The Ramen Rater

‘Ramen Rater’ makes his mark

Hans Lienesch, an Anacortes native who's known as the "Ramen Rater," stirred up controversy in April, when he failed to list any Taiwanese noodles on his website rating list. Posted: Saturday, June 15, 2013 6:00 am

By Lynsi Burton
@Lynsi_SVH

How does someone outrage the entire Taiwanese island and remain a media target for days? Anacortes native Hans Lienesch continues to dominate the world of instant noodles with his ever-growing website, The Ramen Rater. Now an Edmonds resident, Lienesch reviews instant noodles from all over the globe each day and posts his detailed thoughts to his website. And his thoughts are taken quite seriously.

“It’s getting pretty crazy,” Lienesch said. The Ramen Rater has passed judgment on 1,081 noodles and counting, with no end in sight. Lienesch caused an international stir in April when he posted his 2013 “Top Ten Instant Noodles of All Time,” a list that changes from year to year as he tastes ever more types of noodles. The Taiwanese media, hailing from a country that values its instant noodles, targeted Lienesch for not including any

Taiwanese varieties in his list.

“The Taiwanese are extremely proud of their instant noodles,” he said. His name and top 10 list remained in the Taiwanese news cycle for about three days, Lienesch said. A television segment featuring a Taiwanese man angrily pumping his fist with graphic flames blasted Lienesch for his omission. Tens of thousands of Taiwanese people posted comments to The Ramen Rater site. Lienesch finally issued an apology. But the Taiwanese omission wasn’t completely his fault. Genuine Taiwanese noodles are hard to come by locally because the United States can’t import certain ingredients included in the noodles, Lienesch said. A lot of Taiwanese varieties are Americanized and lose their authentic quality. Even when people mail Lienesch noodles from various spots on the globe, authorities will rifle through his packages and remove certain items. Though he enraged an entire republic, the controversy elevated Lienesch’s stature a bit in the instant noodle community.

“Being in the news like that, I’m considered the expert on instant noodles now,” he said. Now Taiwanese companies mail him their noodles, and he often interviews company representatives to introduce their brand to his readers. Lienesch also was featured this year in a Japanese TV show called “God of Patena,” where a panel of people discuss a random topic. An American character on the show interviewed Lienesch for his opinions on instant noodles and allowed him to present his top three — which were different at the time of the show’s filming. The character, a sort of bumbling “Larry the Cable Guy”-like figure, interviewed Lienesch over Skype. However, when looking back on the video clip, he can’t figure out what’s going on.

“I don’t know what they’re talking about most of the time,” he said. Soaring past 1,000 different noodles, Lienesch isn’t even close to running out of noodles to try, as fans and instant noodle companies continue to send him samples.

“I see no end in sight for the Ramen Rater,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy every bit of it.”