Category: MAMA

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2026 Edition

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The Ramen Rater's Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2026 Edition

Can’t believe it’s time for another global top ten. To be honest, I’ve been loathe to do top tens. Why? Well, it’s a lot of work—especially the videos. I like the process of doing reviews; the hunting for varieties, the image editing, and doing my Instant Noodle Recipe Time show when I cook and do my tasting. Taking a week or two to devote a lot of time to video editing, etcetera, is a lot. But I know many of you like these lists and in the end, there are some really fun aspects to them as well. ...see full post

#5418: MAMA Thai Connext Instant Thai Boat Noodles With Braised Pork Flavour – Thailand

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#5418: MAMA Thai Connext Instant Thai Boat Noodles With Braised Pork Flavour - Thailand

Another awesome donation from James of Lakeside, California! I recently sampled the Tom Kha from this range and it was excellent. Let’s give this one a try! ...see full post

#5398: MAMA Thai Connext Instant Tom Kha Noodles – Thailand

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#5398: MAMA Thai Context Instant Tom Kha Noodles - Thailand

This one was kindly sent by Mark K. – thanks! I’d never seen this before and thought wow that’s rad – so he sent some! Coconut soup with herbs… Sounds really nice – let’s cook! ...see full post

#5382: MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Shrimp Creamy Tom Yum Flavor – United States

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#5382: MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Shrimp Creamy Tom Yum Flavor - United States

Here’s one I found in a Project Ramen box! They’ve got quite an array of international varieties – good stuff! Use the coupon code THERAMENRATER for a www.projectramen.com. ...see full post

#5068: MAMA Instant Rice Vermicelli Duck Flavour – Thailand

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Big thanks to James from Lakeside, CA for this one. Man, I wish I had a duck to cook up and put in here, or at least some scratch to go buy some duck, which would be infinitely easier. But alas, I don’t. When I visited MAMA in 2015 over in Thailand, I had duck a few times. Duck is great; I mean great. Anyways, let’s cook thisup and give it a try! ...see full post

#5045: MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Shrimp Flavor (Tom Yum) – Thailand

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#5045: MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Shrimp Flavor (Tom Yum) - Thailand

This is a special one. I’m doing a collab with a bar in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood called Time Warp, and this is the variety I’ve picked for July 2024 for their menu. This is the pack version and they’ve got the cup version – for some reason, nobody’s got any cups around here of this one which is a bummer, but it’s very similar.  So, let’s cook it up! ...see full post

#4931: MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Chand Clear Soup – Thailand

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#4931: MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Chand Clear Soup - Thailand

Found this one at S*Mart yesterday. I remember a very short time ago a person asked me if I’d review this one again. It’d been a great while, So I just thought I’d look and see how long it had been. The last time I reviewed this is when it was review #35! The date on it is June of 2009! My God! I haven’t reviewed this since The Beforetime. The Beforetime was the time before I met my wife Kit; when the universe was darkness. As I remember, I made the decision that IO wanted to move my website from being like this and transcribing the posts to the blogger platform. Then, I decided to migrate the site over to WordPress.com. I think that this is when I did that – back in 2009. This review could have been done between 2002 and 2009, most likely around 2004 is my guess. But today I’ll try this one again – definitely with much more experience. Let’s give it a try. ...see full post

#4906: MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Mi Goreng Flavor – United States

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#4906: MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Mi Goreng Flavor - United States

Yes, made in Thailand but most definitely packaging for export to the United States. I reviewed this waaaaaaay back – September 2010. I’m guessing a few changes have occurred in the last 13+ years. Let’s give it a try as I see people trying this from time to time. ...see full post

#4724: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Instant Noodles Mala Beef Flavour – Thailand

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#4724: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Instant Noodles Mala Beef Flavour - Thailand

This one was brought over and mailed to me – thank you! Very nice and excited to try it! I’m going to guess this will be a beef and Sichuan pepper kind of affair, but who knows – it’s a Thai brand so it should have a special spin on it. Let’s give it a try! ...see full post

