Nissin: ORIGINAL – 1958
Stars: *****
Notes: This is where ramen noodles all began. In fact, this is what
really got me into noodles. A long long time ago, I was able to get
Nissin brand ‘Roasted Ramen’ noodles at the normal supermarket.
For ages I tried to find it again, but finally found it at the local
oriental grocery. This stuff is awesome – it’s got the seasoning in the
noodles. You can also eat this stuff uncooked – like potato chips,
or sprinkle it on salad etc. This is a score – try it!
Tag: hans lienesch
#27: Nissin Demae Ramen Curry Flavor
Nissin: Curry Demae
Stars: ****
Notes: Oh sweet elixir of life that brings exquisitely painful heartburn, curry be thy name. This stuff was excellent – very good curry flavor! The ‘demae’ variety is what we call Top Ramen in the United States. The character depicted on this pack is called ‘Ching Chai,’ and there’s a big following for this little guy in Japan. Really good with some sliced hard boiled egg on top of fried egg with runny yolk makes the broth richer. Get it here.
#26: Nissin Yakisoba Noodles w/Mustard/Mayo Squirt
Nissin: Soba Noodles w/Mustard/Mayo Squirt
Stars: ****
Notes: A very decent box noodle – lots of the squirty mayo/mustard goop and the noodles tasted very much like Sapporo’s chow mein style. The best part is squirting the magical mayonnaise-mustard packet all over the place! It’s very difficult to have the control needed to make the beautiful latticework as shown in the serving suggestion, so a picture of myself eating noodles was what I went for. Worth a try for sure.
#25: Nissin Demae Ramen Spicy Flavor
Nissin: Spicy Flavor
Stars:***
Notes: This is the variety of noodles you see when you enter this site
and in the background. It lives up to its’ name as it is quite spicy. My only
issue with it is that the noodles are of the rice-vermicelli variety. Way too thin for me. Get it here.
#24: Nissin Demae Ramen Spicy Seafood Flavor
Nissin: Spicy Seafood Flavor w/Chili Pepper
Stars: **
This wasn’t too bad at all, just not much really
special about it. As far as spiciness, nothing to sweat.
#23: Nissin Top Ramen Creamy Chicken Flavor
Nissin: Top Ramen Creamy Chicken Flavor Stars: **** 1/2
Notes: As I have said before, dropped the ball here – really pedestrian. If you’re looking for something authentic, this isn’t it. One thing though – this is the company that originated ramen! This flavor caught my eye today as I feel under the weather and was
hungry. I threw a good tablespoon or two of minced onion [dehydrated] in it
and was pleasantly surprised. If I had another package of it, I would be hard
not to eat it right this instant. The high marks are earned for the flavor, but as far as adventure, it gets a single star.
#22: Nongshim Ansungtangmyun Noodle Soup
Nong Shim: Ansungtangmyun Noodle Soup
Stars: ***
This stuff was very odd – I enjoy odd things,
so that’s why the 3 stars. It was like an udon
style noodle first off, and came with a
seasoning packet that was enormous. I ended
up having jalapeno bread with it because it comes
out more like a hot flavor spaghetti than anything.
#21: Nongshim Champong Oriental Style Noodle
Nong Shim: Champong Oriental Noodles
Stars: **
Notes: First off, this was a pretty big package; more like very big. There was
a pack of dehydrated fish as well – octopus, cuttlefish, seaweed etc.
Also, the noodles were Udon style [extra thick]. After I made it, I
realized that the broth was quite dark and deep red. The octopus was
black too – and after the noodles, drinking the last bit of broth was
what I imagine a ton of fish blood and salt would be like.
#20: Nongshim Neoguri Seafood & Spicy Noodle Soup
Nong Shim: Neoguri [Seafood’n’Spicy]
Stars: **
This stuff is salty and weird. The noodles are nasty, but
the broth is very potable and potent. Becomes a
darkish red rust color and is strangely thick with bits
of octopus etc in it. Get it here.
#19: Nongshim Shin Ramyun Noodle Soup
Nong Shim: Shin Ramyun
Stars: ***
Much better than the Neoguri but much the same.
This stuff’s pretty spicy and salty, and the noodles
are a bit better than Neoguri. Like Neoguri, they
are udon style and the noodles are in a condensed
round shape out of the package, easily dropped into
a small round pot. Get it here.
#18: Ottogi Jin Ramen Hot Taste Oriental Style Noodle
Ottogi: Jin Ramen – Hot Taste
Stars: ***
Notes:This is quite good – the noodles are pretty garden variety, but there’s a nice quantity of them. I made the noodles as per the instructions on the package, but I drained a good portion of the water off before putting them in my bowl, adding the hot flavor soup base and the veggies. I put a single fried egg on top and voila! A good, robust and filling bowl of ramen. Tasty stuff! Get it here.
