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A large bowl from a brand I’ve been loathe to try in the past. They used to have some varieties in the Bottom Ten List, and still do – but many I’ve not tried previously I’ve tried and been really impressed with. Indeed, palates change. Let’s give this one a look.
Another one from Colin – thanks again! Haven’t seen this brand previously. Always neat to start checking out a brand I’ve not reviewed after trying so many. But what’s Shanxi? Wikipedia, if you please:
I got a message from a reader whose name is Zou from China. He has this instant noodle he said I have to try – and so we start chatting. So it came in the mail a couple days ago! Let’s check out what he sent!
恭喜发财 and Happy Lunar New Year to all! I had a look at my lists I hadn’t updated in a while and saw it was in January of 2014 last I did a top ten Chinese list. Why so long? Well, I like to have done quite a few reviews in a year when it comes to country lists for that specific country. If I’d done only two and there weren’t any big changes, I’ll kind of let it go until the next year. This one seemed ripe and ready for a new version. Of the almost 150 reviews I’ve done of Chinese instant noodles, these are my favorites. I should mention that if you are an instant noodle in mainland China and interested in having me review your products, please contact me to set up a review series. With that, let’s have a look at The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Chinese Instant Noodles Of All Time 2017 Edition.
Here’s a new one from Colin – thanks again! Don’t think I’ve reviewed anything by this brand before – let’s have a look!
Here’s another one sent by Colin from the east coast – thanks again! In a review yesterday, I mentioned that I review a couple of varieties daily and that I’m around 60 reviews ahead. Well, today is November 9th, 2016 – the day after the Presidential election. The results of the election are definitely a shock to most people in my community. I live in Washington State – very liberal. In fact during the primary elections, I believe Bernie Sanders got 80+%. I’m hoping that everything calms down and things end up going okay. Rest assured I’ll be reviewing noodles during the Trump administration as well. This is a type of Cup Noodle I’ve not seen in the past – this one is made in China. Let’s check it out!
This is the third of this line of new products from Sichuan Baijia that I’ve tried recently and what’s neat is that there are bowls too so I’m going to have to try those soon too. The others have definitely been spicy hot but this one says spicy hot. I think this may be a contender! Yesterday’s review of the cheese buldak bokkummyun fire noodle challenge noodle was super hot! Let’s give this a looksie and see how hot it is!
Here’s one sent to me by Colin – thanks again! So these have been a real conundrum for me for quite a long time. The little chef on the logo is definitely different from the regular Master Kong chef, but I can’t get to the bottom of the exact name of this brand and so it’s Master Kong?
I tried the Burning Dry Noodle variety of this line a few days ago and was quite pleased with it. That one was a brothless variant while this one will have soup. It sounds interesting – a spicy and sour taste to behold… Well, I suppose I’d better give it a try!
Here’s another one sent by Jen from Australia – thanks! Although not an Australian brand, the distributor’s sticker mentioed Australian distribution and so here we are. Sounds good – been reviewing quite a few beef ones lately it seems. Let’s check it out!
Leave to my wife Kit to notice things I don’t. This is art of a series of three varieties that they got in at 99 Ranch Market in Edmonds, Washington that I’d not seen before – but she did! I asked her which of the three to review first and here’s what she picked. Burning! Here’s a little snippet from Wikipedia –
When it says these are broad noodles, its definitely not an understatement. I’ve had mixed feelings about the offerings from this brand in the past – let’s see how this one pans out!
Been a while since I’ve had a Kamfen bowl… Scallop and lobster wonton favor? Definitely Hong Kong. It’s a seriously rainy day today and we’re going to have a power outage I predict. Ahhh. It’s not like we live in the middle of nowhere; we’re in the city! Weird. Noodle time!
Here’s another one that was sent to me by a reader named Colin from the east coast – thanks again! Still amazes me how many varieties of instant noodles are available in the United States I’ve not sampled yet. Let’s dig in to some seafoodiness today!
Purple! Nothing like purple. Purple crayons, The Color Purple, Purple Rain… Actually, I’m not really a fan of any of those; but when I see the color of purple on an instant noodle package, especially from Taiwan, Hong Kong or China, it usually denotes something pickled. Indeed, here we have sour pickled cabbage. This isn’t quite like sauerkraut but kind of like it. Anyways, let’s crack into this one – another kindly send by colin. Thanks again!
Here’s one sent to me by Colin – thanks again! So these have been a real conundrum for me for quite a long time. The little chef on the logo is definitely different from the regular Master Kong chef, but I can’t get to the bottom of the exact name of this brand and so it’s Master Kong?
Every year, I review a ton of instant noodles – and every year I come out with quite a few lists. This list tends to change the least of all my lists – I’ve had a lot of spicy instant noodles in my time and just seems like nobody’s getting any spicier products to market. Could be that they don’t want to melt people’s faces off perhaps. Anyways, here’s this year’s list – the spiciest varieties out of over 2,100 reviews. Enjoy – if you dare!
Here’s one I picked up at 99 Ranch Market a couple months ago. I have a couple brands that I have as ‘reserves’ – if I run low on instant noodles, I know certain stores have always had certain varieties and I can get them at any time. This is one of them. At that point I was running low (although now I’m not). Let’s crack this tray open and give it a try!
Here’s another one sent to my by Colin from the eastern USA – thanks again! So these have always been interesting; they have the little chef guy much like Kang Shi Fu (Master Kong), but often the bar code search will come up with Kailo brand. This morning, I called the number on the back and they gave me another number, and they gave me an email address. I emailed the address I was given and will get the info on what brand this is exactly when they reply – and hopefully they do. Prok ribs – let’s do this!
