Category: * Stars 2.1 – 3.0

#141: Six Fortune Seafood Flavor Instant Noodles

Got this package at a very weird little asian grocery. Very weird. The place was dirty, in extreme disarray and after we left we saw a cop pop in. Most of the signs were in sharpie on cardboard and on the way in instead of a mat or carpet, cardboard was used. Very ghetto. But I haven’t seen this stuff elsewhere so hooray! ...see full post

#118: Paldo Bibim Men Oriental Style Noodle

So sometimes I’m looking for some new ramen and see it but it only seems to come in a 5 pack. Nowhere else in the noodle aisle do they have it… That’s really annoying! This was one such variety but I finally found it at a new Asian market I found today out of nowhere across from 99 Ranch Market in Edmonds. Anyways, here’s Paldo brand Bibim Men Oriental Style Noodle ...see full post

#539 & #540: Challenge: Nissin Demae Ramen Chicken Flavor versus Nissin Top Ramen Chicken Flavor Instant Noodles

So I thought why not do a head to head – same company, should be same noodles right? First off the left is the Demae Ramen, more of the kind that you would find in Japan or Hong Kong and to the right is the United States version. The Demae is a bigger brick of noodles and says it is one serving while the Top Ramen is smaller yet says it is two servings. ...see full post

#97: Saigon Ve Wong Kung-Fu Mi Tom Chua Sour Shrimp Flavor Instant Noodles Vietnam Flavor

So today I thought I’d try some more of these interesting Vietnamese noodles. Yesterday’s review was very enjoyable – especially with the little thing about ‘spicery’ on the packet. So here we go with Sour Shrimp Flavor. Yup – another really long named instant noodle pack. I’m kind of liking it. ...see full post

#90: Long Kow Crystal Noodle Soup 6 Kinds of Mushrooms

Click image to enlarge. Slightly spicy. The mushrooms don’t actually have a lot of flavor. The mushrooms were a bit mushy. There’s some yellow stuff that I don’t know what it is… The little yellow bits taste like egg… The noodles are good but they’re hard to eat – they don’t want to stay on a fork and are slimy. I wouldn’t say this stuff is anything special. 2.3 out of 5 stars. Get it here. ...see full post

#87: Wai Wai Tom Yum Shrimp Cream Soup Flavour Instant Noodles

So here we go with some Wai Wai. This stuff is made in Thailand and the noodles can be eaten straight out of the bag like a bag of chips. This was a much smaller package than usually seen here on ramenrater.com. In fact, the directions call for a mere 1 1/3 cups of water [320cc] instead of the usual 2 to 2 1/2 cups. ...see full post

#82: Nissin Demae Ramen Miso Flavor Instant Noodles

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> ...see full post

#78: Nissin Demae Ramen Seafood Flavor Instant Noodle

Seeing things like this make me want to break out into a musical number like Peter does on Family Guy. Nothing more lovely than a huge mountain of instant noodles. I really enjoy seeing such things. Today, I got an extra ingredient for dinner, but I’m also going to toss it in the instant noodles too so we’ll see if it works. ...see full post

#76: Indomie Rasa Baso Sapi Meatball Flavor Instant Noodles

So today I made Kitten some noodles for breakfast! This is some tasty stuff!

Seasoning powder, seasoned oil. That’s it. This is pretty surprising for an Indomie pack of noodles as there’s usually a ton of different packets. She didn’t want it too spicy so I kept the chili powder out of the mix. ...see full post

#65: Nissin Top Ramen Oriental Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup

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. ...see full post

#63: Nissin Souper Meal Chicken Flavor with vegetable medley

Nissin
Cup
3 Stars

So I currently have a cold/giraffe flu and thought perhaps a liquid suspension of sodium and noodles would help. Being the microwave gourmet I am these days, I went for the big sucker pictured here. 1420mg of sodium and some Flonase and I’m starting to perk up! This was a marginal cup noodle. The noodles themselves are rather weak by comparison to Cup Noodle for example. Of course, one plus is the multiple packets. I’m a packet junkie as all Ramen Rater readers know. You get a little dehydrated veggie packet, one with soup base and then one that you add at the end with the mysterious beckoning ‘Finishing Touch.’ The veggies rehydrate quite well and provide a decent amount, but just like all other things, there’s never enough. As I said above, the noodles lacked gumption. As for the ‘Finishing Touch,’ its an oil – probably sesame. All in all, it wasn’t anything to call home about, but nothing to call the police about either. The whole deal surrounding this product is just that its enormous. Get it here. UPC bar code 070662007020. ...see full post

#58: Ve Wong A One Bun Tom Shrimp Rice Vermicelli

A One: Bun Tom Shrimp

Stars: ***

Notes: This stuff was really good – had had a few beers beforehand and decided to
try it as a preventative hangover cure. Didn’t work all that great for it’s intended purpose, however it was good. The package contained a packet of dried green onions, seasoning oil and soup base. The noodles [rice variety] were strangely enough sealed in their own plastic bag. I cooked the noodles and green onions and dropped in a couple eggs and then dropped that mixture [drained of course] into a bowl with the oil and flavor base and stirred. Was a very burly dealio. ...see full post

#54: Hua Feng Noodle Expert Spicy Instant Noodles Spicy Seafood Flavor


Hua Feng Noodle Expert: Spicy Instant Noodles – Spicy Seafood Flavor
Stars: ***
Notes: This stuff’s actually quite different – it comes in a round cake of noodles, and fits quite snugly into the cooking pot. After cooking it, it really sucks up water and basically turned into a big bowl of seafood spaghetti! Wasn’t too shabby with some roman peasant bread left over from mother’s day. ...see full post