Author: Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

#1744: A-Sha Veggie Noodle Baby Grass Noodle With Toona Sauce

I pride myself on trying a new instant noodle every day, but it’s really special when I get to try a new one with a flavor I’ve never tried before. Behold noodle enthusiasts: Baby Grass. I’ve been wanting to try this since I’d heard of it. Here’s what A-Sha’s website has to say about it: “Our Baby Grass Noodles with Toona Sauce bring out a fresh, earthy flavor.  An extra source of fiber and a light healthy taste” The noodles have the Baby Grass flavor, but what is Toona Sauce? I think this snippet from Wikipedia has something to do with it – “T. sinensis (Chinese Toon) is used in Chinese traditional medicine and eaten as a vegetable in China (leaves and shoots).” Anyways, let’s have a look at this truly unique variety from Taiwan’s A-Sha! ...see full post

#1753: Thai Smile Garlic Rice Noodle Soup Bowl

I’m happy to report that this is the first post I’m doing using my new computer setup. Took a while to get everything all happy but now it’s quite happy as am I. Anyways, we found these in Lynnwood, WA at a store called BigLots. I’ve found varieties there in the past – kind of like a liquidation place. This one seems to definitely be for the western market although made in Thailand. Let’s check it out. ...see full post

SG50: Happy Birthday, Singapore!

My wife and I entered a special photo contest today here in town and there were six categories of pictures we could enter. One of them was ‘Happiness Is’ and since I was planning on doing something to celebrate SG50, I thought I’d have some Prima Taste Singapore Laksa La Mian today in honor of SG50 – the 50th anniversary of Singapore! I added fish ball from Singapore, Crab Claw fish cake from Singapore, white onion, mint, tau pok and mung bean sprouts. Singapore Laksa is something that truly makes me happy! Hope everyone in Singapore has a great day! ...see full post

#1741: Myojo Udon Japanese Style Pre-Cooked Noodles With Soup Chicken Flavor

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My wife and I were at the grocery store the other day and she saw this series by Myojo. ‘Have you tried these yet?’ she asked. It’s funny – she finds lots of varieties for me that I never even notice – it’s pretty awesome! Since she’s a fan of udon, I thought I would make her some today. Let’s check ’em out! ...see full post

Re-Review: Quickchow Instant Bihon Guisado Instant Rice Noodles Saute

So my sister got me a neat plate a couple weeks ago at Shipwreck Day. Shipwreck Day is like a big citywide garage sale up in Anacortes, Washington – my hometown. The plate was part of a set and the lady didn’t want to break up the set, but my sister came back a little later and the lady gave in and let her buy one after she mentioned what I would use it for. The lady was originally from the Philippines and was a travel agent. I decided maybe I ought to do a review of something from the Philippines in honor of her relenting, and that’s what today’s review is about. Bihon is like bihun – it’s rice noodles. I reviewed this one originally almost 5 years ago – and really didn’t like it. Wondering if my palate might be a little more interested, I thought it’d be nice to try again, and so here we are – let’s check it out. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition

As many might know, I started The Ramen Rater (click to see the old site) in 2002 and did about 60 reviews. Then, I turned my attention to spicy hot sauces with The Sauce Rater. In 2010, I resumed my instant noodle reviewing. I’ve long been a fan of the spicy side of things – strong heat and good flavor are a couple of my favorite things. Let’s have a look at the absolutely hottest varieties I’ve found in my over 1,700 reviews of instant noodles from around the world in this year’s The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition. ...see full post

#1738: Little Cook Instant Noodles Shrimp Tom Yum Flavour

Something I found at the local HMart a few weeks ago. I went out with my wife this week for tom yum at a local restaurant – good stuff! Some rice on the side to mix in – really tasty! Tom yum has a strong lemongrass and spicy flavor to it which is really great – let’s check this one by Little Cook out! ...see full post

#1737: Mie Sedaap Instant Cup Mi Goreng

It’s been really hard to find new varieties from Indonesia lately and I was really stoked to find a total of four of them the other day! I always try to keep things mixed up – reviewing a different product from a different country every day if possible. It can be tough sometimes but lately I’ve been ending up with quite a range of varieties which is great. Anyways, let’s check out this one from Indonesia! ...see full post

#1735: Master Kong Tomato Sauce Instant Noodle

There’s a new Asian Food Center on 130th & Aurora – went there hunting for some of the fruit I goty to try in Thailand and found mangosteen – and quite a few instant noodle varieties, this being one of them. It’s pretty far and few between that I find Master Kong varieties – always kind of a treat! I want to thank Bobby Y. from Canada for help in translation on this one! Let’s have a look at this one from China! ...see full post

