Detailed instant noodle reviews and ratings – watch, read, and discover your next favorite.
This is the first mega-review of 2026 and it covers the full launch lineup of Nongshim Ramyun Chef, a brand-new product line positioned as restaurant-quality instant noodles. The four launch flavors are Beef Bulgogi, Braised Beef, Curry Chicken, and Creamy Garlic Chicken. Nongshim is framing this line as globally-inspired dishes executed using Korean ramyun, with three of the four of the flavors leaning hard into fusion territory.
Samyang Buldak Sweet Ramen is a bowl-only (currently) Buldak product aimed squarely at people who like the flavor of Buldak sauce but find the original versions a little too intense. This bowl released around the same time as the Taco flavor and not long before Samyang introduced “Swicy,” a very similar-looking but still distinct product. Sweet is positioned as a toned-down, slightly sweeter take on the classic hot chicken sauce rather than a major departure from the formula.
My coworker grabbed me another round of goodies from Guam on his most recent trip, and the one I'm most excited about trying is this brand-new Acecook Curry House CoCo Ichibanya Supervised Curry Ramen, so it gets the honor of being the inaugural review. Curry House CoCo Ichibanya is a popular curry restaurant chain from Japan that has several locations worldwide, including a few in the USA. Unfortunately, I don't live anywhere near any of them, so this cup is the closest I'm going to get to eating the real deal as of right now. I'm a sucker for instant noodle restaurant collaborations, so I have high hopes for this.
This review kicks off 2026 with one of Nissin’s most aggressive novelty flavors to date: Nissin Cup Noodles Dill Pickle Flavor. Nissin has leaned hard into gimmick releases over the past few years, clearly designed to grab attention on social media, and this one fits that pattern perfectly. Even knowing that, I couldn’t skip it since I've reviewed every other one Nissin has made, for better or for worse. Some of these oddball flavors have surprised me in the past, while others have been among the worst things I’ve ever eaten. This one very much felt like it could go either way.
I found this Nissin Cup Noodles Malatang flavor a few months back when I placed a big noodle order from Japan. I'm always intrigued when Nissin tries something wildly new with their limited-time Cup Noodle flavors instead of just adding a new seasoning oil to an existing flavor and calling it a day. This Malatang cup looks to be a pretty cool new recipe!
Here's all the noteworthy noodle news you may have missed in December 2025! We've got a ton of product announcements from Nongshim, a surprising new product line from Ramen Bae, a major Korean manufacturer entering the instant noodle space, a new Buldak flavor, and a new Buldak discontinuation. Read on for more!
I’m wrapping up this year’s Marutai Marathon with something I’ve never reviewed on the channel before and, honestly, something I’ve never even eaten at a restaurant. This is Marutai Fukuoka Seafood & Pork Tsukemen, a dipping-style ramen that’s very different from the soup bowls I usually gravitate toward. This one marks my first real exposure to tsukemen in any form, so I'm going into this curious about both the eating experience and how well that style translates to an instant product.
Next in this year’s Marutai Marathon with a style of ramen I’ve never reviewed on the channel before, which is always exciting. This time around, it’s Marutai Yokohama Soy Sauce Tonkotsu Ramen, a product based on iekei-style ramen that originated in Yokohama. This is part of Marutai’s long-running Local Series, where they attempt to replicate famous regional ramen styles from across Japan, and it appears to be a newer entry in that lineup.
Dongwon Cheese Topokki is the other Korean rice cake variety from this manufacturer that I found recently at Walmart, and given how delicious I thought the Spicy and Sweet flavor was, I figured I'd better try this one too so I know what to stock up on next time I find myself in a Walmart. This variety leans into one of the other more popular preparations of tteokbokki/topokki: a rich and mild chili, cream, and cheese sauce.
I’m moving on from the Marutai x Sapporo Ichiban collaboration products and into some of the newer Japanese Marutai releases that started showing up this past year, starting with something completely new to me: Marutai Chilled Chinese Noodles, also known as Hiyashi Chuka. This is my first time trying this style of dish, and while it’s currently December and absolutely freezing outside, this is a Marutai product and part of my annual countdown to Christmas tradition, so it still fits right in. The focus here is whether the base flavor itself is worth buying, which means I’m reviewing this exactly as it comes in the package, without adding any extra toppings.