Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
It’s pretty hard not to be a fan of instant noodles without knowing about MAMA noodles. They have a wide variety of products Most widely known are their tum yum varieties – I can’t count how many times I’ve heard people tell me that they grew up on the ‘silver MAMA cups.’ Well, here’s something new from their Oriental Kitchen line.
Just got done with the TTL (Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor) Meet The Manufacturer recently. Now, they’ve come up with a new variety and it arrived today. TTL’s products always have two things – a retort pouch with real meat and a sachet containing liquor. Let’s have a look!
So it happened. A date night. These are pretty rare for us and a lot of fun! So we decided to give another ramen joint a try. Tonight, it’s Jinya Ramen Bar in Bellevue, Washington.
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘You got another curry this month. But the noodles are soba in this bowl. Wait, soba with curry soup…? Just try it and you’ll love it! In order to make it match with Japanese soba, the curry also comes in Japanese style. Can you tell what kind of dashi is used?’
Here’s one sent by the folks from HALAL Food Blog – they’re from Singapore and got it during a trip to Uzbekistan! Definitely a well-traveled pack of noodles! Let’s dig in!
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Another one sent by way by Robert over at www.dadbert.com – thanks again, man! So like their Cup Noodles Very Veggie range,Nissin USA has gone with a cup that instead of a large amount of vegetables has gone with more meat and seafood. To be honest, I like this new direction Nissin is moving towards. However, I think marrying the two concepts – why not lots of meat and lots of vegetables? Call it something like Cup Noodles Gold Label or Cup Noodles Supreme or Cup Noodles Real Loaded or Cup Noodles Fully Loaded… I dunno – just seems like it would be pretty rad. Let’s check this one out!
This one was sent by a person named Shoffee in Malaysia – my thanks! This is truly something I’d never be able to review without a reader sending it in. From what I’m getting on the package, it looks to be much like the popular fire noodles. At the very least, it’s definitely influenced by them. Let’s give them a try!
I’ve tried all three of the other Xiao Ban Mian flavors. Their Traditional Shallot & Onion Oil variety hit #2 on the Top Ten Taiwan list last year. I’m stoked to be able to try this one – really don’t know what to expect, honestly. This is completely different from the rest. Let’s dive in!
Here’s one that was sent by James B. – thank you very much! What have we here? Well, it’s Thai flavor noodle cup action from the Netherlands! Thom Khakai is coconut chicken flavor. Let’s have a look!
A little whle back I was asked if I could review some noodles by a Taiwanese instant noodles by a Taiwanese university student working on her master’s thesis. As a thank you, she sent more varieties for me to try including this one. I’m don’t know who this fellow is on the package. It’s a big cardboard box with two servings – and it’s big. Let’s give it a look!
I was sent three different varieties of Mi Goreng from Best Wok a while back and finally we have the third of the three. Spicy seafood sounds real good today – real good. Let’s give it a look!
Found this one at the same place I found some spicy dumplings up in Vancouver, BC called Super 88. So, these are Indomie Mi Goreng flavored potato chips. I suppose there’s really nothing left to do but crack the bag open and give them a try!
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘Kimchi and ramen are both nice and delicious foods, and when they are combined, the result is fantastic! If you are not a hot food person, don’t worry, this is just a slightly spicy ramen with a mild but rich kimchi flavor.’
Here’s the last of the Uni-President varieties my wife spotted a few months ago at Foody World up in Richmond, NC! They were $1.50 apiece which seemed very good. Really like the graphic on this one – looks really neat. Let’s crack into this one and give it a go!
Well, it finally happened. Samyang Foods originally released their 2x Spicy Buldak Bokkeummyun in South Korea a while back – for a limited time. In fact, it was supposed to be for a limited time everywhere. Well, it was in South Korea. But as of December 3rd, 2018 they brought it back. The original 2x was 8,706 SHU. This one is 10,000 SHU. This would then be 2.25x Spicy as the original version was 4,404 SHU. But one could round it up to 2.3, and if we’re rounding up I suppose one could round 2.3 up to 2.5. Regardless of how you look at it, it is indeed spicier. Let’s take a look!
These were sent by some nice folks called the Butlers earlier this year – thank you very much! It’s rare (actually their package were the first) that I get to try Italian instant noodles! It’s been interesting sampling them – let’s give this one a try!
After searching during four – count them FOUR – trips to Canada looking or them, I finally found them with the help of a reader/viewer from YouTube – THANK YOU! So you may know these as dumplings, gyoza, or potstickers – thy’re all the same thing. Just call them dumplings, please.
So I did this review the morning that my daughter Miriam was born two years ago today. Happy Birthday, Miri! I thought I’d repost it with a little update.
