Ranking Unique Cup Noodles: A Taste Test Adventure

Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Amanda Lim (25A01B), Bixin Qiu (25A01A) and Sophie Chong (25A01A)

If this article seems familiar, that’s because it’s a continuation of a previous Rank it! article where we ranked classic, albeit a little conventional, cup noodles. (If you haven’t read it, you can take a look here!) This time, though, we’re doing things with a twist. So, let’s take it from the top one last time.

Unique cup noodles. The kind that, when we see them on the shelves at FairPrice, we’re all intrigued (and perhaps a little weirded out) by. But we’ve usually turned them away in favour of more familiar flavours, like the Shin Cup Ramen. So for this article, we’ve decided to take a leap of faith: to satisfy our curiosity about these oddball cup noodles—and rank them along the way.

We taste-tested noodles of various cuisines, from Italian (kind of—please don’t come for us) to Vietnamese. Some featured out-there flavours, like coriander-flavoured noodles, while others were dishes we didn’t expect to see in cup noodle form, like boat noodles.

We mainly reused our rubrics from the previous article, but included a criterion to measure how unique each cup noodle was. This looks at how special the cup of noodles feels—whether it feels like it can be found anywhere, or it’s truly one-of-a-kind.

A detailed assessment rubric for evaluating cup noodles based on various criteria including flavor, texture, convenience, value for money, and uniqueness.

#1: Nissin UFO Osaka Takoyaki

In line with its Japanese branding, the Nissin UFO offers an array of rather unique flavours. We chose Osaka Takoyaki as a relatively safe option to start with. The noodles reflect the traditional Japanese snack both in flavour and appearance, with its savoury taste and seaweed and mayo toppings mirroring normal takoyaki.

A rubric assessing various criteria for instant noodles, with categories including flavour, texture, preparation, value for money, and uniqueness, featuring detailed feedback for each level.

Price: $1.66

Two cups of instant noodles from Nissin UFO displayed on a purple surface, one featuring Osaka Takoyaki flavor and the other Truffle Carbonara flavor.

Two bowls of instant noodles on a purple surface. The left bowl contains brown noodles topped with mayo and tiny seaweed, and the right bowl features plain noodles with small pieces of meat and parsley, accompanied by chopsticks. — *The Nissin UFO noodles before and after being cooked.*

#2: Nissin UFO Truffle Carbonara

Following the increasing hype around truffle-flavoured food, this flavour represents a valiant attempt by Nissin to incorporate food fads into their dishes. In spite of their efforts, it was rather lacklustre—and even unappetising at times.

Assessment rubric for evaluating instant noodles, detailing criteria such as flavour, texture, convenience, value for money, and uniqueness, with performance levels ranging from limited to exemplary.

Price: $1.66

#3: Tianxiaohua Potato Noodles

An assortment of ingredients laid out around a cup of instant noodles. Ingredients include a bowl of noodles, a chili base, a sauce pack, flavor powder, a soup base, chili oil, and vegetables, all labeled for clarity. — *Unpacking our potato noodles!*

Chinese instant noodles often come in the most eccentric flavours. Even though this only scratches the surface of the Chinese instant noodle world, these potato noodles, with their many flavour packages, were definitely special!

A rubric assessing various criteria for instant noodle evaluation, including flavor, texture, convenience, value for money, uniqueness, and additional comments.

Price: $1.60

Two bowls of instant noodles on a green surface, one topped with a pile of coriander and a red broth, and the other with wide flat noodles in a darker broth. — *A side-by-side comparison of the 2 Chinese noodles. (Left: Coriander; Right: Potato)*

#4: Baixiang Coriander Noodles

A bowl of coriander-flavored instant noodles with two packets of coriander seasoning resting next to it, set against a green background. — *A meal dedicated to coriander-lovers.*

Another quirky option is the Coriander Noodles, bound to be a deeply offensive meal for coriander-haters. Despite the green noodles and the pile of coriander, the meal doesn’t actually have much coriander flavour.

A detailed assessment rubric evaluating various instant noodles based on flavor, texture, preparation convenience, value for money, and uniqueness, with comments highlighting personal experiences and opinions.

Price: $2

#5: Double Dragon Boat Noodles

Cup of Thai instant noodles with assorted seasoning packets, placed on a purple surface.

A hand holding a fork with translucent noodles above a cup of Double Dragon Boat Noodles, with a partially opened cup and a tissue on top. — *Boat noodles pre- and post-cooking.*

Hoping to try some regional flavours, we ordered instant boat noodles off Shopee, with shipping making up half the price. Still, since this flavour is not commonly found locally, we factored delivery costs into our final assessment.

Assessment rubric evaluating various criteria for instant noodles, including flavour, texture, convenience, value, and uniqueness

Price: $4 (including shipping)

#6: Ottogi Guinness Jjajang

A cup of Guinness Jjajang instant noodles with two flavor packets and seasoning oil on a purple background. — *Do not let its deceivingly normal packaging fool you*

In all aspects of its appearance, the Guinness Jjajang looks like any other instant Jjajang noodle. Yet in flavour, this (thankfully non-alcoholic) dish is far from ordinary.

Assessment rubric for evaluating instant noodles including criteria for flavour, texture, convenience, value for money, and uniqueness. Each level of performance is described from limited to exemplary.

Price: $2.90

#7: Gu Da Sao Wontons

A bowl of Chinese instant noodles with packaging, featuring dried dumplings, flavor packets, and dried vegetables on a purple surface.

A bowl of wonton soup featuring dumplings, meatballs, corn, and herbs, served with a plastic spoon. — *The very unique pre- and post-cooking process.*

If you never realised that wontons could come in instant form, you’re not alone. While these aren’t strictly noodles, we decided to make an exception for such an unorthodox dish.

An assessment rubric for evaluating various instant noodle dishes based on flavor, texture, convenience, value for money, and uniqueness.

Price: $4.25

#8: Acebook Beef Pho

A cup of Acecook instant beef pho noodles featuring transparent rice noodles, a seasoning oil packet, soup powder packet, and a vegetable packet, all displayed on a purple surface.

A bowl of soup with flat noodles, small meat pieces, and green herbs, served in a white container against a purple background. — *Pho pre- and post-cooking.*

To conclude our regional exploration, we decided to try pho—arguably, one of the most comforting soup noodles in Asia. Unfortunately, Shopee offered few single-purchase options, but we eventually settled on this Koka Beef Pho. Ironically, it came from a Japanese company (but was made in Vietnam, at least!).

A detailed assessment rubric for evaluating instant noodles based on criteria such as flavor, texture, convenience, value for money, and uniqueness, featuring checkmarks for specific levels of proficiency.

Price: $4.91

Conclusion

When we first pitched this article idea, we never expected to try some of the noodles we ended up eating—especially not the wontons. Throughout this taste-testing process, we’ve discovered some gems (we’re looking at you, potato noodles), although some others were pretty average-tasting. Overall, it was definitely an eye-opening experience.

In general, though, nothing really beats the feeling of excitement and anticipation of holding a cup of noodles with an unknown taste. So, the next time you’re buying instant noodles at a supermarket, why not pick up something that looks bizarre and interesting—something you’ve never tried before? Who knows, it might just end up making you feel special.