The Definitive Source For Instant Noodle Reviews Since 2002
When I do a review series, one thing I definitely need are samples. Companies send an assortment, and then shortly thereafter I start reviewing them one after another. We start that today with an unboxing of varieties from Vietnam’s Thien Huong Food Joint Stock Company. Thank you!
Time for a new Meet The Manufacturer! Today, we start with an interview with John Nguyen of Thien Huong Food of Vietnam. This is the first Vietnamese MTM I’ve done with a company, so this is pretty special! Look forward to some neat varieties over the next few days! With that, let’s begin with the interview!
Here’s one fro Jame in Lakeside, CA – thanks again! This is an interesting one – oatmeal soup? Hmm!
A box of samples destined for aMeet The Manufacturer series! Let’s see what’s inside!
Okay. This one’s interesting. This product is produced by Paldo Vina, a Vietnamese branch of Paldo Food of South Korea. It is for sale in Taiwan (formerly called Formosa). It was sent to me by Daniel – one of the guys from www.exoticnoods.com who visited Taiwan recently and brought it back for me – thanks again! Let’s check it out!
A big thank you to Daniel from exoticnoods.com – her recently traveled to Taiwan and brough me back a trove of neat varieties and this is one of them!This is the second I’ve tried from this company. The last one was a delightful salted egg. Now it’s spaghetti. Let’s do this.
Good morning! I’m getting this post ready at 2am. I actually shot the pictures around 1am. Did 18 miles of walking yesterday and so when my buddy Matt decided to play with his Google Nest device and call me at 11:50pm and wake me up and alerted me to a bad leg cramp about o catch fire I ended up staying up. I’ll sleep tonight… Anyways, yeah – been a while since some pho – fingers crossed. Let’s give it a go!
This one was sent in by a reader named Steven – thanks! So I’ll start off with saying I’m really not a big fan of mushrooms. I’m curious though because this one does contain a retort pouch – but my hopes aren’t up. That’s okay though because I’ve been pleasantly surprised in the past. Let’s give it a go!
Here’s one sent in by Steven – thanks, man! I rarely get any Vietnamese varieties! Let’s check it out.
Here’s one I found up at the Osaka market at Yaohan Centre in Richmond BC, Canada. I found this a few weeks before Christmas and usually like to peruse the interesting specials this store has around that time. They had some really interesting things like sake flavored Kit Kats and other things. Kind of expensive. But I did find this, and it wasn’t too pricy. Let’s hit it!
Here’s one I picked up while waiting to go to Din Tai Fung at the Taipei 101 – this was at the Jason’s Market there. First off, it’s curry – a flavor I always gravitate towards. Second, the graphics on this one just kind of dragged me to it. Never seen this brand or anything before so I guess the only thing to do now is crack it open and give it a try!
We found this one at a place called Hen Long Market up in Surrey, BC on a trip a few months back. Thanks to my friend Ken for telling me about this place! So this one’s from Vietnam and I don’t often have come across Vietnamese varieties like this one. Usually, I see the same thing again and again and this one is definitely different. Let’s have a look at this minced pork variety!
These came by way of Snackoo – a company that supplies you with great snack boxes, containing all sorts of fascinating things as well as ramen noodles. Why not check them out?
These came by way of Kimmy N. of Connecticut, USA! Thanks again! It’s rare these days that a new Vietnamese variety crosses my desk – always welcome of course! I know there’s quite a few that I’m not getting which bums me out. Definitely would love to try more of them. I’ve tried a ton of them in the past, but going forward I’d like to do a lot more of these reviews.
Here’s one sent by Colin from Massachusetts – thanks again! So I don’t usually get thrilled with instant noodles that are mushroom flavored. Mushroom can be hit or miss and usually I find mushroom to be a little funky. Let’s give it a try with an open mind.
Now for the third year, I’m coming out with the latest Top Ten Instant Rice Noodles list. Rice noodles have some benefits as opposed to their fried wheat counterparts. First, they’re virtually fat-free. Also, they’re not fried. Rice noodles are gluten-free by nature, although the ingredients in the sachets that come with these varieties might not be. People ask me for a gluten-free list often, but that would be rather difficult as I’d have to pore over every ingredient list on every review to do this. Well, let’s have a look at these great rice noodle varieties – the best instant rice noodles varieties of the almost 2,500 reviews to date!
I got an email a couple weeks ago from Kimmy N. or Connecticut asking if I’d tried Binh Tay Crab noodles. I haven’t, and she offered to send some!
Here’s another one I found during a November 2016 trip to Taiwan. I found this one at Carrefour in Taipei at the Miramar Entertainment Center. So one thing I found while there was that almost everything (unless you go to a Family Mart of a 7-Eleven) comes in a multi pack. I really didn’t want to get any of those – they take up extra space in luggage and a lot of the time they were really big multi packs. This one’s from Vietnam and looks to be a shrimp variant.
