Unif Tung-I Ramen Noodles - Chinese Onion Flavor

When I cooked these noodles and started eating them, they seemed a little familiar to me. It turns out I already blogged about them about a year and half ago! I decided to write a review anyways, though, in case my opinions had changed. I would like to mention that these are quite similar to the Unif Tung-I Instant Rice Noodles - Chinese Onion Flavor that I tried recently. As you might expect, the only difference is in the noodles themselves.


I am very familiar with Unif Tung-I's ramen noodles and I consider them to be a typical example of Taiwanese instant noodles. They have a nice nutty flavor and are deeply fried, which gives them a crispy brittleness out of the package that you wouldn't see out of Korean, Japanese, or other common instant noodles. However, upon cooking, the noodles become extremely soft yet keep some of their nutty flavor. I happen to enjoy Taiwanese instant noodles, but definitely don't expect the chewy noodles that you would find in Korean, Japanese or American instant noodles.


The broth for these noodles tastes salty and mild with a firm onion flavor. It is subtle and there is not a lot of flavor, but the taste is still satisfying and inoffensive. If you like fried red onions, you will like the flavor of these noodles. These instant noodles are a decent snack if you are looking for something that will not overwhelm your tastebuds. One and a half years later, though, I think I've discovered some better options that you could treat yourself to!

Unif Tung-I Ramen Noodles - Chinese Onion Flavor - 5.5/10

Unif Tung-I Ramen Noodles - Artificial Chicken Flavor

Artificial chicken flavor seems like an odd thing to proudly display on the front of a ramen package. Since its flavoring comes in the form of a dried powder, it seems safe to say that the chicken flavor is artificial. Why not just say "chicken flavor" like every other pack of ramen? If a pack of ramen is artificial chicken flavor, why would it have a picture of shrimp and fish cakes on the cover? These intriguing questions drove me to pick up this pack at the local 99 Ranch Market to try out.

The noodles themselves were very thin and did have a light nutty flavor. They were pretty typical Taiwanese noodles in that they seemed to be thin and fried a little bit longer than other styles of instant noodles. The broth really didn't taste like chicken at all. Instead, it had a light taste of sesame and salt. It wasn't unpleasant, but certainly lacked distinctive flavor. These noodles do soak up an impressive amount of water, so be sure to add enough to leave you with some broth. I had to add a little extra at the end to accommodate the "soak factor".


This is about as unassuming as they come. The noodles are thin and flavorless and the broth is about as simple as can be. There is nothing bad about these noodles, they are really just nothing special. I would recommend skipping them unless you are also intrigued like I am by the concept of "artificial chicken flavor".

Unif Tung-I Ramen Noodles - Artificial Chicken Flavor - 3.0/10

Unif Tung-I Instant Rice Noodle - Chinese Onion Flavor

This pack of noodles comes from Taiwan and contains rice noodles (mifun) instead of the usual ramen. Note that these noodles are different from rice vermicelli, in case that is what you are looking for. It is quite small (62g) but rice noodles tend to absorb a lot more water than ramen noodles, so it feels like you are eating more than 62g. The flavor of these is based on fried red onion, which is a very common ingredient in Chinese dishes such as fried rice and fried mifun.


The rice noodles are very soft and don't really have much flavor, especially compared to ramen noodles. In this case, they are pretty much tasteless filler to provide contrast with the strongly flavored broth. That's not to say that they seem out of place, however; mifun is commonly used in this manner in Chinese cuisine.


The broth is nice and savory, tasting of pepper and fried red onion. As you can see from the picture, there is a good amount of scallions and fried red onions, which adds a little color and variety of texture. I like the broth, but it is almost boring because this is such a basic and common flavor. But that is just my own personal preference, so if you like the flavor of fried red onion, then you should definitely try this pack!

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Unif Tung-I Instant Rice Noodle - Chinese Onion Flavor - 6.0/10

Ve Wong - Peppered Beef Flavor

This flavor was my favorite pack of noodles growing up so I was very excited to revisit it and see if my opinion had changed. These noodles come from Taiwan. This is notable because Taiwan is famous for their massively popular style of Beef Noodle Soup.


