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Here’s a new one that just was released! These varieties by Mom’s Dry Noodle have been pretty impressive. This one’s spicy and sour – sounds quite interesting. I’ve tried such flavors from Malaysia before – kind of a description of Laksa, but being from Taiwan I think this is going to be a lot different. Like curry, spicy and sour flavors are different whever you go. Let’s check out this new one from Mom’s Dry Noodle!
It’s been really nice having some Indonesian varieties to review again! Seemed like it almost went a whole year without any until recently! This one might confuse Westerners that see it on the shelf so I’ll help you out. Let’s break down Mi Kuah Rasa Soto. It directly translates to noodle soup, soto flavor. Now, soto is a popular Indonesian soup and seems to usually have a lime aspect to it which is very nice. This cup has a lot of stuff going on inside – let’s walk through it.
Got this one at the Econsave in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia last year. Curry noodles! Let’s check ’em out!
Here’s one that was sent to me by James B. from The Netherlands – thanks! I’ve had a couple of this brand’s varieties before; they were sent to me by some folks at a Dutch tech magazine after I did an interview for them. That was waaaay back, so it’s pretty cool to be able to review new one! Let’s check ’em out!
I’m happy to report that this is the first post I’m doing using my new computer setup. Took a while to get everything all happy but now it’s quite happy as am I. Anyways, we found these in Lynnwood, WA at a store called BigLots. I’ve found varieties there in the past – kind of like a liquidation place. This one seems to definitely be for the western market although made in Thailand. Let’s check it out.
So my sister got me a neat plate a couple weeks ago at Shipwreck Day. Shipwreck Day is like a big citywide garage sale up in Anacortes, Washington – my hometown. The plate was part of a set and the lady didn’t want to break up the set, but my sister came back a little later and the lady gave in and let her buy one after she mentioned what I would use it for. The lady was originally from the Philippines and was a travel agent. I decided maybe I ought to do a review of something from the Philippines in honor of her relenting, and that’s what today’s review is about. Bihon is like bihun – it’s rice noodles. I reviewed this one originally almost 5 years ago – and really didn’t like it. Wondering if my palate might be a little more interested, I thought it’d be nice to try again, and so here we are – let’s check it out.
It’s been really hard to find new varieties from Indonesia lately and I was really stoked to find a total of four of them the other day! I always try to keep things mixed up – reviewing a different product from a different country every day if possible. It can be tough sometimes but lately I’ve been ending up with quite a range of varieties which is great. Anyways, let’s check out this one from Indonesia!
The last time I got samples from Mamee Doubledecker, they sent quite a few things along. They sent two of these ten packs of Mamee Monster as well! This is a new flavor – Pedas. Pefas means spicy! Let’s have a look at this one – and look – there’s a prize inside!
Here’s another one that was sent to me by the folks at Exotic Noods – thanks! This looks to be a somen served hot,m which would make it along the lines of nyumen which is served in Winter.I must admit, when I see low sodium and low calorie I usually don’t shudder with delight; I’ve had some pretty bad ones that have these tags. But, you never know! Let’s have a look at this one!
Well lookie what we have here. This is the ubiquitous Taiwanese Wei Lih Men bowl. In fact, it’s two bowls. Let me demonstrate.
This year, Taiwan made The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 edition for the first time with A-Sha’s Veggie Noodle Tomato variety. This one is part of the same line, which also includes carrot and ‘baby grass’ flavors which I’m also hoping to try soon! Let’s have a look at this interesting variety.
This one’s made by Thai President Foods’ Hungarian factory for a supermarket chain in Finland. It took a little translating to figure out and then I looked at the package; see the pepper? Yeah – hot and spicy instant noodles. Oh wait – then I tried it. Indeed it was hot and spicy, but something else I detected. It turns out ‘liha’ translates to ‘meat.’ It kind of reminded me of… Well, read on…
Recently, I reviewed the new CarJEN Otentiq Cheezy Mushroom variety and really liked it. This one is the curry variety – I love curry as anyone who sees my top ten lists can realize rather quickly. What’s neat is that I don’t think I’ve seen cheese curry in an instant before, however I have had cheese curry in an Indian restaurant. Well, let’s see what we have here – it certainly looks nice!
