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Here’s another one Casey P. sent me from Hong Kong – thanks again! There are lots of different kinds of curry in the work – British, Indian, Malaysian, Korean, Japanese – I’m sure there are more as well. Well, Japanese curry is what we have here. It tends to be on the sweeter, mild side, usually leaving the spicy elements behind. Let’s give this one a peek.
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a subscription service – you can get a box sent to you every month with some great noodles within! This one looks really fancy – the whole thing is shiny and gold! Let’s have a look inside!
Got an email a couple months ago from Casey P. in Hong Kong. He’s been following the blog for years and wanted to send some things for me to review and this is one of them – thanks again! Today, we have Nissin Cup Noodle Sio. Sio is also known as Shio, a classic ramen variety. Let’s have a look and see what’s going on under the lid.
Okay so you might be wondering – beef tongue shio mayo ramen – that couldn’t possibly mean… Yes. Where did I get it though?
I found out about Box From Japan on Reddit last year and sent the guy who runs the service an email. Javier sent me a sample box and I reviewed the included varieties and they were really great! He was nice enough to send me yet another one – every box has had some seriously great selections unavailable in the United States inside! Let’s take a look!
Here’s another one I got from Casey in Hong Kong – thank you! This one’s going to be interesting – not only because I like Hakata varieties, but because I’m videotaping the creation of this review. There’ll be a full video of the beginning to end of my review, editing and presentation process! Hope you enjoy! Let’s have a look at Itsuki Hakata Ossyoi!
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a subscription service – you can get a box sent to you every month with some great noodles within! Today it’s a tonkotsu variant, Kumamoto style! It’s known for a blending of two different kind of garlic which are fried in something called mayo oil which bring out a black color – sounds interesting! Let’s check it out!
I got some new samples from Nissin USA a few weeks ago (thank you!) of some varieties of Nissin’s Raoh from Japan that are now available in the USA. Raoh (meaning King( is a premium line. At this point, you can only get them on Amazon. Not sure if that will change though. So Umami. This is something interesting – first, let’s have a look at what wikipedia has to say about umami –
Got an email a couple months ago from Casey P. in Hong Kong. He’s been following the blog for years and wanted to send some things for me to review and this is one of them – thanks again! Today, we have a pasta style Cup Noodle. There are a lot of instant in Japan that have a kind of Italian skew to them – tarako spaghetti, napolitan and peppercino are popular variants. Let’s check out this pasta style Cup Noodle!
Here’s a video of me reviewing an instant noodle for an upcoming review. I did it for a TV show in Japan, but they didn’t want to use it so I made them another one. This is the beginning to end of a review – I do this pretty much the same way every time, although it’s a little different when it comes to cups and bowls – I either take pictures of the sides if they’re not able to be removed or scan them, as well as the lid. Hope you find this interesting and enjoy it!
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a subscription service – you can get a box sent to you every month with some great noodles within! This is the last of the ones Javier sent me – it’s been a lot of fun reviewing these! Send more anytime! This one is wantan men – just think of wonton mein – wonton noodle! Let’s delve into this bowl!
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No. It’s a superhero which is a leek. Leeks, negi and Welsh onion – they’re all the same thing. I got this one from my friend Shinichi – he’s working with Mr. Yamato of Yakantei, a purveyor of very unique instant noodles to bring the harder to find tastes of Japan to your door! Very excited to try these hard to find varieties! Thanks, Shinichi for bringing noodles over to my apartment! Everybody – go and check out Ramen Mania!
Here’s one sent to me by Casey P. in Hong Kong – thank you! It’s not common that I have crab varieties. I think the majority of them have come from Singapore, so this Japanese variety is a real treat! Let’s check it out!
I got some new samples from Nissin USA a few weeks ago (thank you!) of some varieties from Japan that are now available in the USA. At this piont, you can only get them on Amazon. Not sure if that will change though. So Umami. This is something interesting – first, let’s have a look at what wikipedia has to say about umami –
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a subscription service – you can get a box sent to you every month with some great noodles within! Today it’s one from Seven-Eleven in Japan. Seven-Eleven does partnerships with different companies (this on is made by Nissin) and has varieties they make only available there. This is Sumire Ramen, a miso variety. Let’s take a look!
Okay so you might be wondering – plum mayo ramen – that couldn’t possibly mean… Yes – plum and mayonnaise flavor. Where did I get it?
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a subscription service – you can get a box sent to you every month with some great noodles within! This one says got Chinese cabbage with a sweet soup and a deep flavor which is from something called ‘rajan,’ a strong and spicy red pepper seasoning fermented with rice koji. Let’s check it out!
This one came from Shinichi over at Ramen Mania, a new monthly subscription box you can check out! They have special regional Japanese ramen varieties – good stuff so far! Thanks! So today it’s a special shio ramen. What’s shio you ask? Shio translates to salt. Here’s a little more on shio from Wikipedia:
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a subscription service – you can get a box sent to you every month with some great noodles within! From what I’m reading, it sounds like this one has a tonkotsu broth – with pork bone flavor! Let’s check it out!
