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So today’s variety is one I’ve been curious about. This is a pork tonkotsu from the United States – something I don’t usually think is going to be great. But if it does as well as everything else has, I think it’s going to be good. Here’s a little about tonkotsu from Wikipedia-
This one comes by way of Japan Ramen Box. Japan Ramen Box is a new subscription box outfit with neat varieties to check out! Go visit their website and have a look!
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:
I don’t know if this one came before or after the famous ‘special edition lobster’ variety by this company, but this looks like it’s going to be quite a different variety. Here’s a little about ribs in Korea –
This variety comes by way of Japan Ramen Box. Japan Ramen Box is a new subscription box outfit with neat varieties to check out! Go visit their website and have a look! This is wantan men – let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about this variety –
Here’s one I brought back from Taiwan in November 2017. There are four different ones with different illustrations of different expressions – they’re pretty interesting. Now,m there’s scant few characters on this bowl I can read, so I’d like to thank everyone on Facebook for the help in translation! Much appreciated! So double bang – why double bang? Well, there’s two noodle blocks. Bang! Noodles! Bang! Noodles! Makes sense to me. Really excited as this isn’t the first one I brought back from Taiwan I’ve reviewed, but this is the first Taiwanese variety I’ve brought back from Taiwan I’m reviewing – let’s have a look!
I think I found this one at 99 Ranch Market in Edmonds, Washington a month or two ago. I go in there an awful lot – they have the mung bean sprouts I like and usually with the longest expiration life in the area. I could go on and on about mung bean sprouts, but here’s a little about tonkotsu ramen from Wikipedia –
Found these while up in Canada. So my wife found a show a while back called 90 Day Fiancee where two people either meet online or when one is on vacation in a foreign country and think they want to be married. It then follows their process of getting a visa to spend 90 days in the United States and then whether they indeed are married or not. There’s a new show called Before The 90 Days before a proposal has been made. So on this show, we were watching and they follow a man who goes to the Philippines and meets a girl he’s been talking to online. Well, she picks him up at the airport and the next day brings him to her family’s home and they put on a big spread and cook up Lechon. Lechon is a roast pig, turned over a fire pit for hours and hours that’s been stuffed with chicken and vegetables like spring onion. Long story short, her family is far from wealthy and they came together to make this big feast and he turns his nose up at it.
Alright, so here we go! I’ve been curious about these since they showed up in the mail.
The box is interesting – kind of looks like a tissue box in a way but definitely nothing like that inside. There are four packages inside and they are accompanied by four sachets. Let’s take a look at this unique variety from Taiwan!
Here’s one of those ‘dilemma’ noodles. I don’t know what the heck it is called and the bar code yields absolutely no results which are annoying. Luckily, I do have the resource of my readers and asked on the Facebook page for The Ramen Rater. A few people got they were tonkotsu, which is very helpful, although usually, ones like this are some kind of tonkotsu – like a little more detailed. But people were of the belief this was just their standard tonkotsu. Thanks for the info! Let’s dig in
Here’s another one sent by Javier over at BoxFromJapan.com. Box From Japan offers subscription boxes of all sorts of neat Japanese things including candy and ramen! Check ’em out!
Recently we headed up to Canada for a nice meet up with new friends and to find some noodles. This one spoke to me and said ‘Halloween’ – I mean, bone soup made from boiling pork bones is a very traditional kind of thing – heck, it could be also seen as something Thanksgiving style where after the meal the carcass of the turkey is boiled to pull out all of that great flavor. But the black and green big letters and all just kind of screamed skeletons! Trick or treat! Spooky!
Here’s one sent by Javier over at Box From Japan. At Box From Japan, you can receive boxes of instant ramen from Japan as well as different subscription boxes like Japanese candy! Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? What’s more, in the two years I’ve been reviewing these, I’ve not ever received one that I’d reviewed before! This one has a unique flavor – let’s see a little more from Wikipedia –
Here’s another one, sent by Javier over at Box From Japan. So boxfromjapan.com is a subscription service where you can get a box with four different instant ramen bowls sent to you directly from Japan every month! Rarely have I found a box from them with varieties I’ve reviewed before, and never have I seen varieties available here in the USA. Definitely worth a look if you’re a big fan of Japanese varieties.
Got a box today from Taiwan – wasn’t sure what it was at first then realized it was one I’ve been expecting for a couple of months! These are Happy Noodle samples! Let’s have a look!
Here’s one from Javier over at www.BoxFromJapan.com – thank you! So Box From Japan is a subscription service – every month, you can get a different four bowls of instant ramen from Japan – pretty awesome! This one’s wantan men – let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about this variety –
The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls Of All Time 2017 Edition is a list of the best bowls I’ve tried of the over 2400 reviews posted to date. Bowls are interesting insofar as they often contain extra things, since there is more room for sachets, spoons, fork, etcetera. As always, I implore instant noodle manufacturers to contact me – I would love to review your products and all it costs is sending some samples and your time! So sit back, grab a bowl, some hot water, peel back the lid, stir – and enjoy!
