Ramen Review 15: Tradition Instant Nood Soup - Vegetable Style

I found Tradition Instant Noodle Soup in the Kosher Foods section of the supermarket.  How odd, yes? 

• They're made in Canada (and distributed by Tradition Foods in Los Angeles.)  I don't know why I find that so strange, but I do.  I guess because when I think of Canada, I think of poutine and maple syrup and curling, but I never seem to think of ramen.
• They're Kosher for Passover.  That's kind of cool.
• Notice that they're "Vegetable Style," and not "Vegetable Flavored."  I don't know what the distinction is.  Maybe "Vegetable Flavored" was too long to fit in the little banner there.

Ease of Preparation: 10/10
Just add hot water and wait a few minutes.

Vegetable Packet: N/A
Like most cup noodles, these have a small sprinkling of dehydrated veggies in the cup, but there is no packet to open and mix.

Seasoning Pouch: N/A

Taste: 8/10

Fairly delicious.  I'm not usually a fan of vegetable-flavored ramen - chicken or pork is my first choice - but the Tradition broth was tasty, with elements of soy, onion, and umami (and, of course, plenty of salt.)

Spiciness: N/A

This is not marketed as a spicy ramen.

Overall:  9/10

The combination of tasty broth and nicely-textured noodles is a winner, even stacked up against industry standard Nissin Cup Noodles.  Recommended.

Link:

Tradition Kosher Foods website

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Ramen Review 14: Gefen Instant Noodle Soup - Tomato

I found these ramen noodles at a local bargain emporium and decided to give them a try. The cups are slightly bigger than the standard Nissin Cup Noodles, and they were 85 cents apiece - sounds cheap, but I get Cup Noodles 12 for $4.95 at the Asian market, making 85 cents pretty costly for instant soup.

Ease of Preparation: 8/10 - Most ramen cups require only the addition of water. Gefen wants you to add water and stir. Wait 2 minutes, then add contents of seasoning pack; stir again and wait another 2 minutes. I'm not sure what the extra step is for, or why the seasoning can't go in right at the start as with other ramen cups. Seems unneccessarily fussy to me.

Vegetable Pouch: N/A - Any vegetables in this meal are powdered and included in the seasoning.

Seasoning Pouch: 4/10 - A small pouch with a picture of a tomato on it; not very tomatoey; tastes more like salt, celery, and onion

Taste: 4/10 - Somewhat nasty, like extremely cheap bouillon with extra salt. I never would have guessed this was supposed to be "tomato soup" if it didn't have it on the label. The broth is thin and kind of brownish-red and lacks any real flavor. The noodles hold up well in texture, but had a slightly rancid "old oil" flavor to them despite the cup being well within it's "sell by" limit.

Spiciness: N/A - This isn't marketed as a spicy ramen.

Overall: 5/10 - Acceptable as an emergency ration only. If you're stuck with one, keep it in your desk at work for those times when you get caught working late and need a snack to hold you over until you can find real ramen.

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Ramen Review 13: Instant Noodle King Lobster Flavor

Another Instant Noodle King selection; I like this brand because the extra-thin noodles don't get soggy or limp when the ramen cup is prepared, they stay firm and toothsome.

Ease of Preparation: 9/10

Like most cup ramens, the only preparation involves adding the contents of a few packets to the noodles, pouring in boiling water, and waiting for three minutes.

Vegetable Packet: 9/10

Pretty good, with cabbage, wakama, corn, and rings of green scallion tops. Could have been a bit more corn.

Seasoning Packets: 9/10

The dry soup base packet was outstanding, turning the water into a delicious lobstery-flavored broth The oil packet - which also contained some spices - surprised me because it was studded with tiny bits of onion or shallot, and gave the soup a richer flavor and body than plain ramen.

Taste: 10/10

Although the oil packet gave the final product a rather unctuous mouthfeel, the lobster/langostine flavor was rich and authentic. It was robust and not too salty (always a plus with ramen.)

Spiciness: N/A

This isn't advertised as a spicy ramen.

Overall: 9/10 - Recommended.

Ramen Review 12: Asia Specialties Sesame Teriyaki Fresh Noodle Bowl

Today's ramen review is going to be a bit different, because Asia Specialties Sesame Teriyaki Fresh Noodle Bowl doesn't start off as a dried product but rather as a "fresh" noodle. Unfortunately, "fresh" doesn't necessarily mean "better." Or even "good."