#4648: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Dried Instant Noodles Truffle Flavour – Thailand

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#4648: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Dried Instant Noodles Truffle Flavour - Thailand

Here’s the first of two new varieties from MAMA of Thailand that they were kind enough to send – thank you very much! Truffle! I’m really curious about this one. Truffles I’ve always thought a musty, old book kind of flavor – and I like the scent of old books and that transmitted as flavor is truly fascinating to me. I’m curious how strong this will be. Only one way to find out! ...see full post

MAMA Sends New Truffle, Mala Varieties From Thailand

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Big thanks to the folks at MAMA for sending a couple of neat new varieties! These sound really great and gonna give em a try soon! ...see full post

#4313: MAMA Jumbo Pack Yellow Curry – Thailand

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#4313: MAMA Jumbo Pack Yellow Curry - Thailand

Oh man I’m back – like really back. It’s been over a month of not reviewing. I’ve a ton of varieties to review. It’s tough though; it’s July 1st today. It’s so $#@!@%%$@#$ nice outside – I want to enjoy now that it’s not raining… But I’m back – can’t stay away from reviewing. Yellow curry! Let’s do this! ...see full post

#4238: MAMA Instant Noodles Chicken Khao Soi Flavour – Thailand

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#4238: MAMA Instant Noodles Chicken Khao Soi Flavour - Thailand

Here we are at the end of the line of three varieties from Thailand – chicken flavor. What’s Khao Soi though? I looked it up on Wikipedia – ...see full post

#4237: MAMA Instant Whole Wheat Noodles Black Pepper Pork Flavour – Thailand

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#4237: MAMA Instant Whole Wheat Noodles Black Pepper Pork Flavour - Thailand

Here’s the second of the three varieties from Thailand commemorating MAMA and their 50th Anniversary. Black pepper pork sounds quite nice – Let’s give it a try! ...see full post

#4236: MAMA Instant Dried Jade Noodles Duck Flavour – Thailand

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#4236: MAMA Instant Dried Jade Noodles Duck Flavour - Thailand

Wanted to start this post by wishing Miles a happy 7th birthday! Spider Miles aka the Cheez-It king! Hope you have a happy one! He’s not ever awake yet as it’s barely 7am – got a lot of surprises in store! No instant noodle cooking for me today, buddy! Time to bake a cake! Wahooo!!! Still can’t believe he’s going into second grade! ...see full post

Buldak 2x! MAMA Green Curry! Ramen Pizza 2.0!

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Buldak 2x! MAMA Green Curry! Ramen Pizza 2.0!

Well folks, it’s been a hot summer’s day here in Gallagher’s Corners… Oh wait scratch that. I’m in Kenmore, Washington… Regardless, it hit 94 degrees today and we live in an apartment with an air conditioner, but at 11pm it’s still 80 degrees. Nasty. ...see full post

#4182: MAMA Singapore Noodles Meal Kit – Thailand

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#4103: MAMA Singapore Noodles Meal Kit - Thailand

I think I was able to try the non-export version of this when I was in Thailand at the MAMA rice noodle factory. I was part of an Iron Chef judging competition where a contestant from Iron Chef Thailand was there and she made all the varieties from this range. ...see full post

MAMA 50th Anniversary Varieties

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When I saw these came out, I emailed my contact at Thai President Foods about them. I have been planning to do a special definitive guide to their tom yum. I honestly thought that was what was in here, but nope! Oops! But hey – these are super special and I can’t wait to give them a try! What was really nice is when I mentioned it, they said that they would send some of the tom yum people buy over there for the definitive guide! Thank you! You’ll see that unboxing sometime soon, but for now, let’s check out these special varieties! ...see full post

#4082: MAMA Instant Rice Vermicelli Chicken And Abalone Flavour – Thailand

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#4082: MAMA Instant Rice Vermicelli Chicken And Abalone Flavour - Thailand

