Detailed instant noodle reviews and ratings – watch, read, and discover your next favorite.
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.
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.
Here's another product found in Guam that I never knew existed: Acecook Jonetz Rich Tonkotsu Flavor Noodles. A little explanation here is probably warranted. In Japan, there's a chain of convenience stores called Don Quijote, affectionately called "Donki" for short. There are other Donki locations in other countries, and those international locations are under the name "Don Don Donki," like the one in Guam where this cup was purchased. The official original store brand for Donki is "Jonetz." So this tonkotsu cup is made by Acecook with the Jonetz branding for exclusive sale in Donki convenience stores. Hope that all made sense, since I've got one more product besides this one with the Jonetz branding on it to review next time. Let's get onto this one though!
One of my coworkers recently returned from a trip to Guam and brought me quite an assortment of noodles cups & bowls that I'm going to be reviewing over the next little while, starting with this Interfresh Instant Rice Noodle Pho Tomyum Flavor. I'm starting with this particular flavor because it's the most interesting to me - it's a Japanese brand I've never reviewed before, and I've never seen something that touts itself as both pho and tom yum before, so this should be quite a ride. Read on for more info!
When I filmed this review, I’d had a serious craving for Bún Bò Huế - a Vietnamese noodle soup known for its spicy, beefy broth and strong lemongrass aroma - so when I spotted this Simply Food Bún Bò Huế, I figured it was worth a shot. It’s the first time I’d seen this dish in instant form, and I was genuinely curious whether it could pull off that mix of richness and herbal heat that makes the real thing so addictive.
Today, I'm reviewing Acecook Hao Hao Saté Onion Noodles, and to be perfectly frank, I’m not sure what this flavor is supposed to be. “Saté onion” doesn’t point to anything I can find via Google (aside from this specific product), so I’m going into this review trying to figure out what Acecook is aiming for - is it Indonesian satay with peanut and grilled meat notes, or the Vietnamese saté chili-lemongrass condiment? Neither of those things really makes me think of oniony noodles, so the origin of the name here is a bit of a mystery.
I’m continuing with the phở reviews with Mama Phở Gà, the chicken counterpart to the Phở Bò I reviewed last time. If you’re unfamiliar with phở, check out that review first - I covered the basics there and want to keep this one more focused. This bowl shares the same spice blend and artificial garnish flavors as the beef version, but swaps in a lighter artificial chicken-style broth.
I'm finally reviewing an instant phở product after nearly 70 reviews: Mama Phở Bò, a Vietnamese-style beef rice noodle soup manufactured by a Thai company. For those unfamiliar, phở is a noodle soup made with rice noodles, savory bone broth, and customizable fresh toppings like bean sprouts, Thai basil, chili peppers, and, unfortunately for me, cilantro (although I omit that part when I'm eating phở at a restaurant).