Ease of Preparation: 3/10

First, open the vegetable packet and dump it into the bottom of the provided bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of water, then open the noodle package and top the veggies with the noodles. Then open the sauce pack, top the noodles with the sauce, microwave for 2 minutes, stir, sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds, and enjoy. More steps than usual for ramen, but that isn't really the problem. The sauce packet is filled with thick, sticky sauce and it doesn't rip open evenly. I ended up with sauce on the edge of the bowl and all over my fingers. Messy.

Vegetable Packet: 2/10

Stingy. Even the cheapest standard Cup Noodles have a more generous veggie packet. This one contains green onions, a few bits of carrot, and a few tiny pieces of bell pepper. They got totally lost in the noodles.

Seasoning: 5/10

The sesame seeds lent a bit of nutty flavor, but the seasoning was almost exclusively found in the sauce packet - a thick, gummy drool of soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and water.

Taste: 2/10

The heavy, overpowering sauce had more in common with a teriyaki glaze than with a true noodle sauce; it clung to the tough noodles and caused them to clump disgustingly. Vinegary sharpness was completely out of balance with the salty/sweet quasi-teriyaki notes, and the overall effect was like trying to eat some kind of bizarre candy-coated bundle of ropes.

Overall: 2/10 - Not Recommended

The worst noodles I've ever had, doubly disappointing because they're an ALDI house brand (the first ALDI product I've ever actively disliked.)

I hope the other Asia Specialties noodles are better than this, because I have two other flavors yet to review.

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The Greatest Bank in the Connecticut River Valley

If Simsbury Bank had a branch closer to my house, I would move all of my banking to them. Any bank that chooses a steaming bowl of ramen noodles as their logo is A-OK in my book.

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Nissin Instant Yakisoba

Whenever I go to my local Asian grocery store, the first place I go to is the back corner. It's a thirty-foot by thirty-foot square dedicated to nothing but different kinds of ramen and other instant noodles. The last time I was there, they were busy renovating the area, but one thing did catch my eye as I was rummaging through the vast quantities of noodles: a five pack bag of Nissin Instant Yakisoba noodles. I couldn't resist: I had to buy a bag and taste them immediately.

I quickly learned that Nissin's Yakisoba ramen isn't your typical instant-noodle treat. To start, it's not as overbearingly salty as most other ramen; it's actually a little sweet, with a well-rounded group of flavors instead of just one or two noticable ones. Second of all, and probably most importantly, instead of being boiled for a few minutes in a pot, it's boiled in a small pan and finished by stir-frying, giving an old classic a new twist.


Unlike most of the other ramen I buy there, this was entirely in Japanese, so I really had to stumble my way through making it. 220 mL (slightly less than a cup) of water goes into a small frying pan, and as soon as it comes to a boil, the noodles and sauce packet go in. The sauce powder, upon a preliminary sniff, smelled heavily of soy, but not much else.

As it cooked, I followed one of the diagrams on the back of the package and pulled the noodles apart with a fork, stirring it every now and then to make sure everything cooked evenly. As the soupy sauce started to thicken, it started to gain a nicer, sweeter smell as well, and when it had thickened enough that it was no longer waterlike in consistency, I pulled it off the heat and got ready to enjoy my yakisoba.

In addition to the sauce packet, the package came with an additional, smaller packet of finely crushed green seaweed that was supposed to be sprinkled on top, but I decided to hold off on that for the time being.

The noodles (sans seaweed) had a full, rounded out flavor that contained hosin sauce, soy sauce, five spice powder (the cinnamon and star anise were especially noticeable, but not overpoweringly so,) and ginger. Every flavor complimented one another without it being either too salty nor too sweet, and the touch of ginger added just a hint of spicy to the mix. All in all, they were very, very good.

...but then I added the seaweed. The little bit of seaweed in the pouch made the entire dish taste very grassy and vaguely like low tide; it singlehandedly knocked out the other flavors, much to my disappointment. But had it not been for that, it would have been very good. Next time I'll make sure to leave the seaweed out.

Ramen Review 11: Nissin Chicken Ramen - Imported

Nearly all the ramen I've reviewed so far has been pretty simple fare - instant noodles, seasoning packet, boiling water. This one is different. It's possible, of course, to just add boiling water and enjoy the noodles, but to be at it's best, a little more effort is required.

The "serving suggestion" on the front of the label shows the ramen served with a sunny-side up egg on top. The package instructions show how to prepare the noodles both with and without an egg.

