Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Today I’ll be reviewing another one I got after visiting Thailand – I went to a special event held by the company that makes MAMA instant noodles. They make different brands and this one’s made in Hungary for the European market. Let’s check it out! Oh, by the way – this one will be for my son Andy – he’s a fan of anything chicken instant noodle. He’s got a blog himself – Andy’s LEGO Stuff – go check it out!
With my son Andy over here, it’s usually a good bet that he will like some chicken noodles with some nice garnish. His favorites include fish cake and cheese – which don’t always go with everything. I’d usually choose something like that combo for spicy Korean seafood ramyun. He did indeed get his cheese after the final picture of the noodles were taken today, and so all things are good in the world. Let’s check out this variety from Vietnam!
This one’s made by Thai President Foods’ Hungarian factory for a supermarket chain in Finland. So kyckling you ask? Chicken. Let’s open it up!
It’s pretty rare for me to hit a regular old supermarket here in the USA and find something I’ve not reviewed before, but it happens from time to time. I found this one at a WinCo Foods in Edmonds, Washington. It used to be a Top Foods a while ago but I think they’ve all but gone out of business and WinCo moved in. WinCo is kind of weird – imagine a big grocery store but kind of like Costco but not Costco and kind of cold and you have to bag your own groceries. Oh – and there are tons of signs everywhere in this really basic font. It almost seems like a weird government experiment – but I digress! This is a new one from Nissin – looks tasty for this cold weather. Let’s check it out!
Previously, I reviewed Myojo’s chicken abalone pack version – this is the bowl version. This is the next to last review of this Meet The Manufacturer – been quite nice to try all of these varieties! Let’s check this bowl out!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had any chicken abalone flavored instant noodles – looks like 400-450 reviews ago. I’ll be honest – I’ve never had real abalone before, so I can’t say as to an instant’s authenticity to abalone flavor, although I can definitely say whether I like it or not. Let’s crack this pack open and have a look inside.
This is what looks to be Myojo’s pack version of their chicken flavor bowl. I’m having a little trouble withe the tern ‘tanmen.’ I see it is a Japanese ramen style, but I’m thinking in this usage, it’s just meaning noodle soup. Let’s have a look.
To start things off, let’s have a look at Myojo’s chicken bowl. It’s very common for instant noodle companies to have a chicken flavored variety. Why? Well, chicken flavor works for everyone (except vegetarians of course). Chickens are bred all over the world – can’t think of a place they don’t have chicken (okay, maybe Antarctica). Anyways, let’s check out this bowl of chicken goodness from Myojo of Singapore!
On a recent trip to the Uwajimaya in Bellevue, WA I spotted this one. This is made in the United States and sounds really good. Tonkotsu is characterized by a milky white broth – usually pork, but this one is chicken! It sounds really good and seeing this is my wife’s Friday, I thought I’d surprise her by making her a bowl. Let’s check it out!
The last one from the trip we took to Canada for my birthday. This is a Taiwanese variety I found up there. I see a picture of a chicken on the package, but that’s as far as it goes as the serving suggestion doesn’t look very ‘chickenny.’ Let’s see how it goes!
This is yet another of the samples I received upon returning from my trip to Thailand to visit the MAMA noodles company in May. These are for the Cambodian market. MAMA’s Green Curry hit the top ten in this year’s annual list – excellent stuff! I should note today is the first review I’ve done in a few days. Why? Well, I should start by mentioning that this will come out a few weeks after today – I am way ahead, which is nice. A couple days ago, we had a huge windstorm here. Gusts up to 70MPH – in some remote areas they were over 100MPH! Trees fell not only from the wind, but from all the recent rain which made the ground soft. In my county, at one point there were over 200,000 people without electricity. We were without power for 29 hours – everything in our refrigerator has gone bad – including all of my garnishes! Luckily, I hadn’t gotten anything new and was due to get some things, but still a lot of food will be getting thrown away. The only plus of the event was that I got to haul out my shortwave radio and was able to pick up broadcasts from Slovakia, Cuba and Japan to name a few! Usually there’s so much interference that I can’t receive anything. Anyways, power came back on last night! Hooray!
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a subscription service – you can get a box sent to you every month with some great noodles within! This is the last of the ones Javier sent me – it’s been a lot of fun reviewing these! Send more anytime! This one is wantan men – just think of wonton mein – wonton noodle! Let’s delve into this bowl!