Taiwanese instant noodles are almost always recognizable from the fact that they are slightly thinner than their Korean and Japanese counterparts. To avoid creating a thin tasteless product (like the American Cup Noodle and Maruchan noodles), the Taiwanese instant noodle manufacturers tend to fry their noodles longer to give more of a nutty flavor. The result is a delicious flavorful noodle that still tastes light and is able to absorb much of the broth flavor.


The broth in these noodles is absolutely fantastic. The beef and pepper flavors are definitely there, but there are still a lot more indescribable hints of flavor that really make the broth seem like something ordered from a restaurant. One of the flavor packets tends to clump into little black bursts of peppery flavor. Sounds a little strange, but these burst clumps are amazingly good. There is also a lot of dehydrated cabbage in this pack that plumps up nicely and adds a nice sweet contrast to the broth. I can't say enough nice things about these noodles and highly recommend them.

Ve Wong - Peppered Beef Flavor - 10.0/10

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Uni-President - Tung-I Instant Ramen Noodles

These are definitely the most unique instant noodles I have ever had. There is no specific flavor assigned to these, they are just "Instant Ramen Noodles" with a picture of a Merlin-esque wizard looking through a telescope. Weighing in at a miniscule 40g, these are a really tiny pack of noodles but could work well as part of a larger meal.

The back of the package contains Uni-President's slogan, which is "A Kiss to the Spirit of the Future". These particular noodles are released with several different space themed cartoon images on the packaging like astronauts and planets. I happened to pick the wizard looking through the telescope, but I assume all the different space-themed noodles have the same contents. The amount of noodles is absolutely tiny, but that was OK because I was eating some leftovers with the meal.


As you might expect, there is no distinctive flavor to these, as no particular flavor is even suggested by the packaging. It tasted a little bit like garlic and salt, but nothing was overwhelming. The noodles themselves were quite good. Like most Taiwanese noodles, they were extremely soft and flavorful. The noodles had almost a nutty flavor to them which I think comes from being fried in palm oil. All in all, these noodles were pretty good, but could only serve as a small piece of a bigger meal. I did really enjoy the packaging, though!

Uni-President - Tung-I Instant Ramen Noodles - 5.5/10

Tung-I Instant Spicy Beef Flavor Noodle

This particular brand of ramen was a staple in our household growing up. I think the packaging has changed a few times over the years, but the important stuff inside has stayed the same. They are a good example of Taiwanese noodles, which tend to have thinner, more deeply fried noodles.

The picture of the cow on the cover of the packaging is quite disturbing. He looks like he's got mad cow disease or something! But there is not actually any meat inside, so I wasn't actually that disturbed.


I really like the flavor of these noodles. They are savory and spicy and go well with the noodles. There are plenty of carrots and scallions to add a change of pace. The broth is not nearly as spicy as the Korean alternatives, but is still fiery enough to give your lips a tingle. Overall, this pack is definitely recommended.

Tung-I Instant Spicy Beef Flavor Noodle - 8.5/10

Ve Wong Noodle - Vegetarian Flavor

"Vegetarian Flavor" and "Instant Noodles" are not words that should go together, but I bravely picked this one up from the local 99 Ranch Market anyway. It's made by Ve Wong, which is a noodle company based in Taiwan.

As you might expect, the powder packet contained a fair amount of dried seaweed and carrots which magically plumped up when water was added. The weird thing that there were some TVP chunks as well. TVP stands for "textured vegetable protein" and is used as a cheap meat substitute. But why would they be including it in something that was meant to be vegetarian flavored anyways??

The only way I can think of to describe these noodles is that it is a spinach soup. In other words, not very good. I wasn't expecting much from these noodles, and they certainly didn't deliver much. But at least it didn't repulse me like some shrimp or crab flavored noodles. From now on I will be sticking to noodles that taste like meat, hot & spicy, miso, udon, etc...

Ve Wong Noodle - Vegetarian Flavor - 3.0/10

Ve Wong Noodle - Pork & Chicken Flavor

I am much more familiar with Ve Wong's Peppered Beef Flavor, but I couldn't resist picking this up when 99 Ranch Market had a Buy One, Get One Free sale.

