Ve Wong Kung-Fu Chicken Flavor Ramen

Country of origin: Taiwan
Bought at Super Oriental Market

So it's been ANOTHER while, but suffice to say my life has been a little crazy recently. Nevertheless, here I am with another ramen review! This one's another Kung Fu ramen, which is still quite possibly one of the coolest names for ramen I could imagine. The giant orange chicken on the package wins this one points for cool packaging, so let's see how this one measures up. Honestly I'm expecting a pretty average chicken ramen.

Pretty standard so far. One seasoning pack and some very tightly packed noodles. Check out that noodle density! Let's see how these come out.

I cooked them on the stove just cause that's my preferred way to cook noodles. The noodles soaked up a lot of the soup pretty quickly and I wasn't very impressed with the quality or taste of these. The noodles are very droopy and the soup has this strange sort of sweet taste to it that while not overpowering just feels like it doesn't belong. Overall, these have a cool name and good packaging, but there are a lot of better chicken ramens out there. Go for something better in this case. 4/10.

Indomie Mi Goreng Rendang

Country of Origin: Indonesia
Bought at Super Oriental Market

Yay for new stuff from Indomie! Indomie noodles are probably my overall favorite and are just about always very, very good. I admit I had no idea what rendang is, so like anyone else in this day and age when I don't know what something is I ask the internet. According to Wikipedia, rendang is an Indonesian spicy meat dish, traditionally served to honor guests or on special occasions. Sounds good!

Just like other Indomie noodles, you get a LOT of stuff with them! Chili powder, bumbu spice, a seasoning oil, soy sauce, and fried onions. Hells yeah. I cooked the noodles in a pot for about four minutes and mixed it all up. Here's what I got:

These noodles are da bomb! The original Mi Goreng noodles are still my favorite of these, but these are very tasty with hints of coconut and curry with a decent amount of spice! Reminds me of Thai food I've eaten like Masaman Beef (coconut sauce) or similar. Be sure and check these out, you won't be disappointed. 8/10.

WaiWai Casserole Beef Flavour Noodles

Country of Origin:  Thailand
Bought at Super Oriental Market


So the first thing I'm noticing about these is that sticker on the package below where it says "casserole," which I'll discuss in a moment. What's under that damn sticker?

WTF?? Was that really necessary? A lot of ramen I eat has a nutrition label slapped on the back which I completely understand, but I wonder why they felt they needed to put that on there? Hmm...

So here's the content of the package. The white stuff is coconut oil and there's a decent smelling spice pack. Before we cook, take a look at this:

Four different languages! Truly international ramen.

So I ended up with some basic looking stuff. Why is this called a casserole? Just to make sure I didn't have some kind of mistaken view, I looked up the world casserole in the dictionary. A casserole is defined as "a baking dish of glass, pottery, etc., usually with a cover." or "any food, usually a mixture, cooked in such a dish." Any food? Well I guess then you could call anything a casserole, as long as it's edible. So how are these?

They taste okay with a pretty standard beef flavor, but I am not digging the quality of the noodles. I cooked them almost twice as long as the package said and they still had that chewy, not quite done consistency. I'm giving these a 4/10.

Payless Pancit Canton Original

Country of origin: Philippines
Bought at Super Oriental Market

I reviewed the Payless Xtra Big noodles a while back and they were pretty damn good, and a shitload of noodles on top of that. So here's their original pancit canton. Now I originally thought 70 grams is not big but then I realize that that's compared with the other Filipino noodle company Lucky Me, whose noodles are usually about 55g which is not a lot of noodles. Hence, Payless! Or maybe pay the same price but get more noodles?

So you get a seasoning pack, soy sauce and coconut oil. I usually really like the flavor that the coconut oil gives noodles so I'm expecting these to be pretty good!

So here it is all done. There's really small pieces of carrot and green onion in here but it's hard to see in this pic. As with most of the other Payless noodles I have had these are pretty tasty and didn't disappoint me. The soy sauce, coconut oil and other stuff come together very nicely. My only complaint is the noodles could've stood to be a little more al dente and less stiff, but nobody's perfect. I'm giving these an 8/10.

So what do you do with 1,000 packs of ramen?

Put it on a Slip N Slide! Duh!

