Okay so first off, I want to thank the person at the company who made the decision to use paper as the material for the outer packaging. One of the big tasks I have for the reviews is to do a lot of editing in Photoshop, mostly removing glare from packaging. Since they’re plastic wraps usually, they pick up the lighting and so angling the packs to get the least glare and reflection is key, but then sometimes it’s just not possible to get rid of all of it. Then I have to scan the packages and there’s always a good amount of glare there. This will be the first review I’ve ever done of Miliket instant noodles, so let’s check therm out!
Category: Other
Meet The Manufacturer: Re-Review: Lucky Me! Instant Pancit Canton (Chow Mein) Extra Hot Chili Flavor
Today, we say farewell to the Monde Nissin Meet The Manufacturer! It’s been really neat to try all of these different varieties one right after the other – this is the 15th review! I do up to 15 in a row during an MTM. I thought today would definitely be fitting for something hot and spicy. Why you ask?
Meet The Manufacturer: Re-Review: Lucky Me! Special Instant Pancit Bihon With Kalamansi
Rice vvermicelli isknown by many names in the world; bihun, beehoon, bihon – it’s all the same thing! One thing though – these noodles are made with corn starch! But pancit – let’s see what wikipedia has to say:
Meet The Manufacturer: Re-Review: Lucky Me! Instant Pancit Canton (Chow Mein) Sweet & Spicy Flavor
There are quite a few varieties of these Pancit Canton – and in the past this one’s been my favorite. It’s been quite a while – sounds really good today.
Friday Video: How to Cook Cebu Lechon
So when I post my reviews on instagram, I use hashtags. I usually try to find ones that are decent, relevant and get the most eyes on the reviews of course, and I then look at the pics others post and like them, in hopes that hey will look and like the ones I have posted or even follow. Pretty basic method of growing a viewer base. Well, I also look at the hashtags that those people use, and I saw an interesting one – #lechon. Wasn’t sure what Lechon was, so I looked at a bunch of people’s pictures and found that it was roast whole pig. I decided to take this to YouTube and have a look. After perusing quite a few, I found this video about how Cebu Lechon is made. I’ve never tried this, but I think I would love to give it a taste someday. Anyways, enjoy and Happy Black Friday!
Meet The Manufacturer: #1529: Lucky Me! Special Instant Curly Spaghetti With Yummy Red Sauce
I have tried a few quick spaghetti in the past – from South Korea, Japan and Indonesia, but never from the Philippines! I had a look to see if there’s a particular way in which spaghetti is enjoyed in the Philippines and as it turns out, I found some recipes that included hot dogs. Interesting! Well, let’s have a look at this unique instant variety = Lucky Me! Curly spaghetti!
Meet The Manufacturer: Re-Review: Lucky Me! Instant Pancit Canton (Chow Mein) Original Flavor
Pancit Canton is a Filipino favorite whose roots began in China. It is also very much like Mi Goreng, an Indonesian dish. Basically, noodles and cooked, drained, and then combined with a dry powder and oil and sauce combination to create a tasty broth-free dish. These Lucky Me! Pancit Canton come in a variety of flavors, this being their original flavor. I’ll be reviewing more of these during Meet The Manufacturer as well, since it’s such a prominent product of theirs. Let’s check out Lucky Me! original Pancit Canton.
Meet The Manufacturer: #1527: Lucky Me! Special Baked Mac Style Instant Macaroni
Macaroni is used in a lot of Filipino cuisine. One I’ve tried in instant form is Sopas, a soup with macaroni in it. The weather here is really quite cold (at least for Washington). It’s gotten down to as low as 26 degrees Fahrenheit the last few nights. This looks like a nice warm stick-to-your-ribsy kind of thing. Let’s check it out!
