Tag: taiwan

Meet The Manufacturer: #1842: Forest Noodles Purple Sweet Potato Noodle With Taiwanese Sauce

I think one of my favorite things are noodles that have something differe – like these. Purple noodles are pretty fascinating – first off, they’re purple. I remember hearing about ‘Space Potatoes’ a while back – somehow crossing the stuff that makes eggplants purple with a potato. I think blue potatoes would be kind of neat, but how would they taste? Well, let’s see how these noodles taste! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #1840: Forest Noodles Sweet Potato Noodles With Sesame Paste Sauce

Today, we start with Forest Noodles’ sweet potato noodles. They’re sun-dried (no sun, no noodles). I think it would be neat to have a sun-dried noodle company here in the Seattle company, but it’s so cloudy around here that it probably wouldn’t work very well! Maybe in the summer months though… anyways, let’s see what we’ve got here! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: Interview With Forest Noodles

I was contacted a while back by a Taiwanese company I’d never heard of called Forest Noodles. I thought hey – I live near the forest! They had samples sent and I sent interview questions and so here we are! I interviewed MingYo, Founder of Forest Noodles – welcome to a new Meet The Manufacturer – on with the interview! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #1830: Zeng Noodles Sichuan Pepper Flavor

Today, we finish off this trifecta by Zeng Noodles with a straight Sichuan Pepper variety.

Here’s the back of the package (click image to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add noodle block to 800ml boiling water and cook for 5 1/2 minutes. Drain. Add in contents of sachets. Stir and enjoy! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #1829: Zeng Noodles Hu Sesame Flavor

I think when people here in the United States usually think of something sesame flavor, they think immediately of sesame oil. In Taiwan, sesame is something much different; sesame paste like tahini and peanut combine. The first time we found this out was when my wife got some noodles a few years ago that said sesame flavor and were like this – she’s not a fan of peanut butter, so it didn’t work out so well for her. Very curious about this one though – let’s check it out! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #1828: Zeng Noodles Scallion With Sichuan Pepper Flavor

In the past year, I’ve tried quite a few varieties with Sichuan Pepper in them and really gotten a feel for this kind of flavor. In a way, Sichuan Pepper has almost a minty taste to it; it’s really quite different and unique. Let’s check it out! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition

A new year brings the The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of all Time 2015 Edition. After reviewing over 1,750 different varieties, these are my favorites hailing from Taiwan. Taiwan’s instant noodles are different from those of any other country; so curious about what direction their flavors go next. With that, let’s dig in to the new list for 2015! ...see full post

#1779: Chering Chang Instant Non-Fried Noodles Tomato Flavour

I’ve tried quite a few tomato flavored instant noodles over the years. What’s kind of interesting s that many of them hail from Taiwan – including this one I’ll be trying today, I can count three in all, and that could be missing one or more. I like tomatoes – they’re pretty tasty and have a seemingly endless global appeal. Let’s have a look at this Taiwanese variety with a tomato taste. ...see full post

#1751: Mom’s Dry Noodle Spicy & Sour Flavor

Here’s a new one that just was released! These varieties by Mom’s Dry Noodle have been pretty impressive. This one’s spicy and sour – sounds quite interesting. I’ve tried such flavors from Malaysia before – kind of a description of Laksa, but being from Taiwan I think this is going to be a lot different. Like curry, spicy and sour flavors are different whever you go. Let’s check out this new one from Mom’s Dry Noodle! ...see full post

#1744: A-Sha Veggie Noodle Baby Grass Noodle With Toona Sauce

I pride myself on trying a new instant noodle every day, but it’s really special when I get to try a new one with a flavor I’ve never tried before. Behold noodle enthusiasts: Baby Grass. I’ve been wanting to try this since I’d heard of it. Here’s what A-Sha’s website has to say about it: “Our Baby Grass Noodles with Toona Sauce bring out a fresh, earthy flavor.  An extra source of fiber and a light healthy taste” The noodles have the Baby Grass flavor, but what is Toona Sauce? I think this snippet from Wikipedia has something to do with it – “T. sinensis (Chinese Toon) is used in Chinese traditional medicine and eaten as a vegetable in China (leaves and shoots).” Anyways, let’s have a look at this truly unique variety from Taiwan’s A-Sha! ...see full post