Yeah, it's really dumb. But funny. And it does contain a girl in a bikini covered in ramen. Watch, already!

Unif Tung-I Chicken Flavor Ramen

Country of origin: Vietnam
Bought at Super Oriental Market

Time for something a little more mainstream. Unif noodles are usually pretty good and chicken flavor sounds good to me. But before we begin, check out the packaging here. First you have a chicken king or chicken pimp, I can't decide which he looks more like. We'll call him His Majesty Cluck a Duck. Then (harder to notice) is the phrase "kylling smak" which sounds fucking hilarious. I think smak is a word for noodle, but I'm not sure and too tired to look it up. Anyway, let this venture into the world of ramen begin!!

Some funky colored noodles and one whole seasoning pack. I looked at the package but couldn't find any unusual ingredients in the noodles, so that kind of makes me worry a little. But after a few minutes of quiet reflection and prayer I decide to carry on anyway.

So here it is. Looks pretty normal. Some noodles I've reviewed have this strange sickly sweet taste that is completely unexpected and to me just tastes awful. This is one of them. I'm not sure what makes them taste this way, but when I eat chicken flavored ramen I do not want it to be sweet. Too much sugar maybe? These are just flat out not good. Sorry, Chicken ala King. 3/10.

Ve Wong Kung Fu Artificial Onion Flavor Ramen

Country of origin: Vietnam
Bought at Super Oriental Market

It's been a little while since I've eaten any Ve Wong noodles so I decided to give them a try. These are a fairly new flavor and I admit that artificial onion flavor doesn't sound too great, but I'm going to give them a shot anyway. Another ingredient is "artificial pork flavor," so maybe it will taste like something else, too. By the way, I think I'm going to start doing all my package pics this way instead of taking the pic before I open the package, it seems to come out better.

So there's a seasoning pack and a pack of "flavored oil" which kinda looks like minced onion and is more solid than an oil. Time to cook!

I thought a super closeup picture may have been in order. There are a lot of onions in this soup (duh) and... not much else. This is the closest ramen will ever get to tasting like biting into an onion. I hope so anyway. If for some twisted reason you like eating onions by themselves (and I don't mean in tasty situations like onion rings or a bloomin' onion) then try these out, otherwise... onion. That's all there is to say. 4/10.

Crazy Ramen Recipes!!

Check this crap out! Crazy ramen recipes, including grilled ramen (actually cooked on a grill). Check it out

HERE!

Lucky Me! N-Rich with Malunggay (Chicken and Ginger Flavor)

Country of origin: Philippines
Bought at Super Oriental Market

Time for some delicious sounding Filipino noodles with Malunggay! It's chicken and ginger flavor, which just sounds really good to me right now. N-Rich refers to the Malunggay that is in the mix here which for those not in the know (including me until just now) is a plant that grows pods on it that resemble green beans and taste somewhat like asparagus. According to Wikipedia the leaves are widely eaten in the Philippines, and check this out: weight for weight the leaves have the same amount of calcium as four glasses of milk, the vitamin C of SEVEN oranges, the potassium of three bananas, three times the iron of spinach, four times the vitamin A of a carrot, and twice the protein of a comparable amount of milk. Holy crap! That's some kind of superfood. Looking at the ingredients the second ingredient in the spice pack is cane sugar so I'm expecting a somewhat sweet taste. Should go good with the ginger.

It's a 55g noodle block like all the other Lucky Me noodles and a seasoning pack. Seasoning has kind of a sweet and roasted chicken smell which is very pleasant. Let's cook it up!

This stuff is really, really good! All the flavors come together for a chicken and ginger flavor that tastes like Chinese food. You need to get out of here and find some of these. I only wish there were more noodles! A resounding 10/10.

Oh and by the way...

Astro Boy ripoff says it's so easy!! If only everything were this easy...

Sorta sexy ramen advertising...

Mie Sedaap billboard in Indonesia. Why can't we have ads like this here?

Ramen at McDonald's????

No, this isn't some kind of early April Fool's prank. This is for real! Here's a link to an article about it. It's only available in Hawaii, though. I kinda have mixed feelings about it. I mean, it's cool anytime ramen gets more exposure but it's also McDonald's. Also, are people really going to pay three or four dollars for something they can make it home for one?

Yes. Yes they will. Good job, Mickey D's.

