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Yet another one got in Malaysia during our trip! Thank you, Thomas! A popular dish in Penang is Char Kuay Teow, fried rice noodles. It’s kind of like the mee goreng of rice noodles. Kua Teow is rice noodles – and this is rice noodles with tom yam broth. From what I found online, it’s more a popular Thai dish. Either way, this sounds really good! Let’s dig in to some spicy stuff from Malaysia!
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.
Here’s a documentary about a man who came from China to Flushing, New York to further his acting career and ended up being a noodle cook. ‘The Noodle Guy’ is definitely worth a watch. Enjoy! Happy Friday!
Here’s a new Jjamppong King Bowl from Paldo. The king bowl is yet another instant noodle form factor. There are cups, king cups, bowls and king bowls. I think the main different between cups and bowls are really the portability factor. I think a king cup and a king bowl hold the same amount of liquid though; I’ll have to compare them some day. But I digress. This is Jjamppong – here’s a little from Wikipedia about Jjamppong who are unclear about what it is:
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:
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.
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!
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:
This is a funny short film about what happens when a guy gets an expired Cup Noodles. Note – expired Cup Noodles won’t actually do this (anyone who thought this is a true story after watching this should have their head examined). Anyways, here’s some info about the film. Happy Friday!
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:
On Friday, I conducted a little experiment: let’s have a look at what happens when we look at 6 months of images from instagram that have the hashtag #topramen. What I found were many comparisons of instant noodles to hair, mentions of poverty and many images of what people liked to pair with their instant noodles.
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!
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.
It’s a really cold day today and I think a big bowl of seafood noodles sound good. This is a Nongshim Neoguri I got up in Canada. It’s made in South Korea and it’s the milder version of Neoguri. Raccoons I say raccoons! Why do I say raccoons? Well, check out the video at the end of the post – it’ll all become clear I think. Let’s dig in to some Nongshim Neoguri!
One thing I didn’t expect to see during our stay in Malaysia – in the lobby of the hotel we stayed at, there was a Halloween display! A pretty good sized one, too! It seems that Halloween is somewhat popular over there! Well, last night was Halloween and we got a huge bowl of candy (yes, I tossed in some instant noodles for the trick or treaters as well). Well, nobody came. Not one kid. So, we have a ton of candy. Those kids really missed out – we’re generous when it comes to candy!
Today is Halloween and I thought I’d post something a little different. I spend a lot of time posting on instagram and perusing other people’s instant noodle related posts on there as well. I thought I would pick a standard instant noodle related hashtag and see what interesting things would pop up, then I would share my conclusions. The hashtag is #topramen.
Last night was my son’s teacher conference. I remember when I was a kid – I always dreaded these, knowing I’d probably get a lecture or something. Well, I am proud to say my son is doing absolutely wonderful in school this year. He’s had some problems in the past, but they look to have really gone by the wayside and I couldn’t be prouder of him. We love you, Andy – keep up the good work! You rock!
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.
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!
Next Friday is Halloween and we’ve got some plans with Andy this weekend! Thought he might like this one for breakfast today! He’s been curious about expanding his palate a little bit lately since our trip to Malaysia – something I really like. It took me a while to get to the age that I wanted to be more adventurous with food, and it’s great to see him starting to explore.
I am very proud and happy to introduce the release of The Ramen Rater mobile app for the Apple iPhone! The app is the culmination of many months of work by myself and app developer Calvin Tam of Malaysia (you can see some of his other work here). You may have noticed a while back I posted an ad on the right side asking for folks who might be interested in developing an app with me for mobile users. Well, Calvin answered that call and devoted a great deal of time making this happen! I want to personally thank him for the time and effort expended on this app. Without further adieu, let me introduce you to The Ramen Rater for iPhone!
It’s kind of hard to tell the size of this little mini Kitsune Udon, so let’s have a look at this.
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.
Here’s another one the nice folks at MyKuali got me on our trip to visit them in Malaysia! Thanks again! Wow – I must say I really miss Malaysia! Was such a vibrant place – and the food! These noodles are made made in Singapore. Singapore is at the far southern border of Malaysia, so it makes sense they’d sell them in Malaysia too. Anyways, yeah – this is one of the special packs I brought back so I’m excited to eat it! Let’s check it out!
Yesterday my wife and I headed over to Bellevue to check oput some new spots for Asian foodstuffs. We came across and Indian supermarket and lo and behold, they had instant noodles! What’s awesome is that they had quite a few Nissin varieties – which I’ve been searching for for quite a while. There are a lot of different way instant noodles are transmitted to the end user: a pack that has contents cooked in a bowl or pot on the stove, cups that are steeped, trays, bowls etc. A few however are made to be steeped in a mug, and here is one of those. This is a relatively small sized package, and hails from India! Let’s have a look.
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!
