The Definitive Source For Instant Noodle Reviews Since 2002
Here’s one Daniel from Exotic Noods brought me back from Taiwan – thanks! This product is produced by Paldo Vina, a Vietnamese branch of Paldo Food of South Korea. It is for sale in Taiwan (formerly called Formosa), and has a South Korean parent company, so KORMOSA is a kind of play on the fusion of companies and distribution. Let’s check it out!
It’s been a while since I had the original Taihodien spicy mala noodles. On those, the noodles themselves were decent but the flavor was just such an onslaught of Sichuan peppercorn. Just too much. This one sounds much different – green Sichuan peppercorn and a lot of other chilli pepper action going on. Hoping to like thing one! Let’s check it out.
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. Pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
A very long time ago, I tried their pho as part of a Meet The Manufacturer series – a series of one review! I’ve started seeing their products more and more and thought hey look – it’s in Walmrt – I’ll give it a try. So, here we are. I’m curious how it’s going to be – brown rice noodles! Let’s find out.
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
People have been asking me for a list of healthy varieties for a long time. I decided to give it a try, and had mixed results. I’ve found things ramen/instant noodles, and things that aren’t and listed them here. There aren’t ten things, but over the next year I’m guessing more will present themselves. It appears this is an ever-evolving market as a couple that were going to be included went off the market while I was editing this list! Not everything presented is for everyone, but I’m really hoping there’s something that will work and interest everyone. If you have any ideas for things that should be on next year’s list, please email me. With that, here (in no particular order) is The Ramen Rater’s Healthy Options 2020 Edition.
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
Here’s the last of the Sakurai Foods varieties I was recently sent. The other two were really great – especially the spicy one! Let’s see how a Vegan friendly tonkotsu tastes!
I reviewed this one on February 10th, 2019. This has been a crazy week – we’ve got layers of snow here and haven’t been able to even move the car since Friday. It’s Tuesday and probably we won’t be going anywhere today, either.
I was contacted in January 2019 by the nice folks at Sakurai Foods in Japan. They’ve sent samples before and participated in Meet The Manufacturer as well. They’ve released a series of three varieties of Vegan friendly products – thought this sounded good and would make for a good mukbang as well! Let’s give it a try!
I think this is the last of the Canton varieties I found at the Real Canadian Superstore up in Canada a few months back. That’s a neat place – in Richmond, BC – they’ve got all sorts of neat things there! Haven’t been to Canada in a little while. Need to visit again! Let’s check this one out!
It kind of confuses me on this one – I mean, yeah, it says ‘the original’ and doesn’t really say that there’s been a recipe change. But there has – now there’s no MSG and no artificial flavors., plus a reduction in sodium. These aren’t bad things at all of course, but I’m just kind of left wondering – so shouldn’t it say new and improved instead of ‘the original?’ Anyways, let’s see what’s in this, one of the Vegetarian varieties in the Top Ramen range.
Well would you look at that! Top Ramen. An American original. You might be thinking ‘aww that’s Japanese,’ but this stuff is as American as it gets. The flavor is made to appeal to the local market. What bums me out is when I say ‘an American original’ all I can think about is my favorite political show which is no more. My dad used to watch The McLaughlin Group for years and I finally hit an age after he was gone that I checked it out and got hooked on it. I’d torture poor Andy and make him watch it all the time. But Dr. McLaughlin died a couple years ago, and they ended the series long run. I would be curious how it would have been if he would have stayed alive longer – how the show would be these days. Anyways, I’ve gone way off track. So soy sauce is known as Shoyu in Japan. This is a kind of Shoyu ramen. Let’s check i tout!
When the Very Veggie line came out, my first thought was that it would just be varieties for Vegans and Vegetarians. Surprisingly, there was no option for this crowd. Well, it seems that that has changed! This one was sent to me by Robert Z. from Kentucky – thanks man – go check out his cooking blog www.dadbert.com! He found this at a local grocery store – nothing about this and the other new Cup Noodles he found and sent on their site or mentioned on Instagram. This has led me to think that perhaps he’s in what’s called a ‘test market.’ In some areas, a product will be introduced to meter how it’s received by the public – if it sells really well, it’ll go nationwide. If not, it might be pulled. Let’s pop the lid and look under the hood.
I haven’t seen my friend Matthew Bellah in quite a while and he’s stopping by today to hang out. So he’s a writer (you can read some of his stuff at www.matthewbellah.com) and also an odd sort as far as food goes. He’s a vegetarian, however I’ve known him to enjoy bacon and Jack In The Box tacos regularly. Anyways, I thought this myramen would be a good one to let him try.
Thanks as always to Aunt Cindy for watching our rugrats and giving us an fternoon out ! It’s been awhile – last time we had an outing just us was around review #2761 – another ramen restaurant – in December! Further back we went to Hokkaido Santouka in Bellevue, WA and people there as well as at the mall mentioned this Kizuki place. So this time we thought we’d give it a try.
Found this one up at Hen Long Market up in Canada recently. It was kind of spendy, actually and I remember seeing they had a miso variety too. These are made in Taiwan by Chering Chang- I had a little trouble figuring out what the brand was/what they’re called, but on a bar code search I found them on a Vegan website, so I’m guessing they may be Vegan friendly. Anyways, let’s take a look and give these a try!
