Payless Pancit Canton Xtra Big Extra Hot Flavor!

Country of origin: Philippines
Bought at Sunrise Market in Knoxville, TN

I was a little leery about trying something from a brand called Payless... brings back memories of Econo-Save from The Simpsons. It really is xtra big, weighing in at 130g which is bigger than even a Samyang block and therefore the biggest packa ramen I've ever reviewed. It also lives up to the name Payless because it only cost about 50 cents despite being such a big messa noodles. My job is to see if it lives up to the other claim on the package, EXTRA HOT! I've eaten two other pancit canton noodles (which basically just means "Cantonese noodles") and both were pretty good. I like that they aren't a soup but a bowl of noodles which is nice for a change of pace and also because I tend to really like ramen that isn't a soup. So here goes nothin!

Giant ass noodle block with three packs of stuff. The soup base smells kinda spicy but not much else, then there's soy sauce and some white pasty stuff which has a smell like Chinese food. You know that Chinese food smell. Yep, that one. It said on the pack to cook it for three minutes but I ended up cooking them for four to get them about where I like them. The package also exclaims proudly that these are "Now firmer noodles!" Good to know.

So here we are. It certainly is a lot of noodles. If it doesn't look like a ton that's cause these are in a really, really big bowl. My regular ramen bowl was in the dishwasher so I made do with what I could find. Anyhow, these have a good amount of taste to them and are definitely not plain by any means, but spicy? Not really. There is a little bit of spice here but I would not even come close to calling them spicy. My only other complaint is that the white pasty stuff didn't seem to want to mix in with the other ingredients, and I bit in to a chunk of it while I was eating them which was not pleasant. Overall, however, I liked these. They had a pleasant almost Chinese lo mein feel about them only with ramen noodles. If you can get the stuff mixed up well enough they taste very good and I would definitely eat these again when I'm hungry, hence the large amount of noodles which isn't seen too terribly often in a noodle pack that isn't a soup. I'm giving these an 8/10.

Shin Hsin Fa Sparerib Flavor Noodles

Country of origin: Taiwan
Bought at Sunrise Market in Knoxville, TN

Spare rib flavor noodles? You gotta be kiddin me. At least that's what I thought when I saw these. The company that makes these is a fairly big Taiwanese noodle producer from what I gather... just about everything I can find about them is in Chinese or takes me to a link for the Taiwanese Nationalist Liberation Party. But I digress. What I'm trying to say here is that the store I bought these from had a bunch of different flavors and I picked a few up. I thought spare rib flavor sounded pretty interesting and potentially either pretty good or incredibly nasty so here goes nothin'!

Regular ol' noodle block with a pack of grease and a pack of soup base. It smells really beefy with kind of a smoky smell also... reminiscent of barbecue? Hmmm...

It's a bowl of greasy goodness. The oil in the pack is some seriously greasy stuff. They look pretty dang plain from up here, which kind of adds to the creepiness of the simulated barbecue taste and smell. They obviously went to some trouble to try and make this stuff taste somewhat like spare ribs, and don't get me wrong, it falls short of really tasting like them which is what I expected... but it gets closer than I thought it would. These have a pleasant smoky beefy bbq smell and taste about like they smell, as in nothing what I would expect them to taste like based on how they look. Overall, they're not bad. Do they taste like spare ribs? No. Do they taste good enough to eat? Yeah, I'd say so. They're not spectacular, but when ramen makers try to make a unique flavor like this I don't judge too harshly. I know it's not going to taste like what it says it will and take that into consideration. That being said I'm giving these a 6/10. I wanted to give them a 7 but it just wasn't that good. Good enough to eat, but not good enough to write home about.

