The Definitive Source For Instant Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Here’s a video of me reviewing an instant noodle for an upcoming review. I did it for a TV show in Japan, but they didn’t want to use it so I made them another one. This is the beginning to end of a review – I do this pretty much the same way every time, although it’s a little different when it comes to cups and bowls – I either take pictures of the sides if they’re not able to be removed or scan them, as well as the lid. Hope you find this interesting and enjoy it!
A tube! What’s inside?
An autographed poster from the folks at MyKuali HK! This will go into the Wall of Fame soon as it’s laminated! Thanks!
I found out about Box From Japan on Reddit recently and sent the guy who runs the service an email. Javier sent me a sample box and I reviewed the included varieties and they were really great! He was nice enough to send me yet another one – last box had some seriously great stuff inside! Let’s look inside this one!
I’ve been a huge fan of curry over the years. I’ve made all sorts of sauces and soups and this is one of my favorites – works great with leftover turkey and some easily found ingredients – check it out and if you try it, let me know what you think!
My wife got me a gift off of Amazon. She didn’t say what it was. I immediately mentioned I’d emailed a publisher of a book asking for a review copy. Then I got the look.
Got an unexpected box from Michael C. over at Eastland foods today!
An Indofood reusable shopping bag!
A lot of people have come to my site from the United States, knowing only a couple varieties, those usually being chicken or beef, pack or cup. If that’s you, this is kind of a beginner’s guide to exploring the different brands and varieties that are pretty easily sourced here in the States. You can find many of these in your local grocery store, although some might require a trip to the Asian grocery, or to Amazon. But all of them can be found here, unlike many I review that only are sold in their local countries. Many of these have even been on my top ten lists, past and present – so get ready to have some of my favorite and most memorable varieties that you can easily find here in the United States!
In the last few years, I’ve seen a large amount of articles with titles like ‘Best Ramen Hacks,’ ‘Pimp Your Ramen’ and so on. These titles fall under the category of clickbait – using hipster terminology and such to entice one to click on them. Usually, they’re all things people know about already; vegetables, oils and such. This is a list of my favorite add-ons and garnishes. While some may be familiar to you, others may not be. It’s also geared to help you navigate the Asian Grocery, a place many find to be alien to them but I have found to be one of the most vibrant and wonderful places I visit very regularly. Finally, I also included some tips of storage and how long these products last for those on a tight budget. In no particular order, here’s this new list!
I’ve been finding out about a lot of great new instant noodle box subscription services lately and here’s the latest find: The Ramen Box. Let’s have a peek inside.
Got a very unexpected knock on the door this morning and the FedEx guy was there!
I wonder what they could be?
Got an email a couple months ago from Casey P. in Hong Kong. He’s been following the blog for years and wanted to send some thing for me to review! Thank you so much! He sent two boxes – here’s the second one.
Got an email a couple months ago from Casey P. in Hong Kong. He’s been following the blog for years and wanted to send some thing for me to review! Thank you so much! He sent two boxes – here’s the first one.
Hey everyone! I’m hoping you have been enjoying the website and my reviews! I was hoping you could do me a huge favor. There’s a yearly contest (longtime followers of the blog will remember it from previous years) called KING5’s BEST Of Western Washington. Basically, it’s a local contest where people can vote for their favorites. I’ve been in the Best Food Blog category for a couple of years now and hoping this year could be a little different – I really want to win this! The only downside is that you have to sign up and give your email address. Well, this year you can do so and tick a box during the process to ‘opt out’ of receiving any junk mail from them. It would mean a great deal to me if you could spend a minute and vote! It doesn’t matter where or what country you’re in, and if you’re a manufacturer, get everone at your factory to vote, please! You can do so by clicking here. Thank you very much!
James B. sent me a box a while back with some great stuff in it and here he strikes again with even more! Thanks, man! Let’s see what’s inside!
I found out about Box From Japan on Reddit recently and sent the guy who runs the service an email. Javier sent me a sample box and I reviewed the included varieties and they were really great! He was nice enough to send me another one – let’s see what’s inside!
I remember hearing about ‘the original’ sriracha sauce a while back. It really seemed illogical that the ‘original’ would be made in Southern California, especially since I was in a city called Sriracha in Thailand this May. I found a Bon Appetit article mentioning the true original and some comment by Eastland Foods. I emailed my contact Michael over there to see if he could help me out with a sample – and he really came through (the original sriracha came in the other box) – thanks! Let’s see what’s in these boxes!
I remember hearing about ‘the original’ sriracha sauce a while back. It really seemed illogical that the ‘original’ would be made in Southern California, especially since I was in a city called Sriracha in Thailand this May. I found a Bon Appetit article mentioning the true original and some comment by Eastland Foods. I emailed my contact Michael over there to see if he could help me out with a sample – and he really came through – thanks! Let’s see what’s in these boxes!
Today, I have a half of a documentary – unfortunately, if you want the other half you have to pay for it… But the first half is a real eye opener for people who have frequented the Seattle International District. Definitely spend 15 minutes of your day to watch this.
A nice package came in the mail today from Thailand! I saw some pictures one of the people I met in Thailand posted on facebook that showed some neat yellow-packaged varieties I’d not tried and so I asked what they were.
I got a little box in the mail from my friend Dwayne in Tennessee. He asked me a while back about instant noodle from Malaysia and every once in a while, I’ll just send someone who asks about noodles a nice box of them. Since then we’d been conversing and he mentioned he grows peppers. I was given some peppers at the very end of my trip to Malaysia by Annie at MyKuali – cili padi peppers – little hot ones! When I got back here, I thought why not crack some of them open and pull out seeds. I sent some to a coupl eof people and Dwayne was one of them. This was over a year ago and now, the seeds have grown!
