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Hey look at this! This came by way of Hobby Link Japan, a great site that has all sorts of amazing Japanese things including instant noodles! Thank you very much! This is a very large cup variety containing udon and green curry flavor. To be honest, I’ve not seen much if any green curry coming out of Japanese instant noodle companies in the past. Did I mention I freaking love green curry? Alright – let’s hit it!
Well, hello there! You know, if I’m not mistaken, we’ve met here before. Oh yeah – multiple times on the top ten list back in it’s infancy! To be honest, this has been one I’ve loved for ages – perhaps decades. Boy, that makes me feel old… I think I should just let this variety speak for itself – let’s have a look at the contents and give it a try!
Hey cool! I’ve been really looking forward to reviewing this one. You might not know, but this is the background for The Ramen Rater logo! It was review #652 – posted February 1, 2012. Six years ago! I really liked how the picture came out and thought hey – let’s make a new logo! But only recently have I said what the background was – didn’t think anyone would be interested. Anyways, now you know! Here’s a little about Shio ramen from Wikipedia –
Here we have the cup version of the flavor we started this Meet The Manufacturer series with – original flavor. This is soy sauce flavor, aka shoyu. Here’s a little about shoyu ramen from Wikipedia –
Here’s one of the four fancy varieties from Sapporo Ichiban – their miso ramen variety. Miso is a fermented soybean paste. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia
Thought starting things off with the original variety would make sense. So they told me that original flavor indeed was soy sauce, which also is known as shoyu ramen. Here’s a little about shoyu ramen from Wikipedia
This one comes by way of Japan Ramen Box. Japan Ramen Box is a new subscription box outfit with neat varieties to check out! Go visit their website and have a look!
We end our days focusing on Little Couples Q Noodle today – thanks again for taking part in Meet The Manufacturer! This one is a bit of a mystery to me – Taiwan sauce flavor. Only one way to figure this one out – let’s give it a try!
Today it’s an oyster sauce variety. I like oyster sauce – has a nice blend of flavors to it and I’m very curious about how it will meld with a noodle. Let’s find out!
Hey who doesn’t like garlic? Okay, maybe vampires… But hey – I certainly like garlic. Fried garlic is good too. Let’s see how this one comes out.
Today it’s soybean paste noodles. Chajang, Jjajang, soy bean paste. Lots of different names for it. Let’s look inside!
Here’s one I got sent by a company called Suprama – they also make the World O Noodle line. Mi Goreng sounded good today – let’s hit it!
The place I usually like to start with a dry noodles company is their Sichuan style spicy noodle. They usually have one and so it’s kind of a good baseline. Let’s have a look!
Here’s one I found up in Canada at Osaka Market in Yaohan Centre, which is in Richmond, BC. Sometimes they’ll have a bunch of interesting varieties that are there for a short period and this is one of them./ Let’s see what’s going on here – wasn’t able to find a whole lot about this one. At least I know how to cook it, right? Let’s begin!
Curry 
Found this one in November 2017 at the same place I found some by this brand in 2016 as well – at the Jason’s Market at the base of the Taipei 101. I thought today would be a good day for some relaxing curry – I spent the weekend videotaping and video editing. Curry sounds good to me. Let’s give it a try!
Hey look at this! This came by way of Hobby Link Japan, a great site that has all sorts of amazing Japanese things including instant noodles! Thank you very much! This variety is a yakisoba with barbeque sauce and mayonnaise! I tell ya, this sounds really quite good to me! Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –
Here’s another neat one from Zenpop.JP. Thank you! So Zenpop has all sorts of monthly boxes including ramen boxes. Nine instant ramen in one box for a good price – check ’em out! Here’s what they had to say about this one –
Ah, curry. I’ve loved curry since I was very young. My mother would make a curried chicken liver over rice dish that to this day I crave. Unfortunately, she’s not keen on the chicken liver that they sell at the store anymore. Thankfully, curry is popular around the world and there are no end in sight of options to get my curry fix. When it comes to the instant noodle realm, this is one of my my absolute favorite avenues. It’s been on the Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time list for years – both in Wholegrain form and the original. Let’s crack it open and see what’s in this big pack of noodles!
This one really impressed me in the last year and I wanted to have it again. The folks at Mom’s Dry Noodle were kind enough to send another pack of it for review. I thought a fresh taste immediately before finalizing the top ten would be a good plan, and so here we go!