Ease of Preparation: 4/10
There's a bit more to this than just adding boiling water. The ramen is round to fit a bowl and has a round indentation on the top to hold a raw egg. The egg is cracked into the depression and boiling water is added to just come up to the top of the noodles. Then the bowl is covered with plastic wrap, supposedly to steam for three minutes and poach the egg. That doesn't actually work, though - there just isn't enough residual heat once the water is in the bowl to cook the egg. Using a sharp knife, we made a small hole in the membrane covering the egg yolk, replace the plastic film over the bowl, and microwaved the bowl for about a minute and a half. The result was a perfectly cooked egg atop perfectly cooked chicken-flavored ramen noodles.

Vegetable Packet: N/A - No vegetable packet is provided.

Seasoning: 10/10
Nissin ramen has always had one of the best chicken flavors anywhere. In this case, it's not in the form of a packet, but already incorporated into the ramen. For added flavor, the ramen is also toasted.

Taste: 10/10
To serve, we stirred the cooked egg into the ramen and enjoyed the noodles. They were excellent. The egg added an additional flavor layer to the bowl and added textural interest. The toasted noodles cooked up al dente and delicious, and provided a chickeny broth at the bottom of the bowl. Overall an excellent bowl of noodles for lunch.

Overall: 9/10 - Recommended

Ramen Review 10: Instant Noodle King - Wonton Soup Flavor

This is a brand of noodle cup sold at Asian markets in the area. It's slightly bigger than Nissin's Cup Noodles, but smaller than the Nissin Souper Meal. I bought it in several flavors, which I'll be reviewing over the next few weeks.

Ease of Preparation: 10/10. Very simple - add the contents of the enclosed veggie, seasoning, and oil packets, add water, allow to sit three minutes, stir, and enjoy. The snap-fit cap is very nice because it allows the contents to steam without having to fiddle with an ill-fitting foil cover.

Vegetable Packet: 9/10 Cabbage, wakame seaweed, corn, and chives. The wakame was a nice touch - its subtle sweetness rounded out the flavor of the broth and made this ramen one of the best-tasting I've had.

Seasoning Packet: 9/10 I admit I wasn't sure I was going to like this stuff when I first opened the seasoning packet. It contains powdered fish, and the smell was strong. Really strong. Almost disgustingly strong, in fact. But after the boiling water was poured on and the flavors of everything were allowed to meld, the strong and almost unpleasant fishiness was replaced by a very subtle and delicious prawny flavor with veggie accents from the wakame and chives.

Taste: 10/10 Excellent, as I noted above. I should also add that the noodles in this cup are delicately thin, yet nicely al dente and toothsome.

Spiciness: N/A This is not marketed as a spicy ramen.

Overall: 9/10 Recommended.

Ramen Review 9: Nissin Chow Mein Kung Pao Chicken Flavor

Nissen Chow Mein, Kung Pao Flavor.

Ease of Preparation: 6/10.
Add water and contents of vegetable packets to the bowl; cover and microwave for six minutes; stir in contents of seasoning packet and "liquid" packet; let stand 1 minute before serving. Like the beef flavor I reviewed earlier, this gets a couple points off for the six-minute microwaving time and the very flimsy bowl that needed the support of a plate underneath it in order to be removed from the microwave after heating.

Vegetable packet: 8/10
Onions, green onions, carrot, shiitake mushrooms, small bits of meat-like TVP, rather nice chunk of dried red chile pepper (hot!). This flavor also came with a small pouch of chopped nuts and a third pouch containing hoisin sauce and a small amount of hot chile oil.

Taste: 7/10
Tasty but not exceptional. The nuts were virtually indetectable in the final product and really added nothing to the flavor, which was predominately hoisin saucy with some mushroom backnotes. The texture was decent thanks to the occasional lumps of TVP.

Spiciness: 7/10
Nice background heat from beginning to end with frequent explosions of FIRE provided by the generous chunks of birdseye pepper. Made my nose run! Won't be hot enough for hard-core chiliheads but it was good enough for me.

Overall rating: 8/10 - Recommended.

Relevant links:
Nissin Home Page
Nissin Chow Mein Kung Pao Chicken Flavor Nutrition Facts (at www.thedailyplate.com)

Ramen Review 8: Nissin Cup Noodles Premium Homestyle Chicken

There's a new look in the ramen aisle: Elegant and sophisticated, black and white trimmed with red and gold. It's Nissin's new Cup Noodles Premium. The packaging is gorgeous, and the price is 50% higher than standard Cup Noodles. Is it worth it?

Ease of Preparation: 10/10
Like all Cup Noodles, all one needs do is peel back the paper lid a bit, fill to the line with boiling water, and wait three minutes.

Vegetable Packet: N/A
Cup noodles have the veggies already in the cup, so there's no packet. And though standard Cup Noodles varieties are generally pretty sparse with the veg, the Premium variety is loaded. There are lots of carrots, corn kernels, leeks, and mushrooms, and there's also a pretty decent amount of dehydrated chicken pieces as well. Outstanding.

