Upon my return to university, I decided I wanted to stock up on easy meals that could stay in the cupboard as long as they needed to. Naturally, my first choice would be the instant noodle. A personal favourite food of mine, ready in just three minutes, and generally rather filling. My issue came in deciding exactly which flavours I wanted. Spoiled for choice on my favourite oriental food site, I made a bold decision. "I shall order three of each, and sample their flavour", I proclaimed to the heavens. Now here I am, forty-something packets of noodle later. The purpose of this blog will be to keep track of my tastings, and serve as a guide for future purchases for myself. I figured if it'll be useful to me, others may appreciate it. If not, well... It's still useful to me lol
Do pardon my lack of photographic prowess. I understand it isn't my strength, but I wanted to include pictures to simplify things for myself.
I'll update this blog post with more noodles as and when I eat them. Stay tuned!
Do pardon my lack of photographic prowess. I understand it isn't my strength, but I wanted to include pictures to simplify things for myself.
Noodle: ★☆☆☆☆
Broth: ★★★☆☆
Artificial Pork is an interesting flavour, with a familiar smell to accompany it. Reminiscent of artificially flavoured bacon crisps (or potato chips to you fake English speakers out there), or pork scratchings, they don't do much in the way of selling themselves. Nonetheless, I journeyed on. Noodles in bowl, soup base and sauce prepared, I waited the advertised three minutes in hope they taste better than they smell. Thiiiiiis was not the case. We do not have a good noodle here. The warm, fake scent of pork embraces the slimy surface of the noodle in the worst possible way, creating what ultimately tastes like a soggy pork scratching.
The redemption lies in the broth. In isolation, it has a somewhat warming and toasty taste; something I could see myself drinking in winter after a cold walk back to the house. It's nothing revolutionary; the pork flavour actually coming across rather faintly in the actual taste. I feel this is where the broth succeeds. Were the pork flavour to be prominent, I doubt I would have enjoyed it.
Overall, I wouldn't say I wasted my money here. The noodles can be put to use in a stir fry, or something similar; while the broth can obviously used as a standalone drink. The fact they don't work so well together doesn't necessarily surprise me, but it's a little disappointing nonetheless. I won't be buying these again.
Broth: ★★★☆☆
Artificial Pork is an interesting flavour, with a familiar smell to accompany it. Reminiscent of artificially flavoured bacon crisps (or potato chips to you fake English speakers out there), or pork scratchings, they don't do much in the way of selling themselves. Nonetheless, I journeyed on. Noodles in bowl, soup base and sauce prepared, I waited the advertised three minutes in hope they taste better than they smell. Thiiiiiis was not the case. We do not have a good noodle here. The warm, fake scent of pork embraces the slimy surface of the noodle in the worst possible way, creating what ultimately tastes like a soggy pork scratching.
The redemption lies in the broth. In isolation, it has a somewhat warming and toasty taste; something I could see myself drinking in winter after a cold walk back to the house. It's nothing revolutionary; the pork flavour actually coming across rather faintly in the actual taste. I feel this is where the broth succeeds. Were the pork flavour to be prominent, I doubt I would have enjoyed it.
Overall, I wouldn't say I wasted my money here. The noodles can be put to use in a stir fry, or something similar; while the broth can obviously used as a standalone drink. The fact they don't work so well together doesn't necessarily surprise me, but it's a little disappointing nonetheless. I won't be buying these again.
Noodle: ★★★☆☆
Broth: ★★★★☆
I'll start rather simply, I don't get on with spicy foods. I was a little dubious when I pulled this one out of my cupboard of wonders, but I was willing to give it a shot. Inside the packet, we had out standard noodle block, along with a soup base, and what I can only assume to be the super spicy sachet. This is where my decision into flavour got difficult—do I experience the taste in its true form, spice and all, or do I forgo the spice in the name of retaining taste buds. I chose the latter.
The noodles themselves absorbed the flavour rather nicely, creating something really quite fishy. Probably what you're after if you're eating seafood noodles. The broth surprised me. Even without the sachet, they retained a level of spice; however I found it comfortable, maybe even enjoyable! It was a strange experience truth be told. Naturally, the broth was fishy, but not overwhelmingly so. It was a quality broth I put the effort into finishing.