Meet The Manufacturer: Re-Review: Lucky Me! Instant Pancit Canton (Chow Mein) Chili & Citrus
It’s been a while since I had any Lucky Me! Pancit Canton. This is a re-review of the 40th instant I ever reviewed! That puts it around 2002 or 2003 being the last time I tried this one. Not only that, it’s been about 1,000 reviews since I had any Pancit Canton. So what’s Pencit? Wikipedia has this to say:
#1524: Nissin Chu Qian Yi Ding Spicy Sesame Flavour Instant Noodles With Soup Base
This is one by Nissin Singapore. Thomas from MyKuali got me a bunch of instant varieties during our trip to Malaysia – this was during our trip to the Econsave in Chain Ferry, Butterworth. I thought today would be a good day for a really short geography lesson.
#1521: Maruchan Gotsumori Sauce Yakisoba
Okay, I’m familiar with yakisoba, but what’s Gotsumori sauce all about? After some scouring of the Internet, I didn’t find a whole lot. I found on the manufacturer’s site that the sauce is spicy and also has a sachet of Kewpie karashimayonnaise (kind of a mayo-mustard thing). Anyways, yeah I’m definitely coming up short on this one! Let’s have a look.
#1520: Yum Yum Oriental Style Instant Noodles Wasabi Flavour
Another one sent by a kind reader from Sweden – thank you! I’ve had Yum Yum noodles in the past, but I’ve never seen any instant noodle that was wasabi flavor. I did have a Zaru Soba once that had dipping sauce that had a strong wasabi flavor, but none where wasabi was the only flavor! Yum Yum is a popular brand in northern Europe – I heard recently that people refer to many brands of instant noodles there simply as ‘Yum Yum.’ Wasabi eh? Let’s check it out!
#1519: Ching’s Secret Manchurian Instant Noodles
Here’s a brand I’ve been hoping to review for a while but have had a seriously hard time finding. Ching’s Secret is a company from India that produces Chinese inspired foods. This flavor is a little puzzling though – Manchurian? What flavor is that? I consulted Wikipedia and got some information:
#1518: Mamee Chef Gold Recipe Bihun Kari Seribu Rasa
A week or so ago, I reviewed Mamee Chef Gold Recipe Mi Kari Seribu Rasa. This however is Mamee Chef Gold Recipe Bihun Kari Seribu Rasa. What’s the difference? Well, ‘mi’ means noodles – as in instant wheat flour noodles. Bihun is the Malaysian term for rice vermicelli. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about bihun:
#1517: Katoz Instant Noodles Spicy Chili
Here’s another one sent to me by a reader in Sweden – thank you! This is a Swedish brand – Katoz and is manufactured by MAT Kompaniet. Swedish instant noodles are a new thing to me; this is the second review I’ve ever done involving instant noodles from Sweden. One unique thing about Swedish instant noodles – they are really into the metric system. Usually on the instruction for preparation, the amount of water is called for by cups (more Western) or cc (cubic centimeter) or mL (milliliter). Well, in Sweden the go with decaliter, which is 100cc. This one requireds 4 dl of water, or 400cc/400ml. I’ve NEVER seen decaliters used before, and the only reason I knew what was going on was from elementary school. Yes kids, I know it seems ridiculous at the time, but you will use this information later in life – especially when making Swedish instant noodles! But I digress. Let’s check out these Katoz Spicy Chili noodles from Sweden!
#1516: Men-Sunaoshi Miso Ramen
Been quite a while since I’ve had some miso ramen, and this will be only my second Sunaoshi review. This one was in my hamper asking to be reviewed today and so I thought why not give it some attention. Ready? Set? Miso.
#1512: Chewy Japanese Fried Ramen Noodles Kyoto Barbecue Sauce Flavour
I figured since I have some cabbage I need to use before it goes bad, yakisoba would be a good call for today. This is one of those interesting ones. The product is from a Hong Kong company called Chewy, made in South Korea, and a Japanese flavor. Yakisoba is great stuff – vegetables and meats fried with noodles and oil and some flavoring. Time to have some breakfast – let’s check out this one from Chewy.