For a long time, I’ve thought I didn’t like chicken and abalone flavor. Then something happened – I had some really good varieties. I’m hopeful this is one of them. I visited these folks in 2015 and wow – Thailand is an amazing place. I got to visit the rice noodle factory there and it was really amazing. I highly recommend visiting Thailand if you want a headchange; it’s so bright and colorful – the smiles are endless. Not only that, the 7-Eleven stores have the most wonderful array of instant noodles you’ve ever seen. Let’s check this one out that I found locally. ...see full post

MAMA Tom Yum Shrimp Instant Noodles Bread Experiment

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Yesterday, I tried making bread with Mom’s Dry Noodle brand instant noodles from Taiwan. I figured I’d continue the theme with MAMA – maternal instant noodle time over here I suppose. But anyways, this one is a completely different kind of deal. Let’s give it a go and see what kind of results we end up with. ...see full post

#3690: MAMA Cup Instant Rice Noodles Spicy Stir Fried Baby Clam Flavor – Thailand

#3690: MAMA Cup Instant Rice Noodles Spicy Stir Fried Baby Clam Flavor - Thailand

It might sounds a little devilish, but aren’t the tastiest things usually babies? Baby clams, veal, lamb… The List goes on and on. Correct me if I’m wrong though; aren’t baby clams just small clams and not actually infantile clams? Less nefarious than the other stuff, don’t you think? Well, either way, 210kcal for the cup ain’t too shabby! Let’s try this one out! ...see full post

#3689: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Hot Korean Instant Noodles – Thailand

#3689: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Hot Korean Instant Noodles - Thailand

Here’s one MAMA of Thailand sent recently – thanks! I’ve tried the pack version of this before, but not the cup, so, ladies and gentlemen- this warrants a mukbang! You can find it at the bottom! Let the spiciness commence! ...see full post

#3657 MAMA Signature Cup Instant Rice Noodles Crab Curry Flavor – Thailand

#3657 MAMA Signature Cup Instant Rice Noodles Crab Curry Flavor - Thailand

MAMA of Thailand recently sent a big box of noodles – thank you! Lots of neat new varieties to sample including this one. I like curry and crab so I think this will be pretty good. Let’s check it out! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles Of All Time 2020 Edition

This yeah has just been rough – for everyone I know. After the hardest part of it for me – the passing of my mother – I took a week off from walking after doing 1,000,000 steps on my Fitbit in June and dove in  to working on top ten lists. I did four of them, all current as of review 3545. This list hasn’t been updated since 2017. I’ll be rolling out lists here and there for the next couple of months and maybe do this again a little ways down the road. Here’s The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles Of All Time 2020 Edition. ...see full post

Neat Face Masks From MAMA Of Thailand!

So in a prior Unboxing Time With The Ramen Rater, MAMA Noodles sent a couple masks. They turned out to the be the most comfortable ones I’ve found yet and so I asked if they might have some more I could use and spread around and they did! Thank you! ...see full post

#3228: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Hot Korean Flavour – Thailand

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#3228: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Hot Korean Flavour - Thailand

The spicy fire trend reaches everywhere – here’s one from MAMA of Thailand now! It’s nice to see honestly; people really seem to like it hot and that’s something for years that wasn’t really offered. Something ‘hot and spicy’ was often anything but. Let’s see if this one packs a punch! ...see full post

#3144: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Stir Fried Salted Egg – Thailand

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#3144: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Stir Fried Salted Egg - Thailand

I was contacted by a contact over at Thai President Foods about a new variety – and here it is! Salted egg. This may be an unfamiliar flavor to westerners, so here’s a little about it from Wikipedia – ...see full post

New MAMA Salted Egg Variety From Thailand | Unboxing Time

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New MAMA Salted Egg Variety From Thailand | Unboxing Time

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. ...see full post

#2973: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Shrimp Stir Fried Tomyum Sauce Noodle

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#2973: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Shrimp Stir Fried Tomyum Sauce Noodle