Here’s a new one that you should be able to find pretty easily in the store if you’re in the United States. Nissin has been coming out with a few new varieties lately and this is one of them – let’s have a peek under the hood of this tray!
To start things off, I thought I’d go back in time with this one. This is part of the Vit’s Classic line of products. Definitely has that ‘old school’ look to it, eh? Well, let’s have a look inside!
Here’s another one that the nice folks at Thai President Foods in Thailand sent me after my trip in May. These are made in Bangladesh by their factory there! Tandoori flavor though – what’s that? Wikipedia had this to say:
Yep – another one we brought back from Malaysia! I think I’m almost through them all. Shallot chicken sounds nice – let’s have a look!
The onslaught of Malaysian varieties continues! This is yet another I got on last year’s trip to Penang, Malaysia. If you’re wondering what Ayam Cendawan means, basically it’s chicken mushroom. My wife Kit really likes mushrooms, so I thought I’d make this one for her today. Let’s check it out!
Today, we come to the end of this Meet The Manufacturer. On a side note, I reviewed one that has the exact same packaging that I received from a reader in Scandinavia a while back. I asked if it was the same as this and was told it is a little different. sometimes companies will change levels of different ingredients depending on where they’re sold. Anyways… Lots of interesting new things in this one – lots of great flavors as well! I want to thank Alvin Leung for all his help with making this happen! Let’s have a look at the package version of JML’s Spicy King Spicy Chicken!
I received a package version of this one a while back from a reader in Sweden. Well, this is the bowl version. I was also told that the version that can be found in Europe (which has exactly the same packaging) is different than the version sold in Hong Kong. Interesting! I’m curious about the spiciness in this one – the one I got in the mail was on this year’s Top Ten spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition list! Let’s have a look!
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Justin M. from Winfield, BC up north of here in Canada! Chili chicken sounds like it’d be pretty good; a familiar flavor and a little bit of spiciness? Sure – let’s have a look at this cup.
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!
Been a while since I’ve done a pho review. I would definitely say I’m a fan of pho, but definitely the beef varieties. Where I live, there’s no end to the pho restaurants – I’m guessing there’s probably at least 20 within 5 miles of here. Anyways, let’s check this one out.
In the last two weeks, I’ve been reviewing varieties from far away – but today it’s time to have one from here in the United States! This is Maruchan’s new variety – chicken tortilla! Got an email from a friend at Maruchan telling me they had a new Instant Lunch variety that they’d like to send me. So, here it is! Sounds like an interesting one – let’s have a look!
During my trip, I found out that Thai President Foods makes their instant noodles in many places around the world. This is a variety that’s manufactured in Bangladesh, a place where I’ve never reviewed an instant from before. During the time before the first seminar in Bangkok, there were tables set up with lots of different varieties from all over the world – they were kind enough to send me samples! I got to meet the manager for Thai Foods in Bangladesh, Mr. Yatra on the trip. What was really neat is that he spent some time in Seattle – just a few miles from where I currently live. He told me to go check out Tai Tung on King St in the city – it’s been years since I’ve been there but going to have to do it again. It’s pretty amazing to go overseas and meet someone who has restaurant recommendations in your own backyard! Let’s check out this chicken flavor instant from Bangladesh!
I’ve been really curious about this one, a brothless variety. This is made in the same way as mi goreng, however is more along the lines of what would be called a stir noodle or dry noodle. The looks from the package is interesting – I see peanuts! Peppers! Let’s crack it open and have a look!
Here’s one I got at the Econsave in Butterworth, Penang on my Malaysia trip last year! I looked up Emperor Herb Chicken on Google and found a recipe that lists the ‘Emperor Herbs’ – quite a list!
Some days are tougher than others. This is one of them. This has been the focus of my ire for the past hour or so. I have been trying to figure out what it’s called exactly, and hoping to find an ‘official’ website for it. No dice. I asked some people on facebook and got a little help, though. The brand is 力山食品工廠. From what I gather, you steep these, but with how much water I am unsure. It’s also got some other interesting things inside, aside from the swastika on the package and twin dragons. The swastika isn’t a reference to Nazi Germany, however to Buddhists who are vegetarian, as well as not allowed to eat ‘fetid’ vegetables like garlic or shallots. Anyways, let’s look inside this unique Taiwanese variant!