I can't speak as to what the sauce sachet does for the flavour, but I can imagine it makes them hot. So if that's your thing, give em a shot.
Broth: ★★★★☆
I'll start rather simply, I don't get on with spicy foods. I was a little dubious when I pulled this one out of my cupboard of wonders, but I was willing to give it a shot. Inside the packet, we had out standard noodle block, along with a soup base, and what I can only assume to be the super spicy sachet. This is where my decision into flavour got difficult—do I experience the taste in its true form, spice and all, or do I forgo the spice in the name of retaining taste buds. I chose the latter.
The noodles themselves absorbed the flavour rather nicely, creating something really quite fishy. Probably what you're after if you're eating seafood noodles. The broth surprised me. Even without the sachet, they retained a level of spice; however I found it comfortable, maybe even enjoyable! It was a strange experience truth be told. Naturally, the broth was fishy, but not overwhelmingly so. It was a quality broth I put the effort into finishing.
I can't speak as to what the sauce sachet does for the flavour, but I can imagine it makes them hot. So if that's your thing, give em a shot.
Noodle: ★☆☆☆☆
Broth: ☆☆☆☆☆
Lord of unholy sin, who thought a fruity noodle was a good idea!? This noodle just does not sit well with me. Starting with a rather grotesque first impression of sweat in the soup base, I decided press on in hope it tasted better than it smelled. If you've seen Shokugeki no Souma, I was thinking something like the black broth brewed by the creepy stalker girl. Alas, it was not to be. The noodle tasted like... Orange. Warm orange that had been left to go off for a few days. I don't even know what off orange juice tastes like, but the odd flavour still sits badly with me an hour after eating them. I find it difficult to properly quantify my disdain toward this noodle.
For the first time, I couldn't even bring myself to sample the broth. The noodle put me off to such an extreme, I simply couldn't manage it. Will not be buying again, that much is certain.
Broth: ☆☆☆☆☆
Lord of unholy sin, who thought a fruity noodle was a good idea!? This noodle just does not sit well with me. Starting with a rather grotesque first impression of sweat in the soup base, I decided press on in hope it tasted better than it smelled. If you've seen Shokugeki no Souma, I was thinking something like the black broth brewed by the creepy stalker girl. Alas, it was not to be. The noodle tasted like... Orange. Warm orange that had been left to go off for a few days. I don't even know what off orange juice tastes like, but the odd flavour still sits badly with me an hour after eating them. I find it difficult to properly quantify my disdain toward this noodle.
For the first time, I couldn't even bring myself to sample the broth. The noodle put me off to such an extreme, I simply couldn't manage it. Will not be buying again, that much is certain.
Noodle: ★★★★☆
Broth: ★★★☆☆
After the abomination of yesterday's noodle, I was reluctant to try something new. Nonetheless, I had the rumblies for noodles only a new flavour could satisfy. First impression was odd. The soup base smelled like the Morrisons fish counter, and the XO Sauce looked like dried cranberries. It wasn't looking promising.
To my surprise, they were somewhat delightful. Noodles retained some of the fishiness of the Morisons counter, and a little unexpected spice, but not so much as to overpower the flavour. The same could be said for the broth. They infused nicely for quite a satisfying meal. I think I'll have fish fingers with it next time for a little bit of protein, I'll definitely buy more of these.
Broth: ★★★☆☆
After the abomination of yesterday's noodle, I was reluctant to try something new. Nonetheless, I had the rumblies for noodles only a new flavour could satisfy. First impression was odd. The soup base smelled like the Morrisons fish counter, and the XO Sauce looked like dried cranberries. It wasn't looking promising.
To my surprise, they were somewhat delightful. Noodles retained some of the fishiness of the Morisons counter, and a little unexpected spice, but not so much as to overpower the flavour. The same could be said for the broth. They infused nicely for quite a satisfying meal. I think I'll have fish fingers with it next time for a little bit of protein, I'll definitely buy more of these.