Here’s a new variety sent by the nice folks over at Thai Foods in Thailand – thank you! I’m really excited – my son Miles and I haven’t done a spicy noodle challenge with anything from Thailand thus far and I think this might be the one we’ll try. For those of you who haven’t tried before, tom yum is a spicy, citrussy and tasty flavor from Thailand usually in a soup form, but here is a dry noodle. Let’s give it a try! ...see full post

Unboxing Time: New Varieties From Thailand By MAMA

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Unboxing Time: New Varieties From Thailand By MAMA

Here’s a box that came last week – been a lot of videos lately! In the past week aside from the new Live Cooking videos, I’ve recorded over ten new vids! Recording is quick, editing takes a lot of time! Let’s open this neat box from Thailand and have a look at what’s within! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Cups Of All Time 2017 Edition

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Instant noodle cups – so portable, so ubiquitous. They’re everywhere! People seem to really like them for lunch. I’ve found that people also like to take them when backpacking or camping – all you need is hot water and once done, you can flatten them so it’s easy to pack out your trash. These convenient meals have come a long way since their inception – many flavors and countries of origin. This list is a compilation of my favorite instant noodle cups from the over 2,500 instant noodle reviews I’ve done to date. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles Of All Time 2017 Edition

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Now for the third year, I’m coming out with the latest Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles list. Rice noodles have some benefits as opposed to their fried wheat counterparts. First, they’re virtually fat-free. Also, they’re not fried. Rice noodles are gluten-free by nature, although the ingredients in the sachets that come with these varieties might not be. People ask me for a gluten-free list often, but that would be rather difficult as I’d have to pore over every ingredient list on every review to do this. Well, let’s have a look at these great rice noodle varieties – the best instant rice noodles varieties of the almost 2,500 reviews to date! ...see full post

#2317: MAMA Instant Bowl Noodles Shrimp (Tom Yum) Flavor Base

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#2317: MAMA Instant Bowl Noodles Shrimp (Tom Yum) Flavor Base - Thailand - The Ramen Rater - instant noodles

Here’s yet another from a reader named Colin from the east coast. He’s always surprised me a little insofar as being able to send me varieties I hadn’t reviewed yet. I mean, this totally would have been one I would’ve passed over as previously reviewed, but I can’t find it anywhere. As far as walking by it at local stores, I’ve done so countless times. Anyways, let’s crack i open and have a look! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2183: MAMA Instant Rice Noodles Moo Nam Tok Flavour

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I thought the first thing to do would be to look this up on Wikipedia. I found an entry for nam tok and here’s some of what it said: ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2182: MAMA Instant Rice Vermicelli Clear Soup

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I’ve always been curious about the clear soups; where are they enjoyed and who enjoys them and with what? Well, let’s find out what it’s like! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2181: MAMA Instant Rice Noodles Chicken Flavour

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Here’s the third of the more European varieties in this series. Chicken! Let’s check it out! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2180: MAMA Pho Ga Rice Noodles With Artificial Chicken Flavour

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Here’s the seond of the pho bowls – chicken! Let’s give it a try!

Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add everything to the bowl and add boiling water to the fil lline. cover for 4 minutes. Stir and enjoy! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2179: MAMA Oriental Kitchen Instant Rice Vermicelli In Gravy

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This sounds interesting! I don’t think I’ve heard of rice vermicelli in gravy before. It looks like it will be beef gravy from the picture. Guess we’ll see! Let’s have a looksie… ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: Re-Review: MAMA Instant Rice Vermicelli Bihun Goreng Perisa Asli

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Today, we bid a fond farewell to the President Rice instant series with this Bihun Goreng. This product is probably self-explanatory to many, but I’ll give a little more to those who are unfamiliar. Mee goreng is a noodle that is boiled, drained and then seasoned and garnished. Bihun goreng is basically the same, however done with rice vermicelli. Let’s give it a try – and my thanks to President Rice Products for making this Meet The Manufacturer happen! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #2178: MAMA Instant Tom Yam Rice Noodles

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A few days back I reviewed the flat noodle version of this one. What will this one be like? Let’s find out! ...see full post