the ramen blog & other goodies!

Agh!! Get it off of me! Getitoffofme! — oh, sorry… Ahem…this is the kind of instant noodles that gives people nightmares. In the interest of saying something useful besides just warning people from this travesty, I find it interesting that, even though technically ramen “started” from China, then evolved into the Japanese version we’re all familiar with today, I’ve yet to find any Chinese instant ramen that tastes nearly as good as the Japanese version. Sure, there are plenty of great Chinese noodle dishes, and plenty of really good instant Chinese noodles, but forget trying to find a good Chinese version of the Japanese version of Chinese noodles. If any of that didn’t make sense, blame this ramen.

The crowning achievement of this bowl ramen is the noodles, which are slightly thin, very reminiscent of Chinese instant noodles, and thoroughly mediocre. The toppings include corn, tiny pieces of sour, soggy bamboo, seaweed, and some unidentifiable mystery veggie bits.

The soup seasoning contains salt, MSG, and soy sauce powder, and the garnish includes sugar and caramel. Yes, the label says the garnish contains sugar and caramel. And for what it’s worth, the soup stock is chicken, not pork. So what does this concoction taste like? Have you ever had vinegar ramen? Really? Ok, no, there’s no such thing. I just made it up. But even if there were such a thing as vinegar ramen, I’m pretty sure the soup would taste better than this vile sour and vinegary witch’s brew. King Car gets a 3. The only reason it doesn’t get a 1 is because I think I could imagine eating this again if I was literally starving to death. Well…maybe…

The wife is away, so let there be ramen! It seems like I can’t go wrong with instant tonkotsu ramen, so I was eager to try this cup ramen. The ramen comes with a few bits of seaweed, a sprinkling of sesame seeds, plenty of green onions, and a few pieces of pickled ginger to balance out the flavor. Since it’s a tonkotsu ramen, it has the typical thin, hard noodles that are nice and chewy. The noodles held the thick broth well but were mostly adequate. The soup smelled great! Unfortunately, it was a bit of a letdown. The tonkotsu broth starts off with a rich, thick flavor. After a few more slurps, though, it becomes a bit one-dimensional, and very MSG-y. There isn’t much of a full-bodied porkiness to the soup, and after a while, the MSG starts to beat mercilessly on your taste buds. It’s not as bad as it sounds, but you’ll probably be really thirsty afterwards. There are much better tonkotsu bowl/cup ramen out there, and the small portion doesn’t help either, unless you’re just looking for a light snack. This cup ramen gets a decent 6.

Orange county residents: if you haven’t gone to the Costa Mesa Mitsuwa Ramen Festival yet, you have one more day to go, unless you want to go to Torrance or San Diego. Fellow ramen blogger Keizo has already covered all three locations, but was nice enough to join me today (thanks for the ramen souvenirs!).

First of all, you need to know that Asameshi Maeda Honten has taken over Sanuki Udon’s location during this four day event. There are no English signs, so just look for the line of people in front of the banner shown above. Can’t find the menu? Don’t worry, they serve exactly one item: the ramen. One size only. No side dishes. One authentic specialty. That’s all you need. (more…)

For the uninitiated, Dr. Noodle is a Taiwanese brand of healthy “steam” ramen noodles, with exotic flavors such as shiitake spinach and this beef tomato.

Like the previously reviewed Dr Noodle shiitake spinach, I have to admit that these beef tomato noodles aren’t bad. Again, this is more of a flat Chinese-style instant noodle than Japanese ramen, but they have a nice, chewy texture. You would think that “steam” noodles would be relatively bland compared to the usually-fried instant ramen, but they actual have a decent flavor and soak up the soup nicely. And for those die hard fans of Maruchan’s Tomato Ramen, this just might your ticket to tomato ramen nirvana! I’ve never had the pleasure of having the Maruchan version, but the Dr Noodle beef tomato soup is exactly as it’s described: the beef stock is light (imagine a light chicken soup, but…err…with beef instead) with a strong tomato aroma and flavor. It’s a surprisingly good combination of flavors and has become one of our favorites.

If you’re looking for something different, or you’re a ramen fan who’s trying to eat more healthy, this is for you. (Remember that since it’s a Taiwanese brand, you’ll have a better chance of finding it at a Chinese supermarket than a Japanese market.) Even though this isn’t a “true” ramen, it gets an honorary rating of 7 out of 10.

Have you read our review of Cup Noodles Souper Meal Beef Minestrone? If you have, there’s not much more to add. Like the Beef Flavor Minestrone version of the Souper Meal, this shrimp (with tomato and garlic flavor) is basically an over-sized Cup Noodles. The big difference between this flavor and the beef flavor is that the soup on the shrimp flavor tastes more like a mild chicken soup than beef stock. There’s the requisite peas, corn, little carrot pieces, and I think I counted 2 miniature shrimp. There’s not much to make this particular flavor stand out from the other Cup Noodles varieties, and there’s disappointingly little shrimp, tomato, nor garlic flavor.

It’s Cup Noodles. It’s not bad. It’s not great. It gets a 6.

Despite the fact that it’s not actually on Sawtelle Blvd, Ramenya is a mainstay of the ramenya-filled area of West L.A. known as “Little Osaka”. The numerous ramenya in the area actually made for a tough decision on which one to review next, but the fact that a ramenya was called “Ramenya” tipped the scale in its favor…that, and the fact that this is probably the most times I’ll ever use the word “ramenya” in one paragraph. Known for generous portions, long lines, and a friendly staff, Ramenya seemed like the perfect place to go for lunch on a cold (yes, mid-60’s is cold for Southern California) winter day.
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