*SEMI NON REVIEW RELATED NOTE*: I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I'm very, very tired so I realize I rambled some there in that post. I'm going to bed. :)

Nissin Demae Five Spice Beef Flavor Ramen

Country of origin: Hong Kong
Bought at Sunrise Market in Knoxville, TN

Yeah, Knoxville. We took a short trip to Gatlinburg last week (which was a ton of fun, thanks for asking) and on the way back we stopped in Knoxville to eat at Steak N Shake. It's a crying shame that we don't have them here in Birmingham... the closest one is in Huntsville. So while we're eating I used my wife's phone to locate a nearby Asian store. There was one just a few miles away called Sunrise Market that people had said good things about so we went there and I was not disappointed! It was a very cool store, very clean and very big. So many different types of tea and other items I had never seen before. Needless to say I stocked up on some noodles that I had never encountered and you'll be reading about those soon as well. If you're in the Knoxville area definitely stop by that place! It's da bomb!
So yeah, I picked up a lot of noodles I hadn't seen at any of the places around town and this was one of 'em. I haven't found a store yet around here that has any varieties of Nissin Demae noodles and  I had only tried the curry flavor ones before these so this is kind of back to basics. It's beef flavor, but according to the package there are FIVE FLAVORS OF MYSTERY! Actually not so mysterious since they are listed in the ingredients. They are cloves, anise, star anise (there's a difference?), fennel, and cinnamon. If you ask me this one has some of the most interesting ingredients I've ever seen, like cocoa powder... as well as natural onion flavor, natural tomato flavor, but artificial beef flavor. Strikes me as a little weird... but anyway on to the noodles.

It's a 100g noodle block so there's a good quantity of noodles and two Taco Bell-ish looking seasoning packs. The soup base has a gingery and garlicy smell and the oil is clear which I find kind of strange after reading the list of stuff it contains. Let's cook this bad boy.

So there ya go. I cooked it for four minutes and the consistency of the noodles was just like I like it. Gotta hand it to Nissin, their products always have good noodles in them. This one is very unique tasting... you can definitely taste the cinnamon, cloves, ginger and beef flavor all at once. It's kinda like someone just threw all those ingredients I talked about into a blender and hit puree. That being said these actually taste pretty good to me. This is one of the ramens that tastes better after the first few bites... it kind of takes your taster a little bit to get used to the flavor concoction. These are definitely a must try. I'm giving them a solid 8/10.

Ve Wong Soybean Paste Flavor

Country of origin: Taiwan
Bought at Super Oriental Market

Ah, miso. Insert Full Metal Jacket joke here. For those who don't know, miso is a soybean paste based soup which is very popular in Asian countries. It's often eaten as a kind of appetizer before a main course but can be eaten on its own also. It comes in a variety of flavors and levels of heat. Let's check this one out.

It's a super curly noodle block with a packa seasoning and a pack of disgusting looking goop. The seasoning has green onions in it and the goop is disgusting looking. But I digress.

So here we go. It's a very very dark colored soup and is kinda thick in consistency also. It tastes pretty good despite the greasy, thick soup. The noodles soak up a good amount of the soup which helps this one out. Not bad overall. I'm giving it a 7/10.

Just a quick note...

Look at this crap. I didn't take this picture... I found it in a Google image search. I'm tempted to try it myself with a ridiculously sharp knife and a cup of Maruchan. We as Americans need to get our 28 cents worth when we buy ramen in a cup. Screw those jerks!

On another note, this is officially my 51st post. Keep on ramening!

Ohsung Hong Ramyun Hot & Spicy

Country of origin: Korea
Bought at Super H Mart in Atlanta, GA

Mmmm... noodle soup with soy peptide. Sounds delicious. I can't find much mention of these noodles or the company that makes them anywhere on the web. Just a few online stores that sell 'em. No worries, though. Spicy ramen sounds good. Some noodle makers have a different definition of "hot" than I do, so let's see how these measure up.

Samyang size big noodle block with two very festive looking packs of stuff. The veggie pack has a lot of veggies including some decent size pieces of mushroom, carrots, tons of green onions and some weird thingies that are ambiguous. You'll see what I mean in a sec.

Ok, first things first. What the hell is that kinda round thing on the left side of the bowl? There were several of these in here and I can't figure out what they are. I can clearly pick out all the other veggies, but these things are creeping me out. I ate one and it had no taste whatsoever, and a nasty consistency. Styrofoam maybe? Other than that the soup isn't bad, but it isn't great either. It is somewhat spicy, though still not as spicy as Shin Ramyun, still the record holder for now for spiciest ramen. The only problem is that it just doesn't... taste good. I was trying to think of a better way to say it, but sometimes it's best to be frank huh? Not terrible, just not good. Good level of spice, but no other taste is present. I'm giving it points for the spice and mushrooms, but taking points away for plainness and creepy unknown (possible) vegetables. 6/10.