I’m always searching around the Internet and checking up on different instant noodle companies to see if they’ve got something new coming to the market! I saw that Mamee Chef has just released this new Lontong Flavour variety and asked if I could get some samples – and I did! So, what’s this Lontong all about? Here’s what the nice folks at Mamee Chef had to say about it:
I got a message from someone in Sarawak a couple months ago about Lee Fah Mee Sarawak White Laksa. They sent some home to the Us with a friend and that friend shipped some to me! Thanks! It’s kind of funny; I’ve been curious about Sarawak’s instant noodle offerings for a long time – and then in the last couple of months I start getting some to try. This sounds really interesting – White Laksa! Let’s crack open the package and see what’s inside Lee Fah Mee Sarawak White Laksa!
Here’s one the folks at Thai President Foods in Thailand sent. It’s made in their factory in Myanmar – and everything on it for the most part is in Burmese! These can be a little tricky; especially when the system of writing numerals is different. But rest assured, I have a solution!
So here’s a new one from CarJEN – a new line called Otentiq. You might remember seeing CarJEN’s Nyonya Curry Laksa on this year’s big top ten list in the 4th place spot. I’ve seen very few cheese themed instant noodles in the past, and I believe this is the first one from Malaysia. Very curious how it will be – if the Laksa is any gauge, this could be really good! There’s also a CarJEN Otentiq Cheezy Curry coming soon as well! Let’s check it out!
This year on my birthday trip to Richmond, BC to look for instant noodles, my wife Kit found this can of Hello Kitty pasta. She said she was hungry earlier and I said ‘hey what about that Hello Kitty canned stuff?’ She agreed and here it is! It’s not an instant noodle by any stretch of the imagination, but it was interesting enough that I thought maybe it should get a post on here. So here we go!
Wow it’s Summer here today! Just hit 90 degrees and the clouds are rolling in – hoping for a nice lightning storm to watch tonight. I’m still reviewing instant noodles in this weather though – it’s 83 degrees in our apartment right now. Wish we had air conditioning! It rarely gets this warn in Western Washington though. Anyways, I thought some miso might be a good one to try today, and an organic one at that. The packaging has a Vegan logo on it, but I think I might add some meat in with it. Let’s have a look at this organic miso ramen!
This is one I’ve seen on spicy lists before but it’s been a long time since I sampled it. Those two big peppers on the front look foreboding! I’m sure it was spicy, but how spicy? I guess we’ll have to see! Let’s have a look at Ottogi Yeul Ramen!
Recently, I got sent a couple different varieties from Eric at The Kitchen Food – the kampua above and a dark soy version. Kampua is very popular in Sarawak – sounds like a nice lunch today. Let’s check it out!
Here’s one I got from Justin M. from Winfield, BC up north of here in Canada! Thanks! Let’s see here: the instant noodle was invented in Japan. This one is sold in Canada under the name Azami and sold by Loblaw’s, a supermarket chain. It’s manufactured in China. I’ve been hoping one of these Azami varieties would really blow me away; hot and spicy is a flavor profile I generally like a lot – let’s see how it fares!
Here’s one I got on my trip to Malaysia last October! I was really keen on getting something like this while over there – anything that has some kind of promotion for a contest or sports event – or movies and cartoons – are very fascinating to me, not only because that’s not something you really see here on instant noodle products, but that the possibility of finding an export version here is slim to none. This one mentions Brazil on it – football! Let’s have a look inside and give ‘er a try!
Here’s an interesting looking one from Malaysian company Twetnty-Twenty. I remember seeing this on Instagram and wondering who made it and if I could try it. I sent a message and it turned out the poster was the manufacturer, and so here we are. Let’s have a look at this curry rice noodle!
There have been quite a few of these Baixiang varieties. Well, this looks to be the last one I have – I’m sure I’ll find more. Let’s check it out!
First off, you’re probably wondering why it says NCC before the post number. Well, I’m a Star Trek fan and NCC-1701 was the number on the starship Enterprise.
Wow – number 1,700! Only 300 more to try until I hit the big 2000. Today, it’s a variety from A-Sha Dry Noodle of Taiwan. These are ‘Hakka’ noodles. Here’s a little info on the Hakka from Wikipedia:
Mi Goreng means fried noodles and Pedas means spicy – how can ya beat that? This is one that I picked up at the Econsave on last year’s trip to Penang, Malaysia. I gotta say – it’s weird to say that. I never thought I’d end up making it to Asia; now having been to both Malaysia and Thailand, it’s like I’ve got a different perspective of the world. So many of the people I met over there had visited the United States, either for work or schooling. How many folks do I know from here that have gone the opposite direction though? Definitely a lower ratio at least in my experience. It is quite expensive and I’ve been lucky that companies have said ‘hey! come visit us!’ Instant noodles – who would’ve thought. Anyways, I’ve been a big fan of Mi Goreng for quite a while. It’s combination of sweet and spicy flavors has always been so nice. This one promises to a bit further on the end of the spicy stick – hoping so! Spicy is always nice. Let’s check out this mi goreng by Vit’s of Malaysia!
