The Definitive Source For Instant Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Here’s one sent to me by Ippin, a purveyor of lots of different Japanese products. This is definitely a fancy variety from a set of Kanto region varieties based on popular ramen shops. Not a lot of boxes come across my desk so this should be interesting! Here’s what the Ippin website had to say about this variety:
Here’s another one I hauled back from the wonderful land called Taiwan. God, I love it there. It’s generally hot and sticky humid, but I don’t care – I would happily acclimate to live there. Anyways enough emoting over that wonderful place. This is a variety I found in RT-Mart, which is a gigantic grocery store I visited in Taipei. In fact, it’s an everything store. Let’s crack this open and see what we have in here.
Usually when there’s a big list coming up, I’ll ask companies to send samples along for re-review. Well, here are a couple from CarJEN Foods of Malaysia! Both of these have graced Top Ten Lists, both past and present. Let’s get to it!
Here’s one that’s new to me – my ramen. my ramen is a range of Japanese instant ramen that are Vegan, HALAL, animal free, dairy free, shellfish free, fish free, alcohol free, and dairy free. That’s a lot of bases covered. But of course the question is: is it good? Well, let’s find out!
This one was sent to me by YumYum in December of 2017 – thank you! Nothing I like more than getting non-export versions of products. Why? Well, they’re more exotic to begin with. The non export varieties are the ones that can be found on store shelves in the country of origin. It’s not like I can walk down the street and go to a Thai grocery store in Thailand, so this is very helpful for me. Here’s a little about tom yum from Wikipedia –
So another month, another great box from Zenpop.jp, purveyors of Japanese neat things. They have ramen boxes, they have candy boxes, they have ramen and candy boxes, they have stationery boxes too! Lots of neat stuff to check out over there. Check ’em out and use coupon code RAMENRATER at checkout for a discount! Let’s crack this box open and see what’s inside!
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘Yakisoba noodles seasoned with Aurora (French for sunrise) sauce. The pinkish sauce with the fancy name is basically a mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise, which are both favorite for the Japanese. It’s unique but addictive!’ Sounds interesting – let’s crack it open and have a look!
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one -‘Dashi is essential for most Japanese dishes including udon. This healthy udon is low in sodium and moreover, it contains GABA which helps lower the blood pressure, reduce the stress, and make you relaxed. Of course, it’s super tasty too.’ Alright – let’s crack it open!
Okay you definitely know Samyang Foods by now – fire noodles and all. They keep coming out with new products all the time and keep sending them my way which I thoroughly appreciate! Thank you! Let’s crack this big box open and have a look!
So a student in Taiwan contacted me. She asked if I could aid her by doing some research – by reviewing noodles. I said sure! So here we are – a box of noodles from Taiwan. Let’s have a look!
I really the enjoy that I have the opportunity to review products from a lot of different countries. This really makes things interesting every day. Today, we’ve got one from Yum Yum of Thailand. This is tom yum kung – let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about it –
Hey look at this! This came by way of Hobby Link Japan, a great site that has all sorts of amazing Japanese things including instant noodles! Thank you very much! Three chillis! Here’s what they had to say about this unique variety on their website
found this one at RT-Mart in Taipei during my recent trip. At first, it looked like a regular beef noodle but after looking around for information about it, it sounds a little more spicy! Lety’s check it out!
Found this at Yaohan Centre’s Osaka Market up in Richmond, BC Canada a few months ago. Sometimes they have a section featuring fancy import instant noodles and this was with that. I’m not really sure about this one as far as the title goes, but it’s shio – that I’m pretty sure of. But the bowl it’s being served in in the image makes me think it may be nabeyaki or some other kind. Either way, I’m fascinated. From the TV spot below, I’m thinking this is a special endorsement from this sumo wrestler, however I’ve no information about who he is. He certainly looks happy to be on the box! Let’s give this one a try.
I picked this one up at the 99 Ranch Market in Edmonds, Washington a few weeks back. I hadn’t seen this Baijia variety before and I thought the graphic on the front of someone sleeping and dreaming about fancy cars, a home and lots of money was really quite compelling.
