Detailed instant noodle reviews and ratings – watch, read, and discover your next favorite.
This review features one of the most beloved instant noodles on the planet: Indomie Mi Goreng. This particular variety is basically synonymous with Indonesian instant noodles; other brands make mi goreng, sure, but when people mention it, they almost always mean this one. It’s something I've had many times prior to this review, but I wanted to showcase it here because it's got a lot of great things going for it: it's dirt cheap, packed with flavor, and extremely easy to find worldwide.
In this review, I finally dive into the Mama brand, which has a massive online following thanks to its affordability and wide flavor variety. I’ve never tried any of their products until now, so I’m starting with the Mama Pa-Lo Duck Noodles flavor, which was the most interesting pack (to me) that I noticed at my local Asian market. From what I was able to deduce in my research, this is inspired by a Thai stew called Kai Pa-Lo, traditionally made with braised pork and egg and seasoned with Chinese five spice. I couldn’t find much information about a duck variant, so I assume this is a vegan interpretation that blends artificial duck flavor with traditional five spice elements.
This review marks my first experience with jjajangmen, or black bean sauce noodles, starting with Nongshim Chapagetti. You might recognize this from the movie Parasite, where it was combined with Neoguri and steak to make the now-famous “Chapaguri” (or “ram-don”). I actually tried that hack myself before starting the channel, but I never tasted Chapagetti or Neoguri on their own until now. Nongshim has since released a bowl version of Chapaguri, which I’ll check out if I find it.
In this review, I'm taking a look at Paldo Namja Ramyun, a Korean red chili and garlic soup with a very bold marketing campaign. “Namja” translates to “man,” and Paldo has leaned into that with a hilariously over-the-top commercial you can find if you search on YouTube. Thankfully, anyone can enjoy this soup regardless of how masculine they feel. I’ve had good luck with Paldo’s Premium Gomtang before, so I'm hoping this one would also deliver.
This Sapporo Ichiban Soy Sauce Flavor Ramen Bowl is my first time reviewing a Sapporo Ichiban product, despite the brand being one of the most recommended and widely available ramen options in the US. These are made by a company called Sanyo. and this flagship soy sauce flavor dates back to 1966 and is often compared to the old “Oriental” (their word, not mine) flavor from Top Ramen or Maruchan, though I never really loved either of those, so hopefully this has more going on than those do. I’ve been aware of Sapporo Ichiban for a long time but never actually tried any of their products until now.
In this review, I’m finally checking one of the most hyped (and most expensive) instant ramen products out there: Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen. Ichiran is a famous chain of Japanese ramen shops with many locations around the globe. Some call it the McDonalds of the ramen world because of its ubiquity, but by all accounts (I've never been to one in person), it sounds like it's still a damn fine meal. This noodle kit comes as a five-pack of straight noodles with a concentrated liquid tonkotsu broth and an optional spice packet, designed to replicate the flavor of their famous shops. I’ve already gone through two servings before this review, which should tell you something right away. But the big question is whether this lives up to its reputation and its price.
Full disclosure - this Momofuku Noodles: The Basic Hack article works better as a video, which you can view by clicking above. However, for the sake of completion, I'm giving this one a write-up in the same way as my video reviews. Read on if you'd like to learn more about this simple little noodle hack!
After reviewing all three varieties in the Momofuku noodle lineup, I came to the same conclusion about two of them: great noodles, boring sauce. While that's not a great thing, it does actually make them a nice blank canvas. So let me explain to you how to take those underwhelming packets and turn them into something way more satisfying with just a few simple additions. In the video, I used a Soy & Scallion pack, but you can pull this off with any of the Momofuku flavors (or even many A-Sha flavors!).
It’s time to round out the Momofuku noodle lineup, at least for now at the time of this review, with Momofuku Soy & Scallion flavor. This is the third variety I’ve reviewed after the Spicy Soy and Tingly Chili, and if you’ve seen those reviews, you know I’ve got a lot of love for the quality of the noodles. Credit goes to A-Sha for creating something with serious quality and texture. The Spicy Soy sauce packet was fine but a little underwhelming flavor-wise. The Tingly Chili kicked things up nicely and had a much broader array of flavors besides just soy. This one? It’s basically the Spicy Soy sauce minus the chili oil, with a pack of dried scallions added in. So today’s overall score is going to hinge almost entirely on whether those scallions pull their weight.
Time to up my spicy street cred. This episode covers Samyang’s 2x Spicy Buldak Hot Chicken, the viral challenge noodle that gained a reputation for destroying people at double the intensity of the original Hot Chicken flavor. I'm not eating this to prove anything, I just want to see whether the hype is deserved, and more importantly, whether it's still actually edible. I’ve already covered the original Buldak and the Carbonara, both of which I enjoyed, so I'm going into this one with a decent idea of what to expect from a flavor perspective, but not from a spice perspective.
Time to dive into the one that started it all: Samyang Buldak Hot Chicken Ramen, the pack that kicked off a thousand spicy noodle challenges and an entire subculture of people shoving noodles into their tear-stained faces for the enjoyment of others. I’m not here for the Internet clout, just a proper review of a famously spicy stir-fried noodle. I’ve already tried the Carbonara version and loved it, so it was time to see how the base flavor holds up without the creamy powdered cheese to tone it down.