#16: Samyang Kalgug-Su (Spicy)
Samyang: Kalgug-Su (Spicy)
Stars: *** 1/2
Notes: A very good package of noodles. This one took quite a bit of looking around to find out what brand/type it is. So the noodles are very much like Indomie’s special – but they are VERY wide – wide as egg noodles! Was a great bowl of soup with the
only exception being that it had some dehydrated mushrooms in it that were
extremely foul. I thought since the name Kalgug sounded like an overture to regurgitation, that word must refer to the mushrooms.
#15: Samyang Pojangmacha U-Dong
Samyang: Pojangmacha U-Dong
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: These were some interesting noodles. First off, they are called ‘u-dong’ and not ‘udon.’ Second, they had something called ‘sea tangle.’ I believe that the sea tangle is the true redeeming quality of this package. As far as the flavor, it wasn’t the best in the world. Wasn’t really seafoody… I dunno – didn’t really taste different – just ‘other’ seafoody, and smelled good. I mostly enjoyed the very exciting sea tangle.
#14: Samyang Hot
Samyang: Hot
Stars: *** 1/2
Notes: A pretty big, pretty good bowl of noodles. Make sure to cook it for extra long as it’s not good stuff, just not the best quality noodle. Dropped a couple eggs into it while cooking – came out awesome. 2 packets of seasoning, one vegetables and dehydrated meat, one just soup base.
#13: Sapporo Ichiban Chow Mein Japanese Style Noodles
Sapporo Ichiban: Chow Mein
Stars: ***1/2
Notes: Now this stuff is quite different – and quite good as well. It definitely
tastes like a greasy, heavily sauce laden noodle. The broth is dark brown
mainly because of all the soy, but it’s not all that salty. It is quite good
and I highly recommend it. One of the more compelling packets in this one is a little cellophane pouch of ‘green laver.’ It’s seaweed powder and adds a delicately mossy green shade to the concoction if added like pepper evenly to the top. This is a must for the adventurous and keen on the weird factor.
#12: Sapporo Ichiban Japanese Style Noodles & Shrimp Flavor Soup
Sapporo Ichiban: Shrimp Flavor
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: Wasn’t all that jazzed about this stuff – I do think I like the Maruchan Shrimp a
tad bit better. The difference however, is that this package of noodles is very
dense – lots of noodles! A plus, but not enough to make me stoked. Get it here.
#11: Six Fortune Chicken Flavor Instant Soup Noodle
Six Fortune: Chicken Flavor Instant Soup Noodle
Stars: **
Notes: Your basic chicken flavor noodles. The only reason it got two
stars was that it had pretty good noodles.
#10: Smack Vegetable Beef Ramen Noodles
Smack: Vegetable Beef
Stars: * 1/2
Notes: Receiving the one and a half stars primarily because of its’ bold daring name,
‘Smack’ is still even in this form not my drug of choice. An American Union
Made noodle through and through. Says it only takes three minutes, but the
noodles were dense and very spiteful. The flavor was a standard, unoriginal
vegetable beef which you’d find in a can of soup. Would only recommend this
brand to those who would just use the noodle for frying with eggs, and still I don’t
think eggs require that much punishment.
#9: Sutah Cup Noodle
Sutah: Cup Noodle
Stars: **
Notes: What a strange little cup noodle… A deep red broth with some strange
little bits of something. Not sure what they are – possibly soto? Not sure. One
of the items I was happily able to purchase across the street at the Markette Deli
on State Street in Marysville, Washington. UPC bar code 8801073101197
#8: Tung-I Chinese Beef Flavor Instant Rice Noodles
Tung-I: Chinese Beef
Stars: ***
Notes: This was quite good – the base tasted like nothing I’ve tried before. Very much
like a Mongolian beef sauce – was really good.
#7: Ve Wong Mushroom Pork Flavor Instant Oriental Noodle Soup
Ve Wong: Mushroom Pork
Stars: *
Notes: Yuck, This stuff smelled and tasted like mushrooms.
In fact it had bits of dehydrated mushrooms. I don’t
really enjoy mushrooms all that much, especially
the ones that are slimy. The soup wasn’t even edible.
#6: Vifon Nam Vang Oriental Style Instant Noodle
Vifon: Nam Vang
Stars: ** 1/2
Notes: This stuff wasn’t bad – basically a typical salty rice noodle snack ramen from Vietnam. It would not do well with an egg though, as the noodles weren’t the most strong and a lot of them turned to an almost gelatinous state – not from overcooking I assure you. Other than the weak fortitude of the noodles, the broth was fine as were the dried vegetables.
#5: Vifon Phnom Penh Style Asian Style Instant Rice Noodles
Vifon: Hu Tiu Nam Vang [“Phnom Penh” style] Asian Style Instant Rice Noodles
Stars: ***1/2
Notes: Good bowl of noodles – Rice noodles with floating vegetable things [don’t think they were mushrooms, but they definately were onions] and a clear broth. The broth was quite good and went very nicely with the noodles. Probably the best cambodian style noodles I’ve had.