Seasoning Packet: N/A
Like the vegetables, the seasoning is already in the cup.

Taste: 9/10
The flavor was nearly identical to Nissin's standard chicken flavored Cup Noodles - in other words, delicious - but it had a richer chicken flavor. Every forkful of noodles brought a generous portion of vegetables and a few bits of chicken meat with it. This ramen really does deserve the "Premium" label.

Spiciness: 0/10
This isn't marketed as a spicy ramen.

Overall: 9/10
Highly recommend.

Ramen Review 7: Nissin Cup Noodles with Shrimp

Ease of Preparation: 10/10
There can't be anything simpler than "Pour in boiling water."

Vegetable Packet: N/A
Vegetables and seasonings are already mingled in the cup with no need to add them separately. Cup Noodles are notorious for not having very generous vegetable additions, but this cup had a few peas, kernels of corn, and tiny dehydrated shrimps.

Seasoning Packet: N/A
Like the vegetables, the seasoning was already in the cup.

Taste: 9/10
Standard delicious Nissin ramen broth, but with subtle hints of seafood. I haven't yet found a Cup Noodles broth that wasn't completely awesome.

Spiciness: 0/10 - this isn't marketed as a spicy ramen.

Overall: 9/10 - Recommended

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Ramen Review 6: Nissin Tokyo Shoyu Flavor (Imported)

Ease of Preparation: 8/10

Place noodles, soup base, and veggies into the bowl; add boiling water and allow to stand 5 minutes, covered. Uncover, stir in seasoning packet, and enjoy.

Vegetable Packet: 5/10
Shredded nori. Although quite delicious, it would have been better with a sprinkling of minced scallion.

Seasoning Packets: 10/10
The soup base - chicken, seafood, and pork flavors in a well-balanced and delicious blend - is excellent. A second packet contained a bit of soy sauce and some chicken-flavored vegetable oil. There was just enough seasoning to give a rich, deep flavor to the soup that was very satisfying.

Taste: 10/10
Marvelous. The soy sauce was not at all overwhelming.

Spiciness: 0/10 - This is not marketed as a spicy ramen.

Overall: 9/10 - Recommended.

Ramen Review 5: Nissin Seafood Flavor Ramen (Imported)

In the United States, Nissin is the company that brings us the "Top Ramen" and new "Choice Ramen" brands. If you're lucky enough to have an Asian supermarket nearby, though, you'll find that they also produce a huge line of other ramen flavors that never make it to mainstream grocery stores in the States. This seafood flavor variety is one example.

Ease of Preparation: 8/10

Drop it in a bowl, add the soup base and boiling water, cover, and allow to stand for about 5 minutes. Or, cook in a microwave for 3 minutes and allow to stand for a couple of minutes before eating.

Vegetable Packet: Not included.

Seasoning Packet: 8/10

The seafood-flavor soup base that comes with the ramen is, like most other ramen soup bases, primarily salt and MSG. But there is also a rich and delicious seafood flavor that is hard to describe - it is reminiscent of clams, crab, squid, and scallops and yet unlike any of these.

Taste: 8/10

Elusive seafood umami = WIN

Spiciness: 0/10 - This is not marketed as a spicy ramen.

Overall: 8/10 - Delicious.

Links:

Nissin Foods US website

Nissin Foods Japanese corporate website (English language)

Ramen Review 4: Fashion Food Oriental Flavor Instant Noodles

Ease of Preparation: 9/10

This ramen comes with it's own bowl and lid; just pop off the shrinkwrap, empty the packets inside into the bowl with the noodles, and pour in boiling water to the fill line. Cover, let it sit for 3 minutes, and it's ready to eat.

Vegetable packet: 1/10

Skimpy little cellophane pouch with a miserly few bits of dehydrated spring onion tops, some of which were faded and yellowed.

Seasoning packets: 9/10

The main seasoning packet is little more than salt, pepper, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, and MSG, but it makes for one of the most delicious instant soup bases ever. There is also a palm oil pouch for a touch of fat, and a small envelope of ground hot chiles.

Taste: 8/10

The dark tan noodles are a little coarser than fine Japanese ramen, but the umami-filled broth makes up for it.

Spiciness: 6/10

Medium-level heat. Fans of really spicy ramen will want to add additional chile pepper.

Overall: 8/10. Recommended. This is one of my favorite ramen. Fashion Foods gets bonus points for including a small plastic fork inside the bowl, and for the lidded bowl itself, which is great for keeping at work and reusing for other ramen that doesn't come with its own container.