Ve Wong Pork & Chicken Flavor

Country of origin: Taiwan
Bought at Super Oriental Market for 49c

Pork and chicken flavor. Kinda like pork and beans? Not really. At least hopefully not. Could be good though, now that I think about it. A lot of things are made from pork and chicken anyway. Hot dogs, vienna sausage, other kindsa sausage, dog food. So yeah. Could be good. Let's check it out.

Standard looking if not extra curly noodle block with a bigass silver pack that contains soup base and veggies and a pack of disgusting looking goop. Scrumdiddlyumptious!

Whenever a ramen contains a pack of goop like that it's going to be greasy, and this one is no exception. You can see the grease sitting on top of the soup. This one actually tastes pretty good to me. There's a lot of veggies, mostly green onions but there's some cabbage and carrots in there too. There's also a lot of spices going on here. It's not hot by any means, but it is very "tasty" if you get what I'm sayin. There's a lot of stuff to taste here. To me it doesn't really taste like either chicken or pork, but it is pretty good. Ve Wong noodles tend to be either pretty good or just not good... I'd definitely eat these again. For sure one of the better offerings from Ve Wong. Doesn't taste as advertised, but that's possibly a good thing. As with some other Ve Wongs this one suffered on the noodle quality. They were good enough but didn't have a pleasant texture to me like Samyang or Nongshim noodles do. Better noodles would have gotten this one an 8, but they aren't better, so I'm giving it a solid 7/10.

Lucky Me! Beef Flavor Ramen

Country of origin: Philippines
Bought at Super Oriental Market for 49c

This is one left over from my first batch of noodles that I bought back in September that I just never got around to reviewing. When you have so many unique ramens to try a standard beef flavor one doesn't seem all that exciting. I needed a snack last night and since Lucky Me! noodles are snack size I figured I'd give this one a shot. Mmmm.... beefy.

Standard pint size noodle block and one packa stuff. It's pretty nondescript.

Note to self: try to use a ceramic bowl instead of a plastic one if you plan on trying to take said bowl out of the microwave immediately after cooking. I burned the bajeezus out of a couple of my fingers taking this one out of the microwave. I'll live... thanks for your concern. So anyway, the stuff looks, smells, and tastes like beef Top Ramen. They could be twins, except this one is the midget twin. It really is like a snack size beef Top Ramen, so I'm giving it the same score I'd give Top Ramen, 5/10. Not bad, but nothing special to speak of.

Somethin' I Found....

Ah, so true.

Samyang Hot Beef Flavor Ramen

Country of origin: Korea
Bought at Tokyo Asian Food in Hoover, AL for 99c

This may be the only variety of Samyang I haven't tried. Not sure. They may have a lot of less common flavors lurking out there somewhere in the ramen world. As I've said before, Samyang makes some of the best noodles I've ever had so my expectations of these are kinda high. That, coupled with these being a hot & spicy flavor which I also like. Here we go!

The very colorful if not patriotic looking pack of stuff with other packs of stuff. As with other Samyangs there's a pack of SOUP and pack of FLAKE. The FLAKE is the usual stuff, carrots, green onions and a few very small pieces of mushroom. The SOUP smells like paprika and chili powder, which combined is probably 90% of its makeup. Gotta say I really like the bright colors here. Looks spiffy.

So here's what I ended up with. The noodles themselves are just what I would expect and just as good as other Samyang ramens, meaning they are very good quality. There's a decent amount of veggies in the veggie pack even though it is mostly green onions (there's a little bit of cabbage in there too). This one tastes more like the kimchi ramen than a beef ramen. It's a little bit spicier than the kimchi but not much. This one would probably be spicy to people who aren't used to eating spicy food but to me it ranks a "meh" on the spiceometer. "Meh" is about a notch and a half above "not spicy at dang all." Shin Ramyun still holds the gold medal for pure spiciness in terms of heat. So, overall not bad by any means, just not as spicy as advertised. Still a good bowl o' ramen. I would've given this one an 8/10 but I'm deducting a point for semi-false advertising. 7/10.