So I get this email asking me my thoughts on a particular instant noodle from Indonesia from this guy named Seth. I’ve tried another variety, but not this one. There’s a little dispute at his house whether it’s good or not and he wanted me to review it and get my opinion on it. So he sent me some, all the way from Indonesia. The package had some bumps along the way (mainly because I made a typo in my address) but it did get here, and so here I am, about to review this variety for the health conscious. It’s an interesting concept – low fat noodles and all. Grilled chicken does sound good as well – but let’s let the noodles speak for themselves. Let’s check out Tropicana Slim Grilled Chicken!
Once in a blue moon I find an instant noodle in my hamper of which I have absolutely NO CLUE WHERE IT CAME FROM. I mean, yeah – I know it’s made in Vietnam and that it’s a chicken curry variant, but I have no idea how it got into my hamper. Where did I get it? Hmmm… Well, it needs to be reviewed so here I am. Let’s check it out!
I’ve been asked by quite a few people in the last few months to re-review this one. It sounds like a lot of you really enjoy this one! One thing to note is that I’ve also been asked repeatedly about instant varieties that are vegetarian. Most instant noodles made in the USA will contain meat and/or seafood. Why? Well, it’s pretty hard to import chicken and beef into the United States. Standards for agricultural products are pretty strict, so the logic here is that if a foreign company builds a plant here, they don’t have to deal with these restrictions since they’re in the country, using US meat products in what they produce. Knowing this, if you stroll down the aisle of an Asian grocery store, you’ll see quite a few chicken, beef and other flavors which usually are imported and do not contain any beef, chicken or pork. So just a little tip from me – look and see where it’s made on the pack – it might have fish, but should be meat free. These noodles are made in Garden Grove, California. Southern California is the spot where most instant noodle companies that open up plants congregate – easy access to big seaports and centralized distribution has a lot (if not everything) to do with this. Anyways, let’s check out this much requested re-review of Sapporo Ichiban chicken noodles!
I got an email from a guy names Seth from Indonesia recently asking if he could send me some noodles that he has been having a difference of opinion on at his house. He likes them and others aren’t so sure, and he wanted my opinion. You got it! So I gave him my address and he expedited a package out – only one problem – I mistyped my address! Luckily, the person who got it hadn’t eaten the noodles and when DHL came to recover the package and redeliver had no problem doing so. So, after a crazy journey, the noodles are here!
You might have noticed that I haven’t reviewed a lot of chicken flavor varieties recently. The main reason for this is that Io haven’t had any chicken to go with my noodles – I usually cook some in the over and slice it up nicely and then I’ve got it for a couple reviews. Well, I’ve been lazy – a bag thing. So let’s check out this chicken instant from Ruski – laziness ends here!
I had some leftover chicken and thought it’d be a good idea to make use of it. I reviewed the old version of this one quite a while back. This is the one with the new premium label on the package. It sounds good, but how does this Nissin Chow Mein taste? Let’s find out!
Here’s yet another that was sent by a kind reader from Sweden – thank you! This one is by JML (Jin Mai Lang) – I’ve reviewed many of their varieties in the past but never one of the ‘Emporer’ line. It looks to have some kick to it – let’s check it out!
I thought this sounded interesting. Ayam Jagung translates to corn and chicken. What’s nice is that I haven’t made any noodles with chicken in a while and it just seems like it’s about time to have some! Let’s check it out!
Here’s the other variety of J.J. snack noodles CarJEN produces. Ayam translates to chicken. The mighty chicken seems to be the universally accepted flavor in the world. I was just wondering – how many are there? Chickens, I mean; how many chickens are there on the planet? I typed in world population of chickens into Google and it spat this out instantaneously:
Here’s one of the ones I got when we went up for my annual birthday trip to Canada! So snack noodles are very popular around the world – Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan have quite a few companies making different varieties. They’re usually basically an uncooked instant with a seasoning to add or are pre-seasoned. Let’s check out this one from Japan – Oyatsu Baby Star!
We heard the news about QZ8501 last night – very sad news indeed. We flew from Penang to Langkawi during our Malaysia trip on a bright red AirAsia jet. Today the red is gone. We send our hopes to the passengers crew and their families. Here is a live blog on news of the flight.
Thought this would be one my son would like. He’s been keen on trying new things, and I doubt he’s ever had any Filipino soups before. Sopas is basically chicken soup, but has a Filipino twist to it. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Sopas in the Philippines:
As you can see, Lucky Me! not only makes packaged instant noodles but cups as well (they also produce bowls). This one is a variety called Supreme Pinoy Chicken. From what I gather, these are supposed to be adobo chicken flavored instant noodles. What’s adobo chicken? Let’s ask Wikipedia:
