"You have probably have had ramen in your lifetime, but which ramen is the best?" Poppy zaiger - 7th grade
Instant ramen is probably the most convenient food, ever. You can buy it in bulk, the instructions are easy, it has different flavors you can enjoy, and it doesn’t taste horrible. But how not horrible do these brands taste? Well my co-host Keo Zaiger (my dad) and I will tell you which of these three instant ramen brands are the best.There will be three categories for the ramen: taste, prep time, and consistency. (I will also add any complaints that I have for the ramen, rest assured.) And however well these ramens do on the trials will have an effect on their overall score. These are the three instant ramen brands I will be eating and comparing:
Nissin Cup Noodles - $ 0.75
Buldak Artificial Spicy Chicken Ramen - $ 1.19
Shin Noodle Soup - $ 3.49
These three have been chosen from cheapest, kind of in the middle, and slightly more expensive. (Side note that the Shin Noodle soup isn’t really expensive but said gourmet ramen so might as well try it.) And my dad and I will rate it individually and combine the score. (Whoever gets the highest wins!) So let's start off with the cheapest ramen and work our way up!
Nissin Cup Noodles are probably what you all think when you think of instant noodles. The cup is really iconic and it was actually the first instant ramen brand to ever come out! CUPNOODLES even has its own museum! And with a caloric intake of 290 you can have it if you are on a low calorie diet. I have this to say about the product: The prepping was easy because you just add boiling water, but what surprised me was that the powder was pre-added, making it more efficient. However, it was a little worrying seeing something that looked like cocoa powder on noodles. The time you needed to leave it out was three minutes (which is the fastest time from all of the brands), so I give prep time a 9/10. (By the way, my dad doesn’t have an opinion on the prep time because I prepared all of the instant ramen.) After it was done, the ramen looked surprisingly good for something in a cup, and the cocoa-looking broth powder mixed well with the boiling hot water. When I tried to eat the ramen it was still extremely hot, so I had to wait THREE additional minutes for it to cool down, which is only mildly annoying. But by god, was that wait worth it. When I took a sip with the broth and noodles, I thought that it was pretty good, which was surprising to me because this 0.75 cent ramen had a decent broth and nicely textured noodles. Taste: 8/10, Consistency: 9/10. Overall, that is all it has going for it. The toppings either taste like nothing or dry corn, and even though the noodles are wonderful in texture, they have barely any flavor besides the broth soaking the noodles. Even though this instant ramen is very solid, I give it an 8/10 overall because of its flaws. And somehow Mr. Zaiger found even more flaws! When asked his opinion, he said “The noodles were bland, the broth was boring, 6/10.” Geez Dad, what ramen have you tried? But anyway, combining our overall score we get 14/20, I think that Cup Noodles are great for when you are in a rush.
I didn’t know what to think when I saw a chicken slurping down some noodles angrily, so I bought some Buldak Artificial Spicy Chicken Flavor Ramen and got cooking! With a caloric intake of 540 and the fact that the noodles on the packet looked really good, I couldn’t say no. The instructions are a bit different from any normal instant noodles. You have to boil the water and put this chili sauce goo (I have no idea) into the water. When it starts to boil, you put the noodles in, and after 5 minutes you put the flavor packet in the water and put it all in a bowl. It was a fun experience, but the 7 minute cooking time isn’t really the best for if you are in a rush. But that aside, I will give prep time 7/10 because finding the instructions was annoying.
Well, let's get onto the taste! When I ate one noodle I realized I shouldn’t have had this because I have the spice tolerance of a 2 year old and I slowly crumbled into oblivion as I chugged as much milk as humanly possible. But with the one noodle I did have, I thought that the texture was actually, genuinely amazing. It was a little thick, it was very stretchy, and overall deserves a 10/10 because it was peak quality noodles. But since I couldn’t have the broth or I would actually die, I asked my dad to eat the ramen for me. And somehow Mr. Zaiger ate the ENTIRE bowl without any milk (he doesn’t even like spicy food), and he said this about the taste: “The broth is pretty good, the noodles are awesome, this was really spicy and I liked it, 9/10.” If I were not so determined, I would have just gone off of Mr. Zaiger's word and gave it an 8/10, but I didn’t want to end it like that, so I made a non-spicy one, and honestly I liked it more than the Cup Noodles. The artificially-made chicken was pretty good, the noodles were better than ever, so I gave it a 8/10 because I inflamed my mouth with capsaicin and I can’t overlook that. If you are also a massive baby like me, I suggest that you add as little spicy goop as possible because it is killer spicy.
So, combining the score, we get 17/20, which is fair since I think that one noodle was worth feeling like I was chewing Satan's fingernails. let's move on to our most expensive ramen brand!
We are at the last one and I have some stuff to say about this “luxury brand.” Shin Noodle Soup looked very promising, but it was kind of a letdown for me. However, before I tear into the “luxury” brand, the caloric intake is 380. The cooking process was just like Cup Noodles, without the pre-added broth powder. I was getting worried when I saw that the spice packet was the same size as the flavor packet and thought I was going to disintegrate like sugar in water, like I did with the Buldak ramen. The cook time was 4 minutes. I can't complain, so 8/10.
When I took a bite of the ramen noodles, I realized that it was just Cup Noodles except slightly blander. I don’t even know how that is even possible, but somehow the great texture of Cup Noodles didn’t translate to Shin ramen noodles because it felt like I was chewing a rubber ball, except it wasn’t a rubber ball it was noodles. So, the texture is a 3/10.
And the taste, oh my god the taste. The spice overpowered any flavor that this had. It is as if you had put a jalapeño pepper in water and let it sit for a couple of hours. And for what it was, it wasn’t really spicy. It tasted like some noodles in hot spicy water. The only thing it was good for was taking cute photos of my dog taking a bite at the one noodle I gave them. Because of my dog's grace, I will give it a 2/10. But Mr. Zaiger’s opinion is far too charitable. “I think it is a 7/10,” he said. “The noodles are pretty okay, the broth doesn’t make me angry, it is alright.” Our conflicting opinions made the score 9/20. I feel mildly sad about this. It sounded pretty decent, but this decency was a hollow lie. I wish that I could have liked the broth as much as Cup Noodles. I wish that I could have died a little inside like I did with the Buldak ramen. It definitely deserves last place on the podium. Speaking of podiums, let's get to the ranking!
Out of the entire list of cheap to mildly expensive, the podium ranking goes like this:
1st place goes to Buldak because it had really good noodles, it was nice to interrogate Mr. Zaiger on how it tasted, and after a bit I made my own special non-spicy Buldak ramen, and thought what Mr. Zaiger said was pretty accurate! 17/20, almost perfect.
Second place goes to Cup Noodles! Even though my dad and I had conflicting opinions on this one, we both didn’t think it was bad. I thought that it was really good and my dad thought it was mildly boring, but pretty good for the price tag. 14/20.
And last and certainly least, our 3rd place goes to Shin Ramen Noodles. Why did it have to be so horrible? 9/20.
Next time you go to the supermarket and pick out ramen noodles, my recommendation is that you should pick the Buldak ramen noodles, but who cares? You can choose anything.
Nissin Cup Noodles - $ 0.75
Buldak Artificial Spicy Chicken Ramen - $ 1.19
Shin Noodle Soup - $ 3.49
These three have been chosen from cheapest, kind of in the middle, and slightly more expensive. (Side note that the Shin Noodle soup isn’t really expensive but said gourmet ramen so might as well try it.) And my dad and I will rate it individually and combine the score. (Whoever gets the highest wins!) So let's start off with the cheapest ramen and work our way up!
Nissin Cup Noodles are probably what you all think when you think of instant noodles. The cup is really iconic and it was actually the first instant ramen brand to ever come out! CUPNOODLES even has its own museum! And with a caloric intake of 290 you can have it if you are on a low calorie diet. I have this to say about the product: The prepping was easy because you just add boiling water, but what surprised me was that the powder was pre-added, making it more efficient. However, it was a little worrying seeing something that looked like cocoa powder on noodles. The time you needed to leave it out was three minutes (which is the fastest time from all of the brands), so I give prep time a 9/10. (By the way, my dad doesn’t have an opinion on the prep time because I prepared all of the instant ramen.) After it was done, the ramen looked surprisingly good for something in a cup, and the cocoa-looking broth powder mixed well with the boiling hot water. When I tried to eat the ramen it was still extremely hot, so I had to wait THREE additional minutes for it to cool down, which is only mildly annoying. But by god, was that wait worth it. When I took a sip with the broth and noodles, I thought that it was pretty good, which was surprising to me because this 0.75 cent ramen had a decent broth and nicely textured noodles. Taste: 8/10, Consistency: 9/10. Overall, that is all it has going for it. The toppings either taste like nothing or dry corn, and even though the noodles are wonderful in texture, they have barely any flavor besides the broth soaking the noodles. Even though this instant ramen is very solid, I give it an 8/10 overall because of its flaws. And somehow Mr. Zaiger found even more flaws! When asked his opinion, he said “The noodles were bland, the broth was boring, 6/10.” Geez Dad, what ramen have you tried? But anyway, combining our overall score we get 14/20, I think that Cup Noodles are great for when you are in a rush.
I didn’t know what to think when I saw a chicken slurping down some noodles angrily, so I bought some Buldak Artificial Spicy Chicken Flavor Ramen and got cooking! With a caloric intake of 540 and the fact that the noodles on the packet looked really good, I couldn’t say no. The instructions are a bit different from any normal instant noodles. You have to boil the water and put this chili sauce goo (I have no idea) into the water. When it starts to boil, you put the noodles in, and after 5 minutes you put the flavor packet in the water and put it all in a bowl. It was a fun experience, but the 7 minute cooking time isn’t really the best for if you are in a rush. But that aside, I will give prep time 7/10 because finding the instructions was annoying.
Well, let's get onto the taste! When I ate one noodle I realized I shouldn’t have had this because I have the spice tolerance of a 2 year old and I slowly crumbled into oblivion as I chugged as much milk as humanly possible. But with the one noodle I did have, I thought that the texture was actually, genuinely amazing. It was a little thick, it was very stretchy, and overall deserves a 10/10 because it was peak quality noodles. But since I couldn’t have the broth or I would actually die, I asked my dad to eat the ramen for me. And somehow Mr. Zaiger ate the ENTIRE bowl without any milk (he doesn’t even like spicy food), and he said this about the taste: “The broth is pretty good, the noodles are awesome, this was really spicy and I liked it, 9/10.” If I were not so determined, I would have just gone off of Mr. Zaiger's word and gave it an 8/10, but I didn’t want to end it like that, so I made a non-spicy one, and honestly I liked it more than the Cup Noodles. The artificially-made chicken was pretty good, the noodles were better than ever, so I gave it a 8/10 because I inflamed my mouth with capsaicin and I can’t overlook that. If you are also a massive baby like me, I suggest that you add as little spicy goop as possible because it is killer spicy.
So, combining the score, we get 17/20, which is fair since I think that one noodle was worth feeling like I was chewing Satan's fingernails. let's move on to our most expensive ramen brand!
We are at the last one and I have some stuff to say about this “luxury brand.” Shin Noodle Soup looked very promising, but it was kind of a letdown for me. However, before I tear into the “luxury” brand, the caloric intake is 380. The cooking process was just like Cup Noodles, without the pre-added broth powder. I was getting worried when I saw that the spice packet was the same size as the flavor packet and thought I was going to disintegrate like sugar in water, like I did with the Buldak ramen. The cook time was 4 minutes. I can't complain, so 8/10.
When I took a bite of the ramen noodles, I realized that it was just Cup Noodles except slightly blander. I don’t even know how that is even possible, but somehow the great texture of Cup Noodles didn’t translate to Shin ramen noodles because it felt like I was chewing a rubber ball, except it wasn’t a rubber ball it was noodles. So, the texture is a 3/10.
And the taste, oh my god the taste. The spice overpowered any flavor that this had. It is as if you had put a jalapeño pepper in water and let it sit for a couple of hours. And for what it was, it wasn’t really spicy. It tasted like some noodles in hot spicy water. The only thing it was good for was taking cute photos of my dog taking a bite at the one noodle I gave them. Because of my dog's grace, I will give it a 2/10. But Mr. Zaiger’s opinion is far too charitable. “I think it is a 7/10,” he said. “The noodles are pretty okay, the broth doesn’t make me angry, it is alright.” Our conflicting opinions made the score 9/20. I feel mildly sad about this. It sounded pretty decent, but this decency was a hollow lie. I wish that I could have liked the broth as much as Cup Noodles. I wish that I could have died a little inside like I did with the Buldak ramen. It definitely deserves last place on the podium. Speaking of podiums, let's get to the ranking!
Out of the entire list of cheap to mildly expensive, the podium ranking goes like this:
1st place goes to Buldak because it had really good noodles, it was nice to interrogate Mr. Zaiger on how it tasted, and after a bit I made my own special non-spicy Buldak ramen, and thought what Mr. Zaiger said was pretty accurate! 17/20, almost perfect.
Second place goes to Cup Noodles! Even though my dad and I had conflicting opinions on this one, we both didn’t think it was bad. I thought that it was really good and my dad thought it was mildly boring, but pretty good for the price tag. 14/20.
And last and certainly least, our 3rd place goes to Shin Ramen Noodles. Why did it have to be so horrible? 9/20.
Next time you go to the supermarket and pick out ramen noodles, my recommendation is that you should pick the Buldak ramen noodles, but who cares? You can choose anything.