Kitchen Reno Madness: Cup Noodle Rankings - Part Deux
That's right, because absolutely nobody asked for it, the sequel
We’re about a month into the quoted three month process of completely renovating our kitchen (and living room, and dining room, I suppose). Liz has moved back in, and we still remain here, trapped upstairs with our two rabbits, and only a coffee maker and kettle in our bathroom.
A while ago, desperate for something to write about and torn from the comfort of my established routine, I ranked some of the cup noodles I’d been surviving off of in a piece that some of you read. It certainly was one of my posts of all time.
Not too much has changed since then. Tiles have been installed, electrical work has been done, floors have been sanded, walls have been mudied, and cabinets have arrived. But we’re still miles from having our new dream kitchen ready to be cooked in.
So, I present to you a second list of ranked cup noodles. Now a seasoned connoisseur, these cups are bit more adventurous than the fare from the last list:
Spicy Chicken Buldak Noodle, Cheese Flavour - Samyang
Rating 2/5 cups
While I’m usually a huge fan of Samyang’s Buldak noodles (I acknowledge them as a huge factor in my increasing spice/heat tolerance), the cheesy cup version simply did not hit. It was spicy and it was cheesy, but Buldak noodles really benefit from all the extra shit you throw in there as you’re saucing them, and without the means to do that, this cup falls a little flat. Kept me feeling full for a while, though.
Shin Vegan Spicy Noodles - Nongshim
Rating 2.5/5 cups
Not that I have anything against the idea of vegan noodles, but I totally grabbed this cup by accident without fully realizing what it was. It certainly didn’t lack for flavour, with a nice bouquet of chilies and dried mushrooms providing umami, but it wasn’t anything stellar, either. If you’re vegan and you have a hankering for cup ramen, you’ll certainly get your mileage out of this, but I feel most of the rest of us will be asking “Hey goober, where’s the meat?”
“THE KING OF TOMATO” Tomato & Beef Flavor Instant Noodles - Unif
Rating: 5/5 cups
This. This right here. This cup absolutely and completely lives up to its name. This little package of Taiwanese magic bestows upon ye the richest, most savoury, flavourful, wonderful soup you’ll ever make next to your toilet while you have no kitchen. I love this. I will continue to purchase these even after the reno is complete. This is the greatest cup of soup I’ve ever come across. Plus, it even comes with a little collapseable plastic fork inside! Let me gush a bit more.
Four seasoning packets. FOUR. Dried veggies, powdered soup base, beef paste, and what I assume is just tomato paste. Add boiling water and in 4 minutes you can slurp your way to heaven. This soup filled a hole in me I didn’t even know I had.
*Bonus*: The little cartoons! Liz refers to this one as ‘Tomato Beef Jam Band’ and I dig it. These noodles have it all.
Sour Soup Noodle Leaves Seaweed and Shrimp Salt Flavor - Hua Wei Fang
Rating: 4.5/5 cups
I had some serious reservations going into this one. The wide and flat noodles threw me visually, and starting my day with sour seaweed and salty shrimp aromas was… different, to say the least. But this soup is so good. So balanced. So tasty and invigorating. This may be another one that I stick with post-reno. It was just barely beat out by the previous entry, but who could defeat THE KING OF TOMATO, really?
Anyways, another 4 packet, 4 minute knockout here. Comes with an adorable little plastic spoon, too.
I certainly wasn’t expecting last time’s winner - Shin Black, for those that don’t remember - to be so handily dethroned, but anything can happen in cup noodles. I’ve still got a bathroom counter of cups to get through, so expect at least one more installment of this mishagas before things get back to normal around here.
As always, thanks for reading, and please leave a comment down below! Nothing makes me happier than interaction on these posts! Ciao!