Detailed instant noodle reviews and ratings – watch, read, and discover your next favorite.
Welcome to the Noodle Journey master archive. Browse every instant noodle review both from the Noodle Journey YouTube channel and exclusive to this site, where you’ll find deep-dives into the big world of instant noodles. I’ve covered hundreds of different flavors and styles, from the fiery heat of Samyang Buldak and the classic comfort of Nongshim Shin Ramyun to worldwide favorites like Indomie Mi Goreng, Nissin Cup Noodles, and A-Sha air-dried noodles.
Whether you’re looking for the best spicy broth, a creamy tonkotsu, or a vegetarian-friendly snack, this index is designed to help you find your next favorite bowl. Each review includes a detailed breakdown of Noodle quality, Spiciness levels, and an Overall score to give you the most honest look at what’s actually inside the package. New reviews are added regularly as the journey through the world’s best (and worst) instant noodles continues.
A few weeks back, I had my first taste of Kang Shi Fu with their Braised Beef flavor, so now I'm moving onto the next bowl of theirs in my pile: Kang Shi Fu Hot & Spicy Artificial Beef Flavor Noodles. I'm not entirely sure as I write this introduction if this is simply a spicy version of the braised beef flavor or something more removed from that flavor profile, but either way this seems to be a pretty popular flavor of theirs.
I did not enjoy that last Nissin x Bachan's flavor very much. Is it possible I've saved the best for last? Nissin Top Ramen Beef Flavor with Bachan's Roasted Garlic Barbecue Sauce is the flavor that appeals to me most of these three Nissin x Bachan's collaborations, mainly because I love garlic so, so much. Despite that, I've never bought this roasted garlic sauce flavor from Bachan's before, mainly because I've never seen it in any of my nearby grocery stores. I do love a new experience with garlic, so let's see how this goes.
Nissin Top Ramen Beef Flavor with Bachan's Sweet & Spicy Barbecue Sauce is the second of three collaboration products between Nissin and Bachan's Japanese Barbecue Sauce that I'm reviewing, and for me I am now out of the familiar territory that I was in with the Original flavor, because I've never had the Sweet & Spicy sauce on its own before. The Original flavor paired very well with the beef broth, but my chief complaint about Bachan's Original has always been how sweet it leans. Is the "Sweet" in "Sweet & Spicy" going to be overkill for me? Read on and find out.
Today begins a trio of reviews of collaboration products between Nissin and Japanese barbecue sauce maker Bachan's. I figured I'd start with Nissin Top Ramen Beef Flavor with Bachan's Original Barbecue Sauce because it is the only flavor of Bachan's that Nissin is using that I've tried before. So thankfully I've got some familiarity with the special add-on sauce here and am not going into this totally blind. This is also the reason I gave the Nissin Top Ramen Beef Flavor Bowl a try in the last review - using that flavor as a baseline, hopefully I can explain a little better how the addition of Bachan's instead of Nissin's normal sauce packet changes the end result.
I know what you're thinking: why am I reviewing something as pedestrian as the Nissin Top Ramen Beef Flavor Bowl? Well, I have my reasons, and they involve getting a proper baseline for the product before I review the Nissin x Bachan's Top Ramen bowls I mentioned in last month's news post. I've had the pack version of this flavor countless times in the past prior to starting the channel, but I've never had the bowl before. Imagine my surprise that this comes with an additional sauce packet, which is completely absent from the pack version.
These are really interesting to me; A-Sha basically invented a new noodle shape! These A-Sha Meteor Noodles with Danzai Sauce are described as "3D" noodles and go on to say "Meteor Noodles are made using a special, dual blade to cut 3D ridges onto the noodle to allow for perfect sauce coating on every noodle strand for a maximum flavor experience in every bite." If you read my review on the A-Sha BT21 Galaxy Variety Noodle Box, you should know that these Meteor noodles appear to be the same as the "Universtar noodles" that came in that box. I'm super excited to give these a try with this sauce, so read on to learn more about the noodles and Danzai Sauce flavor.
Why am I doing this to myself? Am I a masochist? I have reviewed both the Shrimp and Chicken flavors of Twisted Noodles, and despite the fact that I thoroughly hated both, I feel a compulsion to review everything I can get my hands on, including this crap, Twisted Noodles Beef Ramen. So with that admission of my own OCD, let's just jump right into this review.
Today's entry in my big pile of Buldak noodles is a newer, limited-time bowl product with one of the weirdest names that I've ever seen: Samyang Buldak Hotter Than My Ex. Maybe this has caught your attention if you've seen it online; there seems to be a lot of confusion as to what this product is supposed to be, so I figured, why not? Let's do a review of it.
Put this on the list of things I never expected to find at my local Dollar Tree store: 3 Mien Vietnamese Phở Beef Flavor Noodle Soup. I’m not sure I have high hopes for an instant phở from a dollar store, but 3 Mien is a legitimate Vietnamese brand I’ve heard of before, thanks to The Ramen Rater, so I figured I’d give it a try.
These are brand new from Nongshim and I'm willing to bet a lot of you who clicked on this review have been waiting for these for months. They're finally here, but there is a major issue you should know about so make sure you read through the whole intro (or watch the video linked above) and I'll talk about it. Welcome to the mega review of Nongshim's KPop Demon Hunters Shin Ramyun Cups.