The Definitive Source For Instant Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Felix Navidad! It’s actually Christmas morning today – I got up at 5am to get some reviews ready to go – don’t know if I’ll do any sampling today but it could happen! I’m about 60 reviews ahead of myself currently – pretty nuts, but helpful when I can’t review, there’s always one ready to go. Anyways, today it’s another one of the Maxi Sopa Nissin variants. Camaron picante is spicy shrimp. Let’s have a look!
Hey now this looks interesting! Reminds me of the look of Hong Kong Cup Noodles or ones from Japan. So this is a new line from Nissin Mexico – Gourmet – hopefully the first of many to try. But what is gourmet? Dictionary.com had this to say –
Check this one out – HABANERO! This is another one that comes with a sachet of hot sauce! Awesome! Mariscos means seafood – something I’ve always dreamed of doing is visiting the coastal areas of Mexico and trying the seafood dishes there! Let’s give this one a try!
Here we have a big cup of noodles! I did a little translation on this one for you – ‘maxi’ means ‘big,’ ‘sopa’ means ‘soup,’ ‘cuchareable’ means ‘spoonable,’ and pollo means chicken. Basically, this is a chicken noodle soup one can enjoy with a spoon instead of a fork. Got it? Let’s check it out!
The name of this one – RapiFideo – is a combination of two words. ‘Rapido,’ meaning ‘Quick’ and ‘Fideo’ which means ‘Noodle.’ I reviewed these a while back – let’s revisit them for this Meet The Manufacturer!
I had always thought carne meant beef but I was wrong. Turned out carne means meat and res means beef – always learning something new about the world through the instant noodle and doing translations! Let’s check out this beef flavored instant noodle from Mexico!
To start things off, I thought it would be interesting to try one of these Cup Noodles that come with hot sauce. Definitely not uncommon around the world to find a Cup Noodle variety with a sauce sachet, however it seems to be a little less common in the Americas. Let’s give it a try!
This box is even larger than the first one! Let’s see what’s inside!
A shopping bag (click to enlarge).
Okay so here’s another one of the new recipe Cup Noodles from Nissin Foods USA – thanks again for sending ’em over! The new recipe features reduction in sodium as well as no added MSG and no artificial flavors. Let’s have a look!
Another left over from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. I’ve reviewed many Nissin HK tonkotsu varieties thus far, and today we have yet another variety! This is a Tokyo Shoyu Tonkotsu. Shoyu translates to soy sauce, so this seems like it will be a kind of milky soy kind of thing? Let’s find out!!
Yet another left over from the Nisin HK Meet The Manufacturer! Man, they sent so many! Thank you so much – really helps a lot! So these are instant takes on classic Italian pasta dishes. They’re microwavable and thus far, I’ve not had one I didn’t like. Let’s see how this one fares.
This was sent to me by Ippin, a purveyor of wonderful Japanese items! Thank you again! They informed me that this one has been discontinued, but I’m reviewing it anyways. I really like curry, spicy things and chicken. What’s more, it’s snowing today! Let’s give this Cup Noodle with a famous tennis player on the front!
Yep, you guessed it! This is yet another one left from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. Thanks again to Nissin HK for sending so many varieties! Sounds simple enough – it’s spicy, it’s beef. Let’s check it out!
Another one from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. This one is really popular overseas – I think I saw it on some list as a favorite. Here’s a little from wikipedia on the might Cup Noodles:
Here’s yet another left from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer – thanks again! Today it’s the cup version of their black garlic oil tonkotsu. Indeed, black garlic is an interesting thing – here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it –
It’s kind of interesting. Indeed, I review two products a day but generally only post one. This ensures two things. First, I get to everything before it expires. Second, I have a buffer in case I don’t have time to do a review. Meanwhile, the buffer has grown and is quickly reaching 80 reviews! I did this review on November 13th, 2016 and today is Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2017. It’s kind of funny; I did this review about as many days before my daughter Miriam was born as days since she was born (December 17th). Another interesting thing is while unplanned, this review follows Momofuku Ando Day yesterday where I did a video about Nissin Yakisoba. Weird. Finally Happy Birthday to my sister Sue!
Every year, I celebrate the life and innovative achievements of Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the instant noodle. This year, I thought it’d be neat to show different varieties of Cup Noodles, a global brand that celebrated its 45th anniversary last year.
Yet another leftover from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer! What’s XO Saucve? Here’s a little info from wikipedia –
Finally, after decades of sticking with the same recipe, Nissin has decided to go with something new. On Cup Noodles’ 45th anniversary here in the USA, they’ve changed it to make it healthier. Some changes are no added MSG and no artificial flavors. Furthermore they’ve lowered the amount of sodium in these cups from the previous versions using potassium chloride. So, let’s give this Spicy Chile Chicken a try!
Here’s another one sent by Colin from the east coast – thanks again! In a review yesterday, I mentioned that I review a couple of varieties daily and that I’m around 60 reviews ahead. Well, today is November 9th, 2016 – the day after the Presidential election. The results of the election are definitely a shock to most people in my community. I live in Washington State – very liberal. In fact during the primary elections, I believe Bernie Sanders got 80+%. I’m hoping that everything calms down and things end up going okay. Rest assured I’ll be reviewing noodles during the Trump administration as well. This is a type of Cup Noodle I’ve not seen in the past – this one is made in China. Let’s check it out!
