Author: Hans "The Ramen Rater" Lienesch

Unboxing Time: Samples From Yum Yum Thailand

Unboxing Time: Samples From Yum Yum Thailand

A little while back, a fellow from Yum Yum of Thailand contacted me. A friend had done a news story on German television about instant noodles (yes, they love instant noodle in Germany, too!) and he gave them my info to see if they’d like to do something with me. After a while, I’m happy to announce I received a really big box of different varieties! So today on Unboxing Time With The Ramen Rater, we’ve got Yum Yum samples. ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2656: Mikka Noodle Snack Roasted Corn Flavour

Meet The Manufacturer: #2556: Mikka Noodle Snack Roasted Corn Flavour

Whenever I see the word ‘corn’ on anything Southeast Asia, I always think of when I was at the airport in Penang, Malaysia. There was a little snack stall in there and it mentioned ‘corn in a cup.’ I thought this was the most fantastic thing; what could that possibly be? Our host looked at me like I was high and said plainly ‘it’s corn – in a cup.’ ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2655: Alhami Instant Noodle Prawn Flavour

Meet Ther Manufacturer: #2655: Alhami Instant Noodle Prawn Flavour

I really like prawns – especially the big ones. Mantis prawns are really big – had those in Malaysia. The river prawns in Thailand are spectacular and prepared right they’re just as succulent as can be. I don’t know much about prawns in Indonesia. Let’s ask Wikipedia – ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2653: Mikka Noodle Snack Sambal Balado Chilli Sauce Flavour

Meet The Manufacturer: #2653: Mikka Noodle Snack Sambal Balado Chilli Sauce Flavour - The Ramen Rater - Indonesia - Olagafood

Not only does Olagafood make the vegetarian Maitri and the Alhami varieties, they also make snack noodles. Snack noodles are an interesting thing that’s found everywhere in Southeast Asia. Literally, they’re seasoned instant noodles which are crunchy and tasty, usually sold in small packets – often (like this one) in a strip of them connected by perforations. Here’s a little about Sambal Balada from Wikipedia – and some other sambals! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2651: Alhami Mi Instan Mi Goreng Spesial

Meet The Manufacturer: #2651: Alhami Mi Instan Mi Goreng Spesial Special Fried Noodles - Indonesia - The Ramen Rater - instant ramen noodles

Today we get this Meet The Manufacturer series started! It’s been a long time since doing one with an Indonesian company – in fact, I rarely get any new Indonesian varieties across my desk. We start with one of the most recognized dishes from Indonesia, Mi Goreng. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia – ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: Interview With Olagafood

#2646: Ching’s Secret Schezwan Instant Noodles

#2646: Ching's Secret Schezwan Instant Noodles - India - The Ramen Rater - Ranveer Ching

I remember the first time I heard about Ching’s Secret – I was very curious about this whole concept of Chinese food in India. As it turns out ‘Desi Chinese’ is kind of like American Chinese food insofar as Chinese bringing their food to a foreign country and adapting it to the tastes of the locals in order to sell more of it. This is a four pack and I would now like to make a formal complaint. ...see full post

#2645: Happy Noodle Noodles With Minced Pork & Chinese Mustard Blend

#2645: Happy Noodle Noodles With Minced Pork & Chinese Mustard Blend - Taiwan 0 The Ramen Rater

Alright, so here we go! I’ve been curious about these since they showed up in the mail.

The box is interesting – kind of looks like a tissue box in a way but definitely nothing like that inside. There are four packages inside and they are accompanied by four sachets. Let’s take a look at this unique variety from Taiwan! ...see full post

#2649: Myojo Mee Poh Dry Instant Noodles

#2649: Myojo Mee Pok Dry Instant Noodles - Singapore - The Ramen Rater

The package says ‘yummy just got yummier.’ I can’t argue with that; I like yummy and more yummy is a paramount concern. Indeed, the proliferation of yummy is something that should be on everyone’s agenda. I mean, who doesn’t like yummy; the term passing through the mouth evokes a feeling of childhood giddiness and reckless abandon for anything else that’s a concern of the day. It’s a pure admission of surrender to the palate. ...see full post

#2639: Maggi Hot Heads Peri Peri Noodles

#2639: Maggi Hot Heads Peri Peri Noodles - India - The Ramen Rater - instant noodles

There are a few varieties in this Hot Heads series and I now have all of them. The first I reviewed was the one that’s the hottest – the green chilli. My wife Kit ordered me one from Amazon as we couldn’t find it locally. Well this summer we took a trip to northern California and found a couple great Indian grocery stores – and they had all of them. Sweet! Here’s a little about what peri peri means from Wikipedia – ...see full post

#2637: Samyang Foods Jjajang Big Bowl

#2637: Samyang Foods Jjajang Big Bowl - South Korea - The Ramen Rater

I’ve tried the pack version of this and it was some of the best I’ve had. I really like that the South Korean companies have now adopted the wider thick noodle in a lot of products. These have a little extra character and are very good. So Jjajang usually begins the word jjajangmyeon – basically a noodle with black bean sauce. Let’s see how the bowl version of this product fares. ...see full post

#2636: Acecook Tonkotsu

#2636: Acecook Tonkotsu - Japan - The Ramen Rater - instant noodle soup

Here’s one of those ‘dilemma’ noodles. I don’t know what the heck it is called and the bar code yields absolutely no results which are annoying. Luckily, I do have the resource of my readers and asked on the Facebook page for The Ramen Rater. A few people got they were tonkotsu, which is very helpful, although usually, ones like this are some kind of tonkotsu – like a little more detailed. But people were of the belief this was just their standard tonkotsu. Thanks for the info! Let’s dig in ...see full post

#2634: Samyang Foods Ramen Bokki

#2534: Samyang Foods Ramen Bokki - South Korea - The Ramen Rater - instant noodles ramen

Oh hey, ramen bokki! So this is a fusion of two foods: South Korean ramyun and one of the words I would say I’ve seen spelled about a zillion different ways, tteokbokki. Tteokbokki are big chewy tubes made from rice flour and they’re really good. Usually, it’s made with a spicy and sweet sauce, egg, fish cake, etc. Good stuff! So this is that but instead of with the rice tubes, you get the noodles. Let’s check it out! ...see full post