Instantaneous Lunch? Nope – three minutes. But if you’re too impatient for that, I suppose one could eat it raw. I prefer the cooked version myself!
Category: United States
#934: Nongshim Jinjja Jinjja Flamin’ Hot & Nutty Noodle Soup
I got a couple of these family packs sent as samples from Nongshim America the other day…
Samples From Nongshim America!
Hey – a package from Nongshim America – but what’s inside?
This just came out for sale in the USA and I can’t wait to try it! If it’s the same as what they make in Korea (see review), then it’s some serious 5.0/5.0 star stuff. Made for sale here in California! Awesome! Thanks to Ray A. and Hanna C. over at NSA! Might do this review later today!
Re-Review: Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Original Flavored Soup
We went to Walmart on Black Friday! Well, let me explain – it was at 6pm or so, so the amount of crazy people was lower. It seems though that the Walmart we always go to has a surplus of crazy people usually. I imagine the early morning Black Friday folks would’ve been a scary lot. One thing I noticed was that they hadn’t bought all of the noodles, so I thought I’d get a couple to re-review. Here’s one of them last time I tried it, it was revirew #207. Hoping some new things to review come soon – only have one in the hamper that’s needing review… Re-reviews are fun though since they’re not been visited in so long.
Pardoning The Turkey Until Tomorrow: The Ramen Rater’s Thanksgiving Breakfast Feast
I am in charge of throwing the turkey in the oven this year at noon. I figured breakfast shouldn’t have anything turkey like involved and pardon the turkey at least ramen-wise for a day. Then Black Friday will be a day that the turkeys will cower – planning on using turkey in some ramen meals for the next week or so – should be awesome! But for now, here’s something I decided to make for breakfast. By the way, here’s what I did for 2011’s Thanksgiving.
#924: Maruchan 35% Less Sodium Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
Strange how lately Walmart has become a treasure trove for Maruchan products – found six I hadn’t reviewed there recently! Anyways, here’s the chicken lower sodium pack.
Re-Review: Nissin Spoon it Rich & Hearty Beef Stew Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
Here’s another one from the already reviewed box. Thought it’d be a good one for today as it’s quite cold outside. You can check out the original review here.
#919: Maruchan 35% Less Sodium Beef Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
Ah! The elusive 35% less sodium pack! A lot of you have asked about lower sodium instant noodles – here’s one. Each pack has two servings at 510mg sodium each instead of 790mg of sodium (look at the back of the package below for details). Found it recently at Walmart actually. Its funny how many Asian grocery stores I know of and hit up for new noodles to review from time to time, but I still find new items at the biggest grocery store around. I’m hoping to be doing a Meet The Manufacturer with Maruchan sometime soon too! That’s going to be great! Anyways, let’s see how this one is…
Nongshim Jinjja Jinjja For Lunch
Lunch (click to enlarge)!!!So I decided to have some of the Nongshim Jinjja Jinjja that they sent me a while back for lunch. I’ve reviewed it before – here’s the link. I added a slice of cheese, Crystal hot sauce, some Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake, an egg that I boiled with the noodles, some new odeng and onions. Oh – and of course kimchi! This is the first instant noodle that I devoured with the help of chopsticks! Yep – The Ramen Rater is going to be a chopstick eater! Funny; I wasn’t able to use them very well before but I tried them with kimbap, then some yakisoba I had at a restaurant and finally today and I’m stoked! Woot woot!
Congratulation To The San Francisco Giants 2012 World Series Champions!!!
The International Lunch
Here’s what I had for lunch today (click to enlarge) – not a new review or anything, but thought it was interesting how many international flavors came together on this one. First, FMF Chow Noodles Masala Flavor from Fiji. Added kimchi, a Korean dish, some Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake from Japan, Dua Belibis chili sauce from Indonesia, some ham, stirfry veggies and sweet onion, and a 2 egg omelet with 2 slices of processed cheese and some Tabasco Jalapeno hot sauce – which I presume is all from the United States but might not be. Was pretty good – quite an interesting combo!
#913: Nongshim Spicy Shrimp Flavor Cup Ramyun
If you look at review #911, #912 and now #913, I think you can see a theme here. Yeah – shrimp! I don’t usually have any shrimp on hand so I thought I should take advantage of it. This is a new one from Nongshim – spicy shrimp. Let’s check it out!
