The Definitive Source For Instant Noodle Reviews Since 2002
So today here’s review #98 – the weird GreeNoodle… These noodles contain some kind of weird ingredient called moroheiya. “Moroheiya is a super vegetable that is more nutritious than spinach, carrots, or borccoli in most aspects” is written on the back and cite as a quote by the ‘Japanese Ministry.’ although which Ministry that would be is unclear to me.
So here she is. Ultra tasty and ready for preparation. There is only one slightly better and its about the same but has a soup base packet inside which goes great with it.
I thought I’d already reviewed this stuff but apparently not, so here we go with Soto Mie flavor. This is one of the few varieties of Indomie instant noodles that you don’t drain the noodles with.
Okay so thought I’d try something with an odd name today. Yes, I thought of the money ch-ching sound too when I read the flavor… It’s a Taiwanese flavor from what I found on Google – spicy and oniony.
So here’s something new. I’ve been avoiding it a bit as I wasn’t sure if I really would like it. But I remembered I’m the ramenrater, fearing no ramen and all that crap so here it is. The big one. My review’s preview is simple (think of this said with an extremely strong hwhuh sound on each word) Hwow – this stuff hwas hwonderful and I hwould eat is daily.
I last tried this variety when I was about 15 years old I think and I absolutely hated it. I have been avoiding it like the plague ever since. I suppose 20 years later, its time for another go.
I think after this, sesame flavor and spicy seafood flavors are left! So let’s get it on with the spicy flavor! Woo haw!
So as I’ve mentioned before, my options as far as varieties of Nissin Demae Ramen are dwindling quickly. I think I’ve got a couple after this one so here we go with Miso. Kitten was wondering what the heck miso actually is, and since I couldn’t give her a decent answer other than a kind of Japanese soup, I hit up wikipedia for some info…
Miso (みそ or 味噌?) is a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting rice, barley and/or soybeans, with salt and the fungus kōjikin (麹菌?), the most typical miso being made with soy. The result is a thick paste used for sauces and spreads, pickling vegetables or meats, and mixing with dashi soup stock to serve as miso soup called misoshiru (味噌汁?), a Japanese culinary staple. High in protein and rich in vitamins and minerals, miso played an important nutritional role in feudal Japan. Miso is still very widely used in Japan, both in traditional and modern cooking, and has been gaining world-wide interest.
This one came with a couple packets, one being soup base and the other being seasoning powder. I am imagining the seasoning powder was the miso. It had a slightly musty scent to it – if asked to define, fermentation wouldn’t be too far off the beaten path for the olfactory reaction here.
On the left is the seasoning powder. I was thinking of using a spoon and making a yin yang or some kind of neat design with the two colors of noodles but thought better of playing with my food.
So here’s the finished produc (click image to enlarge)t. Made something to drink (Crystal Light knock off from Walmart) and so the noodles cooked a bit longer than they normally do. They were a little slimy to be honest, but kind of a fungus like slimy. I don’t know if there truly was fungus among this, but all said and done this wasn’t a shabby bowl of noodles. The noodles kind of turned into a greasy udon-esque affair. The broth was a little salty but the flavor had some complexities I wasn’t accustomed to which I found interesting; a mustiness and pungency that I found interesting. Did I like it? Sure – not a bad bowl of noodles as I said. Will I jump off a chair and tell people to run and get it? Nope. This one gets 2.75 out of 5 stars. Get it here.
"Miso." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2010. Web. 25 July 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso>
So this is one of the few flavors left at 99 Ranch Market for me to try to here we go. Felt like a rather we stuffed package which gave me hopes of an interesting and unique meal with surprises and multiple packets…
So I liked the Indomie Mi Goreng Satay flavor – this should be good.
Two flavor packets! Not too shabby!
UPDATE! There is a new review I did of this product HERE. In this review below, I made the package incorrectly!
So after years of reviewing instant ramen noodles, here it is. Finally. Hold onto your coiffure taming device: oriental flavor. I have always considered this to be the most boring of all flavors as it really isn’t that adventurous. We’ll see if it stays in that realm of blandness as I review the latest instant noodles for ramenrater.com.
I’m a big fan of instant noodles – such a big fan that I started www.ramenrater.com to review different varieties. Of all things ramen, I’ve come up with this homemade noodle recipe, taking ingredients from all over the far east and orient.
Doll: Instant Noodles with Sesame Oil and Soup Base
Stars: *
Notes: These were chicken flavor stiff noodles with
a bit of sesame oil. Nothing real special.
Indomie: Fried Noodles
Stars:****
Notes: Another one of Indomie’s great line of noodles. These are your basic variety of noodles – just plain fried. Best with some form of meat/vegetable garnish. Get it here.
Indomie: Hot Fried Noodles
Stars:****
Notes: Exactly the same as the above fried noodles, only this one has a bit of hot chili with it. It’s quite hot and very good stuff – best with garnish, even better with fried eggs. Get it here.
Indomie: Satay Fried Noodles
Stars: *****
Notes: This is the stuff that really got me into ramen. First off, five seasoning packets.
Second, by displaying sunny side up eggs on the packaging, I of course had to
try it for breakfast and quite enjoyed it. This is truly the alpha and omega of
the ramen hunter’s holy grail. The first ramen I found that required the noodles
be drained, then added to the dry bowl with the seasonings/oils and stirred. An
extremely spiritual experience. Get it here.