A new year brings the The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of all Time 2015 Edition. After reviewing over 1,750 different varieties, these are my favorites hailing from Taiwan. Taiwan’s instant noodles are different from those of any other country; so curious about what direction their flavors go next. With that, let’s dig in to the new list for 2015!
When I visited Malaysia last October, I was asked by a newspaper reported when I thought a Malaysian top ten list might come out. I figured once I got to around 70 reviews I could probably put something together. As of today, I’ve reviewed 100 different varieties from Malaysia. What’s more, I am releasing this top ten list on Malaysia’s Independence Day! Hari Merdeka! Happy Birthday, Malaysia! I hope everyone enjoys this list, in my opinion the best of the best instant varieties Malaysia has to offer that I’ve tried yet.
I found out recently that there was a new Nissin Foods USA product or two that was new and asked for some samples – and they arrived today!
I am very proud to announce the birth of our first child together – Miles!
We’re about as happy as humanly possible! Happy 0th birthday, Miles!
Been a couple weeks it seems since I got any packages in the mail – but today I got a nice box from MyKuali! Let’s see what’s inside!
Okay so I asked for help on The Ramen Rater facebook page . I needed someone to do a voiceover for the Bottom Ten List video – in Japanese. Responding to the call was Shinichi. I thought he was in Osaka, Japan.
I saw some traffic coming from a post in a reddit group called Throwers by a guy named moby123 who’s a follower of my reviews and I really had no clue about what ‘throwers’ were. Then I saw it had something to do with yo-yos. Then I saw some clips about the competition they were talking about – the World Yo Yo Contest in Tokyo, Japan. Wow – I’m blown away – this is badass! Here’s a clip of one of the preliminaries. There’s a lot of these videos – I’ve watched at least an hour or so already and I’m just transfixed by the precision, speed and timing of these athletes. Have a good Friday and pick up your yo yos people – you got a lot of practice to come close to this kind of stuff (unless you do this already and if so, I salute you!).
I wanted to let people know about some pretty neat places around where I live. I live in a small town called Kenmore which is at the north end of Lake Washington. We moved here in March and really have enjoyed it a lot so far – my wife has commented that she’s felt at home here quicker than any of the other places we’ve lived which is really nice! Anyways, I wanted to give a quick shout out and thank you to some businesses around here that you should check out if you’re in the area!
My wife and I entered a special photo contest today here in town and there were six categories of pictures we could enter. One of them was ‘Happiness Is’ and since I was planning on doing something to celebrate SG50, I thought I’d have some Prima Taste Singapore Laksa La Mian today in honor of SG50 – the 50th anniversary of Singapore! I added fish ball from Singapore, Crab Claw fish cake from Singapore, white onion, mint, tau pok and mung bean sprouts. Singapore Laksa is something that truly makes me happy! Hope everyone in Singapore has a great day!
As many might know, I started The Ramen Rater (click to see the old site) in 2002 and did about 60 reviews. Then, I turned my attention to spicy hot sauces with The Sauce Rater. In 2010, I resumed my instant noodle reviewing. I’ve long been a fan of the spicy side of things – strong heat and good flavor are a couple of my favorite things. Let’s have a look at the absolutely hottest varieties I’ve found in my over 1,700 reviews of instant noodles from around the world in this year’s The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Spiciest Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition.
I recently had the fortune to meet a guy on facebook named James B. who wanted to send me some instant noodles from The Netherlands! A very kind offer which I took him up on!
A box showed up a couple days ago from Hann-wei over at A-Sha! Let’s see what’s inside!
Got some really fresh new samples from Kyle over at Mom’s Dry Noodle a couple days ago! Let’s check ’em out!
What do corn dogs, sandwiches, burritos and instant noodle cups have in common? They’re all portable. People can’t seem to stay in one spot for very long; they want to carry their meals with them as they move about. Since the inception of the instant noodle cup in the early 70’s when Momofuku Ando saw people using coffee cups and hot water to steep their instant noodles and brought this concept to market, the noodle cup has become a ubiquitous icon in the daily lives of billions. Today, I present the best of the instant noodle cups I’ve tried in my over 1,700 instant noodle reviews. With that, please enjoy The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Cups Of All Time 2015 Edition.
MyOri hit the #1 spot on my inaugural Top Ten Rice Noodles Of All Time list and they sent me some more samples!
I found out about Box From Japan on Reddit recently and sent the guy who runs the service an email. Javier sent me a sample box and Today I’ll let you see what was inside!
I got an email a few weeks back asking if I could tell people about a new poster. I don’t usually do this, but I thought ‘hey, that’s a neat poster!’ I did a quick Q&A with the poster’s creator, Fanny Chu:
Didn’t expect such a big box! Let’s have a look inside!
Oh wow – lots of goodies in here!
I’ve been asked ‘can you do a gluten-free list’ so many times I can’t count. Well, I thought I’d try doing the next best thing. Rice noodles, rice vermicelli, bihun and rice stick are (as far as I know) all gluten free. Hopefully this list will help those who want gluten free varieties. I should say however that I can’t say that the seasonings are gluten free, so check to make sure. Aside from gluten free aspects, rice noodles are popular all over the world, in all their forms. I would ask that instant rice noodle companies contact me – I would like to do more varieties for next year’s list as well! Eventually, it would be nice to split the list into a pack and bowl list, kind of like the wheat noodle top ten. With that, let’s have a look at this new list, The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition.
Here’s a box I’ve been waiting to see! Let’s see what’s inside!
Here’s Andy showing off the new packaging for CarJEN’s E-Zee Kari instant noodles! I rated this one 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. A nice little pack of noodles!