Alright so about these – I received a 5-pack from the nice folks at the Indomie booth at the Taiwan International Food Expo in Taipei, Taiwan in November 2017. I asked a little about them. This pack you see here is specifically for Taiwan. So, what’s different? Well for starters, lots of Chinese on the pack. The main difference however is the actual soizie of the package. This one’s a little bit bigger than the ones found elsewhere, and this is unique to Taiwan. You can’t get them like this anywhere else in the world. Period. A huge difference? No, but still a difference. Here’s a little info from Wikipedia –
Here’s another vegetarian friendly variety from Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen. This one’s inspired by Korean kimchi. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –
Okay now I’m seeing a pattern. The cups exclaim that they have rich broth while the packaged versions contain insanely rich broth. All I can say is in the last two, I liked the broth. Now to the topic of miso – here’s a little from Wikipedia –
I’ll be honest – I’m a huge fan of green curry. I’ve loved it for y ears. This one from Yum Yum sounds interesting and I’m definitely curious how it stacks up against other I’ve tried. Here’s a little from Wikipedia about green curry –
Alright, folks! Today I bring you the brand new Samyang Foods Jjajang Buldak Bokkeummyun. 1,920 SHU is the heat level. But wait – what’s jjajang? Let’s find out with some info from Wikipedia!
Today, we come to the end of our Mr. Noodle journey with a black vinegar variety. Black vinegar tends to give foods a kind of tart or sour hit – one I immensely enjoy. Let’s bid farewell to Mr. Noodle Meet The Manufacturer.
This one sounds interesting. While not a big fan of mushrooms, I do find that the onion is probably my favorite vegetable next to bell peppers. Well, maybe at par with bell pepper. I really like onions and bell peppers, let’s just leave it at that. Let’s take a look inside and see how it is.
Today we’ve got a green package. I’ve kind of tried to review them in the order of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, violet) and while there’s no blue I think it’s going pretty well in that respect. Hey! Here’s a little info from Wikipedia about pesto –
Today, it’s a flavor I don’t honestly see a lot in Taiwanese noodles, that flavor being curry. Barbecue curry sounds interesting too – very curious about this one.
Today, it’s a spicy sesame paste variety. For a long time, I thought anything sesame flavored would be from sesame oil. This most certainly is not the case. Sesame paste is much different – a much different flavor. It’s almost like a peanut flavor. Let’s take a look.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to pick what I want to review. I mean, I have quite a few options sitting next to me in the high security noodle vaults… So I took the box of samples over to my wife and opened it. There are six in all and the tops have different colors but no mention of what they are on top. I asked her to simply pick three. Well, here’s the first one.
I found this one up in Canada at a place called Hen Long Market. Did find a whole lot there, but this was definitely a score. They’re made in Vietnam – however they’re for Poland! Poland! European noodles! Yeah – I’m sure you can tell that makes me happy. Always wish I can find more stuff from/for Europe.
Here’s another one I found up in Canada a few months back. The graphics on this one are pretty awesome I think – but wait – what is yuzu? Help, Wikipedia!
Another one I found in Taiwan. This one is quite interesting as far as the packaging goes. Not only do you see Korean print but Chinese as well. This product is definitely for sale in Taiwan only – an export version. As far as the recipe changing from place to place, I have no clue. Here’s a little about kimchi from Wikipedia –
Found this one up in Canada at a place called FoodyWorld – awesome! Okay so this is an odd variety so let’s hit up Wikipedia for some info on what this is all about:
Today, we bid adieu to Red Chef with this, the last review. I’ve had quite a few clear soup varieties in my day – and they’ve always kind of confused me, to be honest. The name kind of brings up the thought of something thin and kind of bland to be honest, but they’re generally never that. With what I’ve sampled from Red Chef thus far, I’m going to guess bland isn’t going to be what I find here. Let’s check out this clear soup, the last of the four reviews for this Meet The Manufacturer!
Here’s another one from Zenpop.JP. Zenpop offers a lot of diverse Japanese boxes – lots of assorted things like ramen and also stationary among other things. Here’s what they have to say about this variety –
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
I looked around a bit and read that these big things in here are burdock tempura. Should be interesting – if you don’t know about burdock, here’s some info from Wikipedia –
Okay so I’ve reviewed this one in the past, however they’ve changed the recipe. Nissin Singapore sent me samples for review (thank you!) and so I’ve been going through many of these new version cups.
This was one I couldn’t leave Taiwan without. I saw this at RT Mart during my trip and passed it up since it was a 4 or 5 pack. But when I saw it again at Carrefour, I realized I’d better snag this one.
