
Who’s house? Run’s house? I’m curious how this will go – it’ll either be good or bad. Let’s have a look at this one.
Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002

Who’s house? Run’s house? I’m curious how this will go – it’ll either be good or bad. Let’s have a look at this one.

Here’s one I found at the local grocery store. The shoyu I tried previously wasn’t bad, so hopefully the miso will be good and not a boatload of red miso. Warning – there will be corn in this. If you’re not afraid of corn, smooth seas ahead. But if corn freaks out your tender sensibilities, turn back!

Formerly the Made In The USA list, The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten American Instant Noodles Of All Time still is comprised only of varieties manufactured in the United States. This year’s list is comprised of all the best varieties from the United States in my reviews up to number 3,950. These varieties are mostly easily found as they’re not imports. Lots of great stuff to try here as well as links to find it on Amazon. I’ve also included some announcements at the bottom so make sure to check those out as well. With that, let’s check out The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten American Instant Noodles Of All Time 2022 Edition!

Yesterday we found ourselves in Bellevue and about to go home, Kit asked me if there was anywhere we should go over there before we left. I looked to see if there were any Asian grocery stores I’d not been to and found a few, but one had a name that stood out. S-Mart. Yeah – if you’re familiar with the film ‘Army Of Darkness,’ you know why this piqued my curiosity. It seemed that Korean grocery stores usually have a letter followed by the word Mart. It was only a matter of time; we have an HMart nearby, and a GMart (formerly KS Mart), and there’s more of them. Well, we decided to shop smart and shop S-Mart. That’s where I found this one – something I’ve never seen before. It always floors me – I’ve been to tons of Asian grocery stores in this area and then whammo – one that has a variety I’ve never seen around here. In fact, I found a few of them. Let’s give it a try!

Getting down there! Almost out of these Thai Chef varieties. They’ve been pretty good, too! Let’s try this chicken pillow pack version.

Big thanks to Daniel at www.exoticnoods.com for sending this one over. There’s been a noodle drought lately! Very uncool, but people have been kind enough to help! Check out Exotic Noods and use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount! Let’s crack this one open and give it a try!

I’ve never made a pie before. I know they make pie crusts you don’t have to make yourself. My mom used to get them and put pudding in them and they ended up really good. I thought I’d try my hand at making a pie, but of course it’s not going to be that.

Vite Ramen is a fascinating phenomenon – instant noodles married to healthy ingredients. It’s pretty fascinating! What’s neat is they keep coming out with different versions of their products – always on a mission to improve. Well, let’s give this one a try! Don’t forget to look at the scan of the back of these below – it’s pretty impressive!

The reactions I’ve seen to this stuff range from curiosity to disgust. Personally, I find it to be something really awesome. You see, I spend a lot of time with instant noodles. A lot. When I see something like this, I see something that’s a shift. This really is a risky proposition, but the reward is high. Look at SPAM – they did pumpkin spice SPAM. Is it good? No clue – but I do have one my wife got me. This however is good and very easily obtained if you want to do the legwork. But not for long – this is only available at Walmart stores – specific ones – and so if you get on it quickly, you can enjoy some – or not. What’s nice is they’re only 88 cents apiece which is very reasonable, especially for a limited edition specialty item. Rest assured though – people will sell them for a great deal more on eBay once they disappear.

In August, Nissin announced that they would be producing a pumpkin spice flavored Cup Noodles product. This is really quite daring; very different and out of the norm, but a risk worth the reward. Pumpkin spice is an extremely popular flavor, and even for those who abhor it, it gives them reason for tantrums. Such an emotional response to something like this is worth a lot. ‘You hear they made a pumpkin spice Cup Noodles?’ ‘What? That’s ridiculous!’ Then they tell someone who tells someone – that’s gold right there. As Momofuku Ando once said ‘when you hear what consumers are saying, you’re hearing the voice of God.’

Alright – so the Nissin Cup Noodles Pumpkin Spice Flavor is now appearing exclusively at Walmart stores around the country. People’s reactions have been ranging from inquisitiveness to utter disgust. If you’re inquisitive, I’ll tell you right now you should go out and get some because they’re not going to be around for long. I asked for some samples and Nissin USA sent me one. Just one. They were apologetic, but they didn’t have many left – it’s a very limited run.