#1731: MAMA Instant Noodles Shrimp Creamy Tom Yum Flavour

Some of you are going to say ‘hey this is a re-review!’ But actually, it isn’t. This is the MAMA Shrimp Creamy Tom Yum for the Cambodian market! Yup – Cambodia. A lot of new countries lately which is awesome! I got these sent to me when I saw them during my visit to Thailand at the Thai President Foods European Agent Meeting in May! Let’s have a look at this one for the Cambodian market. ...see full post

#1729: Vedan Zan Vegetarian Instant Noodle Series Shiitake Mushroom Flavor

Here’s one we found up in Canada during my birthday trip earlier this year. This one’s a little tricky to figure out; the distributor/import sticker mentioned shiitake, but another site I saw mentioned carrot, and indeed there’s a carrot on the package. Anyways, this one looked kind of interesting so let’s have a look. ...see full post

#1728: Yamadai Tenobe Somen

Here’s another one that was sent to me by the folks at Exotic Noods – thanks! This looks to be a somen served hot,m which would make it along the lines of nyumen which is served in Winter.I must admit, when I see low sodium and low calorie I usually don’t shudder with delight; I’ve had some pretty bad ones that have these tags. But, you never know! Let’s have a look at this one! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Cups Of All Time 2015 Edition

What do corn dogs, sandwiches, burritos and instant noodle cups have in common? They’re all portable. People can’t seem to stay in one spot for very long; they want to carry their meals with them as they move about. Since the inception of the instant noodle cup in the early 70’s when Momofuku Ando saw people using coffee cups and hot water to steep their instant noodles and brought this concept to market, the noodle cup has become a ubiquitous icon in the daily lives of billions. Today, I present the best of the instant noodle cups I’ve tried in my over 1,700 instant noodle reviews. With that, please enjoy The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Cups Of All Time 2015 Edition. ...see full post

#1725: A-Sha Veggie Noodle Black Sesame Noodle

This year, Taiwan made The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 edition for the first time with A-Sha’s Veggie Noodle Tomato variety. This one is part of the same line, which also includes carrot and ‘baby grass’ flavors which I’m also hoping to try soon! Let’s have a look at this interesting variety. ...see full post

#1724: Pirkka Nuudeli Liha Nudlar Kott

This one’s made by Thai President Foods’ Hungarian factory for a supermarket chain in Finland. It took a little translating to figure out and then I looked at the package; see the pepper? Yeah – hot and spicy instant noodles. Oh wait – then I tried it. Indeed it was hot and spicy, but something else I detected. It turns out ‘liha’ translates to ‘meat.’ It kind of reminded me of… Well, read on… ...see full post

#1723: Baixiang Noodles Artificial Beef Flavour Instant Noodles With Soup Base

Today’s the last day of my son’s two week vacation here. I usually have him every other weekend, and a special breakfast, I made him some noodles. He recently has found he likes beef a lot – usually he’s been a chicken fan, so that’s kind of interesting. He also likes fishcakes – kamaboko, narutop, fishball – something that’s not really popular in American kids his age. That could be though that they’ve never tried them… Anyways, here’s a bowl of noodles for Andy! ...see full post

#1722: CarJEN Otentiq Cheezy Curry Instant Noodles

Recently, I reviewed the new CarJEN Otentiq Cheezy Mushroom variety and really liked it. This one is the curry variety – I love curry as anyone who sees my top ten lists can realize rather quickly. What’s neat is that I don’t think I’ve seen cheese curry in an instant before, however I have had cheese curry in an Indian restaurant. Well, let’s see what we have here – it certainly looks nice! ...see full post

#1721: Salam Mie Mi Goreng Dengan Abon

Here’s the second of two Salam Mie products I got at the Econsave we visited in Butterworth, Malaysia during our special trip to visit the makers of MyKuali last October. I’ve seen a lot of people commenting on the other variety lately, so I thought I’d give this one a try. Abon is a powdered meat – usually pork or beef (in this case beef) seasoned with spices. Sounds good – from what I see, it’s used as a topping like fish floss is used on Chinese porridge. Anyways, let’s check out this Salam Mie Mi Goreng Abon! ...see full post

#1720: Mamee Chef Lontong Flavour

I’m always searching around the Internet and checking up on different instant noodle companies to see if they’ve got something new coming to the market! I saw that Mamee Chef has just released this new Lontong Flavour variety and asked if I could get some samples – and I did!  So, what’s this Lontong all about? Here’s what the nice folks at Mamee Chef had to say about it: ...see full post

#1717: Lee Fah Mee Sarawak White Laksa Instant Noodle

I got a message from someone in Sarawak a couple months ago about Lee Fah Mee Sarawak White Laksa. They sent some home to the Us with a friend and that friend shipped some to me! Thanks! It’s kind of funny; I’ve been curious about Sarawak’s instant noodle offerings for a long time – and then in the last couple of months I start getting some to try. This sounds really interesting – White Laksa! Let’s crack open the package and see what’s inside Lee Fah Mee Sarawak White Laksa! ...see full post