Related Link:
Fashion Food's Website (English Language page)

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Ramen Review 3 - Mama Whole Wheat Ramen, Pork With Black Pepper

Ease of Preparation: 9/10.
Empty the seasoning packets into a bowl, add noodles, pour on about 2 cups of boiling water, and cover for three minutes. Lift the cover, stir, and serve. As easy as it gets.

Vegetable packet: None.

Seasoning packets: 7/10
There were three packets. Pork flavored broth envelope with powdered black pepper; a palm oil packet with some thickeners, more finely ground black pepper, and salt; and a small chili pepper packet that was pretty wonderful all on its own with roughly ground smoky chili peppers, fairly hot but richly flavorful.

Taste: 7/10
The broth had loads of umami, thanks to the salt and MSG in the packets, but was much more artificial tasting than even cheap Maggi pork bouillon cubes. Still, the fruity aroma and sharp bite of freshly ground pepper made up for the pork's shortcomings, and even better was the way in which the black pepper and the dried ground chile pepper accented and intensified each others' heat.

Spiciness: 8/10
Good burn, not so hot as to be uncomfortable but several notches above what Western food companies call "spicy."

Overall Rating: 7/10 - Recommended.

Links:
Thai President Foods Public Company Ltd.

Ramen Review 2 - Nissin Cup Noodles Souper Meal, Chicken

Nissin Cup Noodles Souper Meal, Chicken Flavor with Vegetable Medley

Ease of Preparation: 8/10
Add water, contents of vegetable packet, and soup flavoring; cover and microwave for five minutes; stir in flavor enhancer packet; allow to stand two minutes before serving. Roomy and sturdy paper bowl required no extra support to remove from microwave.

Vegetable Packet: 8/10
Fairly standard packet with cabbage, carrot, corn, onion, mushroom, parsley, and little chunks of TVP. There was a generous amount, though, and the mushroom and onion pieces were nice and big.

Taste: 8/10
Rich and enjoyable chicken flavor broth is tasty and satisfying, though not quite as good as Lipton Cup-A-Soup (which is the gold standard for powdered chicken broths in my opinion.) This Souper Meal also includes an envelope labeled "Flavor Enhancer" which is meant to be stirred in just before serving. In the past, I've found that I don't really enjoy the soup as much with this oil packet stirred in (it tastes like slightly rancid sesame oil and I found that it didn't do much "enhancing.")

Spiciness: 0/10
This is not marketed as a spicy ramen, so no points will be deducted for this zero score.

Overall rating: 8/10 when prepared without Flavor Enhancer. Recommended.


Relevant links:
Nissin Home Page
Nissin Souper Meal Nutrition Facts (from www.thedailyplate.com)

Ramen Review 1 - Nissin Chow Mein, Teriyaki Beef Flavor

This blog entry introduces a new semi-regular feature to Dave's Cupboard: Ramen Reviews. I've loved ramen noodles ever since I was a kid. They're cheap, flavorful, and filling, and they're available in a huge number of varieties! Although I'm starting off with a relatively common Nissin Chow Mein bowl today, expect to find some more unusual flavors and noodle styles as I rustle through the ramen aisle of my local Asian groceries in search of less familiar fare.

Nissen Chow Mein, Teriyaki Beef Flavor.

Ease of Preparation: 6/10.

Add water and contents of vegetable packets to the bowl; cover and microwave for six minutes; stir in contents of seasoning packet and oil packet; let stand 1 minute before serving. Easy, I know, but points off for the six-minute microwaving time and a very flimsy bowl that needed the support of a plate underneath it in order to be removed from the microwave after heating.

Vegetable packet: 8/10

Onions, green onions, carrot, shiitake mushrooms, small bits of meat-like TVP.

Taste: 9/10

The delicious "teriyaki flavor" was more like a combination of teriyaki and hoisin sauce and reminded me of Moo Shu. The shiitake mushrooms, besides being a rare treat, added a richer depth of flavor, and the bits of TVP scattered here and there were tasty and added some textural variety as well (though you'd never in a million years mistake them for beef!) Although a touch on the sweet side despite the addition of vinegar powder, it should be noted that the flavoring packet now has sucralose as a sweetener rather than the glucose it once contained.

Spiciness: 0/10

This was not a spicy ramen, but because it isn't marketed as spicy, no points will be deducted from the final score.

Overall rating: 8/10 - Recommended.

Relevant links:
Nissin Home Page
Nissin Chow Mein Teriyaki Beef Flavor Nutrition Facts (at www.thedailyplate.com)