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Tomorrow is Momofuku Ando Day and I thought it would be fun to let my son Andreas do a video review. Just a reminder – today (January 18th, 2014) is the last day to enter the Momofuku Ando Day Photo Contest! The winner will be announced tomorrow. My Momofuku Ando Day video will be up tomorrow!
Here’s one from the UK! Thanks to Joe B. and Sarah B. of Notthingham for sending these my way! Well, let’s check ’em out!
Don’t see new Filipino varieties often these days, so was very pleased to come across this one. Wondering about the spelling? Well, it’s spelled many ways – mein, mien, mian… Basically, mien means noodles. Anyways, let’s check this one out!
Here we go with the 34th edition of The Ramen Rater Noodle News! I scour the Internet for articles about ramen and instant noodles and bring them to you! Here are some recent stories you might find interesting!
Here’s one my wife got for me for Christmas! Thanks, Kitten! There are a myriad of these noodle trays in the US market that I’ve not reviewed and this is one of them. Let’s have a look!
It’s only a few days until Momofuku Ando Day, and what better time to introduce the very first Japanese Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time list? In 1958, Momofuku Ando initially brought these convenient products to the world. At first seen as an overpriced novelty, they’ve grown in popularity; 100 billion instant noodle products were enjoyed in 2012! Here are my favorites, manufactured in the instant noodle’s birthplace of Japan.
Seems like it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed something from Nongshim. Well, let’s check out this one – and it’s kimchi flavor!
Hey what’s this?
Ah ha now I understand! Roger S., a reader of The Ramen Rater contacted me. He’d gone through The Big List and found two he could locally source that I’d not reviewed yet! Interesting flavors too – shallot beef and the oddly fascinating tart beef! Thanks again!
The FedEx truck pulled up and the guy ran over and gave me this envelope – what’s inside?
The folks over at Prima Taste sent some nice gifts the other day! Let’s have a look!
A fancy wall or desk calendar!
A box of samples from Paldo – what are they?
My pal Moses over at Paldo America said it’s a new beef broth traditional soup – I’ve liked those in the past! Thanks – looking forward to trying this!
Wow what an interesting past few days! Two days ago I reviewed some Taiwanese noodles that were very green. Yesterday, some Japanese ramen with jet black broth. Today? Purple noodles! These noodles are made with purple wheat – which is rich in anthocyanins. Here’s a good article for more one purple wheat. As for Aglio Olio – what’s that? Well, it’s basically garlic (aglio) and oil (olio). Capiche? Alright, let’s check it out!
This one came by way of Courtnay N. of British Columbia, Canada – thanks! Got help translating from Scott A. – thank you! This looks like an interesting one – let’s check it out!
A new one from Deshome! Not only is it new, but it’s curry! However, it’sd also chlorella. I put one variety on instant noodles on my bottom ten list that was a green tea and chlorella combo. I’m not sure if it was the green tea or the chlorella I dislikes, but I really disliked that one! So I guess we’ll see! As far as chlorella, Wikipedia has this to say:
Here’s one that’s been hiding in the noodle bin for a while! Thanks to Martin A. of Devon, UK for seonding! Let’s check it out!
I thought this one interesting; it says hot and sour chicken, but those are shrimp on there too. I decided I’d walk to the store and try something new. Fish balls! I’ve had them in hot pot before, but thought I’d get some golden fish balls with shrimp for this one. Let’s check it out!
Here’s something from a brand I’ve never tried before called Adabi. It was sent to me by Annie T. of MyKuali in Malaysia – thank you! This is a take on a traditional dish – let’s check it out!
Our weekend of trying some of the bigger packaged noodles continues with the one Andy’s gonna try. I figured this shouldn’t be spicy and shouldn’t have any kind of flavor an 8 year old would find too offensive. Let’s check it out!
I’ve just got to face it; I’ve got noodles coming out of my ears here! There’s a big bag of these Wu-Mu noodles next to my bed that I’ve been almost tripping over as of late. They don’t fit anywhere else and each one is a 4 pack! I thought today my son and I would try a couple varieties. I figured I’d give this one a shot. I’m definitely not a huge fan of mushrooms, but the spinach noodles sounded nice. Let’s have a look!
Here’s another one from Joe B. of Nottingham, England – thanks! Sainsbury’s is a chain of supermarkets in the UK that were founded in 1869. They make two lines on instant noodles – the basics and a more premium version. Let’s check it out!