Here’s yet another one from Colin – thanks! He’s sent me a ton of great stuff and here’s another one. I reviewed the bowl variety over 300 reviews ago – #1735! Looks like I liked that one – let’s see how the pack version does.
A couple of months ago, I experienced an instant noodle drought. I was looking in my hampers and there were maybe 10 varieties left! We hit 99 Ranch and I found about 10 or so varieties to review (later after putting a call out on the site, I ended up with people sending all sorts of varieties and now my hampers runneth over – my thanks!). Here’s one I found at 99 Ranch – let’s check it out.
I’m pretty sure this is the first Baijia bowl I’ve reviewed. For the longest time, I was extremely leery of these; I have a couple Baijia products I really disliked. However, after some time, I found that my tastes have really changed (especially after tring different things overseas and reviewing hundreds of instant noodles) and now I’m keen on giving them a new look. Well, let’s check this one out!
Being low on instant noodles to review, I went to 99 Ranch to see if I could find anything I’d not reviewed yet. I ended up at the bottom end of the noodle aisle and found a ton of Kamfen stuff I haven’t gotten to yet. I always knew it was there, just didn’t get to the point of checking it out really. So being at that point, we’ll start trying these here and there. This one’s beef flavor wonton. Let’s give it a looksie.
Here’s one sent by Colin from Massachusetts – thanks! I used to work with a lady who couldn’t say Massachusetts. It seemed a little ridiculous to me, but she would stumble over the word repeatedly and it would sound like massive two shits. Anyways, this one seems interesting – why assorted pork bone? Are they from different kinds of pigs? Well, let’s give this one a try!
I’ve been checking out a few of these Baijia varieties recently, and they’ve been interesting. When I first started reviewing, I generally found the flavors and varieties to be pretty horrid, but after a few years , I’m starting to come around. Pickled cabbage and fish, eh? Well, let’s have a look.
So the last one of these broad noodles I tried I made incorrectly (yeah, it happens once in a blue moon) and I’ll re-review it soon. See, the first one was a broth free variant and I just assumed that the rest would be. Well, it looks like the one I tired first was the exception to the rule. Anyways, let’s have a look at this beef flavored variety from Sichuan Baijia.
I’ve had what I believe to be the pack variety of this before. Was pretty good! Let’s see how this bowl version fares.
NOTE: I assumed that all of the Sichuan Baijia Broad Noodle series were supposed to be drained. This was apparently was NOT supposed to be drained, hence the review score of 0 stars. It will be re-reviewed soon! Thanks to Bundi R. for bringing this to my attention.
It’s always awesome when I go to the store with my poor vision and my wife sees something and asks me if I’ve tried it. Sure enough, this was one of those occasions. I recently had the Sichuan Baijia Artificial Spicy Fei Chang a couple of weeks ago – it had been on my bottom ten list for years and really kind of one of the main reasons I wasn’t reviewing Baijia stuff so much. After not trying it in 5 years, I found that my tastebuds had done a bit of a metamorphosis. Where I found this more traditional Chinese flavor horrible before, I found it much more to my liking. So now at the store, I’m looking at Baijia in a different way. Today, I’ll try something I’ve not seen before – a broad noodle. I’ve seen broad noodles before, but not this broad – you’ll see what I mean. I want to thank Bobby Y. for helping me decipher the cooking instructions – hope the Blue Jays did good in the ALCS and won the World Series!
There’s a new Asian Food Center on 130th & Aurora – went there hunting for some of the fruit I got 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!
To those of you have followed my blogs and my Bottom Ten lists for a while, you know what this is. To those who haven’t, let me introduce you to this one. In my original review, I was really put off by this one. I thought it had some kind of ‘dirt and urine’ odor to it. But this is a new version. First, what’s fei chang? Here’s something I found on a blog called Food And Drink Chengdu:
Wow – review #1800. I must admit my surprise on how quickly I’m closing in on #2000. I haven’t reviewed one of these Crystal Noodle varieties in quite a while. I was talking to a friend of mine about instant noodles we weren’t particularly fond of and he mentioned his wife really liked these. We both agreed that Crystal Noodle was one of our least favorites. I figure though hey, you never know. This might be the one I really like! Let’s have a look.
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!
As we come close to the end of this Meet The Manufacturer, we have the third bowl that includes an egg: the spicy flavor bowl. Let’s check it out!
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!
Look what came in the mail today! An express envelope!
An autographed poster of Dee Hsu, the woman on the JML Spicy King Spicy Beef bowls and packs! Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about her:
The other day I reviewed the pack version of this one, and today it’s the bowl! I wasn’t sure who the lady on the bowl was but found out – her name is Dee Hsu – here’s a little on her from Wikipedia –
We started this Meet The Manufacturer with the bowl version of this variety. Today, it’s time for the pack version! Let’s see if there’s any difference with this one.
Here’s one that’s truly unique – not only does it have a stewed egg but something called sour beans. I’m wondering if they’re akin to something I tried in Penang at a Nyonya restaurant. Hmmm. Well, I just looked them up and from what I gather, what is in this may be pickled Chinese long bean whereas the smelly beans I had in Penang are somewhat akin to looking like a lima bean but bigger. Anyways, let’s have a look at this one!
This is a very red package! The woman is jubilant with her golden ladle! Her name is Dee Hsu – a popular entertainer from Taiwan. Spicy sounds good – let’s check it out!
