*Recommended :: Nissin :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Nissin Quick & Easy Chow Mein - Beef Teriyaki Flavored, microwaveable. The flavor is reminiscent of smoked BBQ sauce mixed with a little sweet & spicy Chinese hoisin sauce, though not as sweet.

It’s quite tasty, almost like stir-fried lo mein in a thick dark brown sauce. The tender green onion pieces were quite noticeable and the rare tiny morsels of Shiitake mushroom were delicious. Overall, it has a decent note of beef and vegetable flavors.

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Chikara :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Sakura Noodle manufactures fresh instant “Udon” (Japanese flour-based noodles) under the Chikara brand. It’s a ~1/2 pound package!

This hot & spicy flavor one is tasty enough to eat on its own, though it really should have something to go with these big noodles. It’s a decent spicy soy sauce and garlic beef flavor. Add a hard boiled egg, vegetables and a bit more hot spices and its would make a great meal.

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Chikara :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Sakura Noodle manufactures fresh instant “Udon” (Japanese flour-based noodles) under the Chikara brand. It comes in six soup flavors.

Good Udon noodles can’t be judged by label alone and these fresh instant one is not as good as Nong Shim’s, however it’s less than half the price. The chicken flavor is ok but relatively mild. That’s not a problem, as the hearty portion of noodles makes a rather tasty starter recipe with the addition of toppings and spices as seen in second half of the image below with cilantro, mint and flavored chili oil added.

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Nissin :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Top Ramen brand, also known as Oodles of Noodles, was the first instant noodle introduced to the U.S. market and shortly thereafter have been produced in Garden, California.

Picante beef flavor is a spicy noodle soup with a slight oily aftertaste. The beef flavor isn’t much of a taste, however the overall spiciness help make it an acceptable taste.

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Thai Kitchen :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Simply Asia is a private label brand from Thai Kitchen. Removing the fancy jacket reveals just a regular bowl type instant noodle.

Everything were tailored to the natural health food fad. It has rice noodles to reduce the fat. Reduced portion size to lower calories and sodium listed. Use ingredients which are natural source of MSG, i.e., hydrolyzed vegetable protein, whey, yeast extract and natural flavor. With all the fancy marketing, it has a comparatively high price, $1.99, to Asian brands.

How the product taste? It’s ok. The rice noodles were firm and thin and the soup was flavorful. A nice peppery sweet vegetable broth with a note of garlic and sesame oil.

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Lipton :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Lipton is tapping into the Asian cuisine with this “Asian Sides” product line. The flavor is good, but the taste is too weak to pass for a real Thai cuisine. It has a sweet, weak soy taste with a note of cilantro, sesame seeds and barely a hint of lemon grass. The noodles tasted more like a macaroni product, not “lo mein” as labeled.

The package pictured a vey appetizing non-soup serving. Using a standard 8 oz/cup measure, the serving came out quite soupy. I served it in a regular single serving bowl, so don’t see how there are two servings per container here. As a single serving, it has about the same calories and sodium as typical ramen with the soup. Not very “instant” as it took more than 10 minutes to do.

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*Recommended :: Nissin :: U.S.A. Brand | 2 Comments »

Nissin Quick & Easy Chow Mein - Chcken Flavored, microwaveable.

Chicken Chow Mein entree has a sweet dark soy type sauce. Using the modified cooking direction, it tasted quite good. The dried cabbage expanded quite a bit to give more substance to the noodles.

The plastic serving tray is microwaveable but the cover is not, however I find that it tasted much better if you covered it while cooking. I put the cover upside down so that the steam can escape. As prepared, the noodles came out the way I liked it, steaming moist and hot.

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Sapporo :: U.S.A. Brand | »

This beef flavored ramen is well seasoned and agreeable. The flavor is not very beefy tasting but it passes. While the quality is ok, it is not an exciting taste to me when real beef is such a common fare.

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Sapporo :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Miso is a very popular Japanese soup seasonings of which there are many kinds. This soup sauce has a mild sweet nutty smooth taste and the ramen seems a little softer. I prefer to add the soup base to taste after putting the noodle with some of the water in a bowl for a stronger flavor.