It’s no secret that I eat a lot of instant noodles. Last year alone, I did 320 new reviews! I’m often asked, “when you aren’t reviewing, what instant noodles do you like to eat?” South Korean ramyun is the answer. In 1963, instant noodles were first introduced to South Korea as ‘ramyun.’ People were a little confused at first; they thought it was a textile! They also weren’t super keen on it being chicken flavored; South Koreans prefer rich beef flavors as opposed to lighter poultry tastes. With a little tweaking, the spicy rich beef noodles synonymous with ramyun were born. The thick noodles, rich broth and spiciness keep me coming back for more. This list contains my favorites from the 1272 reviews I’ve done thus far. They are all made in South Korea, and many will be hard to find in the United States, if not impossible. With that, here’s my list.
Happy New Year to everyone! Thought after I did my 2.3 mile walk I’d come home and try some South Korean ramyun! This is one of Samyang Foods’ new baked noodle line. 2013 was the 50th anniversary of ramyun coming to South Korea. Let’s see what this new one is like!
At the beginning of this year, I’d never tried any of their products. When I did, I was blown away; so much so that they ended up ranking 1st and 2nd place on my Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Tiume 2013 Edition list. I’m very curious how this one will fare. Chilli Crab is considered to be the signature dish of Singapore. To ring in the new year, I thought I’d start out with this one. I decided to post it right when the clock strikes midnight the very first time of 2014. Where’s that? Turns out it’s in Kiribati, which is GMT+14! For those in my timezone which is GMT-8 (Seattle time), that will be 2am on December 31st. With that, I wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2014 – let’s check this out! By the way – I just found out there are a couple new ways to cook this one – check them out here!
Thought this sounded good for today. Made in Thailand for the UK market. Gonna use a new bowl that was made in Thailand I received from my sister in law Dee for Christmas. She just had her birthday! Happy birthday!!! Let’s check it out!
Thought Andy might like this one with some shrimp in it perhaps. Told him if it’s spicy and doesn’t like it he can have something different. I guess we’ll see! Let’s check it out.
Now for something completely different. Jah jan noodles! What’s jah jan? It’s a black bean (or soybean) sauce rich with flavor – popular in China, Taiwan and South Korea. This one’s from Taiwan. Let’s check it out!
Today, we come to the end of this Meet The Manufacturer. Fifteen reviews! Let’s have a look at this one.
My son Andy got me a bowl and a plate for Christmas! Yesterday I used the plate – today the bowl! Hot and spicy chicken sounds really good – let’s see what kind of heat this one’s packing!
Only a couple left for this Meet The Manufacturer! Of the remaining varieties, I thought Andy might like this one the best. Let’s check it out!
Hope everyone who celebrated had a Merry Christmas! My son got me a new plate and bowl – today I’ll be using the plate as it’s mi goreng on the menu! Let’s check it out!
I’ve been really wanting to review this one before now but I decided to do it for the Christmas review quite a while back. I don’t usually barge in with a different review during Meet The Manufacturer, but it’s Christmas so here it is. The ABC President Meet The Manufacturer will continue after Christmas. For now, let’s check out this cup. I’ve had cups that have come with little doo dads before; a ticket for a contest, a sticker, a little card… But this is something completely different. A little model kit! Let’s check it out!
The last ten reviews have been varieties that are now available in the US. The next five will be ones sent to me by ABC President that are only available in Indonesia. Let’s check this one out!
As I said in the last post, today is the anniversary of the first time my wife and I spoke to eachother, four years ago. More on that in the video at the bottom. I had the fortune to be able to try real rendang yesterday! They make it at Waroeng Jajanan! I’ll do a special post about it soon! This one was really good last time – let’s revisit it!
Close to 100 reviews ago, I tried this for the first time. Four years ago today, my wife and I had our first conversation! It’s a big anniversary for us – check out the video at the end for more on that. Let’s revisit this one by ABC President!
I wanted to do something special with this one. Recently, I visited Waroeng Jajanan, an Indonesian grocery nearby. As it turns out, they make Indonesian style meatballs! I didn’t want to make this without sampling them, so this is a really exciting one for me! Honestly, I’ve never had Indonesian food other than instant noodles before! Let’s check it out!
This is a little different – fried dumplings! Basically they’re little chips of fried wonton as a garnish. These were present in one of the Eat & Go cups I reviewed earlier. Let’s check it out!
It should be pretty obvious: I like onions. I use them in pretty much every meal I make. Chicken and eggs are quite enjoyable too. Let’s check this one out.
This is an interesting one; there’s ABC and there’s President. I’ve seen the logo on products made in other regions too – Taiwan most notably. Let’s see how this one tastes!
This is a really good one – it placed #8 in my Top Ten Indonesian Instant Noodles 2013 Edition! Let’s revisit this one!
I got an email from Mario over at ABC President in Indonesia this week. He said a package with some more samples were on it’s way!
