This book is INSANE! As a Japanese, I have always felt that ramen has been given a bad rap. It's been touted as unhealthy and high in sodium, while both of those could be true...and farthest from the truth. In reality, ramen is what you make it. Sure if you open a pouch and add hot water, you will get unhealthy and high in sodium. BUT...if you add more water and add a multitude of toppings and protein, it can be a very healthy and robust meal. Never in my life have I seen such a comprehensive guide to ramen, and I AM HERE FOR IT!!! I love every single page. I love every single breakdown. This book is AMAZING!!!! My mother never fed us plain ramen. She always added green onions, kamaboko, an undercooked egg, bamboo, and sandwich meat. Always. The suggestions in this book open up a whole new world my mother never ever could have imagined. Mr. Peter J. Kim...you are a genius and I applaud you for your beautiful and eye-opening book! You could easily create 365 different combinations of ramen and be satisfied with every bowl. I will be gifting this book to a few friends!

I love this cook book! Ramen is such a fun meal and all the info on the instant ramen was so helpful.
Learning also the different cook times for the veggies was also helpful! Can’t wait to step up my ramen game!

Thank you Netgalley, Chronicle Books, and Peter J. Kim for sending me this advanced review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a really fun cookbook. I enjoyed learning the history, and about a wide variety of instant ramen. The photos are great, and the whole book is colorful and put me in a really happy mood.

This was incredibly detailed, and is way more than just a recipe book. You learn step by step how to mix and match different flavors and techniques. The first half of the book is basically a long cooking class. There are charts, and all sorts of info that is presented in a way that is easy to read an understand. This is a book I would refer to again and again.

The recipes start about halfway through. There is a huge variety of flavors, and I plan on slowly cooking my way through the whole book. There is even a section on how to jazz up cup noodles too!

This is hands down one of the best cookbooks I've read this year, and is one I would be proud to have on my shelf.

Instant Ramen Kitchen is a monograph on the humble instant noodle with flavor packets alongside prep and taste guides curated by Peter J. Kim. Due out 9th Sept 2025 from Chronicle books, it's 248 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is not (as the author emphasizes) a cookbook. Rather it's a pretty comprehensive history (including archive photographs and materials) and background of instant noodles as well as general prep instructions and a series of templates for add-ons to elevate the oft-scorned dish to something nutritionally *better* and more balanced.

There are a number of more or less traditional recipes included in the book. Each of them includes a background and recommended type of ramen noodle packet as a base, bullet list of ingredients, add-ons, special additions, and step-by-step cooking instructions. Ingredients are listed with imperial (American) measures and metric in parentheses (yay!). Extra tips and tricks such as making dishes vegan friendly, are included in a text footer bar with the recipes. Nutritional info is not included.

The pictures throughout are in color and a clear and easy to understand. Serving suggestions are appealing and appropriately styled.

The author/publishers have included a cross-referenced searchable index which includes ingredients.

Four and a half stars. An absolute winner for everyone who loves ramen (and that must be the vast majority). It would be an excellent choice for public or school library acquisition, for home use, and for gift giving (possibly bundled in a care package for a young person moving into dorm/new apartment).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Thorough overview of ramen types, recipes etc and fun concept. Will definitely buy it for my husband who is a ramen fanatic!

This is so much different than I was expecting! It goes into details behind the common ramen brands we see at the store and briefly describes how each is unique to itself.

Then there's details on the method behind cooking the most perfect ramen. I didn't know there was more to it than tossing the noodles in some water and letting the microwave do it's thing, but this was incredibly detailed.

There's many different ways to go about using this book. You can skip the first 150 pages and go straight to the specific recipes in the back (which all sound delicious and have easy instructions), or you can look in your pantry, see what ingredients you have to work with, and sift through the first 150 pages to see what you can do with them to build your own custom ramen dish.

I do think it gets a bit wordy sometimes, but all in all, I think this is a pretty neat book to add to your kitchen and help elevate your noodle consumption!