Category: * News / Noodle News

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition

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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. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Bottom Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition

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After trying over 1,700 instant noodle varieties, it is expected that some of them will be on this list. Why? Well, some just make me wretch. They’re the ones that get a score of one to zero stars. Not to say that there are some folks out there who like them, but that hypothetical someone would not be myself. With that, here’s the new The Ramen Rater’s Bottom Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls Of All Time 2015 Edition

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Another year’s gone by and here we are again with the new bowls list. A lot of really interesting ones this go around and some old favorites. At the point of putting this list out, I’ve almost hit 1,700 reviews. Of those, these are in my opinion the best tasting and the most memorable varieties. With that, allow me to present The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls 2015 Edition. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Trip To Thailand: Day 5 – River Kwai & Goodbye

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Day 1 * Day 2 * Day 3 * Day 4 * Day 5 * Day 6

Woke up at this amazing place – Heard a strange sound coming from outside and figured out it was the sound of the Buddhist monks chanting – it echoes everywhere and was quite ethereal. Decided to head down for some breakfast. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Trip To Thailand: Day 3 – Seminar & Sightseeing

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Day 1 * Day 2 * Day 3 * Day 4 * Day 5 * Day 6

Another breakfast at the Chatrium Hotel. Like I said in a previous post, I love two things about Asia – fish and fruit. Tiny bananas rock and so does watermelon. I really liked their pancakes – they make them with white cake batter – they go awesome with pineapple! Then there were these weird things that were hairy looking. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Trip To Thailand: Day 2 – Factory Tour & More

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Day 1 * Day 2 * Day 3 * Day 4 * Day 5 * Day 6

After some sleep, we headed down to breakfast. The Chatrium had a big breakfast buffet which was really nice – I would say my favorite part was all the fruit . One thing I’ve found is that when you’re in Asia, you’ve got to eat a lot of two things: seafood and fruit. Because it’s good there. Damn good. I ended up trying some dim sum and some other interesting things. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Trip To Thailand: Day 1 – Departure & Arrival

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THAITRIP-HEAD

Day 1 * Day 2 * Day 3 * Day 4 * Day 5 * Day 6

A few months ago, I received an email from Ms. Pojjanee over the Thai President Foods. They make MAMA instant noodles and I had recently done a Meet The Manufacturer series with them. It was just after New Year’s and she asked if my wife and I would like to visit their factories in Thailand! There was one hitch though – my wife would be in her third trimester of her pregnancy at the time of the trip and we both agreed that it might be a little too much for her unfortunately. My sister was happy to take her place if it was alright, and it was. With that, here we go on our trip! ...see full post

Diverse Samples From MAMA!

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At one point during my trip to Thailand earlier this month, there was a big seminar for all the European distributors of MAMA noodles. They had a table with all sorts of varieties I’d never seen, made in places I’d never reviewed varieties from. I asked if there was any chance I could get some of these samples, and they were happy to oblige – only problem was that my luggage was just stuffed! So they kindly offered to ship them to me and they arrived yesterday evening! I’m going to be doing a travelogue of my trip soon, and I think I’ll be reviewing some of these during that special series! Let’s have a look. ...see full post

Travels: Back From Thailand

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So our trip to Thailand was absolutely amazing – met some really great people, checked out two noodle factories, tried some great food, saw wonderful sights! All this said, it’s good to be back home. I’m recovering from jet lag and will be posting a day-by-day travelogue in a week or so as a new Meet The Manufacturer will be starting very shortly. Until then, let me just say that Thailand was so different from expectations; I thought since it was so close to Penang and Langkawi (about a 2 hour flight) that it would be much the same, but boy was I wrong! It’s completely different! Can’t wait to share it with everyone! ...see full post

Travels: Off To Thailand!

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Tonight, I begin a long journey to Thailand to visit Thai President Foods and President Rice Products. They’re best known for their MAMA line of instant noodle products! My wife Kit will be posting reviews I’ve already done ahead of time until my return. If you want to see what I’m up to on my trip, check out my instagram – follow theramenrater – or look at it here. I will be accompanied by my sister Sue as my wife is too far along in pregnancy to do the trip. When I get back, I’ll do a detailed travelogue as I did with last year’s Malaysia trip to visit MyKuali. ...see full post

A Special Donation From Indonesia

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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! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition

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The Ramen Rater's top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition

The top ten instant noodles list is an annual post I do which is always quite a treat for me.  I started reviewing back in 2002, but I really got going with it in June of 2010 – I’ve done nearly 1,600 reviews since then. It still boggles my mind that after trying so many, the industry continues to innovate and bring flavors forth that truly amaze me. With that, here are my absolute favorites – The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition. ...see full post

Exotic Noods – A New Way To Try Instant Noodles

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I was contacted recently buy a couple guys with a neat idea and thought I would share it with everyone. They’ve started a service called Exotic Noods (catchy title, eh?) which allows you to subscribe to receive some interesting instant noodle varieties every month. Daniel and Marcus’ plan is simple: to get everyone trying something new every month. I think this is great; I see so many people having the same easy to source varieties when they couold be sampling varieties from all over the world with so many different flavor profiles and options. What’s in the box? Let’s see! ...see full post

Paldo’s Rabokki Comes Out West

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Wasn’t expecting this one today – what’s inside?

One of my favorite Korean foods is tteotbokki (pronounced tah-bocky or tah-pocky). They’re like little tubes made from rice and thick and chewy. Usually it’s accompanied by a spicy sauce, egg, fish cake and more. Well, this is rabokki – ramyun with tteotbokki sauce! I had this a few years back and was really bummed it wasn’t available here in the United States. When I got this package in the mail I contacted my friend at Paldo and found out that indeed it will be on shelves here soon! Awesome! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater Logo In Malaysian TV Commercial

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This is really neat – so on the cups and packs of Mamee Chef’s Laksa Kari, they’ve got my logo. The cup was #1 on my annual cups list and the packs made my top ten for 2014. In the commercial, you can see the logo twice – once when he holds up the cup towards the end and on the package at the very end in the upper right corner. Pretty neat! ...see full post