#1511: Long Jun Hang Tainan Yi Mien With Sesame Oil Sauce
We tried this new grocery store (new to me at least) in Bellevue called Asian Food Center. Thought we’d give it a peek and found they had quite a few neat things. This is one of the noodles I found. I want to send a really big thank you to Bobby Y. up in Canada for help translating this one – mystery solved, thank to you! Now here’s a note on contention between me and the entire country of Taiwan. If you look in the lower right corner, you’ll see a little warning. It reads: This product is not the instant noodles. Please boil the noodles before eating. They can’t be steeped; okay, we got that. What is kind of ridiculous is the fact that they only take 3 minutes to cook. That’s the same amount of time as noodles that can be steeped. Logically, the amount of time needed to cooking something should be relevant to whether it is deemed instant as well, don’t you think? I would call these instant noodles – that require a different cooking method than other instant noodles. But I digress – I don’t think Taiwan is going to get on board with this, and that’s alright with me. I’m thinking next year I might to a split Taiwanese Top Ten list – half the ones that can be steeped and half the ones that can’t, basically a pair of Top Five lists. It seems to really matter to them, and far be it for me to poo-poo any country with such a fervent passion for noodles. Let’s proceed!
#1509: Nissin Donbei Kitsune Udon Mini
It’s kind of hard to tell the size of this little mini Kitsune Udon, so let’s have a look at this.
#1508: Mamee Chef Gold Recipe Mi Kari Seribu Rasa
Today we have a new one from Mamee Chef. Mamee Chef’s products made not only the Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2014 list, but also topped the Top Ten Instant Noodle Cups Of All Time 2014 list. Really exceptional stuff! They have come out with two varieties in this flavor: one with their ‘mi tarik’ noodles (noodles made in a way to emulate hand-pulled noodles) and a version that comes with bihun (pronounced bee-hoon, it’s a very thin rice noodle). Today I’m reviewing the wheat noodle variety.
#1505: Shan Shoop Instant Noodles BBQ Flavour
This is one I got when by friend Matt B. was kind enough to take us on a trip to a place called Imran’s Market up the road a ways from here. It’s kind of interesting; this will be the third Pakistani instant noodle I’ve reviewed and they were all got within about 5 miles from eachother! I think it does make me want to Shoop, although I’m not exactly sure how to shoop… Regardless, let’s have a look – today we’re going to a new Asian grocery in Bellevue, so I might have a new post about that place tomorrow. Stay tuned, and enjoy the Shoop BBQ!
#1495: Super Instant Noodles Mee Goreng
Here’s another poor cup noodle that got beaten up a bit on the flights back from Malaysia. Could’ve been between Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei, or Taipei and Seattle – probably a combo of all three. Poor foam cup! There was a lot of turbulence last Sunday morning over Japan. Luckily, this is a noodle that gets drained anyways, and so it’ll come out fine. What’s funny is that the cup got banged up, but the noodle block is almost completely intact! Got this one at Econsave in Butterworth! Let’s check this mee goreng out! By the way – you may have also seen ‘mi’ goreng. Mi Goreng and Mee Goreng are the same thing; they both mean fried noodles – there’s also Mie Goreng you may see as well.
#1493: Maruchan Magomi-an Kitsune Udon (Eastern Japanese Flavor)
Thanks to Yuji Hashimoto over at Takamori Kosan of Japan for helping me to translate this one! Today’s review is one that I think I found up in Canada. It looks to be similar to Maruchan’s regular Kitsune Udon bowl – the red one.Kitsune means ‘fox’ in Japanese. Here’s a little something about the ‘kitsune myth’ from wikipedia –
#1491: Ottogi Potato Ramen
Woot woot – potatoes! These sounded good today – potato ramen… I really like the little Ms. Potato Head on the packaging. Ottogi makes some interesting varieties – I reviewd many of them waaaay back when I moved to Edmonds, WA. I would walk every day and pick up a single pack and bring it home, cook and review. Those were in the #100-#300’s. Seems like forever ago! These noodles are made primarily with potatoes, which give them an extra chewiness. Let’s check out Ottogi Potato Ramen!
#1489: Maggi Vegetable Multigrainz Noodles Spice Remix
Haven’t had one from India in a while! These Maggi noodles were found at a little market here on Highway 99 called Imran’s Market. I had wanted to check it out for a couple years, but when I used to ride the bus I would see it, and when riding in the car I couldn’t. It’s kind of weird. Perhaps the height of the bus? I dunno. But finally made it there a couple months back thanks to my pal Matt B. and found some interesting stuff. Let’s have a look at these Maggi Multigrainz noodles!
