Detailed instant noodle reviews and ratings – watch, read, and discover your next favorite.
Today I’m going to continue through my backlog of A-Sha noodles by reviewing and walking you the contents of this A-Sha BT21 Galaxy Variety Noodle Box. I wasn't thrilled with the Street Style Variety box for multiple reasons, but this one might go a little better because there are some really interesting noodles in this
Today, I’m checking out a product from what is probably the most ubiquitous Taiwanese noodle brand on the planet with this really eye-catching A-Sha BT21 Street Style Variety Noodle Box. Buckle up, because this review has an unexpected twist!
I’m revisiting this A-Sha x Hot Ones Ramen Noodle Cups collaboration products, this time focusing on the ramen noodle cups rather than the bowls reviewed back in Episode 178. While the branding might suggest these are the same products in different packaging, the recipes are completely different. The lineup includes Sweet Chili, Garlic Chili, and Smoky Chili, all built around air-dried Taiwanese-style noodles and broths that are clearly derived from hot sauce bases rather than traditional ramen soup.
I know I said the last review was the last one of 2024, but this is a very last-minute entry to close out the year, and not one I originally planned to review. After Christmas, my wife and I made one of our usual trips to Target to check out the clearance aisle, and this six-pack of A-Sha Hello Kitty Hand Pulled Style Noodles with Friendly Scallion Sauce immediately stood out. These were marked down significantly, and given the A-Sha brand is a solid one, it felt like something worth reviewing right away before the opportunity disappeared.
Today's review is A-Sha x Hot Ones Ramen Noodle Bowls, a collaboration between two very well-known brands: A-Sha and Hot Ones. The flavors are Taiwanese Tingly Pepper Ramen, Sizzling Chili Garlic Ramen, and Fiery Hot Tonkotsu Ramen. I've got to say, Target has really upped its instant noodle game these last few weeks; not only did they start carrying Buldak Yakisoba, but now they also have these three bowls available nationwide.
Here's the other currently-new product from Momofuku, their Momofuku Spicy Chili Noodles. Coming right after Sweet & Spicy, the obvious question is whether this feels distinct from that one or Tingly Chili or is more or less a spicier version of either. The packaging is certainly similar to Sweet & Spicy, but the ingredients list is certainly different, so I’m curious how it actually eats vs. the rest of the product line.
After an insanely long wait for new flavors, today's review is one of the two new flavors (as of August 2023) from Momofuku’s instant noodle lineup: Momofuku Sweet & Spicy Noodles. Unlike their earlier offerings, which mostly leaned on soy and sesame profiles, this one brings a gochujang-style sauce that promises a balanced kick with some sweetness. The noodles are still made by A-Sha, so I’m already expecting top-notch texture, but we're finally at a point where Momofuku is making their own sauce instead of repackaging an existing recipe from A-Sha. This feels like a smart pivot for Momofuku, moving into something with a different flavor profile and a fuller sauce compared to their original three 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.
As promised back in Episode 4, I finally get my hands on Momofuku Tingly Chili Wavy Noodles. At the time of review, all three Momofuku noodle flavors had recently come back in stock after a long absence. This Tingly Chili variety is a different noodle recipe than the other Momofuku varieties, with a visibly wavier, flatter cut. And as I learned this time around, it comes with a serious pedigree: the noodles are co-developed with A-Sha (yes, the same A-Sha behind their own popular Taiwanese-style noodles), though it's unclear exactly who contributes what.
I originally planned to dig into one of the Korean or Japanese packs gathering dust in my pantry, but a bag of Momofuku Spicy Soy Noodles caught my eye at Target. Given the name attached to it (David Chang) and the fact that Momofuku started as a noodle bar, I have some reasonably high hopes going in.