trainwreck. Let’s revisit this one!
Here’s another from the line that looks to be for export to northern Europe. Vegetables! Let’s give it a try!
The wheat noodle version of MAMA’s Yentafo Tom Yam Mohfai has been on the annual The Ramen Rater Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time list as well as the cups list for the cup version before. Very curious how the rice vermicelli will be! Looking forward to it – let’s give it a try!
It’s been fun trying these rice noodles – I don’t often have a bunch of them in a row and I was curious how it would be after a couple days but I’ve really enjoyed it thus far. Usually Meet The Manufacturers can honestly be a little trying – the same brand for a couple weeks. But I’m definitely enjoying this one! On with the show!
Most of you have probably heard of tom yum soup, but tom saab you might not have heard of. Tom Saab is a spicy pork soup from northern Thailand. Let’s give this a try!
By looking at the front of this package, it looks to me like it’s definitely for the European marketplace – northern Euope in particular. Time to take some beef out and make some noodles!
It’s kind of neat – this is the first Meet The Manufacturer I’ve done with only rice noodle varieties! Today, it’s Phnom Penh style. Phnom Penh is the biggest city in Cambodia and this variety purports to take the flavors of the place and bring them to the rice noodle. Let’s give it a try!
I have all the noodles that MAMA sent in a big bag and going to blindly pick them out every day! Today, I pulled out this rice noodle – wide! Plus, tom yam flavor – definitely a good foot to start out with. Tom yam has a spicy and citrussy flavor to it – crisp and refreshing and tasty! Let’s have a look!
A big box arrived today! Let’s open it up!
Wow (click to enlarge) – this box is full. Nothing more could fit in it – it’s like a mathematician figured out exactly where everything must fit like a puzzle! Whoever packed this should get an award!
Interview With President Rice Products * Product Samples From President Rice Products * MAMA Instant Flat Noodles Tom Yum Flavour * MAMA Instant Rice Noodles Phnom Penh Style * MAMA Instant Rice Noodles Stew Beef Flavour * MAMA Cup Rice Noodles Tom Saab Flavour * MAMA Instant Flat Noodles Clear Soup * MAMA Instant Rice Vermicelli Yentafo Tom Yam Mohfai * MAMA Instant Rice Noodles Vegetable Flavour * MAMA Pho Bo Rice Noodles With Artificial Beef Flavour * MAMA Instant Tom Yam Rice Noodles * MAMA Instant Rice Vermicelli Bihun Goreng Perisa Asli * MAMA Oriental Kitchen Instant Rice Vermicelli In Gravy * MAMA Pho Ga Rice Noodles With Artificial Chicken Flavour * MAMA Instant Rice Noodles Chicken Flavour * MAMA Instant Rice Vermicelli Clear Soup * MAMA Instant Rice Noodles Moo Nam Tok Flavour * President Rice Coriander Instant Rice Noodles
Here’s another one sent by a reader named Colin – thanks again! Today, I thought I’d cook up something for my wife Kit. Her actual name is Christine, but I’ve called her Kit for years. She’s always been a big fan of mushrooms – in fact, it’s because of her that I’ve started to like them. Oddly, here’s a Maruchan instant noodle I’ve not reviewed yet. I didn’t even know it still existed til Colin sent it over. Let’s have a look at this one.
This is one that the folks from Prima Taste sent me when I did a call for instant noodles to review when I was running low a while back – thanks again! I always love to find new varieties to review – and what surprises many is that I like trying different store brands. Many will say ‘oh – these aren’t special, they’re common!’ Well, they’re often not common where I live – and if I’ve not tried them, they’re definitely diamonds in the rough! Let’s have a look at this one!
Here’s another new one from Tseng’s – shallot braised pork. Man, this sounds good – I really have high hopes. As I’ve opined before, Taiwanese braised anything is unbelievably good. Really, it isn’t just my opinion – I would mark it down as fact. If you don’t like Taiwanese braised anything, you just don’t know what tastes good and should have your tongue examined for mold or aliens. Let’s give this one a try and see how it translates to a rice noodle.
Here’s one my sister got me from up in Canada for my birthday! Thank you! Walmar instant noodles!
Purple! Nothing like purple. Purple crayons, The Color Purple, Purple Rain… Actually, I’m not really a fan of any of those; but when I see the color of purple on an instant noodle package, especially from Taiwan, Hong Kong or China, it usually denotes something pickled. Indeed, here we have sour pickled cabbage. This isn’t quite like sauerkraut but kind of like it. Anyways, let’s crack into this one – another kindly send by colin. Thanks again!
Here’s another one of the many cups that Jen from Australia sent a few months back – thank you again! Very curious about this one – how hot and spicy will it be? Let’s find out!
This one sounds curious to me. While I do like braised pork – a lot- I’m unsure about this Chinese mushroom. But hey – I’ve been pleasantly surprised in the mushroom department before, right? Let’s give it a go!
Here’s another one sent by the kind folks at www.BoxFromJapan.com. You can subscribe to a monthly box of instant noodles from Japan – and what’s amazing is that every month they’ve sent me one, I’ve never gotten one that I’ve reviewed before! Here’s what they had to say about this variety:
So this is definitely a first – I don’t think I’ve ever heard of laksa from Taiwan! It sounds good – I mean hey, I make laksa here in the United States quite often but I’m sure my neighbors haven’t a clue what they’re smelling ‘must be some off kind of Hamburger Helper’ probably going through their minds. But laksa is a seriously tasty thing and I’m keen on seeing what Tseng has come up with for us. Let’s have a look!
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!
It’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed anything by Menraku. Alwats bowls and always pretty good stuff. This one’s a yakisoba I got while on vacation in California’s Bay Area! Let’s check it out!
Today started well, then got a little crazy then got better – I started at 5am with reviewing some noodles. Then the power went out around 7am for over two hours! A bit later, the mailman knocked on the door with a big package of Taiwanese noodles! Tseng was in The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2016 list this year – and they have some new products! Let check them out!
Here’s one sent by Colin after a trip to Mexico – thanks! Translating shouldn’t be hard, but for thoes who can’t, this is tomato chicken soup with noodles. Sounds like it should be pretty good! Let’s find out!
Here’s another one of the newer A-Sha tray designs. This one’s original flavor, which is kind of a soy sauce flavor I believe. Let’s check it out!
Walked to get the mail today and the mailman gave me this box. Wasn’t sure what it was and then remembered! Nissin Thailand has a line of Winnie The Pooh themed noodles I saw a few times on instagram. I asked my contact Ms. Janenate about getting some samples and here they are! You might remember her name from the Nissin Thailand Meet The Manufacturer (check it out here). The neat little cups have little Winnie The Pooh fishcake in them! Let’s look inside!
Here’s one sent to me by Colin – thanks again! So these have been a real conundrum for me for quite a long time. The little chef on the logo is definitely different from the regular Master Kong chef, but I can’t get to the bottom of the exact name of this brand and so it’s Master Kong?
The next edition of The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time will be coming out in about a month, and so I’ll be cramming in as many late ones to arrive as possible. Today, one of a trifecta by A-Sha Dry Noodles – microwavable trays! Definitely something I’ve not seem out of Taiwan before that I can think of. Anyways, let’s give it a whirl in the ol’ microwave!