Here’s another one I got up at the new T&T Supermarket up in Richmond BC that’s at Lansdowne Centre. Or is it Lansdowne Mall? Either way, it’s a big T&T inside what used to be a Target store. Oh – and sad parents can rejoice – TOYS R US IS STILL IN CANADA. Also, if you go to the Walmart in Richmond, you will often see Teslas, Ferraris and the odd Buigatti. It’s like a mirror universe. Let’s check this one out!
So the folks at Exotic Noods (www.exoticnoods.com) sent another box for you to check out! This is the the December 2018 box! By the way, you can use coupon code BOOM for a great discount! Let’s check it out!
Another month, another box! We have a new Umai Crate to unbox! Japan Crate curates these and there’s always something interesting going on in these boxes – usually quite a few somethings! Coupon code below – check it out!
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Here’s another one found at the Real Canadian SuperStore up in Richmond, BC. That store was pretty neat, actually – really big too. Lots of interesting varieties we found there that I’ve seen nowhere else – including this one. Let’s have some curry!
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘Have you ever tried Mexican Tacos flavored ramen? The toasty flavor of corn expresses the tortillas, and the mildly spicy and sour soup and the ingredients like minced beef and onion make it a bright and vibrant Mexican-Japanese style lunch.’
The second of the Fantastic Noodles varieties getting a look in this Meet The Manufacturer. I’ll be the first to say I really like scallion sauce noodles from Taiwan. Curious how these will fare – only one way to find out!
The first of two varieties for this Fantastic Noodles Meet The Manufacturer series. From what I gather, Spicy Dolar sounds like a Sichuan pepper infused variety with some extras going on. Let’s find out!
Thought today would be a good day for some fried green onions! The kind folks at Wu-Mu sent these over a little while back and I thought I’d better review it! Here’s what they have to say about it –
Here’s another one sent by the nice folks at Yum Yum – thanks again! It’s been crazy lately – doing the whole YouTube thing is very time consuming and had a couple weeks recently where reviewing has kind of hit the back burner. This week has been different and it’s really nice. I’ve been able to crank out quite a few reviews and get to many varieties I’ve wanted to. Here’s one of them – let’s check it out!
Here’s another one from Wes, a reader in northeast Canada. Thanks! He’s a big fan of products from Tokushima Seifun – and this is one of them. These Kinchan cups are interesting – they’ve got a neat character to them. Here’s what he wrote about this particular cup – ‘They started a new line of noodles supposed to taste like instant noodles of yesteryear. Says it is rich in aromas from red miso and vegetables.’ Sounds interesting – let’s check it out!
Here’s one I found at the new T&T Supermarket in Lansdowne Center up in Richmond, BC. A Shin Black bowl! I knew they must exist; I mean, there’s generally a pack, cup and bowl for everything that comes out of South Korea. Well, here it is. What’s interesting is that this isn’t available in the United States, and up in Canada it’s not a product of the Nongshim China factory, which most bowls up there seem to be.
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘Pork-and-chicken-based savory flavor is spiced up with black peppers and garlic. Who could resist the tempting smell?! ZSavory yakisoba that will have you coming back for more.’
It is with great thanks and a week of interesting flavors that we bid adieu to the last of the varieties from TTL. This is the packaged version of the pickled vegetable beef variety. I really wasn’t sure how all these liquor-infused varieties would go, but they’ve been really quite impressive. Let’s check out this final variety.
The second review in this series was the bowl version of this one. Steeping vs non-steeped. Let’s take a look!
Well, here we are again. I goit one of these bowls a long time ago and guess what happened? I opened the retort pouch and spilled it all over my leg and on the floor! Was crushed; hard to find this one and I had only one of them. Egad! Luckily, TTL sent all of these for Meet The Manufacturer (thank you again!) and now I can give it another go. I should note I didn’t spill anything this time – let’s give it a go!
Happy to be revisiting this variety, It made The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2018 Edition list this year and with good reason: it’s really, really good. Here’s a little about carbonara from Wikipedia –
Here we have another variety with the hua diao cooking wine. Curious what the pickled vegetables are – guessing mustard stem would be one of them. Time to check out another unique variety from Taiwan!
So there’s a misconception (and assumption) that some people have made about me and what I do that’s kind of annoying and honestly rather infuriating. Some people seem to have the need to lecture me about what I eat and my weight.
I thought I ought to start at the beginning. I’m pretty sure this and the rice wine spring chicken varieties are the first that TTL shared with the world and it just made sense to go with those to begin Meet The Manufacturer. Here’s a little about Shaoxing wine, featured in this variety from Wikipedia –
