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Konjak noodles are made from a plant which has a neat property of being almost calorie-free. This company makes a slew of different neat varieties in the healthy vein. In this unboxing, I open up two different boxes from the Taiwanese manufacturer – check it out!
I was contacted recently by a company called ShanShi, asking if I would sample their product. I never turn down the chance to try something new (it’s what I do) so ofr course I accepted with gratitude. Here’s a little background from them – ‘It is a dish from QinWeiGuan. The Garlic Noodles comes with a very strong garlic taste and is quite spicy. It is an easy and fast way to enjoy garlic without the burden of peeling garlic and getting it ready to eat. About QinWeiGuan QinWeiGuan is a restaurant in Taipei that is established for almost 20 years. Inspiring from different Chinese traditional local cuisine, in addition with years of research and feedback from customers, QinWeiGuan has developed its unique taste that can only be found in our restaurant.’
Here is the second variety from the Galaxy Variety Noodle Box – this one’s spicy! As mentioned in a review posted a few days ago, this is a tie in with LINE, a messaging/social app, and A-Sha. Also, the BT21 characters have something to do with Korean popular music group BTS. With that, let’s cook up some noodles.
First off, thanks to the folks at A-Sha USA for sending these over! There are two different boxes, four varieties in total. I thought I’d go with this box first. So, I live under a rock; I’m not exceedingly hip to things that aren’t noodle related or politics related. God, I’m old. I do know there is a Korean group called BTS that’s quite popular, and a messaging service called LINE. Well, LINE did a collab with BTS and made BT21 characters, and A-Sha collaborated with LINE and made these noodles featuring these characters.
This sounds really interesting – so this one has a special tea which comes from Chiayi, Taiwan. In their text, Little Couples mentions the ‘meticulous cultivation of tea leaves’ and that they’re really special. Let’s give it a try!
This one’s a big box – fancy stuff from Taiwan! These folks made the first goose oil noodle I’d tried as well as a slew of others. They’ve got something new and super premium as well – let’s check them out!
Well, it sounds like my name. Actually, we used to go to a restaurant in Seattle called Hon’s for that reason when I was very young. We also used to go to the Atlas restaurant – man that place was awesome. One of them literally looked like someone’s living room – it was heaven there. But the true heaven I miss is Taiwan. That place – only a couple weeks of my life I’ve spent there, but every second I knew more and more that’s exactly where I want to live. I’ll be back someday! Let’s try this straight noodle variety from my future home!
This is a new one – a pretty regular variety from A-Sha, however they’ve done a lower sodium version. Just over 1,000mg per pack – that’s really quite good. This is/will be available at Costco stores, so snatch some up while you can if you like dry noodles! Thanks to A-Sha for sending this over!
Usually, The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese list gets posted mid September. This year it’s been pretty busy around here. Better late than never, I say. These are my absolutely favorite Taiwanese varieties I’ve tried. All ratings are on the base product – before I add anything to make them look nice. This list is current as of review #4300. Want me to review your product? Contact me! Let’s check out The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Taiwanese Instant Noodles Of All Time 2023 Edition!
Well, this is a horse of a different color! This isn’t exactly what I’d call a dessert noodle, but it is sweet. Check out the unboxing and you’ll see what they’ve sent soon in a full review . All I can say is that this is truly wonderful and fascinating!
I’ve had a couple from this range from Mom’s Dry Noodle in the past – they’ve been pretty good. Sesame oil and ginger sounds very tasty, and these are Vegan friendly. Let’s check this one out!
It’s probably a surprise to you, but I haven’t done a regular review in about a month. Why? Well, for almost two months I was doing 3 reviews a day, almost every day. So, I got way ahead of myself and decided to take a break. I also ran out of noodles and thought maybe I’d let my noodle supply grow a little bit, which it has. This is a variety that came in the last month. I did an interview for a fancy food publication called Magazine F from South Korea – they did a ramen themed issue. They hired a local photographer to do a photo shoot and I made some of this for it. It’s Friday right now – June 23rd. I’m guessing it’ll be late autumn when it comes out. Let’s check it out!
This is the third of atrio of varieties I found at 99 Ranch Market by Wu-Mu. This one sounds particularly interesting – let give it a try.
The last one of these I tried was quite good. This one is a sesame paste flavor. Many would liken it to peanut butter, but it’s a bit different usually. It’s really a nice way to liven up dry noodles, that’s for sure. I’ve had it cold on the streets of Taipei – and it was really delicious. I have to say, visiting Taiwan has been a highlight of my days on Earth. It’s a vibrant place full of new things to try. Yeah – don’t be a square – visit the beautiful island of Taiwan.
I did a Meet The Manufacturer series with this company about four years ago – really good stuff, especially with this range. This variety features a straight noodle and a sauce. Looking forward to seeing how it is.
Well, folks – this is it. I’ve had a lot of fun reviewing this special Sanrio tie-in series over the last short while. Everything’s quite good. Now we come to the end of the line with this Badtz-Maru variety. Badtz-Maru is one of Hello Kitty’s friends – let’s give it a try.
Here’s the second in a series of four Hello Kitty & Friends varieties from A-Sha Dry Noodle of Taiwan. This one’s made for the US market. So far, impressed as the soy sauce one was excellent. Let’s continue on with some friendly scallion sauce noodle – should be able to find them at www.ashadrynoodle.com.
Well, I’ll have you know that my daughter is incredibly pleased this was sent to me. She’s a big fan of Hello Kitty and her friends. My daughter’s name is Mimi, which is the name of Hello Kitty’s sister. Now where it gets weird is that the creator of Hello Kitty says is that she is NOT a cat. She is a girl named Kitty White. Oddly though she does have ears, whiskers, and no mouth. Well, she does in the cartoon and she talks too. Let’s give them a try – definitely one Hello Kitty fans will want to try – should be able to find them at www.ashadrynoodle.com.