Sapporo Ichiban Hot & Spicy Chicken Ramen

Country of origin: USA
Bought at Super Oriental Market

I've never reviewed Sapporo Ichiban noodles and haven't eaten any in a looong time, but when I saw hot and spicy chicken flavor I had to give these a shot. I tend to try and avoid noodles that are made in the USA and stick to more unusual stuff, but it's still ramen and it's still made by a Japanese company. Nongshim noodles are made in California also (at least the ones you buy in the US) and I usually love those so I won't hold that against Sapporo. For those not in the know, "ichiban" is Japanese for "Number One." Let's spice this chicken up!

It's a 100g noodle block so it's a pretty decent amount of noodles. I think all Ichiban noodles have the same size noodle block. I'll be sure and review the other flavors since these are sometimes a "gateway" ramen for people looking to branch out a little more from Maruchan and Top Ramen. There's only one pack of stuff but it smells spicy. I'm tingling with antici....pation.

 

Yeah, kinda like that.

 

So here's the done deal. These are very good, the noodles have a great consistency and the spice level is good for my taste. It may be a little too much for some people but I would definitely eat these again and I'm giving them a 9/10. Can't wait to try other types of these!

 

Vifon Bo Kho (Beef Flavor Oriental Noodles)

Country of origin: Vietnam
Bought at Super Oriental Market

So here's some stuff from Vifon that I'd never seen before. It's hard to see in this picture but there's also French on the package under the yellow text at the bottom. It translates to "Oriental style beef flavor noodles." Evidently a lot of people in Vietnam speak French as a second language due to the earlier French colonial influences. I had no idea. On to the noodles!

Rice noodles with three packs of stuff. Shame it didn't somehow have those meatballs and cilantro and other stuff that it had in the picture... we're gonna steam this one in 400ml (about 2 cups) of water in a bowl. Hey, someone gimme a bowl and some vodka while you're at it.

Thanks! Got a new bowl on my last ramen trip so just showing off. I let these steam for about four or five minutes. Let's see if they're done.

Kinda looks like chicken noodle soup. This one is not bad, but not great either. It's very light on taste, which I wasn't expecting considering the amount of chili powder and other spices in the ingredients. Oh well. If you like rice noodles then you may want to give these a try, otherwise just meh. Meh!! Oh and by the way...

BEST EXPIRATION DATE EVER!!! 5/10.

95 Billion bowls of ramen were eaten in 2011...

Very cool infographic from Foodbeast. Check it out

HERE

Dragonfly Mee-Goreng Dry Ramen Noodles

Country of origin: China
Bought at Super Oriental Market

So now for an actual review! I wouldn't think it would be this way but I am surprised at how few of the different ramens I've eaten come from China. Most are from Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines. We in the US definitely have no shortage of imports from China so maybe there are more out there that I just haven't found yet. Anyway, whenever I see mi goreng or mee goreng on a package I get excited because I love this type of noodles. Let's see how these measure up.

I just felt like making this picture really big. It's a good size noodle block (110g) which is unusual for a mi goreng noodle, which is a big plus here. There's two color coordinated packs of stuff, a seasoning pack and a flavoring sauce with a slight funky smell. I cooked these in a pot for about five minutes (the package recommended three) and the consistency was pretty good. I don't think these are very high quality noodles but not bad either, about Top Ramen quality. Here's what I ended up with:

Looks like a pretty standard noodle bowl. The noodles sort of uncurled a bit more than normal, anyone else notice that? These are actually pretty dang good, they have a sort of beef ramen taste with a strange, sort of sweet taste also and a funky ass aftertaste. A quick check of the fairly short ingredient list reveals pork flavor and caramel! You can actually taste it in here, too. If you like ramen noodles that aren't a soup then you should definitely check these out. The only downside is the funky aftertaste, which I can still taste now even though I ate these about four hours ago. I'm giving these an 8/10.

Interesting stuff from around the intarweb...

So once in a while I like to take a look around the net for some interesting ramen related stuff. Here's what I came up with:

Fucking Taco Flavored Cup Noodles!!!

 Yes, this is real. If I can find them, I will review them in depth. They look incredible. I mean, just when you thought things couldn't get any better, something like this happens and it's just... so great. Someone tell me where I can get these! Or better yet send me some! : ) Here's a link to the website where I found out about these. Opens in a new window, so take a look!