#1488: Mom’s Dry Noodle Sichuan Spicy Flavor
After trying the other Mom’s Dry Noodle variety a few days ago, I decided I really wanted to give their Sichuan Spicy one a try too. As I researched videos to add to their Onion Oil & Shrimp variety, I kept seeing this one mentioned. I also have been curious because they also sent a couple little jars of the paste – the spicy paste! Thought maybe I’d saute my garnish in it today. Well, let’s get this one started!
#1484: Ibumie Mee Baa..Gus Mi Goreng Spicier Original Flavour
Here’s one that Annie T. of MyKuali sent me a while back from Malaysia – thank you again! I’ve been very curious about this Ibumie Mee Baa..Gus, mainly from the packaging and name. So first off let’s translate a little. Mi Goreng is fried noodle (mi being noodle, goreng being fried). Perisa Asli Pedas is spicy original flavor. But – what about Mee Baa.gus? Well, mee is also noodle, and bagus would be gorgeous or wonderful. So they’re going for something like ‘wonnnnderful!’ with the little extra punctuation in the middle of bagus. Another term on the front of this pack is ‘Shiok.’ Shiok basically is an exclamation – you might have a really great bowl of noodles and say ‘wow – these noodles are really shiok!’ Urban Dictionary said it is a way to express pleasure and happiness. So! Now that we’ve had a little language lesson, let’s see how this mi goreng variety comes out!
#1482: Maruchan ‘I Want To Eat Ramen’ Shoyu Flavor
I think this is the last of these I got when I went up to Canada last year. Shoyu translates to soy sauce, so these are soy sauce flavor ramen noodles. Shoyu is one of the standard flavors of ramen from Japan, such as miso and tonkotsu. Sounds pretty good to me – let’s have a look inside and give ’em a try!
#1480: Paldo Jjol Bibim Men
Here’s a new variety of Paldo’s Bibim Men line to come out recently. Jjol means ‘chewy.’ Bibim Men – now this is slightly trickier but isn’t that hard. Bibimbap is a mix of vegetables, meat and an egg topped with gochujang (a spicy sauce) over rice. It’s one of my favorite Korean dishes, often served in a stone bowl and sizzling like nothing else! Well, the ‘bap is rice. In Jjol Bibim Men, the Men is the same as -myun or myeon, which means noodles. So what you have here is a cold, spicy, chewy noodle dish. I’m hungry – let’s get to it! Bring on the Jjol Bibim Men!
Meet The Manufacturer: Re-Review: MAMA Instant Noodles Yentafo Tom Yum Mohfai Flavour
Here’s a good one – it’s on The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2014 Edition! Seriously good. One thing that will confuse many is the name – it certainly did confuse me. Yentafo? Mohfai? Tom Yum – that I knew, but the others… Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about yentafo:
Meet The Manufacturer: #1470: MAMA Instant Cup Noodles Spicy Cheese Flavour
Soon as I saw this one in the box, I was instantly curious. Spicy cheese flavor from Thailand? I didn’t know they liked cheese in Thailand! Ah, well everyone likes cheese I suppose. Spicy cheese is even better in my book – spicy and tasty’s where it’s at. Well, let’s see what we have here inside this fascinating new cup from MAMA!
Meet The Manufacturer: #1466: MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Green Curry Flavour Jumbo Pack
To start things off, I’m sure you have all heard of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. What it is for those of you who haven’t, is a campaign to increase awareness of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), a motor neuron disease which causes the connections between the mind and muscles to degrade. The challenge involves a person having a ton of icewater dumped on them, and then nominating three people to do the same. Yesterday, my sister nominated me after she was nominated. Usually, you have 24 hours to accept and carry out the challenge. Today, I’m going to be getting a lot of icewater dumped on me! At the bottom of this review will be my sister’s challenge, and tomorrow’s review will feature me getting drenched! If you want to help, please consider donating to ALSA.org.
