Unif-100 - Tart Beef Flavor Noodles

"Tart Beef Flavor" sounds a little bit disgusting but I was willing to try it nonetheless. I'm guessing this is supposed to approximate a Chinese dish made with some sort of tart vegetable. I have had decent success with Unif-100 noodles in the past, so I was more than willing to give this one a shot despite the strange flavor.

The first thing that surprised me was the spiciness of these noodles. In fact, the first sip that I took of the broth nearly sent me into a coughing fit! These noodles pack an intense spicy punch! The next thing that surprised me was the large amount of cabbage, scallions and red peppers. It's amazing how large the dehydrated cabbage can plump up in the broth and I really wonder why more ramen manufacturers don't add some in.

The flavor of the broth was complex and unique yet satisfying. The tartness reminded me a little bit of hot and sour soup. It is done in such a way where it doesn't become overly cloying or obnoxious on the tongue. Rather, it balances with the spiciness so that the overall flavor is very unique and addictive.

I rather liked these noodles but can't really see myself buying them again. It's just difficult to develop a craving for such a nuanced flavor when there are simpler things to lust after like beef flavor and hot and spicy. Anyhow, I certainly don't regret getting these and would recommend them to someone looking for a change of pace.

Unif-100 - Tart Beef Flavor Noodles - 6.5/10

Kamfen Noodle King - Beef Soup Flavored

This pack of ramen comes from China and is a little differently packaged than the standard pack of instant noodles. This is actually a pack for 2 people and contains 130g total. Within the pack, there are two separate bricks of noodles and two separate sets of flavoring spice/oil packets. I'm not sure why Kamfen decided to package two sets of noodles together, I suppose it is to try and shave some cost off the packaging. Still, it seems rather silly because instant noodles are commonly accepted as a single serving in a package.

Despite the fact that each noodle brick was only 65g, it still felt like a lot of noodles and one of the two bricks was definitely enough for me. The soup flavoring was unexpectedly mild and complex and reminded me quite a bit of the ramen that I have had in Japanese restaurants. The beef flavor was quite faint and the taste was quite complex and made up of star anise, ginger, garlic, and other spices.

The noodles themselves are notable because they are quite different than the usual instant ramen. They are quite thin and didn't become soggy even after being cooked. I generally prefer my noodles a little soft and thicker but these remained chewy, which was an interesting change. Since they are so thin, they don't have much flavor, but the soup base was pretty good if you like mild tasting soups.

I was honestly surprised to see that these noodles came from China. The packaging, noodle texture, and soup flavoring all reminded me of the higher quality Japanese noodles like Myojo Chukazanimai. That is quite a compliment, because those high end Japanese ramen are the favorite of many ramen lovers.

My personal preference are for noodles that are more bold in their flavoring, like the fiery red Korean noodles or the savory sweet and spicy Indonesian noodles. But I know a lot of people will like these noodles, especially if they enjoy fresh ramen from restaurants.

Kamfen Noodle King - Beef Soup Flavored - 7.5/10

Mr. Kon - Hot Beef Flavor

I am familiar with the Mr. Kon brand that produces microwavable Chinese pastries such as turnip cakes and scallion pancakes. I assume that this brand of instant noodles is associated with the same Mr. Kon, although you can never be sure with the flaky trademarks of Chinese and Taiwanese imports. I do know that Mr. Kon noodles are one of the most popular brands in China. Also, those microwavable pastries were always pretty good so I figured this pack of noodles would be worth a shot.


The first thing that stands out on the packaging is the fiery red broth. That stuff looks like it might have come out of a volcano or something, but it is certainly inviting to someone who likes spicy things. The flavor of the noodles is helpfully written in Spanish, in case you can't read English nor Chinese. Interestingly, these noodles contain 196% of your recommended daily value of sodium.

I was a little disappointed that my bowl of noodles didn't have the same molten look as shown in the packaging. But they definitely pack a spicy punch. There are even little slices of red chili peppers to kick it up a notch. One thing I liked about these noodles was that you could still taste the beef flavor rather then having the whole thing be overwhelmed by spiciness. There was nothing particularly special about these noodles but you can't really go wrong when the spiciness is overpowering all other flavors. It was a little bit too salty for my taste, so maybe they could scale back a little bit on the 196% RDV of sodium!

Mr. Kon - Hot Beef Flavor - 7.0/10

Unif-100 - Shallot Beef Flavor Noodles

Even though I've been previously burned by President Unif-100 noodles, I managed to forgive them for that travesty. After all, it's very difficult to pull off a Shrimp flavor that doesn't taste like aquarium water. Shallot beef flavor, on the other hand, should be a much easier flavor to design. Just add some salt and beef flavoring and you're set.

No real surprises with this ramen. It's a little bit spicy to cover the fact that there isn't much flavor there besides salt. The flavor packets consist of a powder packet, a packet of scallions and cabbage, and a flavored oil packet.


Overall, this was a decent soup but I prefer the competitors such as Ve Wong's Peppered Beef Flavor which is rather similar to this one but tastes a little better. My biggest beef (pun intended) is that the Unif-100 noodles just aren't very tasty. This will be a flaw that will affect them across all their product lines.

Unif-100 - Shallot Beef Flavor Noodles - 6.5/10

President Unif-100 - Furong Shrimp Flavor Noodles

I'm not sure why I bought this pack of noodles except maybe just pure curiosity. Although I love shrimps, I'm not usually a fan of shrimp in ramen form...because quite frankly, shrimps (unlike chili peppers) do not translate well to a powdered soup flavoring.

The name of these noodles was "Furong Shrimp Flavor Noodles". I have no idea what Furong means and a Google search only turned up a Chinese cult-celebrity named Furong Jiejie who is apparently their equivalent William Hung. Maybe those two should get together! Supposedly, Furong refers to a flower that has been used to describe young beauty, but still I don't know how this relates to shrimp or noodles!


As you can see, I added some grilled chicken to the mix to add some non-harmful nutritional value to this meal. After tasting these noodles, I suspect that "Shrimp Flavor" is something that ramen manufacturers use to describe something that has no real flavor besides salt and a hint of fish paste. In other words, it didn't taste like shrimp at all. Then again, I'm not sure if I would have wanted to eat something that was pervasively shrimpy. I was pleasantly surprised by the high amount of seaweed and scallions, but that couldn't make up for the fact that this stuff didn't have a particularly nice flavor that certainly didn't match what it was advertised as.

In conclusion, don't vote for President Unif-100! Well, maybe the other flavors are good, I don't know...

President Unif-100 - Furong Shrimp Flavor Noodles - 3.0/10

Wei-Chuan Stewed Beef Noodle Soup with Vegetable

These noodles are in a different class than most of the noodles reviewed on this website, but I thought I'd include it anyway. Unlike most other instant noodles, no water needs to be added to this. Instead, it comes in a plastic bowl with beef and vegetables already included. The bowl needs to be kept frozen.

I am quite familiar with some of Wei-Chuan's products, especially their pickled cucumbers and dried noodles, and have been pleased with their quality in the past. This noodle bowl is very convenient because all you have to do is pop it in the microwave and it's soon ready to eat.

As you can tell by this picture, the noodle soup came out looking delicious. The meat was soft and surprisingly fatty. I would have expected leaner cuts, but the fatty cuts were definitely delicious. The noodles were quite good, definitely tastier and more substantial than the kind found in dried instand noodles.

All in all, I would be perfectly satisfied if I received this in a restaurant. Of course, I have had better, but this is by no means inferior to the typical beef noodle soup served in a decent Chinese restaurant. The portion size is quite small compared to what you would normally get in a restaurant. Also, the addition of some scallions would have been nice. However, I was pleasantly surprised by these noodles and would definitely get them again...if there weren't already a decent Chinese restaurant across the street!

Wei-Chuan Stewed Beef Noodle Soup with Vegetable - 9.0/10

Mr. Kon Spicy Hot Pork Rib Flavor

As soon as I opened the flavoring packets, I knew that Mr. Kon was going to be a winner! My digital camera died, so no pictures, sorry. Mr. Kon is a 120 g ramen that comes with three packets - vegetable flakes, seasoning powder, and hot oil. The vegetable flakes are fairly low quality compared to other 120 g ramens of this type, but I was impressed by the flavorful aroma of the seasoning powder.