Here’s yet another one sent by Colin from the east coast – thanks again! This is a Chinese roasted pork variety from a well known brand. Here’s a little history from Wikipedia –
Here’s one I was sent by Javier from www.BoxFromJapan.com. Box From Japan is a service you can subscribe to and receive monthly boxes of instant noodle bowls from Japan! Pretty nifty. This one is a tonkotsu variant – let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about tonkotsu ramen –
So here’s yet another variety from Nissin Foods Hong Kong. Indeed, they sent a massive amount of varieties for Meet The Manufacturer! This one’s a rice vermicelli for the health conscious. Here’s a little info about rice vermicelli from wikipedia:
This one is a left over from the Nissin Foods Hong Kong Meet The Manufacturer – thanks again for sending so many! So lately I’ve noticed quite a few of the Demae Iccho varieties in local stores around where I live. I’ve also found them in the past in Canada including this one. What’s the difference? Well, it all comes down to meat.
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!
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!
Here’s another one sent to me by Javier from Box From Japan. Box From Japan has subscriptions for all sorts of neat Japanese things. I regret to say that I was informed that they won’t be taking subscriptions for their ramen boxes for now – hopefully that will start again soon. He mentioned that you can purchase instant noodles from them here. Here’s what he had to say about this particular variety:
Okay now this – this sounds good. I absolutely love a few things in this world. Curries, Korean BBQ, dim sum… Something new has been anything braised and Taiwanese. We’ve got a little restaurant nearby called Looking For Chai and their braised pork and braised beef is so good – tender and so full of flavor. Just a nice slab of it on a bed of rice and that’s all you need – well, that and a little milk tea. Let’s check out this spicy braised noodle!
Here’s another one sent by reader Colin – thanks again man! So it’s been a while since I’ve had any of these Vietnamese Acecook variants. Sounds like a good one for today – let’s check it out!
Here’s another one sent to me by Javier from Box From Japan. Box From Japan has subscriptions for all sorts of neat Japanese things. I regret to say that I was informed that they won’t be taking subscriptions for their ramen boxes for now – hopefully that will start again soon. He mentioned that you can purchase instant noodles from them here. Here’s what he had to say about this particular variety:
Thank you Steve C. for sending these along! Curious to see what’s inside!
Two bags of noodle (click to enlarge). Steve wasn’t sure how they translate – anyone want to give it a shot?
I thought the first thing to do would be to look this up on Wikipedia. I found an entry for nam tok and here’s some of what it said:
Most of you have probably heard of tom yum soup, but tom saab you might not have heard of. Tom Saab is a spicy pork soup from northern Thailand. Let’s give this a try!
Here’s another new one from Tseng’s – shallot braised pork. Man, this sounds good – I really have high hopes. As I’ve opined before, Taiwanese braised anything is unbelievably good. Really, it isn’t just my opinion – I would mark it down as fact. If you don’t like Taiwanese braised anything, you just don’t know what tastes good and should have your tongue examined for mold or aliens. Let’s give this one a try and see how it translates to a rice noodle.
This one sounds curious to me. While I do like braised pork – a lot- I’m unsure about this Chinese mushroom. But hey – I’ve been pleasantly surprised in the mushroom department before, right? Let’s give it a go!
Today started well, then got a little crazy then got better – I started at 5am with reviewing some noodles. Then the power went out around 7am for over two hours! A bit later, the mailman knocked on the door with a big package of Taiwanese noodles! Tseng was in The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2016 list this year – and they have some new products! Let check them out!
Before I start, I wanted to thank Happiness Engineer Anne and the folks at Automattic, makers of the Jetpack plugin for WordPress. There was a bug in the way it handled mobile themes with their newest release and I asked for help. In less than 2 days, a fix was out and everything’s looking nice again!
I already reviewed the cup version of this one a few days back. Today it’s the pack version! Moo Manao is kind of a lime and pork flavor – very good! Let’s dig in!
I previously reviewed the pack version of this one a couple days back – now it’s time for the Cup Noodles version. The Cup Noodles usually have a few extras in there – let’s have a look!
Today, I’m reviewing moo manao – a popular lime and spicy pork flavor dish from Thailand. Sounds good to me! Let’s crack this cup open!
Here’s another one from the Box From Japan box from March! BoxFromJapan.com is a monthly subscription service – you get 4 neat and very unique bowls of ramen sent from Japan along with a few chopsticks and a little letter! Really awesome – I’ve not gotten any that I’ve reviewed before at this point which is really quite amazing! Anyways, check them out! Today’s variety looks interesting – they mention that the piece of pork is shaped like a heart to show the care they put into their products. Neat! Let’s check it out!
Okay so a few weeks ago I got a neat box in the mail. It contained the Washoku Explorer Tonkotsu Ramen kit. The idea is that you can get a nice kit with all the things you need to experience a great bowl of Japanese ramen at home – even the bowl! You can visit Washoku Explorer here. They have all sorts of other Japanese kits – really fascinating and a neat idea! The Tonkotsu Ramen kit includes this Marutai Hakata Tonkotsu ramen (2 packs with 2 servings each) and well as some special garnishes/add-ons I’ll show you below. Let’s check it out and give it a try!
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, we have a nice little cup – pork tonkotsu! Let’s crack it open and see what is inside!