#1464: Nanyang Chef Penang White Curry Noodle With Nanyang Chili Paste
Woke up today to see on the news that there was a big earthquake down in North California near where a large portion of my wife’s side of the family live. Hope everyone in the Bay Area is doing well!
Meet The Manufacturer: #1457: Nissin Chu Qian Yi Ding Sesame Oil Flavour Instant Noodles With Soup Base
Many of you familiar with the sight of this package may say – hey waitta minute – what are you calling this? In fact, this is known by a few names! Here in the United States, it’s called Nissin Demae Ramen. In Japan, the four characters in big print translate to Demae Iccho. In Singapore however, Chinese is often spoken, and they translate to Chu Qian Yi Ding. I’m pretty sure it means something like delivery boy’ or something – the little guy on the package. Anyways, this is pretty easily gotten the world over, however this is the Singaporean made one! Let’s check it out!
Meet The Manufacturer: #1453: Nissin Japanese Ramen Kyushu Black Instant Noodles With Soup Base
Toiday, I’m reviewing another new one from Nissin Singapore – Kyushu Black. Kyushu style ramen is different in that it features broth with a cloudy nature and rich flavor. Nissin Singapore’s Kyushu Black looks from the package to feature this. The black part? Black garlic oil! Looks interesting! What to add…
Meet The Manufacturer: #1450: Nissin Japanese Ramen Tokyo Shoyu Instant Noodles With Soup Base
Here’s a new line from Nissin Singapore – their premium Japanese ramen. There are two of them – this Tokyo Shoyu and one called Kyushu Black which I will be reviewing in the few days. So what is Tokyo Shoyu? Well, let’s start with some Wikipedia info on shoyu ramen:
#1446: Myojo Ippei-Chan Jumbo Night Market Style Yakisoba
To start off, thanks to Raissa T. and Andre L. for their help on translating! Today feels like a yakisoba day. I really like yakisoba! It’s a pretty versatile dish; you can add anything to it and it’s still good! Well, strawberry jelly probably isn’t the best add-in… Then again, with that mention perhaps someone will try it and make it the new craze? The latest weird add-in craze was adding those little pudding cups or flan into a Cup Noodle. Bizarre… Well, let’s see how this comes out – looks good on the package! Especially with the amazingly cool little recommendation to…
#1444: Maruchan Instant Lunch Jalapeno Cheddar Flavor Ramen Noodles
Woo-hoo! I’ve been looking for a couple varieties by Maruchan for a while and this is one of them. I want to thank Craig Y. and all the nice folks at Maruchan for getting this one in my hands! I’m sure someone out there is going to say ‘Hard to find? It’s at every store around me!’ One thing though is that not every product is marketed or distributed to every area. One example of this kind of thing is a soda called Cheerwine. It’s quite popular and easily found in the southern United States, but it’s relatively unknown on the west coast. Anyways, Jalapeno Cheddar noodles sounds pretty neat! Let’s have a look at this one.
#1443: Nongshim Harmony Korean Spicy Noodle Dish With Chipotle
Here’s a new one from Nongshim, and it’s definitely unique. It’s a stir noodle, which means that there’s no broth, but a sauce that it stirred in to coat the noodles. Another unique thing is that it can be served hot OR cold! I was thinking of using a special divided bowl I have, but one side is bigger than the other and so I came up with an idea: since they sent a few packs, I’ll make one hot, sample it and then make one cold and sample it – easy enough. Something else I found interesting was on the right and left sides of the package. It says “NONGSHIM BLACK CLASS NOODLE DISH.” The final interesting this about this one is the inclusion of chipotle. Chipotle? Now that’s different – don’t think I’ve come across that being used in an instant before. Well, let’s open this one up and see what’s inside!
#1439: Adabi Mi Segera Mi Goreng Pedas Instant Noodles
Here’s the last of the Adabi varieties I received from Annie T. of MyKuali in Malaysia – thank you! It’s a wet and rainy day outside this morning. It started raining just before 7am and has been ever since! In northwest Washington state, we sometimes get a big dump of rain in the summertime – even got some thunder! You can see how easily amused I am! Anyways, spicy mi goreng sounds like a nice accompaniment for the day’s weather. Let’s have a look at this one.