Ramen has been one of my favorite foods since the first time I tasted it.

The bouncy noodles sit in a rich and flavorful broth with soft-boiled eggs and pork slices – sounds like heaven to me!

There are four categories of ramen: Shoyu, Tonkotsu, Miso, and Shio, with each having its own unique style.

Everyone has their own preference, but I prefer savory and extra spicy ramen.

Finding the right ramen is like finding a style, it depends on the person and can change throughout their life.

I taste tested and ranked 4 instant ramens: Nongshim Tonkotsu, Shin Ramyun, Sapporo Ichiban, and Ottogi. I rated them with stars – 5 stars being the best and 1 star being the worst:

Nongshim Tonkotsu

Tonkotsu is a type of Japanese ramen with a creamy pork broth and lots of toppings like green onions or mushrooms. The one I tried was by the company Nongshim. Nongshim is well-known and makes famous instant ramen like Shin and Bowl noodles. Right when I peeled off the lid from the very sturdy bowl, I noticed that this was garlic flavored. I was upset that I see this on the label at the store because I don’t usually like garlic. The overall look was a bit depressing because the broth was a darkish yellowish color and the very limited toppings made it look more like a struggle meal than a proper instant ramen. The noodles were very bouncy and long, and there was a good amount of noodles too. The broth should have been creamier since as expected from a tonkatsu ramen. The broth was very garlicky, which I should have expected. It had a fishy aftertaste and there could have been more add-ins like carrots or mushrooms. Overall, this is best for the garlic lovers and minimal toppings. However, it might cause have bad breath afterwards so don’t make any social plans for that day. ⭐⭐ 

Shin Ramyun

Shin Ramyun is a Korean ramen made by the Nonghshim company. Shin Ramyun has two different spice levels: Original and Black. I had the Original Shin Ramyun which already had a decent amount of spice. The noodles were delicious with a silky feel to them. The real spice is found in the the broth. I didn’t notice the spice until about three bites in and then, it starts to hit. It is a numbing spice and I felt it especially around the lips. Shin Ramyun also came with a lot of add-ins like carrots, mushrooms, green onions, and chives. A negative is the very high level of sodium in this ramen. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Sapporo Ichiban

Sapporo Ichiban is a Japanese ramen with a soy sauce based broth. At first glance, this ramen looks full of veggie noodles and the smell is a little fishy with a hint of ginger. The noodles were nothing special but it’s the broth that really stole the show. The broth had the perfect combination of savory, sweet, and tangy, making it like a party on my tongue. Some of the vegetables that were included were carrot, chives, celery, and green onions. It was pretty close to being ranked in first place but two things moved it down the ranking. The first was how delicate the packaging was. It came in a thin styrofoam bowl. When holding the ramen I could feel the heat way more compared to the others.The flavor also became weirdly sweet at the end. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Ottogi

Ottogi is a Korean ramen company that also makes Jin Ramen. The first thing I noticed was the very strong egg smell. I personally don’t mind the smell of eggs but the smell was a little too oily and fishy. The broth was also very eggy, but it blended well with the chile oil. This also had something that none of the previous ramens had, which was an egg block. An egg block is just egg and vegetables in a cube that melts when I poured in hot water. Overallk, the ramen is nothing special. It is completely average but not bad. ⭐⭐⭐ 

I love most ramen even the below average ones like cup of noodles. Instant ramen is like plain cheese pizza, it always hits the spot but when I added my own custom toppings, it becomes superior. For example, I love adding soft boiled eggs, kimchi, spam, spinach, roasted seaweed and for the extra kick, I love using chili oil with fermented soy beans. The ramens and all of these ingredients can be found at H-mart, 99 ranch or a local asian grocery market.