After cooking, I was pleased to find out that the ramen lived up to my high expectations. The noodles and broth were extremely flavorful and were actually both spicy and hot (as opposed to just hot). The spiciness reminded me mostly of peppercorns. And, there was actually a distinctive flavor separate from the spiciness and hotness that did taste similar to pork ribs! The noodles themselves were fairly good - not excessively chewy and they absorbed flavor well.

All in all, a terrific ramen that I will certainly buy again. My only suggestion for improvement is to increase the quantity and quality of the vegetable flakes.

Doll Beef Flavoured Instant Mifun

As I ate these noodles, I had to ask myself, "Where's the beef??" Doll Beef Flavoured Instant Mifun is another uninspiring part of Doll's insipid noodle lineup. I had high hopes for this one, mostly because it's pretty difficult to mess up mifun. Also known as "rice sticks", mifun is made out of rice (duh!) and is much thinner than regular ramen. It is similar to the noodles used in pad thai. Although mifun is thinner than ramen, it takes longer to cook, because the noodles are capable of absorbing more water than ramen usually absorbs.


The flavor packet for these noodles was actually two connected packets. I've never seen this before, and I'm not sure if it was an intentional design or if the company is too lazy to cut apart their flavor packets. It is very difficult to use it without splitting it into two, so I had to end up cutting it apart anyways. One of the packets contains a pretty disgusting looking yellow curry paste, and the other packet contains the standard flavoring powder.


Hmm, doesn't look too bad from the picture, huh? Well, it didn't taste horrible, but there was pretty much no flavor besides 'salt' in this bowl of noodles. I didn't get any hint of beef, in fact, these noodles tasted more like chicken than beef. That leads me to wonder if the manufacturer actually put in the wrong flavor packet into these noodles.


It's pretty difficult to mess up mifun, because they are naturally quite flavorful and have a good texture to them. The Doll Mifun isn't terrible, but lacks any sort of impression, either good or bad. The failure of the noodles to live up to their labeled flavor is disappointing and misleading at best. My recommendation is stay away from the Doll brand; there's nothing I've seen from them that has impressed me.

Doll Beef Flavoured Instant Mifun - 4.0/10

Kung-Fu (Shrimp Flavor)

First of all, let me start off by saying that the bowl of ramen pictured on the packaging does not look very appetizing at all. There are two gigantic shrimps with the heads still on, which is the style that they are generally served in Asia. But the shrimps in the pictured bowl are absolutely puny. At least they could have put some appetizing shrimp in the picture! The font and color scheme is outdated and looks like something from the 1940's.

I was equally unimpressed by the contents of the package. The block of noodles was rather small. Two seasoning packets were included, a small one with the flavor powder and a surprisingly large packet containing flavored oil.


Upon opening the seasoning packet, I was pleasantly greeted with the aroma of shrimp. The block softened and broke apart rather easily in the soup, which is not always the case. However, I definitely consider it a positive when the noodles can disintegrate from their block form in a reasonable amount of time. The oil package was absolutely huge! I have no idea why, because it's not like it was spicy oil or even particularly flavorful. It tasted like a combination of sesame oil and olive oil and didn't taste particularly good.

Somehow, when I started eating the ramen, the entire shrimp flavor was missing. I know I had smelled it when I had put in the seasoning packet, but it was completely overwhelmed by the oil. The noodles themselves were passable, but still not as good as some other brands.

Those brown spots in the picture are shadows, not fried red onions. This is a shame, because this ramen could definitely have used something to add some flavor besides oil! I am not a frequent shrimp flavor eater, and I can only hope that other shrimp flavored ramen doesn't taste this bad!

Kung-Fu (Shrimp Flavor): 2.0 / 10

Doll Instant Noodle - Spicy Beef Flavor

I had my doubts about a ramen brand called "Doll," but it turned out to be ok. Since I have very different opinions of the soup and the noodles, I'll divide my review into those two categories:

Soup: The soup base was a mixture of powder and hot sauce paste. Strangely, it was in a single package with a divider, which meant I had difficulty putting in just half of the seasonings like I usually do. Nevertheless, the soup flavor was quite a treat - spicy and flavorful with hot oil bubbles. Didn't taste much like beef though (they never do).

Noodles: I wasn't too pleased with the noodles. They took a long time to soften up, didn't absorb much of the soup flavor, and were very chewy. But to their credit, they did keep me full for about 3 hours, no small feat.

Which leads me to an interesting idea - mixing and matching soup from one package with noodles from another?