I often get samples of www.japancrate.com’s Umai Crates – they’re boxes full of Japanese ramen and extras – and one of those extras are recipe cards. I thought hey – here’s an interesting one and decided to share it today. By the way if you want to get an Umai Crate, check out the Japan Crate site and use THERAMENRATER as a promo code at checkout for a discount! These would make really great holiday gifts for people who are into Asian food and culture – lots of neat stuff to find in these boxes.

It’s been a really interesting week for me! Foremost, I hit my 4000th review. Then, while I sort of expected the Top Ten Taiwan list to make the news over there, what happened is that the Taiwanese media has gone crazy with my annual global top ten list – which came out in April! Well, two Taiwanese varieties made that list and this is one of them – ultra premium tasty stuff! Let’s check it out!


This review is dedicated to my mother, whom we lost since review 3000. She is missed every day.

When I saw this variety at our local 99 Ranch Market, I definitely wanted to try it out and so I contacted the manufacturer. I was a little confused, but a lot enthused! Thai food from Taiwan? But I remembered I did have some really great Thai food while I was in Taiwan in 2017. Thai Town is a Thai restaurant in Taiwan and looks like they have some very good varieties of food to try. They, like many other restaurants, have branched out to create varieties you can make at home. This one sounds right up my alley. Thanks to the folks at Thai Town for sending some packets over! Let’s give this one a try on the cusp of my 4,000th reviews.

This one was sent by the folks at www.exoticnoods.com – check them out and use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount! This one was sent during the great noodle drought of 2021 – long story short, I ran out of noodles and asked folks to send anything I’ve not reviewed. By the way – this is made in Japan, however it’s packaged for the US market. Was surprised I’d not tried this one! Let’s check it out!

Now I know what you’re thinking. ‘He’s gone mad, The Ramen Rater, he has.’ Not in the slightest. No more than usual, at least. I thought I would try something and see what would happen. Making bread is a lot of fun and I’ve never made any kind of really sweet sugary bread before and kimchi ramen would have a tangy and acidic bump to it, right? Well, so here we are. Tons of candy in the house and a bread machine wanting to make ramen bread. Let’s give it a try!

Yet another one from an Exotic Noods subscription box – use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount! These are neat but a pain at the same time. The plastic bowls with lids can be reusable which is cool, however the labeling is impossible to scan, so that poses issues for me – but thankfully not for you. Let’s check it out!

Here’s one from Germany! These cups are pretty cool and this is the very last of them. Let’s see how this ‘Asian Blast’ fares…

Last time this came across the desk was June of 2011. This one came from an Exotic Noods subscription box. You can get one or a subscription to them and they’ve got all sorts of neat varieties in them. Use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount! Let’s delve into this one!

This one looked interesting – saw it at our local 99 Ranch Market… Was really struggling with the translation of the directions, however my friend Bobby from Toronto came through right when I needed clarification and here we are – thanks! Let’s give this a try!

This one arrived in an Exotic Noods subscription box – check ’em out and use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount!

Well, shoot. This was going to be super awesome – at least that was the plan. I had a box of nice Aces Sriracha Ramen Noodle Soup bowls and I thought hey – let’s make some flour out of the noodles and a neat load of pure #ramenbread. Well, it didn’t work out and when I realized that, I started adding things…

I’ve known about this one for a while, but I was finally able to score some – and what better time to roll it out than for Halloween! I’m hpoing it’s good – I mean, when you look at this, your first thought (at least mine) is gimmick – but then again what we find inside looks fascinating – blue noodles! Let’s take a look and see how it tastes!

I figured I needed something scary for this pairing of Halloween varieties and so here’s something scary. I have no clue how truly spicy this one might be. I’m hoping it’s not going to kill my gut. This will have not only the cooking video at the bottom but the mukbang where I scarf the whole thing down if I can. Well, let’s see if I can handle it.

I thought in honor of the spooky holiday Halloween, I’d do a little roundup of images and videos from past and present involving things that seemed fitting. Eat, drink and be scary!

Thanks again to James from Lakeside, California for sending over some great varieties to review! He’s always looking through the Big List for stuff I’ve not tried and found some really neat new stuff – check it out!

Was nice how Thai Chef sent everything in cup and pack versions – lots of varieties to go through! Cups and packs usually are a lot different. Let’s give this duck flavor variety a try – in a cup!