#912: Maruchan Instant Lunch Shrimp Flavor Ramen Noodles With Vegetables
Here’s another one of Maruchan’s Instant Lunches – who would think that I wouldn’t have reviewed it until now… Weird! But here’s the shrimp instant cup!
#911: Nissin Top Ramen Cucharealo Home-Style Habanero Shrimp Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
Here’s the last of Nissin’s Cucharealo – the Habanero Shrimp. Been waiting for the right time to try this out and today is the day!
#908: Sapporo Ichiban Oriental Noodle Soup Original Flavor Cup
Yet another one I am very surprised I haven’t reviewed in the past. Curious to see how this one fares.
#907: Nongshim Neoguri Spicy Seafood Flavor Cup
Here’s something new – Neoguri Spicy in a cup! Kind of interesting; Neoguri usually has a wider Udon-like noodle and I don’t know that I’ve seen anything like that in a cup form before. Well, let’s have a look.
#905: Tradition Vegetable Flavor Instant Noodle Soup
Not sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a green cup of noodles. Oh wait – I think the Mushroom & Chicken Pot Noodles was green… anyways, here’s a green colored, Kosher cup noodle by Tradition.
The Ramen Rater Challenges PSY To A Ramyun Eating Contest!
10/17/2012
I saw a video recently about PSY being a huge fan of Korean instant ramyun – Nongshim’s Shin Ramyun in particular. He sent a video showing him eating their noodles with a definite excitement and pride. He wants to be the next representative of their products! I got to say, this was really was cool to see. I feel a definite kinship with PSY on this matter – instant ramyun is amazing stuff!
#900: Maruchan Instant Lunch Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodles With Vegetables
When I recently redid The Big List, I noticed some things. One of them was that I have never reviewed this one, nor it’s Beef or Shrimp fellow Instant Lunches! Talk about an oversight on my part… I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do a Meet The Manufacturer with Maruchan soon – thanks to everyone who has asked me to do one, it’s just I’ve never been able to successfully get in touch with them. Well, here we go with a close up and personal with Maruchan’s Instant Lunch: Chicken Flavor.
The Ramen Rater Noodle News #20
Been a while, but here we go with the 20th edition of The Ramen Rater Noodle News!
I search the ‘net for interesting news and view on instant noodles and beyond. Oldest articles start at the top. Here you go!
Meet The Manufacturer #889: Yamachan Ramen Rich Shoyu Ramen
This is the last of the samples I got from Yamachan Ramen! Must admit I’m sad to see them go! Very tasty fare and it’s been a lot of fun! This one’s shoyu. Let’s give it a try.
Meet The Manufacturer #888: Yamachan Ramen Nagasaki Sara Udon Chicken Flavor
Here’s something different. Sara Udon means plate noodles – what you have is a crispy noodle that is thin. You put them on the plate and crush gently, then add the sauce and during the meal, the noodles go from crisp to soft. It’s a texture sensation! Well, let’s check it out!
Meet The Manufacturer #887: Yamachan Ramen Cold Noodles With Lemon Soy Dressing
I’ve had a few cold noodle varieties from South Korean manufacturers, but never any Japanese cold noodles. Let’s have a look at this one!
Meet The Manufacturer #886: Yamachan Ramen Tonkotsu-Shoyu Rich Pork Flavor Ramen
Meet The Manufacturer: Yamachan Ramen Samples
So Lifehacker came out with an article about The Ramen Rater a couple weeks ago and I noticed something about Yamachan Ramen in the comments on it. I contacted them and they were very interested in doing a Meet The Manufacturer. Very shortly, I received this box in the mail…
Meet The Manufacturer: An Interview With Yamachan Ramen
Welcome one and all to another Meet The Manufacturer! This time it’s San Jose, CA based Yamachan Ramen!They make fresh ramen products – here’s the interview I did with them.
Meet The Manufacturer #885: Yamachan Miso Ramen Rich Sapporo Miso
So yesterday I tried the mild miso and today I’m hitting up the rich. This one says it’s ‘Sapporo miso’ – curious to see what its like.
Meet The Manufacturer #884: Yamachan Miso Ramen – Mild
Here’s another one of the fresh ramen samples from Yamachan. I’ve not been a big fan of miso in the past, but I’m open to this – looks fancy.