The Cupman

 

It's the Cupman! It's a Japanese (duh) creation in which this little guy hangs on for dear life to your noodle cup and changes color when your noodles have gotten to the perfect degree of doneness. For the busy ramenator.
Here's a Japanese website where you can buy one and see more pics.

Instant Noodle Perfector

 

When I first saw this thing I thought it was some kinda cool device that actually cooked your cup o' noodles, but it doesn't. It's a timer that goes off at that perfect time and a light comes on when your noodles are just right. Nobody wants noodles that are still crunchy or too done, right? The only links I could find to where this wonderous device could actually be bought didn't work, but do some Googling and you should be able to find one.

Ramen Face Protector / Flower Costume

 

 Now there is a young lady who is not going to get noodles or soup anywhere it shouldn't be. Could you imagine anyone actually wearing one of these??

The Ramen Fan

 

Yes, this is also real. I'm not sure if this is something that someone just made or if it's something you can actually buy, but when you're hungry and you have a delicious hot bowl of ramen before you, it's hard to hold back. Never be burned again with the Ramen Fan!! Chopstick included.

The Ramen Fork

The ultimate spork, specifically made for ramen purposes. Someone please tell me where I can get one!!

 

A very special post...

This post is a big thank you to everyone who has ever taken the time to read my blog. It's a lot of fun for me and enables me to have an outlet for writing as well as a source of entertainment. When I started this blog I didn't know where it would go or for how long, and now it's been about two years and I have learned a great deal and eaten a whole hell of a lot of noodles. It's been an amazing journey that I plan to continue for the foreseeable future. That being said I'd like to take some time and thank my readers. Here's a tribute to the top ten countries that are my sources of readers!

10. Singapore

Thanks, Singapore! Singapore has the world's longest life expectancy at 81 years, compared with 78 here in the US. I didn't know until I looked it up that Singapore was part of the United Kingdom until 1963 and from what I have read and seen sounds like a really cool place to visit! 

9. Netherlands

Thanks, Nederlanders! Netherlands literally means "low country" because half of the country is about 1 meter above sea level. I think maybe a trip to Amsterdam is in order to celebrate with my ramen loving friends. I'm afraid if I did go I'd never come back!

8. India

Thanks, India! I know I talked some shit about some noodles from your country, but as I demonstrated recently I'm willing to keep on truckin'! Seriously though, I'm almost ashamed to admit it but the first thing I think about when I think of India is the delicious food. India is the world's largest democracy and a nation of over a billion people. Their national language is English and they call you to collect debts you owe. Just kidding, they do a lot of other stuff, too. Like make delicious food.

7. Germany

Look, I think by not mentioning anything about Nazis I did a good job. Thanks to my German readers! Ramen always goes good with a beer.

6. Indonesia

Thanks, Indonesia! I never knew before I started this blog that Indonesia was such a huge noodle eater! Indomie is made by THE largest noodle producer in the world and also owns a plant in Nigeria that is the largest noodle producer in Africa. Some of my favorite noodles ever come from here and I am happy to have you guys as my readers!

5. Australia

Thanks, Australia! Australia has the second highest standard of living in the world, behind Norway. I've always wanted to go to Australia... maybe one day I will. There's more to it than kangaroos and Crocodile Dundee.

4. United Kingdom

Ramen in the UK! From what I gather ramen is kind of a big deal in the UK. Their national dish is chicken tikka masala, which is very cool. The big brand of ramen there is Pot Noodle, which I haven't been able to locate stateside, but would like to try to see if there's any difference. Much love for the UK!

3. Canada

 

Yes, that is Canadian Club whisky for sale in Japan. I didn't know ramen was a big deal in Canada, but it's good to know that our friendly northern neighbors enjoy a good noodle once in a while as we enjoy their whisky among other things. Thanks, Canadians!!

2. Philippines

Just look at that beach! Oh, man. Special thanks to my readers in the Philippines. You guys make some delicious noodles! The Philippines are also known for very beautiful women and being part of Spain, America, and Japan before becoming independent in 1945.

1. USA! USA!

 

Well, no surprise there. Thanks everyone for reading this post and reading my blog! Keep on ramenatin'!