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*Recommended :: Sapporo :: U.S.A. Brand | 2 Comments »

Sapporo Ichiban Chowmein, instant fried noodle. Yakisoba means stir fried ramen, an influence from Chinese ramen shops in Japan around the last century.

This yakisoba style chowmein is served in a flavorful sweet sour dark sauce that taste somewhat like Worchestershire sauce mixed with a little balsamic vinegar. The tasty dried green laver (seaweed) sprinklings add an interesting flavor and textural balance.

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*Recommended :: Nissin :: U.S.A. Brand | 3 Comments »

Nissin Quick & Easy Chow Mein - (Garlic) Shrimp Flavored, microwaveable.

Chow mein is a generic term for a chinese style dish of stir-fried noodles, of which there are many varieties. The garlic shrimp flavor is one of my favorite, it tasted like Italian garlic shrimp linguine.

The plastic serving tray is microwaveable but the cover is not, however I find that it tasted much better if you covered it while cooking. I put the cover upside down so that the steam can escape. As prepared, the noodles came out the way I liked it, steaming hot and al dente. It looks very appealing with a few tiny pink shrimps, red bell pepper and dark green parsley. The taste and aroma was almost irresistible to me, a very satisfying bargain of a meal.

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Campbell :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Campbell soup was made into an American icon by pop artist Andy Warhol. Don’t know how this classic got changed over the years, as it tasted better when I was a kid.

It was not until I was out of college that I brought cans of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup again. As much as I craved for it at first, eating a can still left me hungry an hour later and a throbbing head for half a day. Now I know why, it has about as much calories as 3 oreo cookies but a day’s worth of salt. Don’t care for it anymore.

For the sake of comparison, tried it one more time. Not too impressed, this is a lost cause.

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Sapporo :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Kitsune Udon is thick white noodles served with a portion of fried bean curd in a soy based soup stock flavored with a note of bonito and chinpi. Enjoy while hot, this entree is very tasty. Bitting a mouthful with the fried bean curd, you taste a light sweetness and succulent texture bursting with hot savory soup to the smooth lively Udon noodles.

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Maruchan :: U.S.A. Brand | »

Maruchan is likely the second most common brand in the U.S. alongside Nissin. This is about the cheapest instant noodle you can buy.

I once brought it by the case from Costco when this member-only warehouse store was Price Club. Trying it again did not bring back any of the better experience that I once had of it.

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Annie Chun :: U.S.A. Brand | »

A fusion of Califonia healthy cuisine and Asian cuisine, it has a modest calories portion and made with healthwise ingredients. The noodles come in a sealed moist FreshPakâ„¢.

Unlike typical Asian instant noodles, it’s served as a soup, with colorful pieces of tofu and spinach, and tender noodles that tasted slightly sweet. As prepared, the miso flavored soup tasted watered-down, a little less water would do well.

While I like the perception of wholesome ingredients, the review is really about taste after all. It was tough to decide on how to rate this one, the different is like for someone who had grown up on New York pizza to compare it with California’s.

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Annie Chun :: U.S.A. Brand | »

A fusion of Califonia healthy cuisine and Asian cuisine, it has a modest calories portion and made with healthwise ingredients. The noodles come in a sealed moist FreshPakâ„¢.

Unlike typical Asian instant noodles, it’s served as a soup with decorative ingredients. The Udon noodles had a nice tender bite. As prepared, the soy sauce flavored soup was a bit watered-down, a little less water would do well.

While it tasted ok, the ingredients lacked harmony as the fried tofu and vegetable pieces were too tough in the delicate soup, only the slices of Shiitake mushroom were a plus.

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Sapporo :: U.S.A. Brand | »

The popular ramen of Sapporo district’s many noodle shops or restaurants are famous in Japan. Some shops are so small that it barely has a couple of seatings.

This pretentiously named brand is a cut above the basic staple variety. Don’t get this original flavor thing, did they blunder like Coca Cola with its reversal to Coke Classic?

At 3.5 oz., it is larger than the more common 3 oz. Maruchan economy brand. As prepared, the springy noodles held up nicely in the hot soup without being milky, the bane of its cheaper rival. The soy sauce flavor sauce served the noodles well as I ate it, certainly worth buying over the cheap stuffs.

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