#1729: Vedan Zan Vegetarian Instant Noodle Series Shiitake Mushroom Flavor

Here’s one we found up in Canada during my birthday trip earlier this year. This one’s a little tricky to figure out; the distributor/import sticker mentioned shiitake, but another site I saw mentioned carrot, and indeed there’s a carrot on the package. Anyways, this one looked kind of interesting so let’s have a look. ...see full post

#1725: A-Sha Veggie Noodle Black Sesame Noodle

This year, Taiwan made The Ramen Rater’s top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 edition for the first time with A-Sha’s Veggie Noodle Tomato variety. This one is part of the same line, which also includes carrot and ‘baby grass’ flavors which I’m also hoping to try soon! Let’s have a look at this interesting variety. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Bowls Of All Time 2015 Edition

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. ...see full post

#1673: Lishan Food Manufacturing Black Cock Brand Vegetarian Chicken Noodle

Some days are tougher than others. This is one of them. This has been the focus of my ire for the past hour or so. I have been trying to figure out what it’s called exactly, and hoping to find an ‘official’ website for it. No dice. I asked some people on facebook and got a little help, though. The brand is 力山食品工廠. From what I gather, you steep these, but with how much water I am unsure. It’s also got some other interesting things inside, aside from the swastika on the package and twin dragons. The swastika isn’t a reference to Nazi Germany, however to Buddhists who are vegetarian, as well as not allowed to eat ‘fetid’ vegetables like garlic or shallots. Anyways, let’s look inside this unique Taiwanese variant! ...see full post

#1648: Wei Lih Instant Noodles With Onion Flavour

This is one I got last month on my birthday trip to Canada! What’s interesting is that it’s one I tried to get along with a couple others from one store up there the previous year but there was some kind of thing that to use a card you’d need to spend at least $20 or something, and since the noodles I found were a far cry from that, I skipped it. I really was bummed – this is nowhere to be found here in the USA so thought this time around I’d see if the place had it – and it did! Let’s check out this Wei Lih onion variety. ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2015 Edition

The Ramen Rater's top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 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. ...see full post

#1640: Long Jun Hang Tainan Yi Mien With Onion Oil Sauce

These tend to be a little hard to figure out; what flavor? What brand? Luckily, I had help from Bobby Y. on the first of these I found, and knowing some of the standard flavors of Taiwanese instants, the translation I got of a page that came up from the bar code on Google was logical. Anyways, Let’s try this onion oil flavor Taiwanese noodle offering. ...see full post

#1638: A-Sha Veggie Noodle Tomato Noodle With Vine Ripened Tomato Sauce

Got this sample recently and been really wanting to try it. Well, today’s the day. They told me that it has a very strong tomato flavor and is ‘robust.’ I have been asked by people quite a few times ‘so whatever happened to the tomato flavor instant noodles? They were really good!’ I’ve never really figured out what the heck they were talking about, guessing that they were referring to a domestic brand most likely. Well, let’s check out A-Sha’s take on tomato! ...see full post

#1600: Chering Chang Instant Non-Fried Noodles Shallot Pork Flavour

Today my wife asked me if I had any non-spicy noodles without much broth. It’s pretty rare for her to ask me to make her some noodles; she’s not the biggest fan of them, and really doesn’t like broth – she’s usually game for yakisoba or mi goreng as long as it isn’t spicy. I looked around through my stores of noodles – the ones in my son’s room, the ones under my desk, the ones that arrived the other day that are sitting in boxes in front of the fireplace. So this is the one I thought she might like. These are by a company that ranked high on my top ten Taiwanese instant noodles list that I contacted, asking if they could possibly send some varieties I couldn’t get here – and they did. Let’s see how we like them. ...see full post