Tag: premium

#4550: GS Retail Premium Gonghwachun Instant Noodle With Black Bean Sauce – United States

#4550: GS Retail Premium Gonghwachun Instant Noodle With Black Bean Sauce - United States

This one ame by was of Daniel over at Exotic Noods – thanks again! This one’s a jjajangmyeon style noodle, so it’s got a thick and hearty black bean sauce with it. I’ve seen varieties made for GS Mart (a Korean chain) by Paldo, and everything about this package screams Paldo manufacture. If you look on the back by the barcode, you can see it’s made specifically for Us distribution. Anyways, let’s give it a try! ...see full post

#4283: Dragonfly Premium Hot & Sour Instant Vermicelli – United States

#4283: Dragonfly Premium Hot & Sour Instant Vermicelli - United States

This one’s an interesting specimen . You might be a hardcore instant noodle fan and notice the font of ‘premium’ and the color scheme. Definitely might remind you of something completely different. This one’s definitely packaged for US sale. I’ve had quite a few varieties from Dragonfly and found them generally to be quite good. Let’s check it out! ...see full post

#4101: Nongshim Tonkotsu Ramen With Kuromayu Black Garlic Oil – United States

#4101: Nongshim Tonkotsu Ramen With Kuromayu Black Garlic Oil - United States

For the longest time, I only thought there was a single variety of Nongshim’s Tonkotsu bowl – the spicy one. Lo and behold, there’s this one with black garlic oil as well. What’s more, I think both exist concurrently. The spicy one has a five star rating from me and is at the top of the USA top ten. Let’s check this new one out! ...see full post

#3959: Mom’s Dry Noodle Red-Braised Beef Noodle Soup – Taiwan

Mom's Dry Noodle Red-Braised Beef Noodle Soup - Taiwan

The last boxed variety I tried from Mom’s Dry Noodle was an absolute knockout. It was by far the finest chicken instant I’ve had bar none in all the years of my reviewing. Now, we’ve got a beed variety and I’ve very curious as to how this is going to be. You’re not going to find this one in the states – maybe eBay or eBay.ca might work. This one contains beef and I’m guessing a good amount of it! Alright – let’s get down to giving this a try. ...see full post

More Super Premium Ramen From #5amRamen!

I did a podcast a few weeks ago and met a fellow ramen aficionado who was launching a premium ramen box out of Japan. Well, the first one has arrived! Then, the second! These are really amazing packs of super premium instant ramen – stuff I’ve never tried as well. You can pick them up at www.instantramen.jp and don’t forget to use coupon code THERAMENRATER at checkout! Take a look! ...see full post

#3917: Kung Fu Noodles Premium Black Sesame Oil With Mashed Ginger – Taiwan

#3957: Kung Fu Noodles Premium Black Sesame Oil With Smashed Ginger - Taiwan

I’ve heard of crushed ginger, but smashed? I really like that – smash! Oh wait – my eyes deceive me. It’s actually mashed ginger. I immediately think of a big hot bowl of mashed potatoes. I wonder what it would be like – eating a bowl of piping hot mashed ginger with a little butter, salt, and pepper? That would be heavy duty. Anyways, here we have what looks to be a nice Taiwanese dry noodle. Let’s check it out! ...see full post

#3453: Seven & i Premium Curry Ramen – Japan

#3453: Seven & i Premium Curry Ramen - Japan

Here’s another one kindly sent by Alexander from Hong Kong – dude thanks! So these are cool – I really like convenience store tie-in ramen. This one is a little bit of a mystery; usually they’ll be by Nissin or another brand and it’s easy to tell. This one, not so much. But that’s mainly for identification purposes. This is definitely 7-Eleven either way, whomever is private labeling it for them. Let’s give it a try! ...see full post

#3030: Nongshim Shin Black Spicy Rich Bone Broth Flavor – South Korea

#3030: Nongshim Shin Black Spicy Rich Bone Broth Flavor - South Korea

Here’s one I found at the new T&T Supermarket in Lansdowne Center up in Richmond, BC. A Shin Black bowl! I knew they must exist; I mean, there’s generally a pack, cup and bowl for everything that comes out of South Korea. Well, here it is. What’s interesting is that this isn’t available in the United States, and up in Canada it’s not a product of the Nongshim China factory, which most bowls up there seem to be. ...see full post