As you might expect, the noodles in this pack are identical to those in the Peppered Beef Flavor. The Ve Wong noodles come with a good quantity of seaweed, cabbage, and carrot which add some nice variety and texture to the noodles.


I wonder what genius at Ve Wong decided to combine pork and chicken into the same flavor. Well, it kind of works, in that the soup is very savory and definitely meat-flavored, although the meat's identity is a little bit obscure. The noodles are pretty tasty and are pretty thin and soft, as is typical of Taiwanese instant noodles. Overall, these noodles are worth a try if you are into a savory meat flavor without any spiciness.

Ve Wong Noodle - Pork & Chicken Flavor - 6.5/10

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Tung-I Ramen Noodle - Chinese Onion Flavor

I bought these noodles because I had a faint memory of enjoying them as a child. Chinese onion refers to fried red onions, which are a common ingredient in Chinese cooking and can be used in a similar way to garlic.

These noodles were very fragrant after I started cooking them. The flavoring basically consists of salt and fried red onion, so you better like the taste of these onions if you are going to be eating this ramen.


Overall, I quite liked these ramen, although my opinion of them has changed since my childhood. I wish they had a little more spice to them, either a pepper flavor or some spiciness. Now, I realize that I really should have added my Sriracha sauce to this to make it perfect, but the thought didn't occur to me at the time. I'll have to buy them again in order to do this!

Tung-I Ramen Noodle - Chinese Onion Flavor - 7.5/10

Ai Men Tsu Noodle - Udon Chilli Beef Flavor

These noodles are the first instant noodles that I have ever had that aren't dried. They can be found in the refrigerated section of Asian grocery stores. This specific brand is imported from Taiwan.


Don't panic! That cloudy stuff on the top of the soup is from the egg that I added. Following the instructions, I added 500cc of water, which turned out to be way too much. So much so that it diluted the taste of the soup. Perhaps they were expecting more water to boil off, especially since the microwave instructions only call for 350cc of water.

Well, it was hard to figure out what this was supposed to taste like since everything was too dilute. The noodles were nicely thick and chewy, but didn't have much flavor since there wasn't much to absorb from the soup. Interestingly, the scallions were extremely potent, unlike the tasteless filler that they usually put in instant noodles.

Next time, I'll be sure to add only about 350cc of water when making this on the stove!

Ai Men Tsu Noodle - Udon Chilli Beef Flavor - 6.0/10

Ve Dan Chicken Flavor

I was a little confused when I saw the packaging to whether this was "Vedan" or "Veoan". But upon reading the label on the back, turns out it is actually "Ve Dan", based in Taiwan.

Like most Taiwanese ramen, the Ve Dan noodles are slightly thinner than other types and are crispier. Inside were two packets: one with dehydrated green onions/cabbage/spices and one with oil.

I was very pleased with the amount of green onion and cabbage in the ramen. You can't really tell from this picture, but there were quite a few of these veggies that plumped up once they soaked in some water. I like them in my ramen because they add variety in terms of color, texture, and taste.

The Ve Dan was overall a bit bland, and a bit disappointing. Of course, it puts the American brands like Maruchan and Nissin to shame, but it still is not a top tier imported ramen. Still, a good basic ramen that would be good for recipes, if you like making more elaborate food out of your ramen!

Ve Dan Chicken Flavor - 5.5/10

Ve Wong Noodle - Peppered Beef Flavor

This brand of ramen was the preferred staple in the Lin household growing up, and I now understand why. Everything was well thought out, even down to the convenient notches already placed in the seasoning packets.

The soup flavor was excellent, with a rich spicy flavor and with lots of little veggie things. I know ramen is bad for me, but the abundance of dried veggies makes me feel a little better. The noodles are soft and highly absorbent - I recommend allowing more than the usual soaking time in order to bring out their full flavor. The picture was taken shortly after microwave removal. After another few minutes, the noodles had fully expanded to cover the entire bowl.



The only negative is that the noodle packet is rather small (although the same net weight as other brands). Combine this with the soft, melt-in-your-mouth quality of the noodles and I had to supplement this meal with other food items (or maybe that's just my being hungry as usual).

P.S. I noticed in my ramen bag o' tricks that I have the same shrimp noodle that Alvin hated. Oh well.

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