Here’s another one sent by a kind reader in Sweden – thanks again! Also want to thank Bobby Y. of Canada for his great help with translating! He’s always been a great help and I truly appreciate it! With all the recent Chinese readers, I thought I’d review a Chinese instant noodle today. These Master Kong varieties are usually quite good. This one’s really big – calls for 700ml water! That’s definitely on the higher end of broth. The noodle block is also quite large with a different gauge than other I’ve tried – looks to be thicker. It also mentions that it’s a ‘cooking’ noodle as opposed to an instant. Cooking noodles require time spent on the stove while instants can either be cooked on the stove or simply put in a bowl and boiling water added, covered and let sit for 3 minutes or so to be done. Let’s have a look at this one from Master Kong – really hoping Master Kong contacts me soon – wouyld love to do a Meet The Manufacturer with them!
It’s been so long since I’ve reviewed a new Bowl Noodle! I remeber a few years ago I was hunting high and low for certain varieties, many long gone. I remember the beef anfd ginger flavor was pretty good! Then they switched over to these microwaveable versions instead of the foam bowls – and I like them better! Curious how this one will be.
I noticed this morning lots of people from China visit the website! If any of you have contacts with Chinese instant noodle companies, please ask them to contact me. I would like to do a series of Chinese instant noodle review. Thank you!
Woot woot! Been following the San Francisco Giants all year long and here we are! usday’s the first game against the Kansas City Royals. It’s an even year – I think it’s gonna be another orange win!
JinMaiLang is an interesting brand. I’ve found their logo on a lot of seasoning sachets that are in different branded packaging – Golden Wheat comes to mind first. This is known as ‘private labeling’.’ Basically, say I wanted to have a The Ramen Rater brand instant noodles, but I didn’t want to have a factory. I could call on a company and say ‘hey – I like this variety you make – can you make it but use these graphics for the outer packaging?’ Boom – private labeling. Usually if you see something like ‘made for [company] by [company]’ that’s a clear indicator. Anyways, these look interesting. There are certain colors that seem to be designated for different flavors where Chinese noodles are concerned. Chicken is yellow, beef is red, seafood is blue and pork is green. Also, purple seems to be the color of sauerkraut! Anyways – let’s check this one by JinMaiLang out!
What does one do after reviewing 1,500 varieties of instant noodles? All I could think of was review number 1,501. Chow mein sounded nice today and I do have an open container of Kewpie mayo in the fridge. I think after trying so many yakisoba varieties that have mayo with them, not including it when having it is kind of a tragedy. This was a strange one as far as translation goes. I looked around and found it called Super Big Cup and then found this one and thought this would be the right translation! If not, please let me know. Anyways, it’s onwards towards review 2,000. Let’s get to it!
Wow – 1,500 reviews! 1,500 different varieties of instant noodles! What’s even more crazy is that I don’t even feel like I’ve scratched the surface of the world of instant noodles; there are always new varieties coming out, and I think there’s never going to be a day when I’ve tried every variety. Which is a good thing because I really enjoy reviewing these things! Today’s review is a special one. I usually try to pick one that’s a little more interesting than others – and this one is very unique. Usually, companies either send me samples, readers donate varieties I’ve not tried, or I just go to a store and buy them. This is one of the first ones I’ve received directly from a company – literally handed to me. Not only that, I brought it all the way back here from Penang, Malaysia! That’s a long way! I think it was more than 16,000 miles round trip! I’d like to thank everyone who has supported and enjoyed The Ramen Rater throughout the years – without your support and readership, well, it’d be pretty quiet around here! Anyways, let’s check out this new Tom Yum variety from MyKuali! On with number 1,500!!!
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. This is a pretty neat review – the cusp of my 1,500th. Let’s check this one out!
During my trip to Malaysia, I got a notification that I had a package from Malaysia back at my apartment! It was kind of funny; when we were in Kuala Lumpur’s airport, we saw DHL jetys on the tarmac – could be the same ones that brought these my way! These are brand new Mamee Chef varieties! Let’s look inside!
Got contacted by Marvin R. a few weeks ago. He had come across some instant noodles that weren’t familiar to him and couldn’t find them anywhere on my blog. I did a little digging and was also kind of stumped. He said they were really good and decided to send me some – thanks!
This Sogokimyun is a bit interesting. It looks to be a re-branding of another one. I just looked through everything and found this one from September of 2010 – that’s one old review! What I remembered was seeing the windmills on the packs. The difference though is that this version and the older one – this one doesn’t include a vegetables sachet, only the powder one. Wow – 1,378 bowls of noodles ago. I guess if you do something every day, it does tend to add up! Just about to the 1,500th review; I knew I’d hit it at some point. Next will be the big 2k. Anyways; let’s check this one out!
Day 1 * Day 2 * Day 3 * Day 4 * Day 5 * Day 6
Another day of adventure! Today, we flew to Langkawi and tried some of the local foods and had a great time – check it out! I should also mention – pictures in these posts are by myself, my wife Kit and our friend Thomas Tang of Sky Thomas Food Industries Sdn Bhd.