Alright – now if this isn’t something that doesn’t make you wanna check your head… So we went up to Canada yesterday. What was up there? This, the second one I’ve reviewed that has a little sachet that actually heats the bowl of noodles and cooks it. Where did I find it? I’m sure you’re thinking ‘oh some neat Asian grocery store.’ No. Hold onto your butts. My wife saw this one. At Walmart. Yeah. Walmart. The Walmart locations both in Richmond, BC and Vancouver, BC have decent noodle aisles with varieties from all over. It should be noted though that there’s a huge Asian population in this area – and so kind of makes sense in a demographic way. I mean, you certainly won’t see this near Walmart HQ in Bentonville, Arkansas…I thought it would be really cool if my son Andy got a chance to try and cook one of these. It should be fun! Glad we found it at Walmart – it was our last stop before heading back home. We go to Walmart every time we go to Canada. It’s really nice up there. Let’s cook this sucker up!
Here’s one that’s new to me – my ramen. my ramen is a range of Japanese instant ramen that are Vegan, HALAL, animal free, dairy free, shellfish free, fish free, alcohol free, and dairy free. That’s a lot of bases covered. But of course the question is: is it good? Well, let’s find out!
Here’s another vegetarian friendly variety from Mike’s Mighty Good Craft Ramen. This one’s inspired by Korean kimchi. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –
Today, we say goodbye to Meimen and their trifecta of instant noodle varieties as we take a look at their hot & sour variety. As I mentioned previously, all three are Vegan-friendly varieties. Let’s dig into this, the final noodle from Meimen for Meet The Manufacturer.
To start things off, we have a tomato variety from Meimen. Just as a reminder, all of the Meimen products are Vegan.
Can’t do a Meet The Manufacturer series without samples! Here they are!
Here’s another vegetarian one from Maitri – this one being an instant noodle with broth. As I have to remind people, I won’t be coming out with a top ten vegetarian list. I wish I could, but it’s just a point of so much contention I should go a little into it.
Maitri is Olagafood’s vegetarian product line. So far, I’ve been pretty impressed; the flavors are quite good and it’s been a lot of fun reviewing them. This one is a vegetarian mie goreng – here’s a little about mie goreng from Wikipedia –
Well hello there – extra hot! I like it spicy that’s for sure. Not a lot of varieties I’ve seen that are extra hot and also vegetarian. At least not having both variables mentioned on the packaging. I think this is interesting.
I’ve always found that sesame seeds get stuck in my teeth. Yeah, they do. However, I still like them. I think I like pretty much anything sesame – especially sesame oil. I also like spicy things. Sounds like a slam dunk here but I suppose we will have to see.
Here we have something new. So I usually only review instant noodles, not soups. However, this is a soup with instant noodles. Wait, what?! Yeah that’s what I thought too! I’ve never heard of such a thing – but it doesn’t sound bad. As I have always said, I love seeing innovation and something new. It definitely is a nice surprise when something unique and new crosses my desk and this certainty is that on both accounts. Let’s check out this cup of soup – with crushed noodles!
Went to Uwajimaya, a local Japanese grocery store chain in the northwest the other day. So I found that you can get chashu pork there – it’s really nice for Japanese instants since I can slap one on top! Indeed what I do is get a few packs of it from the deli and then bag them individually and throw them in the freezer – it’s pricy stuff, but done this way it really stretches it a long way. So $15 or pork will yield me about 18-20 slices and since it’s frozen, it’ll last nicely until I’ve done that many Japanese reviews.
I think I should explain the symbol in the upper right hand corner before anything else. While the symbol may bring up thoughts of World War II, this actually has nothing to do with oppression; this is a Buddhist symbol denoting that it is safe for those who practice strict vegetarianism. Here’s a little from wikipedia about it:
I really loved the Nyor Nyar non-vegetarian PWC a lot – a whole lot! Very curious as to how this vegetarian variety will be. Let’s give it a look!
I think I was talking about Kung Fu Theater and David Carradine’s career the other day. He played Grasshoppe – a pupil of the Shaolin on that show. Still bugs he; why didn’t they get, oh – I don’t know… A more fitting person to play a Chinese martial arts student? Maybe someone.. Chinese? Anyways, it’s veggie time – let’s get it on!
This is one that the folks from Prima Taste sent me when I did a call for instant noodles to review when I was running low a while back – thanks again! I always love to find new varieties to review – and what surprises many is that I like trying different store brands. Many will say ‘oh – these aren’t special, they’re common!’ Well, they’re often not common where I live – and if I’ve not tried them, they’re definitely diamonds in the rough! Let’s have a look at this one!
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!
I don’t remember where or when I picked this one up, but it was towards the bottom of my hamper and peering up at me a little bit ago and so I figure hey – I’d better give it some attention! It’s kimchi, it’s Vegan friendly – plus its microwavable! Let’s check it out!
I had a bit of trouble figuring out what this variety was called – until I scanned the back of the package and noticed it on the top left corner. This is one that I received from Apple Daily of Hong Kong for a special news feature. Kung Tak Lam is a popular vegetarian restaurant in Hong Kong. Let’s crack it open and give it a try!
Here’s the third one I’m reviewing as part of a special thing with the Apple Daily news folks in Hong Kong! They sent a few varieties to review and this one is sold in Hong Kong, however it’s made in Malaysia. Curious about this one – let’s check it out!
The last of four varieties especially made for the Nine Emporer Gods festival time of year. During the festival, people take only vegetarian dishes – no meat! Let’s have a look in this one and give it a try, eh?
Today, we bid a fond farewell to the Kabuto Noodles Meet The Manufacturer. These have all been very unique and innovative products. As I’ve said before, most of the instant varieties I’ve sampled from the UK have been, in a word, bland. Flavorless is another word. These have all had good flavor and great quality. Today, it’s laksa, one of my favorite Southeast Asian flavors. Let’s check it out.
