the ramen blog & other goodies!

More Hello Kitty ramen madness. But I gotta say, I’ve never seen “ogre ramen-making kitty” before!

As in NYC, ramen in Vancouver seems to be experiencing somewhat of a renaissance. Either that, or there’s not a lot of news happening in Canada lately.

Seattlites, don’t feel left out. Here’s a radio interview with the owner of Boom Noodle (yes, that’s Noodle singular).

Kids might enjoy this simple little ramen game. If you’re over the age of 6, though, this might interest you for all of 3 minutes or so. I suffered through 10 minutes of this to report to you that it’s just. more. of. the. same.

Another day, another “ramen battle” in Japan–waitasec…did that article say horse meat ramen!?!

It’s the 50th anniversary of Nissin’s Chicken Ramen! They’ll be releasing special flavors in 7 countries including the U.S.! Has anyone seen the U.S. onion flavor yet?

It seems like no good news comes out of China these days. A Chinese brand of gyoza linked to a series of illnesses in Japan has been found to contain high levels of insecticide, and has sparked panic across the country. There are speculations that the dumplings were deliberated tainted, since no traces of the insecticide were found in the Tianyang Food factory that produced the gyoza. The incident seems isolated to Japan so far, but I would still pass on this brand of gyoza, at least until more details about the problem surfaces.

via Mainichi Daily News and the UK Guardian.

Jealous that Japan has all the ramen events? Southern California, our time has come! Japanese supermarket chain Mitsuwa is having a “Legendary Ramen Festival” featuring 3, count ‘em, 3 famous ramenyas from Japan. And yes, the link is in Japanese. I can’t find an English link. But you’re in luck! Here’s the info:

Asameshi Maeda Honten will be featuring a tonkotsu-shoyu ramen at the Costa Mesa Mitsuwa 2/15 through 2/18, the Torrance Mitsuwa 2/22 through 2/25, and the San Diego Mitsu 2/29 to 3/3.

Chibakiya will be serving an interesting-sounding chicken-tonkotsu-fish blend of ramen soup goodness. As an added bonus, you’ll be able to experience a hanjuku “half-boiled” egg. This will only be available at the San Diego Mitsuwa from 2/15 through 2/18.

And last, but not least, Sumire will be cooking up their famous miso ramen, available at the Torrance Mitsuwa from 2/15 through 2/18, and then at the San Diego Mitsuwa 2/22 through 2/25.

A big thanks to Keizo at goramen.com for the tip!

According to Businessweek’s Asia’s Hot Growth Companies: 2007, the #1 growth company in Asia isn’t an electronics company. It’s not a cell phone company, a bank, or any other type of company you would normally associate with a “hot growth” company. Give up? It’s Hong Kong based Ajisen Ramen!

Follow ‘big in japan’s’ quest as they search for the “perfect bowl of ramen” in Japan

Milk, seafood, and…ramen?! The folks at Nissin are as creative as ever. Introducing the Milk Seafood Cup Noodle!

Read all about instant ramen from a student perspective, featuring two, yes two quotes from yours truly, at the Florida International University’s student paper, the Beacon.

I’ve been to Japan over 15 times and not once have I ever set foot in a Denny’s. But then I never knew they served ramen! (…and…Chivas Regal?!?)

It seems like everyone’s making a pilgrimage to the Yokohama Ramen Museum in Japan lately. Check out the writeups, photos, and videos at Shanghai Toys and Go Ramen! And check back here soon for our own writeup and review.

The discontinued and hard-to-find maruchan tomato ramen has been found! Is anyone at Maruchan reading this? Please bring back the your tomato ramen!

Interested in making your nama ramen more than just “instant” ramen? See what the Tasty Island does with a pack of shio nama ramen.

Interested in knowing how global warming will affect the question of “What role should instant noodles play in 50 years time?” If you have an invitation to the 6th World Instant Noodles Summit in Osaka, you can find out! (No, we weren’t invited…sniff sniff…)

Three years ago today, ramenramenramen burst forth from our ramen bowl and onto the interwebs to share our love of ramen with you. To celebrate, we’ve completely remodeled our site and added new features!

If you’re new to the site, please click on our site guide for some explanation about how specific features work.

Let us know what you think! We love feedback, both good and bad. Like what you see? Disagree about something that we’ve said? Leave us a comment on a post and let us know! Prefer to send a private message? Simply click on the “Contact” link at the top of the page or on the right sidebar to send us a message.

A big thank you to all our loyal readers and fellow ramen fans!

And don’t forget to vote on whether or not you like the new look. The poll is on the right sidebar, below the Categories section.

P.S. If we managed to break anything with the remodeled web site, please let us know. Thanks!

10:10am: Wow, that was fast…apparently Internet Explorer doesn’t like our fancy new random-header-picture feature…the one that works with every other freaking browser we’ve tested. While we work on a fix, if you see a great big blank area in the header where the picture is supposed to be, just imagine a close-up of the lushiest, tastiest bowl of ramen you’ve ever seen, and picture it right there. Thanks!

Apparently, now is a really good time for fellow ramen blogger Keizo to be in Japan. The Aqua City mall in Odaiba, Japan has set up (for a limited time only!) a “ramen hall” featuring 6 different regional styles of ramen, complete with iron chef-like profiles of the chefs behind the ramen. Personally, I would love to try the there’s-plenty-of-chashu-but-where’s-the-ramen ramen at Bannai Syokudou, though the rich black shoyu ramen at Menya Iroha looks darn tempting too. If anyone’s anywhere near Tokyo, and you’re reading this blog, run, don’t walk, to Odaiba! It’s not that far!

via Sky Walker (who also has a lot more tempting pictures of this special occasion.)