Here’s another one I found at the Jason’s Market at the foot of the Taipei 101. So I remember reading that the QTTA range was a more premium one with more inclusions. Sounds nice to me. Let’s find out what in here!
A couple years ago, I was contacted by a company in the Midwest called NuTek Food Science. They noticed I reviewed a lot of instant noodles and thought I might be interested in learning about what they do. They flew me to Omaha, Nebraska to their HQ and I did a blind taste test between foods containing their sodium lowering product and ones with regular salt. I was immediately impressed. This is an unboxing of their consumer product – let’s check it out!
Got this one at the Jason’s Market at the foot of the Taipei 101. Asam laksa – possibly a new taste for you. Here’s something from Wikipedia –
Hey look at this! This came by way of Hobby Link Japan, a great site that has all sorts of amazing Japanese things including instant noodles! Thank you very much! This is a very large cup variety containing udon and green curry flavor. To be honest, I’ve not seen much if any green curry coming out of Japanese instant noodle companies in the past. Did I mention I freaking love green curry? Alright – let’s hit it!
Today we finish this MNeet The Manufacturer with the newest variety to be born of this range, the white chicken broth tonkotsu. It’s been quite a week of reviewing here! I did two on Monday, four on Tuesday, 2 on Wednesday, four on Thursday and one on Friday. I’ve found that running through a series with a lot of varieties goes better when I do them in a shorter period of time as I don’t get any kind of burn out on doing the same brand, although I don’t think I could have this time. This was a very nice stroll through memory lane as I’ve reviewed all of these before. So today, we bid a fond farewell to Sanyo Foods and their wonderful Sapporo Ichiban range! Let’s give this one a try!
Well, hello there! You know, if I’m not mistaken, we’ve met here before. Oh yeah – multiple times on the top ten list back in it’s infancy! To be honest, this has been one I’ve loved for ages – perhaps decades. Boy, that makes me feel old… I think I should just let this variety speak for itself – let’s have a look at the contents and give it a try!
Well, today we’ve got the last of the cup versions. I thought ending up with beef sounded like a good way to go. Why? Oh, I don’t know. Actually, it just sounds nice to sample something beef flavored today to be honest. Let’s give it a try!
Here’s the one that everybody’s got – chicken. Very few instant noodle companies don’t have a chicken noodle soup on the market. I can think of a few, but they’re kind of far and few between. Chicken is kind of a universally accessible flavor and meat (well, except for Vegans). I think this probably will be a pretty good one. I gave it 4.0 out of 5.0 in May of 2015 when I re-reviewed it back then. I kind of remember people asking me to give them another look and so I did. Anyways, Let’s get to it!
Hey cool! I’ve been really looking forward to reviewing this one. You might not know, but this is the background for The Ramen Rater logo! It was review #652 – posted February 1, 2012. Six years ago! I really liked how the picture came out and thought hey – let’s make a new logo! But only recently have I said what the background was – didn’t think anyone would be interested. Anyways, now you know! Here’s a little about Shio ramen from Wikipedia –
Here we have the cup version of the flavor we started this Meet The Manufacturer series with – original flavor. This is soy sauce flavor, aka shoyu. Here’s a little about shoyu ramen from Wikipedia –
Every month, the folks at www.exoticnoods.com send me over a box so I can show you what they’ve got going on. There’s some really great stuff in this month’s box and I’ve alkso got a coupon code for you – it’s BOOM! Use it to get a discount! Let’s see what’s in here!
Today, we head to the second half of this series with the shrimp pack version. Cups and packs, packs and cups. As you may remember, I was pretty impressed by the cup version. I’ve tasted shrimp flavor instant noodles in a few different ways. Sometimes, it’s kind of like as buttery broth which doesn’t taste like shrimp, but one that shrimp may go well in. – kind of the way that oyster sauce doesn’t taste like oysters. The cup version with this brand has a nice sweetness that you find in shrimp. Let’s see how it translates to the pack version.
Alright, so I reviewed this one back in October of 2011. This was review #529- well over 2000 reviews ago. Just saying 2000 reviews ago seems crazy. Anyways to be blunt, I really didn’t like this one back then., My wife said it smelled like cooked asparagus. I’m curious whether it’s not going to be something I enjoy; about 7 years later. Hope I do! Let’s take a look.