Another leftover from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer – thanks again! Been waiting for the right day to review this one – I should mention today actually is November 8th, 2016 – election day here in the United States. You see, I’m about sixty reviews ahead of myself. How? Well, I usually try to do two reviews a day – and been doing that for a while. I used to only do one a day and if I missed a day I would have to scramble to do a review and post it the same day etc etc. I can hear it ‘oh my god you eat two packs of instant noodles every day?’ Of course not; people reviewing wines don’t chug down a whole bottle to decide what they think of it. I take a couple spoons of broth and a few bites of noodle. In fact, I would say that after reviewing two bowls of noodles, I’ve maybe had the equivalent of 1/3 of a bowl, so there you go. This way if I need to take a couple days off, I can. Well, by now we know who is the new president when you’re seeing this. My daughter Miriam will have been born and Christmas may be over. Crazy. Well, let’s try this one – the cup version was in this year’s The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Instant Noodle Cups Of all Time list – let’s check the pack out!
One of the more interesting varieties left over from the Nissin Foods Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer. This one’s very new; a two-serving pack with a pork bone broth and black garlic oil fun! Let’s check it out!
Here’s a rather striking purple cup! This one’s from Nissin Hong Kong – they sent it along with over 50 other varieties for Meet The Manufacturer. Since I only review up to 15 varieties in a row for a Meet The Manufacturer, the rest go into the daily rotation. I’m curious about whether this will be hot and spicy – let’s find out!
Another one sent by Nissin Hong Kong for the Meet The Manufacturer they participated in! Thanks again! This is a lower calorie option instant cup – rice vermicelli is usually fat-free, which definitely cuts the calorie. Let’s give a Hong Kong product with a Korean skew a try!
This is another one sent by Colin from the east coast – thanks again! So pork bone broth is hugely popular in Japan and this sounds like a soy and pork variety to me. Let’s check out this premium variety!
Another variety from Nissin Hong Kong, leftover from an earlier Meet The Manufacturer. This is interesting – it’s not just spicy or spicy hot, this one’s red hot! Let’s see if it’s red – and hot! time cook cook!
Here’s another one left over from the Nissin HK Meet The Manufacturer – they sent so many varieties! Thank you again! So, everyone knows what tonkotsu is, right? No? Here’s a snippet from Wikipedia:
Here’s another one from Colin from the east coast – thanks again! So to start with, a little about the originin of these noodles. You se here they’re referred to tantanmen, however they’re also dandanmein – Wikipedia, if you please:
After decades of sticking with the same recipe, Nissin has decided to go with something new. On Cup Noodles’ 45th anniversary here in the USA, they’ve changed it to include no added MSG and no artificial flavors. Let’s give this a try!
Here’s one big bowl of noodles! I like these – they kind of remind me of what we have here in the US – Nissin makes a line called the ‘Souper Bowl’ and it’s big too. OF course, there aren’t any Black Garlic Tonkotsu or Kimchi Pot flavored ones here. I always wish there were, but tthe fact that every country has it’s own flavors is what I really love about reviewing, and since the USA is a country, we’ve got our own. Anyways, Spicy! Kimchi! A friend of mine sent me a jar of kimchi in the mail and I go t it yesterday! Perfect timing! Let’s check this one out!
This one is leftover from the Nissin Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer I did a little while back! They sent almost 60 different unique varieties of instant noodles! Thanks again – rarely does a company do something like this! So these Nupasta varieties have been really enjoyable thus far. This one looks like a noodle with marinara sauce. Let’s check it out!
Here’s one that Janenate from Nissin Thailand sent – thank you! Very sad times in Thailand currently; they’ve lost their King. I’ve read a lot and viewed some documentaries about him and I’m amazed. He was an amazing man – he really did a lot for him people. I look at our elections here at home and just feel a sickness from it. I send my sincere condolences to the people of Thailand and I hope the King’s philosophy continues on. Let’s have a look at this cup from Thailand with some familiar and friendly faces!
Thhis was sent to me by Ippin, a purveyor of wonderful Japanese items! Thank you again! I heard about this variety a few months back and was immediately interested. I’ve never had turtle soup although I’ve heard it’s a very fancy dish. This new Cup Noodle Rich line is supposed to be very fancy and quite nice – excited to try it! This one isn’t available as it has been discontinued by the manufacturer and I don’t think anyone is selling it anymore (Ippin mentioned that they weren’t selling it either). There was some concern by animal rights activists over it being turtle flavor. Kind of confused by this since turtle seems to be available most places. But that’s a conversation for a different day – today is about flavor – let’s give it a try!
Here’s another one of these neat little cups from Nissin Thailand! Let’s check it out!
Here’s yet another leftover from the Nissin HK Meet The Manufacturer! This is a really large bowl and sounds pretty good! If you’re unsure about what Xo sauce is, here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia:
Here’s one that Javier from www.BoxFromJapan.com – thanks! Box From Japan is a monthly subscription service where you can get 4 unique bowls of ramen from Japan a month. It’s pretty awesome – I haven’t gotten a duplicate yet! Here’s what he had to say about this variety:
If you follow my daily reviews, you might have noticed not just a lot, but a lot a lot of Nissin reviews lately. This is because I’ve done a few Meet The Manufacturers and they were kind enough to send more varieties than I review in a Meet The Manufacturer (15 maximum). Nissin Hong Kong sent around 50 different product varieties! That’s what we have today. Let’s check out this chicken flavor vermicelli!
Here’s the last of the varieties that Prima Taste sent a while back – thanks! You might be wondering – why would they send a product they don’t make? Well, I asked for anyone who could help to send me noodles – I was down to three or four varieties in my hamper – a bad situation! Well, lots of people sent noodles – even Prima Taste! So let’s check out this one from Hong Kong with a Singaporean taste!
Another left over from the Hong Kong Nissin Meet The Manufacturer. Thanks again! Still lots of varieties from them that they sent! Spicy beef eh? Let’s give it a taste!