#3010: Vedan Wei Wei Premium Noodle With Braised Beef – Taiwan

#3010: Vedan Wei Wei Premium Noodle With Braised Beef - Taiwan

This one comes by way of a reader from Taiwan who visited t he Philippines and saw this and a spicy version there. This is most definitely an export version. First, lots of English text. Now, you’ll never see this in the United States as it does contain beef. Casn’t go wrong with braised beef – well, I guess you could if it’s bad, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case here. Let’s find out! ...see full post

#2977: Vedan Wei Wei Premium Braised Pork Noodle

#2977: Vedan Wei Wei Premium Braised Pork Noodle

Here’s one of the very last varieties I found in Taiwan during my last visit in November, 2017. Big thanks to Kyle K. for help translating this one! So braised meats from Taiwan are some of the most amazing flavors – anywhere. I’m telling you – find a Taiwanese restaurant and get some braised pork – it’ll blow your freaking mind. Alright – let’s crack this bowl open and get this going. ...see full post

#2927: Vedan Wei Wei Premium Dynasty Beef Tendon Instant Noodle

#2927: Vedan Wei Wei Premium Dynasty Beef Tendon Instant Noodle

Here’s one of the six varieties sent by a Taiwanese university student. She asked if I could review a specific set of varieties as special research for her master’s thesis and I said absolutely. I’m not sure about this variety – insofar what Dynasty Beef is. I did some looking, but it seems that the word dynasty kind of takes precedent in search results and so that’s not very helpful. Anyways, let’s have a look at this fancy one from Taiwan. ...see full post

#2705: Ichiran Ramen Curly Noodles including Original Red Dry Sauce【Only in Fukuoka】

#2805: Ichiran Ramen Curly Noodles including Original Red Dry Sauce【Only in Fukuoka】

So a couple months ago I read an article mentioning this high end fancy instant ramen. Having never seen nor heard of it, I thought I’d better investigate. I mean, how can I be The Ramen Rater if I’m not going to hop on board for something like this? I got some eBay gift cards for Christmas and thought I’d seek this one out. ...see full post

#2561: Paldo Premium Gomtang

#2561: Paldo Premium Gomtang - South Korea - 곰탕 - The Ramen Rater - instant noodles

Colin from Massachusetts was kind enough to shoot this one my way! Thanks again! So Gomtang is a flavor I really like -it’s kind of like a creamy beef soup broth. What’s kind of funny is that I’ve only sampled Gomtang made by Paldo. I know there are other brands making it in South Korea, yet I’ve never found any here. Let’s look up[ Gomtang on Wikipedia: ...see full post

#1786: Nissin Chow Mein Premium Savory Sauce And Restaurant Quality Noodles Sriracha Flavor

Here’s a new one from Nissin Foods USA – Sriracha flavor Chow Mein! Sriracha is kind of interesting. First, the way to pronounce is ‘sir-racha’ drove me nuts for the longest time, but I finally have conformed (under protest). Also, Sriracha is a place in Thailand (went there in May), however the Sriracha sauce me know here in the states isn’t a popular condiment there. It’s a bit of a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Wikipedia had this to say: ...see full post

#1481: Master Kong Mushroom Stew Chicken Ramen

Here’s one that was donated by a reader from Sweden! Thanks! It’s funny; you really can’t find any Master Kong noodles here in the United States which is a real bummer. They’re really good – hopefully they’ll be here at some point. What’s tough about Master Kong packs is that they don’t seem to say how much water to add in. For a pack this size, I’ve gone with 500ml before, so I’ll go with 500ml again. ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #1460: Nissin Premium Instant Noodles Spicy Beef Flavour

Today’s the next to last review of the Nissin Singapore Meet The Manufacturer. This is the 14th review! There have been an interesting array of different varieties that have been really quite good! Today, I’m trying the package version of their spicy beef flavor. I reviewed the bowl version pretty early on. Anyways, let’s have a look at this one! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #1458: Nissin Premium Instant Noodles Roast Beef Flavour

My son’s favorite instant noodles of all time are (drumrolls please), Nissin Top Ramen Chicken Flavor. It’s about as domestic as you can get. I’ll admit I like it a lot too – basic noodles and decent chicken broth. He does let me make him stuff that’s a little more adventurous from time to time. Today’s going to be one of those days. ...see full post