Video Re-Review: Nongshim Shin Ramyun Black & The Golden Pot
Decided to do up a video of the nice Golden Pot that was sent to me by Mr. Shin, President of Nongshim Holdings – very kind thank you! Thought it fitting to try it out with some Shin Ramyun Black. Check out the video!
#878: Nissin Top Ramen Short Cuts Lime Chili Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
So here’s the last of the top Ramen Short Cuts varieties that Nissin Foods USA sent me. Thanks again! Lime chili flavor eh? Sounds interesting. Its kind of funny; I got an email from someone at a company called Citrojugo the other day. Citrojugo is a company in Mexico that makes lime juice. I think they saw one of my reviews mentioned ‘jeruk nipis,’ which is ‘lime juice’ in Indonesian. Well, Citrojugo was curious if my company would be interested in it for my products. I told them that I only review products related to instant noodles, but that I could probably try their stuff and work it into a review of another product, such as marinated chicken with their lime juice. Well, they immediately dispatched a liter of clarified preserved lime juice. Serious stuff! I open it up and stuck my nose in the Nalgene containment vessel and got a real nosefull of powerful lime! I’ll be mentioning more about their stuff in upcoming reviews – haven’t marinated chicken with it yet but will be soon and it should be quite amazing!
#877: Nongshim Shin Bowl Noodle Soup (New Version)
Realized I haven’t reviewed the new version of the Shin Bowl. A lot of people have asked if I noted any difference from the old version (non-microwaveable) and the new one. Well, I guess we shall see!
New Product Samples From Nongshim America!
Today I got a big box in the mail from Nongshim America! Wonder what’s inside…
Bowl Noodles! But wait – Chapagetti in a bowl? Yep! This is one of the things I got to try while at Nongshim America in May. Not only did I get to try these new bowl products in their R&D department but was able to watch them being made – from raw ingredients to wrapped bowl all in an efficient straight line. Twas amazing! I’ll be reviewing these very soon! Keep your eyes peeled! Thanks go to Mr. Ray Adams and everyone else at Nongshim America for sending these along!
#862: Nissin Top Ramen Short Cuts Roast Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
Here’s another one of the samples sent to me by Nissin Foods USA! Thanks again! So Roast Chicken flavor… I’m thinking I’m going to have fun with this one… Hmmm… Well, here we go!
#859: Tradition Instant Noodle Soup Imitation Chicken Flavor
It’s been a while since I reviewed a Kosher instant noodle! Usually they’re pretty good. Let’s give this a try. By the way Kosher instant noodle company: I think Matzo Ball Ramen would be an extremely huge hit.
#850: Nissin Top Ramen Short Cuts Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
#849: Nissin Top Ramen Cucharealo Home-Style Tomato Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
Here’s another one of the new varieties that Nissin Foods USA sent me earlier this month to review. I got a comment from someone saying Cucharealo means ‘spoon it up.’ Makes sense – Nissin has a similar product called ‘Spoon it’ with flavors like chicken, beef and beet stew while the Cucharealo line is more hitting the Mexican flavors. The last one I tried was awesome – let’s give this one a try!
#843: Nissin Top Ramen Short Cuts Beef Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
Hey look at this! Something new the folks at Nissin Foods USA sent. I’ve never seen anything like this is the instant noodle world before; it’s kind of like instant potatoes meets instant noodles. You scoop out as much or as little of the noodles as you want (which have the flavoring already infused into them), and then add the mentioned water amount, and there you go! Let’s have a look under the hood of this new product.
#837: Nissin Top Ramen Cucharealo Home-Style Picante Chicken Flavor
Here’s one of the new one Nissin Foods USA sent recently. Cucharealo, eh? Couldn’t find out what that exactly means, but it looks like it’s something new and geared towards the Latino market. Interesting that it says Top Ramen on it too – brand recognition! Awesome – let’s give it a go.
A Gift From The President Of Nongshim America
It’s been a couple months since our trip to Nongshim in Rancho Cucamonga, California. I was sent a very nice gift from the president of Nongshim America to thank us for visiting and for our reviews! Thank you! This is a golden pot, a very standard cooking item in Korea used to make ramyun!
New Product Samples From Nissin Foods, USA
So I got an email from my contact at Nissin Foods in Gardena California mentioning a package was sent. What could it be?