After our last bread experiment went horribly wrong, I decided to regroup and make something that seemed like it could not go wrong. Also, it’s curry. Curry bread! This is going to be good, right? It must be!

So. If the noodle is fried, an emulsifier is needed to release the oil from the noodle. However, if they’re air dried… Hmmm. Let’s see, then we… wouldn’t? Let’s make this stuff into bread!

I’m a little vexed as shortly the holiday season will be upon us. IT’S ALL HAPPENING TOO FAST!!! Well, if you’re ready to start shopping for your loved ones, this is a great idea for a gift for the holidays! These subscription boxes come straight to your door and have some neat stuff inside! Check out www.japancrate.com and use the coupon code THERAMENRATER to score a sweet discount and get some neat noodles! Here’s the latest unboxing of the November 2021 Umai Crate!

It’s time to unbox a Zenpop.jp box – you get seven varieties of instant noodles to try! I would say that almost every time I’ve gotten one of these, I’ve never tried any of them before which is really awesome. The holidays are quickly coming our way, and these make a great gift for the ramen aficionado! Use coupon code THERAMENRATER for a groovy discount! Let’s check it out!

I’m a little vexed as shortly the holiday season will be upon us. IT’S ALL HAPPENING TOO FAST!!! Well, if you’re ready to start shopping for your loved ones, this is a great idea for a gift for the holidays! These subscription boxes come straight to your door and have some neat stuff inside! Check out www.japancrate.com and use the coupon code THERAMENRATER to score a sweet discount and get some neat noodles! Here’s the latest unboxing of the October 2021 Umai Crate!

I left it up to the wise folks in the Ramen Junkie group on facebook (you should really join if you haven’t) and of two choices they picked this for me to make into bread. It didn’t go as planned, but it was addictive and tasty and so here it is in all of it’s glorious ingloriousness.

I’m very happy to announce that the long time that I wasn’t able to step in from of the green screen is over and I’m back to doing top ten videos are back to the way I used to do them. It’s been a long time coming! Turning the family room into a recording studio is hard when the kids aren’t in school! But they’re happily back to enjoying learning and having recess! This is the first of many special videos to come. Taiwanese noodles are among the finest in the world, with such amazing flavors and textures not only born of tradition, but elevated by competition and innovation. This list comprises the best and most memorable varieties I’ve tried from Taiwan – current as of review #3950.

Over the past few years, a guy named James in Lakeside, California has repeatedly sent me boxes of noodles. He pores over the big list to see if I’ve tried a variety he’s seen and sends some over just at the right time. Again, he send a neat combination of varieties I’ve never tried before. Big thanks and my appreciation to James! Never fails to surprise me when readers are willing to send noodles in for review. Let’s take a look!

Today, we combine a noodle made in Hong Kong with a broth concentrate from the United States. I decided this would be a great venue to try out the homemade chashu we made this weekend – I’ll include the recipe in a video below as well. Let’s give this combo a try!

At the outset of my bread making journey, the idea of making a loaf of bread by grinding up noodle blocks was always in the back of my head. Literally transmuting instant noodles through kitchen alchemy into a loaf of bread. I tried it once and it failed miserably. I wanted to find out why and I asked an expert in the field of wheat and noodles. Well, he said I needed an emulsifier – that would release the oil from the ramen ‘flour. Huge thanks to Dr. Gary Hou!’ Well, let’s see how it went this time – spoiler alert – it worked!

Yeah I’m back at it. I saw a Zojirushi bread machine at a thrift store the other day and thought ‘man, this thing looks cherry,’ so I carried the thing to the grocery store where I got a gallon of milk and other stuff (which was my original reason for venturing out) and then had to carry everything home. This bread machine isn’t small or anything so yeah – it was a battle I fought and won which I enjoy thoroughly.

As I quickly approach my 5000th published review, I thought I ought to share how I do all my reviews. Over the years, the way I do things has evolved. In my first video, back in 2015, I was using much different equipment. In 2017, I was using much different equipment as well, and using different techniques. Now in 2023, things have changed slightly as I’ve concentrated quite a bit on even more streamlining of workflow. I’m always trying to streamline things and making the stuff I have to do more efficient so I can take less time on the technical side and more time on the creative side of the process.