the ramen blog & other goodies!

This is the shio version of the last Maruchan semi-fresh noodles I had a few days ago. The noodles are the same skinny but good and chewy ones. The soup is a light and clear shio flavor. Not particularly exciting to me, but if you like shio, it’s decent, like eating noodles in a bowl of fresh sea water (not as bad as it might sound!). Overall it gets a 7.

Wow…everyone’s favorite college-student-cheap ramen has a semi-fresh ramen! It’s made in the U.S. and I found it at our local 99 Ranch (Chinese supermarket) so it should be relatively easy to find. And guess what…it’s actually pretty darn good! The noodles are a little bit skinny but chewy and tasty. The soup is a decent shoyu base…nothing magnificent but solid. This gets a solid 8.

Ah…now we’re talking…this ramen is made by the same company as the last one I rated, which I really enjoyed. This one is shoyu flavored, and it’s very good. This is the best of the semi-fresh ramens I’ve had so far and I’m giving it a 8.5. Why not a 9? Because I haven’t had enough of these kinds of ramen to really make a fair judgement, and I’m always hoping there’s something out there that’ll blow me away. But for what it’s worth, this one is damn good!

This tonkotsu ramen is made in the U.S., so you probably have a relatively better chance of finding this one than some of the other imports I’ve rated! The noodles are chewy and good…not quite as good as the tsukemen noodles from a few days ago, but good, and the soup is very good, especially on a cold day like today. This gets a solid 8 overall!

Technically this a chuka soba, which is slightly different from a “regular” ramen because the noodles are lower in far and not fried in oil before they’re packaged. The noodles are super skinny, and a bit bland and not very “chewy.” The soup is a decent shoyu flavor. Overall, this gets a 6.r,

Continuing with the regional ramen theme, this ramen hails from Hokkaido. Hakodate (city in Hokkaido) is supposed to be famous for their shio ramen. The noodles are nice a chewy. It’s a nice combination with the salty but light soup. There’s also just a touch of sesame oil and sesame seeds in the soup. Nicely done. This ramen gets an 8.