So the last one of these I tried ended up being a hellstorm of Sichuan peppercorn I think. I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure it was. This one’s got a big vinegar sachet, which is undoubtedly full of black vinegar which will provide a sour aspect. Let’s give ‘er a go.
Wei Lih is probably most well known for their Wei Lih Men, a variety which has both a soup and a noodle with black bean paste. I’ve never seen this variety before, and it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed anything new from them – or at least new to me. Excited to try this – let’s check it out!
This is the third of three varieties from this company and I’m very curious. This one has a lot of sachets with it – a lot. Check them out below! Let’s give it a go!
Here’s a big box with two servings. This looks really fancy – curious about it – let’s give it a try!
Here’s one that came from Daniel over at www.exoticnoods.com – check ’em out – you can use the coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount, too! So I saw these at a local Asian market and was curious, but didn’t want to buy a multipack, so receiving this was really great. Taiwanese dry noodles. Let’s check ’em out!
The guy in the corner says ‘hey check this out’ and hey I will buddy just hold on a second! I’ve had duck and pork blood many times in the past. While many Westerners might think this is far too exotic and wouldn’t ever think of trying a dish with blood as it’s main feature, let me tell you a little something about it. Pork blood cake in Taiwan is exquisite. It’s a little wonderful square with a very rich and tasty flavor. Duck blood is a bit different, but very, very rich. Coagulated duck blood is popular in white curry in Malaysia as well, and pork blood is popular in dishes from Thailand and Vietnam too. The last Taiwanese duck blood noodle I tried was exquisite; let’s see how this one is!
Got a new one the other day that the folks over at A-Sha Dry Noodle sent. I really don’t know anything about it other than that they were interested in me trying it. Looks really good with that chunky paste on top – let’s give it a try!
Got this during the days before Lunar New Year and it looked fascinating. Turns out the brand is Sad Super Hot Noodles. Looks like you get the noodles and a couple big sachets. I’m game – let’s check it out!
Hey look! It’s a Taiwanese product specifically for the US market. This one is a spicy sesame paste dry noodle – this should be good! Let’s give it a try!
From the folks that brought you the unique goose oil dry noodles, we now have a braised beef variety. This looks really quite fancy – definitely a super premium range. It’s joined also in this range by a Duck Blood Mung Bean Noodle variant which also sounds good – let’s give this one a try from Kung Fu Noodles, a newcomer to the Taiwanese Top Ten.
Well, I do believe we’ve reached the end of the Biang Biang line with this one. These have been pretty good! Thanks to the Charming Couple folks for sending them my way! Let’s try this soybean paste variety out.
Here’s a Vegan variety that was sent by James from Lakeside, CA – thanks again! So these are very thin dry noodles from Taiwan. Usually they’ve been hit or miss, but we shall see. The sick continues. At some point soon, we’ll know if we have the COVID or not. Let’s give these a try.
This one came by way of the fine folks at Asha Dry Noodle USA – interesting! When they mentioned it to me, I knew who would be fascinated by this – my daughter. Mimi is into Hello Kitty. Anyways, she’s in the episode of Instant Noodle Recipe Time – so check it out! Let’s give this stuff a try!
Wow – I can’t believe I’m still awake and actually being productive. You see, I did an interview for Arirang Radio in South Korea last night – at 2am and then got up around 5:30am… It’s about 6pm now and I’m sincerely beat. Was worth it though – fun interview! Anyways, Just got done editing images for three reviews and now readying posts. Tomorrow is Friday and seems like I ought to do some reviews, so I think I will. I get ’em ready to go the night before, you see. Well, let’s give this one a try!
I’m really excited to try this one – I love sesame paste and I love spicy things – unsure if this is sesame paste or sesame oil though – but we shall see! The last variety was really good so we shall see. Let’s go!
This one sounds interesting. So, this is a Taiwanese made product specifically for the US market. This sounds as if it’s full of sesame with the sesa prefix to all the parts of the product’s name and maker! Let’s check it out!
Thanks to James from Lakeside, CA for shooting these over – awesome! Haven’t seen this brand before – I don’t think they have anything to do with the college… Sounds good though; I generally enjoy anything shallot sauce flavor. Let’s give it a go!
Recently got a huge box of these from Charming Couple – thanks! So this is biang biang, a very wide belt noodle. They sent 4 varieties and will be trying them soon – they all have really funny graphics on them. Let’s check this one out!
Definitely excited about this one – today I got home from a ten mile walk and found a big box at my doorstep. I haven’t even edited the unboxing video yet – and here we are. This as far as I can tell, is their Pepper Sesame Lai Noodle – it also sounds like it’s the favorite of an influential lady in Taiwan. Let’s check it out!
These showed up a little while ago at my door all the way from Taiwan – I love a good dry noodle and really curious about these. I first spoke with someone from the company about 2 years ago and now they’re here! Let’s give them a try!
September 8th, 2010. That was the last time I tried this one – it was review #132. I’ve been reviewing instant noodles since then – it’s kind of crazy. I mean, over 11 years ago and almost 4000 reviews later, I’m still into reviewing instant noodles. Let’s revisit these – it’s not a re-review since in that amount of time, a lot of things can happen. For one thing, the packaging has changed. Another thing is that the same ingredients from suppliers may have changed. After 11 years, a lot changed in a product’s lifecycle. Let’s check this one out.
Here’s one I found at a small neighborhood market in Bellevue called S-Mart – like from Army Of Darkness but a small Asian store. Let’s check this one out!
