What is Noodle Journey?
Noodle Journey is a YouTube channel dedicated to honest, in-depth reviews of the instant noodle universe. This companion website allows you to search a fully formed database of all of those reviews to help you find your perfect instant noodle or to find my review about a specific instant noodle. You may also see standalone articles and blogs about instant noodles as the site progresses.
Why does the website look the way it does?
Let me be honest: I have a software background as a back-end developer and so my main focus of this website is function over form. I’m not great at UI, but I wanted to use the skills I had to provide you with the easiest way to search through hundreds of hours of video reviews to find the instant noodles you’re looking for. My main focus is not so much on making the site pretty, but rather on maintaining the most comprehensive search function for instant noodles that I can that runs fast on any device.
I represent a company that makes instant noodles/toppings/subscription boxes that I would like to send you for review. How do I contact you?
All inquiries can be emailed to [email protected]. This will be free publicity for your product; I do not accept money for reviews or unboxings.
Can I donate to you to help fund your reviews?
My YouTube channel and this website are a passion project due to my love of noodles. Because of that, donations are not at all necessary, but they are certainly appreciated if you want to do so. I will be setting something up for that soon.
How are Noodle Journey reviews conducted?
Every review is conducted following the exact instructions on the package. Reviews consist of three scores on a scale of 0-10: noodle quality, spiciness, and overall flavor. I discuss the aromas I smell, the flavors I taste, and, when applicable, how a product compares to similar products I’ve had before.
How did Noodle Journey start?
I was never a big instant noodle fan growing up, but I would occasionally buy super cheap Maruchan and Nissin packs from the grocery store to have as a quick meal or snack. When Covid hit, I started working from home 100% of the time, which meant I no longer had access to the usual lunch spots near my office, and so I started to look for cheap, convenient ideas for lunches outside of my usual ideas. At some point, I came across someone online saying how noodles like Nongshim Shin and Nissin Demae were so much better than the cheap supermarket noodles I had bought in the past, and so I ordered some packs online to try. I was hooked!
After that, I bought Shin Black and some other Korean varieties, and ultimately found a massive variety pack containing 70+ varieties of Korean from a website called Cokoyam (which sadly no longer exists, but you’ll hear me reference it in lots of early videos). It had so many different flavors that I had wanted to try, and so I ordered it. I posted a picture of it on Facebook when it arrived, and one of my friends said, “You should rank them all and let us know which ones to buy.” I had been looking for a new hobby at that point, and so I started putting together what would ultimately become Noodle Journey.
What qualifies you to to review instant noodles?
I am no more qualified to review instant noodles than the next person, but I thought it would be nice to approach my reviews in a format I hadn’t seen too often on YouTube. I wanted the focus to be not on me but on the noodles themselves and their history. Too often, I got frustrated by reviewers who didn’t explain what something tasted like or why they scored something the way they did, or made the focus far more on them than on what they were reviewing. So I wanted to film the kind of reviews that I myself would want to see if I was looking for information on a product.
I also wanted to document my own journey from a complete noodle novice into someone who could make informed recommendations based on my own experiences. I still learn new things about noodles all the time, and I love learning and passing it along to my viewers! One more important thing to mention: I have the genetic trait of being a supertaster, and for most of my life I’ve been able to isolate and pick out flavors and ingredients in the food I eat, and so I apply this skill to my reviews.
Where are you located?
I live in the USA, and so my main focus has always been on noodles that I find in American supermarkets and Asian markets. When I review something that’s not typically available in the USA, I try to make sure it is something that is able to be purchased online or may benefit my viewers in other countries.
Where do you buy your instant noodles?
My favorite places to buy instant noodles are the Asian markets near me, because there’s nothing better than walking down an instant noodle aisle and discovering something you’ve never seen before! Unfortunately, every Asian market in my vicinity is at least a half-hour drive, and so I often look for noodles online. My favorite sites for instant noodles are yamibuy.com, sayweee.com, 99ranch.com, and japanese-snacks-republic.com. I will use Amazon.com if I am desperate for something I can’t find anywhere else or if I am looking for a pre-made variety pack, but otherwise I avoid Amazon because the markups from third-party sellers can be pretty egregious.
Why did you give my favorite noodles a bad review?
It’s because I didn’t like it! I don’t enjoy giving a company or product a bad review, however I maintain 100% honesty and transparency in my reviews, and that means I will call out any product that I feel is poor quality, bland, or has what I would consider to be a terrible flavor. I describe what I’m tasting, and if I don’t like something, I will explain why rather than just making a blanket statement that it rubbed me the wrong way without any further explanation. All of my reviews are my own opinion, and if something I dislike sounds good to you, you should still buy it and form your own opinion! Everyone’s tastebuds are different.
Why do you have a crappy voiceover in your earlier videos?
When I started filming for the channel, I put on a slightly more broadcaster-like affectation to my voice (my wife joked that it sounded like I was auditioning for NPR). She rightly suggested I’d sound better with a more casual, conversational tone that better reflected my normal personality. Unfortunately by that time, I had filmed a few videos already using the NPR voice, and so it became necessary to re-record my voice and edit it in in post-production. This led to a lot of editing headaches along the way, and eventually I just started using a lavalier microphone instead starting in episode 16. I hope you’ll agree that things sound a lot more natural with live audio, because it sure is a lot easier to edit!
What is your planning, recording, and editing process?
Prior to filming, I do whatever research I feel is necessary on a product, including any history on the manufacturer, the style of the noodle or recipe, what the ingredients are, what their general popularity seems to be, etc. I loosely script my introductions so that I have all of that information available and can remember to hit my talking points. Once I’ve tasted the product, what you usually hear is me speaking frankly about what I’ve just tasted, unless it’s one of those rare instances where I’m reviewing something I’ve had before, in which case I usually have a list of bullet points to mention in the review and I already know how I’m going to score it.
