GoGo noodles

I was craving kimchi and thought I grabbed a kimchi flavored ramen, but grabbed Paldo Hwa Ramyun by mistake. Luckily, I had some kimchi in the fridge and decided to add it as a topping. It was close enough. One of the reasons why I like Korean brand instant noodles is that the ramen is thick and chewy. The serving sizes are generous so it’s enough to share with your best bud. Paldo Hwa Ramyun Hot & Spicy flavor satisfied every expectation I have for Korean noodles.


Drawing my inspiration from the serving suggestion on the package, I scoured the fridge and found the kimchi, some left over nappa cabbage, dried shitake mushrooms, an egg and of course my instant noodle staple – green onions.
Turned out to be quite a meal. The kimchi added another dimension of flava! Yummy yummy.

*Product of Korea

What is Su Tah ramen? I have no idea, so I tried to do a little research online and found absolutely nothing. I guess Su Tah is specific to this brand? If anyone can enlighten me, I would very much appreciate it. But for now, let’s review these noodles. It was very tasty as are most Korean noodles because there’s usually an abundant amount of MSG. Also, as with most Korean noodles, the serving size was very substantial, one package is enough for a hungry boy. It was medium spicy and had a strong cayenne flavor. A bit sweet and salty – it sort of tasted like the seafood flavor or maybe not….

I used just enough water so the egg gently cooked on top of the noodles for a soft boiled texture. It was perfect.

*Product of Korea

Walking back from a leisurely Saturday lunch, we came upon a Japanese dollar store that we decided to stop in. While perusing the aisles, Anthony found a spelling slip-up (his favorite!). If you think about it, the “R” key is no where near the “L”. This gave us a good chuckle and is worth sharing.

I don’t know why – but I was attracted to the shiny blue packaging. Usually, the packages are red and black?


First of all, it doesn’t taste anything like pork but it does have the familiar flavors of tom yum: sweet, salty, sour and spicy. There is a lot of seasoning in the packet and the granules are unusually large. I suspect the large granules were MSG because there is an overload of flavor! I liked that the noodles were thin. This was the perfect hangover cure after the fun Friday we had last week. As you can see, I was feeling pretty uncreative and lazy and didn’t add much to it. Never the less, I slurped up every last drop of the soup….it was soooo good!

*Product of Thailand

There isn’t a distinct flavor that comes to mind when eating these noodles and it wasn’t very spicy. I decided to use only half of the palm oil because I just read in an article about how much saturated fat is in palm oil – about 50%! Not like eating a packet of instant noodles a week is any better for you – with or without the palm oil. But it made me feel a little better. Overall, these noodles were only okay, not bad but not great. Maybe because I didn’t use all of the oil??

I didn’t have much to add except for cilantro and my usual green onions.

*Product of Japan

The infamous Spam. People either love it or hate it. I used to hate it. In high school, I remember reading a magazine article about how cannibals on an island said it tasted like human flesh. So every time I saw Spam or people eating Spam, I would imagine someone in the Spam factory grinding up arms and legs and packing it into that familiar shape of luncheon meat. Yum. Fortunately, thanks to my boyfriend, I am totally over my disgust for Spam. On our last trip to Hawaii, we found Hot & Spicy Spam which was basically tobasco flavored Spam. We’ve also tried the Garlic flavored Spam which, to my disappointment wasn’t very garlicky.

If you want to add something more substantial to your bowl of noodles I highly recommend Spam, it’s quick and easy and tastes good! I decided to fry the Spam with an egg. Keep in mind though, that there’s a lot of sodium in Spam, so if you do decide to add it in your noodles, it will make for an extra salty meal. Either boil it to reduce some of the sodium before adding or use less of the seasoning packet.

When I saw these noodles at the Japanese market, I was very excited to see instant silver noodles! I was drawn to them by the picture of the lemon and thought that this might have a nice citrus taste. Boy, was I surprised when I opened the package. The serving sizes are so teeny weeny. I guess this will be a snack. There are 5 individually wrapped vermicelli noodles and seasoning packets. The cooking instructions are quite simple, place noodles and seasoning into bowl, pour hot water and you’re done! I covered my bowl with cling wrap and waited for a few minutes. Since this was such a tiny serving, I thought it was appropriate to use the teeniest chopsticks I had. Cute.


There are lots of goodies in the seasoning packet – there’s dried seaweed, scallions, sesame seeds, fish cake and shitake mushrooms. Oh my goodness, I took my first bite and there were so many flavors dancing in my mouth! I tasted fish, probably bonito as it’s a popular ingredient in Japanese broths and seaweed – and the sesame seeds give it a nice toasty flavor and the best part is the citrus! Turns out there are pieces of yuzu zest in the seasoning packet. BONUS! So what I thought was a lemon on the package is really a yuzu. It adds a fresh, clean taste. Yum Yum Yum. Now I’m ready for lunch.

Next snack time, I will make 2 servings.

*Product of Japan

I love Yakisoba and was looking forward to trying these noodles that Fanny gave me.

When I peeled back the lid, I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of big pieces of dehydrated veggies. The yellow packet contained a sweet black bean and oil sauce. The smaller purple packet contained what looked like furikake? The directions on how to cook the noodles weren’t very clear as it was in Japanese and there were no pictures.

Sucks that I can’t read Japanese because the yaki soba turned out completely different than the picture on the lid. As you can see, I think I added too much water and maybe I was supposed to add the seasoning packets to the noodles after they were cooked? Oh well, regardless of my boo boo, my ufo yakisoba still turned out very tasty. The noodles were smooth and the sauce was toasty, sweet and a gingery. I think I’m going give UFO yakisoba another try and ask Fanny how to cook this properly.

*Product of Japan

When I’m feeling crappy after a night of drunken debauchery, these noodles really hit the spot. It satisfies every taste bud. The lemongrass makes the soup very fragrant and is sweet, sour, spicy, has lots of msg. Mmmm…msg.


I always prepare these noodles with an egg.

Because the soup is so flavorful, cabbage rounds it out. I like adding the cabbage raw so it gently cooks in the hot broth and keeps it’s crunch. Fried red onions, scallions and a couple of wedges of lemon are also a must.
*Product of Thailand

I was very curious to taste these noodles and wondered how the flavor of bun rieu would translate to instant form.

Very interesting to find that there were 4 seasoning packets. Soup base, fried garlic, dehydrated veggies and the big one is the oil and bits of crab meat (i think).

Can you see the lumps of crab meat?

I had some cabbage and half a tomato in the crisper. I would say that this flavor was not as delicious as the picture appears. It tastes nothing like fresh Bun Rieu, which is a Vietnamese tomato crab noodle soup. The dominant flavor of this soup was sour with a hint of shrimp. Didn’t taste like crab at all.

*Product of Vietnam