I’m sure many of you are familiar with Mi Goreng. For those of you who aren’t, Mi Goreng translates to ‘fried noodle.’ Mi Goreng basically are noodles that are cooked, drained, dropped in a wok or skillet, and fried with different seasonings and ingredients. Now Bihun Goreng is a little different. Instead of a wheat noodle, rice vermicelli is used the same kind of way. Rice vermicelli are very thin rice noodles. Instead of broth, these are broth free. They’re kind of distant cousins of yakisoba, yakiudon and chow mein. Let’s check out this Bihun Goreng from MAMA of Thailand!
These noodles are made in Myanmar! This is the second day in a row reviewing an instant made in a country I’ve never tried anything before. The nice folks at MAMA (Thai President Foods) invited me to their 2015 Agents Meeting for European distributors. They had varieties on tables – from all over the world! I asked if maybe I could get some samples and they were more than kind to send me lots of new varieties to review. This one’s particularly curious to me; coconut milk flavor. I’ve found coconut powder in instants really spruces things up; thick and creamy, especially with curries. This however is the first time I’ve ever heard of a coconut milk flavor instant. Let’s have a look!
Here’s a different one – a box with 5 different varieties! Check it out –
Here’s a different one – a box with 5 different varieties! Check it out –
Here’s a different one – a box with 5 different varieties! Check it out –
Not a lot of instant noodles come in a box – sometimes tray varieties. This looks to be a very premium variety from Wugudaochang – very fancy! They include one of their Chef’s Grain varieties – there are five of them. Let’s check this one out – looks fascinating!
A couple years back, I did a Meet Ther Manufacturer with Paldo, a South Korean company. I was stoked to get a pack of this Rabokki back then and asked if it would ever be in the United States. It sounded like there weren’t any plans to bring it this way and I was bummed – really bummed. Well, bummed no more, I can happily announce that it’s gracing store shelves in the USA now! Rabokki is a fusion of ramyun and topokki Topokki is what you see there on top of the noodles on the package – finger length rice cakes that are chewy – about the consistency of string cheese, served most popularly in a thick sweet and spicy sauce. I will say it’s probably one of my favorite foods of all time – especially the way I’ve tried it lately at a local place called Chi-Mc n Hot Pot, with cream cheese – egad it’s really good. Let’s check out this ramyun-topokki fusion from Paldo!
Sauerkraut! Chanced are that if you walk down the instant noodle aisle, you’ll see some kind of purple packaged variant. It seems that there are certain colors for certain flavors; red for beef, yellow for chicken, green for pork, blue for seafood – and yellow for sauerkraut. Pickled cabbage is a very common flavor of instant noodles, especially in China and Taiwan. Let’s check these out!
This was sent to me by Anders E. from South Korea – thank you very much! For some time new, eMart’s Dare You! Habanero Ramen has topped The Ramen Rater’s Spiciest Instant Noodle Of All Time lists. There’s a really good reason for this too – it’s violently hot. Heat is measure in SHU – Scoville Heat Units. Here’s what wikipedia has to say about the Scoville test:
I’ve often wondered about this one. I’ve seen chand clear soup as well and not exactly able to find anything online about it. I did see what to add to it, but if anyone has any info of the origin of clear soup, please let me know. This is made in Thailand by President Rice Products, one of the factories I’ll be visiting on my upcoming Thailand trip!Let’s have a look at this one.
This one’s interesting – a Thai take on a Japanese classic! Tonkotsu! Here’s what wikipedia says about tonkotsu:
Here’s one of the ones sent by Marvin R. of Ft. Worth, TX – thanks again! So he originally asked me about identifying there. They look a lot like another Vietnamese brand, but the info on the back seems to show that it’s definitely not them. I’ve found in general that onion flavor is usually a good bet – but what about satay? Here’s what wikipedia has to say about satay:
