There’s a lot to be said about our current hotel but it can wait until tomorrow since now is surely the best time for five new chicken ramen reviews. This time I’ll feature Canadian products, purchased this very day in a supermarket we encountered en route.
Chicken Flavour Kimchi Ramen (380 Calories, 16g fat, 1030 mg sodium)
Because the packaging of this large bowl ramen didn’t specifically state it, I foolishly didn’t realize this would be spicy when I purchased it. The brilliant red powder smelled stronger than it looked, and is it any surprised that the taste – like burned tomato – was so repellent to my refined palate that it almost made me gag. A loathsome product, and deserving of a 0/10 grade.
Mr Noodles Chicken Ramen Bowl (510 Calories, 22g fat, 2160 mg sodium)
This is one of the largest instant noodle products I’ve ever seen, and the nutritional value is equally ‘impressive’ (98% of your daily sodium in this one product). It seemed average before cooked, and the dehydrated veggies actually looked good. But then I prepared and tasted it, and was disappointed to learn it’s another in a long line of so-called chicken flavoured products that tastes more like cut grass. The noodles looked almost beautiful as they flushed down the loo, but it still earned a score of 0/10.
Mr Noodles Chicken Ramen (310 Calories, 13g fat, 1250 mg sodium)
This is the small cup version of the above, and while common sense may suggest it would be identical there have been cases in the past when small and large bowls by the same company have been different. Not this time: it’s another ‘cut grass’ ramen and it took much longer to prepare it than it took to flush it. An easy 0/10.
Mr Noodles Chicken Ramen (190 Calories, 7g fat, 600 mg sodium)
Next came the brick version of the same product. As someone who has now sampled 75 (!) chicken ramen products I will say that bricks are often better than cups, but my absolute favourites are still cups. This brick…? Down the loo it went, and more for absolute lack of any taste than because I found it objectionable. Don’t bother with this 0/10 product.
Selection Chicken Flavoured Instant Noodles (310 Calories, 14g fat, 810 mg sodium)
And thus we arrive at the last, and to answer your question yes, all five of these were tasted just now in our hotel room. The previous four were so awful I rested all my hopes on this one, if only because I was hungry. The veggies looked good and the noodles were denser and more promising than the weedy ones I’d already tasted. As I raised the fork to my mouth my mind reflected on the fact that the toilet had eaten more ramen than me this day. Seconds later, as I flushed this store brand product to God knows where, I sighed and recorded in the mysterious ledger of ramen scores the fifth 0/10 of this fated evening.