Ve Wong Kung-Fu Sesame Chicken Bowl

Country of origin: Taiwan
Bought at Super Oriental Market for 89¢

So I found a bowl version of the ramen that was my very first review. I recall that I didn't like it a whole lot also. Maybe I judged it too harshly, though so I'll give it a shot in bowl form.

Here's whatcha get in the bowl. Just like the pack form it's got a pack of sesame oil and soup base with some bowl shaped noodles. Let me just say after all my ramen experience that I still think the oil in this soup is like motor oil. It's a bitch to get off your hands and just has a really oily, greasy texture and feeling. Here goes!

Here's another pic of the bowl so y'all can kinda gauge the size of the bowl. It's a decent size. I'd say this pack has about the same amount of noodles you get in the pack.

So here's the finished product. Looks pretty standard. Tastes exactly like I remember, too. I really wanted to like this one because sesame chicken ramen just SOUNDS so good. The truth is, it's mediocre at best. The sesame oil in this one gives it a strange flavor. It doesn't taste bad, and it may just be me, but it kind of has a burnt smell and flavor to it that I remember from before. Like someone burnt the noodles that you are eating. That's the best way I can describe it. So all in all, it's not bad, but not good either. I'm sticking with my original 6/10. The bowl stuff is exactly the same as the package stuff. Just not that great.

Nongshim Kimchi Ramen

Country of origin: Made in USA. At one time it was probably made in Korea, but now it's in Rancho Cucamonga! Kinda gives you a warm fuzzy just saying that.
Bought at Korean Market in Homewood, AL for 89¢

Okay so sue me. I love kimchi ramen. It's some seriously good stuff! Part of me doesn't even know why I'm reviewing this one because I've already eaten the Nongshim kimchi stuff in two different bowls. Some people say the pack ramen is better than the bowl ramen though, so I'll give it a shot and see.

It's got the cool looking round noodle block like Shin Ramyun and two packs of stuff. The veggie pack has a lot of vegetables and it has what you would expect from kimchi ramen: cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, green onions, etc. The soup base pack is a good size and smells deliciously spicy. I think this one is gonna be good.

Looks good right? I think so too. And it is! I still think I like the Samyang kimchi ramen better than this one, but this one is still pretty good. It's got about the level of spice I expect from kimchi ramen, and it's got a decent amount of veggies. Not a bad amount of mushrooms either, something you don't see in instant ramen too often. I may end up doing another faceoff post with this one and the Samyang eventually. All in all these are really good and I'm going to give them an 8/10.

Assi Pho Vietnamese Noodle Soup

GRAAARRRRGHHH! Damn Blogger site won't let me turn that pic the right way. Oh well. You get the idea.

Country of origin: Korea
Bought at Tokyo Asian Food in Hoover, AL for $1.99

So y'all know that I loves me a big steamin' bowl o' pho. How 'bout a big steamin' tray? This one definitely scores points with the packaging. The soup on the package looks tasty and there's even a hot cartoon Korean girl. Maybe she's giving that wink because she's a secret North Korean agent? Hmm...

Anyway, here's what you get in the package. A big pack of soup base and a not so big pack of unsettling, nasty looking brown goop. Oh yeah, there's some noodles too. Basically you just mix everything together with some boiling water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Here we go!

Ok, this is starting to piss me off. I wanted this pic to be sideways but it comes out this way. What the hell is Blogger's problem? But I digress. The soup is really just ok. It only vaguely tastes like pho and smells disgusting. The noodles are very, very thin and do not have a good texture. After it sits like this for about 5 minutes there will be hardly any soup left because the noodles will have soaked it all up. That would be alright if it made them taste better, but it doesn't. This is a pho impostor at best. I'm giving it a 3/10 for the packaging and it not being completely disgusting, but not good either. By the way, does the soup that I ended up with look anything remotely like the picture on the package? Didn't think so.