This one came from Shinichi over at Ramen Mania, a new monthly subscription box you can check out! They have special regional Japanese ramen varieties – good stuff so far! Thanks! So today it’s a very interesting looking shio variety! What’s shio? Here’s what wikipedia has to say:
This one came from Shinichi over at Ramen Mania, a new monthly subscription box you can check out! They have special regional Japanese ramen varieties – good stuff so far! Thanks! So today it’s Hakata tonkotsu. So, what’s tonkotsu? Wikipedia, if you please:
Here’s another one that was sent to me by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a subscription service – you can get a box sent to you every month with some great noodles within! From what I’m reading, it sounds like this one has a lot of garlic, green onion and leek influence on it. Sounds really good – let’s check it out!
Here’s one I got from Shinichi with Ramen Mania! Thanks! This is something new for me – tuna flavored instant noodles. I’ve had tuna before – skipjack tuna flavor from Indonesia. The Ramen Mani site has this to say about it:
I found out recently that there was a new Nissin Foods USA product or two that was new and asked for some samples – and they arrived today!
Here’s one I got in the package sent by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a monthly subscription service that delivers different varieties of instant noodles to your door each month – fancy stuff like this one! Definitely worth checking out. Also, thanks go to Shinichi S. for help in translation! So let’s ask Wikipedia about Tonjiru:
Okay so I asked for help on The Ramen Rater facebook page . I needed someone to do a voiceover for the Bottom Ten List video – in Japanese. Responding to the call was Shinichi. I thought he was in Osaka, Japan.
Here’s another one from Box From Japan! Thanks, Javier! I also want to thank Shinichi S. for helping with the translation! Shoyu translates to English as ‘soy sauce.’ Shoyu ramen is one of the classics from Japan – been around forever. Let’s see what makes this particular bowl variety tick!
My wife and I were at the grocery store the other day and she saw this series by Myojo. ‘Have you tried these yet?’ she asked. It’s funny – she finds lots of varieties for me that I never even notice – it’s pretty awesome! Since she’s a fan of udon, I thought I would make her some today. Let’s check ’em out!
Here’s one I got in the package sent by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! So shio is a classic style of ramen – here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:
Here’s another one that was sent to me by the folks at Exotic Noods – thanks! This looks to be a somen served hot,m which would make it along the lines of nyumen which is served in Winter.I must admit, when I see low sodium and low calorie I usually don’t shudder with delight; I’ve had some pretty bad ones that have these tags. But, you never know! Let’s have a look at this one!
I found out about Box From Japan on Reddit recently and sent the guy who runs the service an email. Javier sent me a sample box and Today I’ll let you see what was inside!
Wow it’s Summer here today! Just hit 90 degrees and the clouds are rolling in – hoping for a nice lightning storm to watch tonight. I’m still reviewing instant noodles in this weather though – it’s 83 degrees in our apartment right now. Wish we had air conditioning! It rarely gets this warn in Western Washington though. Anyways, I thought some miso might be a good one to try today, and an organic one at that. The packaging has a Vegan logo on it, but I think I might add some meat in with it. Let’s have a look at this organic miso ramen!
Here’s a seafood cup that screams seafood. I’ve mentioned before that certain colors seem to be universal when it comes to instant noodles – red for spicy or beef, green for pork (not sure why) and yellow for chicken. Well, blue is for seafood and this cup’s text is certainly blue enough. This is a Samyang Foods product for the Japanese market. Anyways, let’s crack it open and see what makes it tick.
First off, you’re probably wondering why it says NCC before the post number. Well, I’m a Star Trek fan and NCC-1701 was the number on the starship Enterprise.
Another year’s gone by and here we are again with the new bowls list. A lot of really interesting ones this go around and some old favorites. At the point of putting this list out, I’ve almost hit 1,700 reviews. Of those, these are in my opinion the best tasting and the most memorable varieties. With that, allow me to present The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls 2015 Edition.
The top ten instant noodles list is an annual post I do which is always quite a treat for me. I started reviewing back in 2002, but I really got going with it in June of 2010 – I’ve done nearly 1,600 reviews since then. It still boggles my mind that after trying so many, the industry continues to innovate and bring flavors forth that truly amaze me. With that, here are my absolute favorites – The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition.
As I’ve said before, some companies will make products for different markets. Shoyu isn’t really a variety you’d generally see in South Korea, however Samyang Foods is making this one for the Japanese market. Shoyu is a very common variety of ramen in Japan – here’s a little about it from wikipedia:
It might be hard to tell from this image, but this is a very small bowl from Nissin’s Donbei line. I’d say it’s about 1/3 the size of a normal bowl. Kinda cool – a mini bowl! Let’s have a look.
This is another of the Gonbuto bowls. Nissin Gonbuto Kitsune Udon has a unique preparation regime which was quite hard to figure out – I figured it out after a lot of research (to be honest, I read the side numbers). Let’s have a look at this Nissin Gonbuto Kitsune Udon bowl!
A while back I reviewed the Myojo Men Black Seafood Tonkotsu. Well, this is the white creamy variety. Tonkotsu is usually made from pork bone broth – pork bones and boiled for quite a while to pull out the flavor, and it gets a milky color. This one’s manufactured in the United States by Myojo, and so pork products are present. Let’s see how this creamy tonkotsu variety stacks up/.