Time for some chicken! Actually, there are quite a few chicken varieties in this range and they’re about to start showing up in this review series. Today,m we’re going to start off with their chicken instant ramen cup. Sounds like a plan – just so you know, the last time I tried this was way back at review #405! Let’s get to it and give it a try!
Beef flavor isn’t usually something I think of when I think about ramen. I generally think of pork, chicken, fish, seaweed, etc. Beef leads me more towards ramyun to be honest. But these are varieties catering to the taste of the United States – and beef is definitely a western kind of flavor as well. Let’s see how a beef noodle goes in this variety. Looks like I did a re-review ion 2017 and the first time I reviewed it was #205 in 2010! Okay – let’s get to it!
Here’s one of the four fancy varieties from Sapporo Ichiban – their miso ramen variety. Miso is a fermented soybean paste. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia
Sapporo Ichiban offers four standard pillow pack style noodles, four special varieties, and four cup varieties. It makes it easy to do a different one every day during this Meet The Manufacturer series. I have, however, reviewed them all before, but it was a very long, long time ago. I usually don’t like to do re-reviews, but I think in this case I’m very happy to make an exception. I’ve been wanting to do a Meet The Manufacturer with Sanyo Foods America for years and getting the chance to has been a lot of fun!
Thought starting things off with the original variety would make sense. So they told me that original flavor indeed was soy sauce, which also is known as shoyu ramen. Here’s a little about shoyu ramen from Wikipedia
Sanyo Foods Corp Of America sent two boxes of their Sapporo Ichiban products. In fact, these two boxes contain each and every variety that they produce here in the United States. I like it when I can do a Meet The Manufacturer series and sample each and every variety that they make. Let’s look in this, the second box.
Was really happy to get samples directly from Sanyo Foods Corp Of America for this Meet The Manufacturer series. As I said previously, one of my goals has been to do Meet The Manufacturer series with all the instant noodle companies in the United States. Let’s see what’s inside!
Interview With Sanyo Foods Corp Of America * Product Samples From Sanyo Foods Corp Of America (1 of 2) * Product Samples From Sanyo Foods Corp Of America (2 of 2) * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Original Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Original Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Shrimp Flavor Oriental Noodle Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Miso Ramen * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Beef Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Chicken Flavor Oriental Noodle Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles Hot & Spicy Chicken Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Shrimp Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Original Flavor Oriental Noodle Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Shio Ramen Japanese Style Noodles * Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Chicken Flavored Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Beef Flavor Oriental Noodle Soup * Sapporo Ichiban Chow Mein * Sapporo Ichiban Tonkotsu Ramen White Chicken Broth
Here’s one my wife spied at FoodyWorld supermarket up in Richmond BC! Wow – what a find, eh? This one’s from China and it has some kind of corrupted chicken who’s into metal wearing a leather jacket with spikes (punk rock chicken?) – I quite honestly must say that this is most likely one of the most interesting instant noodle product packaging ideas ever. Little sayings here and there connote a seedy underbelly – ‘devil’s hotness,’ ‘screaming soul,’ and finally ’30SecondsOpen the hot fantasy life.’ I dunno – does it really get any weirder than this? Maybe? I really hope so – I like weird! Well, let’s check this one out – looks hot…
You’re probably thinking ‘dang dude, you sure get a lot of samples coming from Taiwan.’ Well, you’re right! The competition in Taiwan is extremely fierce, and people know who I am there, so it makes sense. This box has some tape from TATLTOB, aka ‘the agency that likes to open boxes that aren’t theirs.’ Hopefully all is intact! Let’s find out!
Well, here’s another one from Taiwan. I recently completed a Meet The Manufacturer series with Wu-Mu (you start seeing posts pretty soon) and now they’ve come out with two more products! Let’s crack open this package and have a look inside to see what’s what.
Here’s a box that came from Taiwan recently. Taihodien restaurant is well known for their spicy hot pot and lo and behold, they’ve come out with a dry noodle! Let’s crack this box open and have a look inside and check things out.