I record my video on a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra held in a downward-facing tripod stand, the legs of which you can see at the top of the video frame in my reviews. That wooden backdrop you see is my dining room table (which was brand-new when I started the channel), with a ring of smart lights directly above my filming area. I do all of my editing using DaVinci Resolve, which is an absolutely amazing application that I can’t recommend enough if you’re interested in video editing.
Where did you get the noodle bowl featured in most of your videos?
My awesome wife bought it for me the Christmas before I started the channel! It is an Alex Kato ceramic ramen bowl. Here is the item page on Amazon.
Do you have any ties to any instant noodle or food companies? Are you a shill for any of them?
No, and in fact, in my day job I am a software engineer, which is pretty far removed from the food industry. I do not and will not accept any money for my reviews. All products I review are either purchased with my own money or are given to me by companies with the understanding that my review of their product will be truthful and unbiased.
I’d like to suggest a product for review, ask a question, or leave you a comment. Where do I do that?
Feel free to leave a comment on any video or on any review on this website and I’ll make every effort to reply if needed. If you want to keep your comment private, please email me at [email protected].
Where else can I reach out to you?
I love chatting with viewers on Reddit and I truly appreciate any and all constructive feedback. You can follow me on Reddit at https://www.reddit.com/user/CloudVader, where I mostly frequent the r/InstantRamen, r/Ramen, and r/BuldakRamen subreddits, among others.
What’s the deal with noodlejourney.com?
As I was literally putting the prototype of this website together on my own home equipment so that I could teach myself WordPress, but before I was able to purchase the noodlejourney.com domain name (a procrastination on my part that I regret), someone in Vietnam decided to buy it first. They then proceeded to create a soulless, bloated, AI-developed embarrassment of a website, in which they not only linked to my YouTube channel in their sidebar (for reasons I still don’t know), but they also had their AI steal some of my content and present it as a blog article they had written. I am not affiliated with noodlejourney.com in any way, shape, or form, and this website you are currently viewing is the only official companion site to the Noodle Journey YouTube channel.
At the time of writing this FAQ, the noodlejourney.com site appears to be offline, but the domain name still belongs to the original purchaser.
How frequently do you post reviews?
Since the channel’s inception, I’ve been able to get out one review per week at minimum, with many weeks where I was able to complete two (and occasionally more). The unfortunate truth is that while I’d love to review noodles fulltime, I have my day job and personal life taking priority. I basically review as often as I can, and I hope to increase that frequency as time goes on!
What are your personal food biases?
I’ll eat absolutely anything once! I love trying new food and I don’t have any allergies or dietary restrictions. If there’s a particular ingredient in a product that I don’t enjoy, I will mention it in the review. My biggest issue is with fresh cilantro, because I have the gene where it tastes like soap to me, but for some reason, when the cilantro is steamed, dehydrated, or freeze-dried, that soap flavor largely disappears for me in small quantities. This is how I’m able to review products with cilantro in them without having a problem, because most cilantro in instant noodles is freeze-dried or dehydrated.
There are very few foods I just actively hate and don’t eat on a regular basis, although I do occasionally retry them in case my tastebuds have changed. These include: lima beans, sweet potatoes, black licorice, and beets.
What is your scoring system?
I rank everything on a scale of 0-10, including the noodle quality, the spiciness, and the overall score.
For a noodle to achieve a perfect 10, it must have a perfect al-dente chewy texture with no strange aftertaste. I don’t prefer soft noodles at all, and so something that cooks up with a soft texture gets a lower score.
The spiciness score is purely subjective but I use it to guide my viewers towards their comfort level. Thus far, the spiciest noodles I’ve eaten are Daebak Ghost Pepper Spicy Chicken Flavor, Buldak 2x, and Hot Ones Fiery Hot Tonkotsu (with the entire spice packet added). For reference, I think something like regular Buldak Hot Chicken flavor ranks at an 8 out of 10 for me, and something like Tabasco Sauce or Frank’s Red Hot ranks on the lower end at around 3 out of 10 for me. I hesitate to give anything a 10 out of 10 for spice only because I know there are always spiceheads engineering the next world’s hottest pepper.
The overall score is then a reflection of the flavor of the product along with any caveats from the noodle quality and/or spice level. For something to be a 10 out of 10, it has to be something so awesome that I want to finish in its entirety and would buy again in a heartbeat. Occasionally, something truly delicious with lots of good toppings can overcome a weaker noodle score. Scores go down from there in half-point increments based on a number of factors: Are the toppings stingy or non-existent? Is there already a superior example of the product’s recipe from another brand? Is there a pricing issue? Are there issues with consistency, salt content, flavor, etc.? Something in the 3-6 range may be worth a purchase to certain consumers who can overlook its flaws. Anything below a 3 I would consider to have irredeemable issues.
Why don’t you add anything to your noodles when you review them, like vegetables or protein?
There’s a couple main reasons for this. First, in order to judge a product on its own merits, I have to try it and score it without anything added to it. If a product isn’t good on its own, then why would I recommend it to my viewers even if I could dress it up to make it better? Secondly, it’s a time issue. Since YouTube and this website are hobbies and not my fulltime obligations, I don’t really have the time or budget to film additional ingredients being prepared & cooked for each review.
When a review is over and I’ve finished filming, most of the time I will add some combination of very quickly sliced vegetables, dried toppings, leftover protein, egg, or Spam to make the noodles more nutritionally-balanced for myself, but most of the time, I promise you that the finished noodle bowl is not in any way camera-ready! If you want suggestions on what ingredients go with which noodles, just ask me! Or you can visit other YouTubers and websites that go into greater detail regarding toppings, hacks, and recipes.