Been awhile since I’ve had something Vietnamese… This one sounds tasty – sour crab! This bowl has a lot of things inside, so let’s get to it!
This one sounds really good. I really like tom yum and this looks like it’ll be good – I’ve liked most of the Fuku products I’ve tried so far and hoping this will be a continuation of that trend! Let’s dig in!
Here’s another one sent by reader Colin – thanks again man! So it’s been a while since I’ve had any of these Vietnamese Acecook variants. Sounds like a good one for today – let’s check it out!
Here’s another one sent by a reader named Colin – thanks! He’s sent quite a few! This one’s from Vietnam – haven’t reviewed many from there in a while… Let’s have a look!
With my son Andy over here, it’s usually a good bet that he will like some chicken noodles with some nice garnish. His favorites include fish cake and cheese – which don’t always go with everything. I’d usually choose something like that combo for spicy Korean seafood ramyun. He did indeed get his cheese after the final picture of the noodles were taken today, and so all things are good in the world. Let’s check out this variety from Vietnam!
This one came by way of Michael over at EastLand Foods – thanks! I haven’t reviewed a Vietnamese instant noodle in ages it seems like – let’s see what we have here!
Been a while since I’ve done a pho review. I would definitely say I’m a fan of pho, but definitely the beef varieties. Where I live, there’s no end to the pho restaurants – I’m guessing there’s probably at least 20 within 5 miles of here. Anyways, let’s check this one out.
Here’s a cup from Vietnam’s Vina Acecook. It’s been sitting in my hamper a little while so thought today’d be a good day to give it a try. So I looked up satay and found this:
Another one from the bottom of the hamper! A very plain looking label – but how’s it taste? Let’s check out this variety from Vietnam.
Once in a blue moon I find an instant noodle in my hamper of which I have absolutely NO CLUE WHERE IT CAME FROM. I mean, yeah – I know it’s made in Vietnam and that it’s a chicken curry variant, but I have no idea how it got into my hamper. Where did I get it? Hmmm… Well, it needs to be reviewed so here I am. Let’s check it out!
Paldo Foods is a South Korean company, and it looks like they’ve expanded to Vietnam with Paldo Vina. Now mushroom isn’t generally my favorite flavor, but I’ve been surprised in the last year or so at how much I’ve liked many mushroom instants. Let’s see how this one pans out.
Here’s one from Vietnam. Vietnamese instants usually tend to be pho flavors for the most part, but a lot of them are Thai or in this case, South Korean styled. Let’s see why this one’s leaning South Korean, other than the flavor.
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:
Here’s one I got this year up in Canada on my birthday! My wife spied this one on a lower shelf . She’s got a knack of finding ones that I don’t notice which is really quite handy! It’s also interesting how many spaghetti varieties come from Vietnam! Anyways, let’s check out this New Way variety.
Last year, my son Andy noticed a ton of these A-One cups at a local Asian grocery. “Do you have these, Papa?” he asked me – and no, I didn’t! So that was a great score thanks to my boy! Let’s check out this Vietnamese variety from A-One.
I’ve always heard good things about ginseng for vitality, etcetera. But vitality noodles? Hmm. I’ll admit I know little about ginseng, so here’s what wikipedia has on it:
Here’s something new from Vina Acecook – Mikochi. Never seen Mikochi before, but I thought it sounded interesting. These are non-fried noodles, so they’re lower in fat. I’m a big fan of tom yum flavored anything, so I’m hoping it’s a good pick. Let’s check out Vina Acecook Mikochi!
Here’s one of the ones sent by Marvin R. of Ft. Worth, TX – thanks again! It’s kind of interesting – these packs looks so similar to another brand. Curious how it’ll be… Let’s check it out!
Last spring, I remember my son and I took a walk to the local Asian grocery when we were living in Edmonds, WA. We were getting something for my wife for Mother’s Day I believe! Anyways, as always I like to take a stroll down the instant noodle aisle (no big shock, right?). I found a few different varieties of these A-One cups and got them. This is a pork flavored one – from Vietnam. Let’s check out what’s inside!
Paldo Foods is a South Korean company, and it looks like they’ve expanded to Vietnam with Paldo Vina. Been curious about this line for a while now and wondering how they taste. Shrimp ounds good for today – let’s go!
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!
The first thing you’re going to say is ‘porridge isn’t ramen.’ Well aware of that, dude. Then again, these often show up on the instant noodle aisle of an Asian grocery and as such, I thought it could use some attention. This is a Vietnamese seafood porridge, much like what they call congee in China. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Vietnamese rice porridge:
