Video: Ramen and Udon Vending Machine

Man, I wish we had something like this here. Quality doesn't look very good, but the machine looks a little dated and the price is only 300 yen ($3.69). I wonder how it tastes.

Video: Replicating Restaurant Ramen

NHK's Cool Japan showed a video on how it is possible to replicate the high quality tastes of ramen from ramen restaurants for instant noodle packages. The development manager is an interesting chap as he can replicate ramen simply by smelling it, tasting it, and jotting down notes of what he thinks is in it.

Review: Sun Noodle Tonkotsu Ramen

Sun Noodle Tonkotsu Ramen.

Sun Noodle makes one of my favorite instant noodles, Hawaii's Original Saimin. A big reason for it is because of the fresh noodles. The broth is good, but I'm not crazy about it. One of my favorite flavors of traditional Japanese ramen is tonkotsu ramen, so when I saw that Sun Noodle made their own, I had to try it. Will I love it just as much as their saimin? Continue reading to find out.

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Review: Nissin Top Ramen - Chili

Nissin Top Ramen - chili.

My last review for Top Ramen Week is for one that's a little newer and slightly less popular. Chili is one in a series of spicy Top Ramen flavors; all of which are in green packages with flames behind the bowl. They've messed with spicy flavors before (remember Cajun Chicken?), but can they finally get one right? Find out after the jump.

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Review: Nissin Top Ramen - Beef

Nissin Top Ramen - beef.

For my third review during Top Ramen Week, I'm going from chicken to beef. Beef Top Ramen is another popular flavor and a favorite of some people I know. Find out how much I like it and if it beats chicken's score after the jump.

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Review: Nissin Top Ramen - Chicken

Nissin Top Ramen - chicken.

For my second review during Top Ramen Week, I'd like to review one of the most popular flavors. Chicken Top Ramen is something that I think the majority of us have eaten. I wish I could find reliable statistics that said what the most popular flavors were, but most people I know eat this a lot. Does that mean it'll earn my coveted perfect score? Read on to find out.

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Review: Nissin Top Ramen - Oriental

Nissin Top Ramen - oriental.

Kicking off Top Ramen Week is my review for the oriental flavor of Top Ramen. Since most people have eaten it before, this is a good way to tell where I rate other ramen. For example, if you like Top Ramen's oriental flavor, you know that you'll most likely enjoy other noodles that I give the same score or higher to. Continue reading by clicking the jump below.

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Top Ramen Week

It's coming.

Review: Yamachan Shoyu Ramen - Oriental

Yamachan Shoyu Ramen - oriental.

Never seen or heard of the Yamachan brand before. It's made by Nippon Trends Food Service, Inc. in San Jose, California. Great... a ramen product that's made in the U.S. Does it have any chance at all of being good? Quite possibly. Read on.

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Review: Komforte Chockolates - Ramen Noodle

Komforte Chockolates - Ramen Noodle.

The other day, I came across an article talking about a chocolate bar filled with dry ramen pieces. I immediately perked up and researched where I could purchase this unique item. Thankfully, it was available at one of my local Asian grocery stores, Uwajimaya. Without hesitation, I bought it and sampled it right away. Continue reading to see if the ramen chocolate bar is good or not.

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Review: Shirakiku Goku-uma Ramen-Noodles - Hot

Shirakiku's Goku-uma Ramen-Noodles - Hot Flavor.

I have never seen or heard of Goku-uma Ramen-Noodles before. I picked it up because it was on sale. There were three flavors available when I went: a seafood flavor, a hot flavor, and a soy sauce (shōyu) flavor. I went with the hot one since I love spicy things. Did I regret it? Read on to find out.

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Review: Weilih Food Souper Bowl Ramen - Chicken

Weilih Food's Souper Bowl Ramen - Chicken.

Souper Bowl Ramen is a brand I've always seen near the cheap end of the noodle aisle, but never actually tried. At 80 cents per bowl and an incredibly unattractive package, I wasn't expecting much from this bowl noodle. But on my quest to find new favorites, I must try everything, so here we go.

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News: Ramengate

On May 9th in San Francisco, Hapa Ramen previewed their food at Coffee Bar on Mariposa near Florida. This is before they are opening a hotly anticipated stand at Ferry Building Farmer's Market. Well, things didn't go quite as expected and the night is now forever being known as "Ramengate".

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Review: Pulmuone Fresh Ramen - Mild

Pulmuone's Fresh Ramen (Mild).

Don't ask me what the official name of this instant ramen is because I cannot read Korean. The only thing I know is that the company that makes it is called Pulmuone and under their large title is "Fresh Ramen (Mild)".  So, I'm calling it Pulmuone Fresh Ramen - Mild. *shrugs shoulders* I have a feeling that as I dive deeper into the world of ramen, I'm going to find items that I will not know the name of. Please feel free to correct me if I am ever wrong about a name or background of something I review. Anyway... to the review!

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News: Ramen Heaven

There's a new game available for download on the Sony PSP called "Ramen Heaven".

Game summary from IGN:

Who says you can't play with your food? In this game based on the delectable Japanese staple, players maneuver their oil floating around in the bowl so that it can congeal into as big a blob as possible. If your blob comes in contact with some of the other ingredients floating in the broth, the oil will break up, so work carefully with your chopsticks to make it as big as you can. Mmmmm, that's good soup!

Sounds like a silly game. Do you even see the noodles in it? I've never tried making giant oil blobs in my own bowl of ramen. Have you? And if you've played Ramen Heaven, how is it?

The game was developed by SCE Studios Japan and was released on May 4, 2010. It costs $1.99, and is rated E for Everyone.

Review: Samurai Noodle

Seattle is infected with phở. It's freakin' everywhere! Don't get me wrong, I like the Vietnamese noodle soup, but phở places have populated so much that it's hard to tell the quality of items served there. Where I work in Redmond has about nine phở shops alone, not including it being offered in our own company cafeterias. I compare phở restaurants to teriyaki restaurants; it used to be hit or miss, but now there's this huge in-between area where the food is just okay. I mean, you have all these places opening and having to compete with each other, which means they have to lower prices and, consequently, the quality of their food. And that's how I feel about phở places now. I've never had a bowl of it and gone "Wow, that's some really good phở!" Thus, I never crave it.

On the other hand, ramen places are few in the Seattle area, so the attributes of the ramen shops are higher. Enter Samurai Noodle, one of the most popular ramen restaurants in Seattle. The first Samurai Noodle opened up in Uwajimaya Village in the International District not too long ago, and a new one just opened last month in the University District. I went to the original International District location a couple weekends ago with my family and sister-in-law. Continue reading the review by clicking on "Read more" below the picture.

Samurai Noodle at the Uwajimaya Village.

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Review: Nong Shim Shin Ramyun (辛拉麵, 신라면)

Nong Shim Shin Ramyun (辛拉麵, 신라면) package.

Here's a brick noodle that I've had many times before, but don't eat as often due to it being a little more pricey than Top Ramen. The first time I had it was over at a friend's house when I visited them in California. His family is Korean and his mother made this soup for us for a quick lunch. I was taken back by how spicy it was, at first. Just for the record, I love spicy stuff. I feel like I can handle the heat better than the average person. Read the rest of the review after the jump.

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News: Ramen Rallies Relief for Haiti

Two exchange students from South Korea at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia organized a ramen noodle cook-off to raise money for Haiti. Students competed in the "National Collegiate Ramen Noodle Cook-Off" this past Saturday.

From the article:

Students and community members used ramen noodles, $5 in ingredients of their choices and the supplied ingredients such as brown sugar, garlic powder, honey, ketchup, hot sauce and cinnamon, Rowland said.

The participants had 30 minutes to prepare a unique ramen noodle dish that was then judged for flavor, ingredients and plating.

All proceeds went to the Palms for Life Fund, a nonprofit organization helping with earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.

I think it's really cool to see something like ramen being used for good like this.

Review: Nissin Demae (出前一丁) Ramen - Chicken

Nissin Demae (出前一丁) Ramen - chicken package.

For my first review, I chose to do a brick ramen that I've never had before, but have always seen on the shelves. Here is Demae (出前一丁) Ramen (Itcho) made by Nissin, the same people that make America's favorite staple, Top Ramen. There are a few different flavors with this brand, so today I'd like to review the chicken flavor.

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