Lucky Me: Pancit Canton Chili Mansi Flavor
Stars: ***
Notes: This is like the Kalamansi [Lime] flavor, but with a little kick. Perfect noodle to
go with gin and tonics. Get it here.
Lucky Me: Pancit Canton Citrus Flavor
Stars: ***
Notes: This was something new for sure – citrus ramen? Well, it didn’t taste all that
extremely fruity. I ate it without any adulterants [veggies, chicken, eggs etc]
and found it to be quite good – was like the way lemon juice highlights a good
salmon dish. Was definitely lime juice doing all the marketing here.
Lucky Me: Pancit Canton Hot Chili Flavor
Stars: ***
Notes: I was quite ill with horrible seasonal allergies when I tried this flavor, but
it was about perfect. What I found odd was that since ramen packs that
say hot chili usually live up to the name – not this one – not hot at all. I
suppose it could be due to the fact that I was sick and couldn’t taste much…
MAMA: Oriental Style Instant (Chand Clear Soup) Stars: ***
Notes: This stuff ain’t too bad. Definitely rice noodles. The broth was extremely good – a little spicy, but clear as it purports. Tasted like a celery soup. Did just fine with it even
though I have a severe unrelated gut-ache.
Myojo: Special Duck Flavor Stars: *
Notes: This stuff is nasty. It does live up to being duck flavored, as it’s VERY gamey and really stinks. Will NEVER eat this again. Get it here.
Nissin: Curry Demae
Stars: ****
Notes: Oh sweet elixir of life that brings exquisitely painful heartburn, curry be thy name. This stuff was excellent – very good curry flavor! The ‘demae’ variety is what we call Top Ramen in the United States. The character depicted on this pack is called ‘Ching Chai,’ and there’s a big following for this little guy in Japan. Really good with some sliced hard boiled egg on top of fried egg with runny yolk makes the broth richer. Get it here.
Nissin: Soba Noodles w/Mustard/Mayo Squirt
Stars: ****
Notes: A very decent box noodle – lots of the squirty mayo/mustard goop and the noodles tasted very much like Sapporo’s chow mein style. The best part is squirting the magical mayonnaise-mustard packet all over the place! It’s very difficult to have the control needed to make the beautiful latticework as shown in the serving suggestion, so a picture of myself eating noodles was what I went for. Worth a try for sure.
Nissin: Spicy Flavor
Stars:***
Notes: This is the variety of noodles you see when you enter this site
and in the background. It lives up to its’ name as it is quite spicy. My only
issue with it is that the noodles are of the rice-vermicelli variety. Way too thin for me. Get it here.
Nong Shim: Ansungtangmyun Noodle Soup
Stars: ***
This stuff was very odd – I enjoy odd things,
so that’s why the 3 stars. It was like an udon
style noodle first off, and came with a
seasoning packet that was enormous. I ended
up having jalapeno bread with it because it comes
out more like a hot flavor spaghetti than anything.
Sapporo Ichiban: Chow Mein
Stars: ***1/2
Notes: Now this stuff is quite different – and quite good as well. It definitely
tastes like a greasy, heavily sauce laden noodle. The broth is dark brown
mainly because of all the soy, but it’s not all that salty. It is quite good
and I highly recommend it. One of the more compelling packets in this one is a little cellophane pouch of ‘green laver.’ It’s seaweed powder and adds a delicately mossy green shade to the concoction if added like pepper evenly to the top. This is a must for the adventurous and keen on the weird factor.
Sutah: Cup Noodle
Stars: **
Notes: What a strange little cup noodle… A deep red broth with some strange
little bits of something. Not sure what they are – possibly soto? Not sure. One
of the items I was happily able to purchase across the street at the Markette Deli
on State Street in Marysville, Washington. UPC bar code 8801073101197
Vifon: Nam Vang
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: This stuff wasn’t bad – basically a typical salty rice noodle snack ramen from Vietnam. It would not do well with an egg though, as the noodles weren’t the most strong and a lot of them turned to an almost gelatinous state – not from overcooking I assure you. Other than the weak fortitude of the noodles, the broth was fine as were the dried vegetables.
Vifon: Hu Tiu Nam Vang [“Phnom Penh” style] Asian Style Instant Rice Noodles
Stars: ***1/2
Notes: Good bowl of noodles – Rice noodles with floating vegetable things [don’t think they were mushrooms, but they definately were onions] and a clear broth. The broth was quite good and went very nicely with the noodles. Probably the best cambodian style noodles I’ve had.
Wai Wai: Oriental Style Instant Noodles
Stars: *
Notes: One star. It reminds me way too much of their other ramen, called ‘Sour Soup.’ This is pure gut-wrenching heartburn ladies and gentlemen! Make sure you have some Tums and a bed available for the next day or so.
Westbrae: Miso Ramen
Stars: 1/2
Notes: This stuff ranks very low on my chart of good ramen. It’s marketed obviously to the
‘health conscious’ ramenphile, however, it’s $3.00 a pack price and paltry, weak wheat
noodles lacked character, as did it’s bland tasteless broth. I was very, very, very
b DISAPPOINTED.
