Archive for the ‘Food’ Category
A Review In Three Photos
Thursday, June 1st, 2023Ramen 22: The Power And The Chook
Wednesday, May 31st, 2023Incredibly, I found four more as-yet-unreviewed chicken ramen noodles! Let’s get to tasting…
Coles Chicken Brown Rice Noodles (283 Calories, 3.4 g fat, 1470 mg sodium)
This was very good! I was still a little jet-lagged when I tried this one and the rich broth and tasty noodles gave me an energy injection. If I lived here in Australia, I’d eat this one again: 8/10
Supreme Noodles Chicken Noodle Cup (372 Calories, 13.7 g fat, 1610 mg sodium)
By comparison this was absolutely terrible. Wretched stringy noodles and a bit of overly-salty flavoring led to a woeful ‘meal’ that belongs in the bin. A miserable 1/10.
Coles Chicken Instant Noodles (1285 kJ, 13.4 g fat, 1095 mg sodium)
I had the brick version of this last year and it is at best acceptable. This is a ramen you’d eat to stay alive but not ever choose. I’ll give it bonus points for the abundance of veggies but as an uninspired example it’s only worth about 5/10.
Maggi Wholegrain Chicken 2-Minute Noodles (960 kJ, 1.3 g fat, 900 mg sodium)
Brick noodles seem less common here than in the USA, and chicken examples are quite rare. This unusual wholegrain version of Maggi chicken noodles are very low in fat and sodium, and I enjoyed them quite a lot. A good chicken taste combined with some slightly chewy noodles meant a nice dinner after a 35,000 step walk on a sunny day. I’ll probably eat this one again: 8/10
And so the series that I thought ended years ago racked up yet another installment. Could there one day be another (which would introduce the 60th noodle)? I hope so, and I know you do too 🙂
Ramen Universes Beyond: Hatsune Miku
Sunday, May 14th, 2023It’s time for another investigation into the world of branded ramen. Today I have something very special:
Yes my friends, a Hatsune Miku leek flavored blue ramen. And it’s very cutely packaged as well:
Look at her enjoying delicious leek noodles. How could I not pay $4.99 for this item after seeing this art? (If you’re wondering, Hatsune Miku is everyone’s favourite vocaloid and if that means nothing to you then just think of her just as Hello Kitty crossed with a pop idol.)
I’ll admit I was a little concerned by the appearance of the product before adding water. Rice noodles are rarely good, and the flavoring seemed to just be fine onion powder. For those keeping track, it contains 190 kCal, 1g of fat, and 1140 mg of sodium.
As you know, professional ramen enthusiasts utilize noodle stoppers when they steep their cup noodles, so it’s a good thing I recently purchased a new one:
Yep, a Miku noodle stopper for some Miku noodles! It was a match made in noodle heaven:
Once the boiling water was added, I patiently waited, and when it was ready I opened the lid and this is what I saw:
It looked like a children’s drink with cut grass floating on it. And even though I let the noodles soak about twice as long as suggested they were still suspiciously rigid. But such thing shouldn’t stop a professional food critic, so I dove right in:
Of course it was terrible. The noodles were elastic bands, and the broth tasted of nothing at first (that’s the only 1g of fat right there) , but had an ‘evil vegetable’ aftertaste that lingered for hours. The blue broth was extremely off-putting, and overall this was a wretched ramen experience. Needless to say I don’t recommend this, even for the spectacle.
At least the noodle stopper is cute. Look at her noodly hair! Reminds me a bit of Uzumaki…
Happy 30 Years!
Thursday, May 11th, 202330 years ago today, I came to America. It was probably the best but hardest decision I ever made, and the anniversary – which I usually ignore – is bittersweet. Kristin suggested I do something ‘American’ to celebrate… so I walked to McDonalds for lunch 🙂
Including tax a hamburger happy meal now costs $6.47, which seems a lot for what you get. Service was very fast though, and the food was piping hot and looked good once I unpacked it:
I ate the burger first. As a little boy the junior burger (as it was called in Oz back in those days) was my favorite, but I grew into Big Macs for a few decades before somewhat recently returning to happy meals. It’s just enough food for me now, and I’ve grown to enjoy the simple taste of the plain hamburger.
This one didn’t disappoint, and as I inhaled it I increasingly noticed the rest of the patrons in the dining area were geriatrics or lunatics and I was simultaneously the youngest and sanest in the room. Thankfully the burger was meaty and delicious, and I almost could ignore the madwoman across the restaurant screaming about toilet paper.
Are Macca’s fried the best fast food fry? I can’t answer that now (but I will in time; stay tuned) but I will say that first impressions of this portion were high: they were crispy and hot with a nice potato taste. Unfortunately there must have been a mistake in the kitchen since they were insanely oversalted, and even the half-flat and watery Diet Coke barely cut the bitterness.
I ate them regardless, priding myself on my ability to ignore the ancient nutter gibbering about his hip flask. One of his companions seemed to gutterally grunt at him in response, and I wondered if perhaps they weren’t even human? With my food gone, it was time to inspect the toy.
Macca’s continues to cut costs and the plastic in this Cosmo (a good dog) from Guardians 3 would have probably been better used for anything else. What child wants this? I considered saving it for a future birthday gift for Bernard, but came to my senses (unlike the wizened loon mumbling to himself in the corner) and hurled it into the nearest trash bin.
My anniversary meal completed, I fled the asylum restaurant and walked home. It took a while and was hot, and my extreme salt-induced hydration made it feel hotter, but at least I hadn’t let the day pass without doing something special. Happy 30 years to me 🙂
Ramen 21: Let’s March Onwards Together
Sunday, April 2nd, 2023Just when you thought this series had ended, I found three more instant chicken meals! Let’s now review the 52nd, 53rd and 54th chicken ramen in this series…
Saigon Pho Artificial Chicken (290 Calories, 9 g fat, 1570 mg sodium)
I’m stretching the definition again here, to once again include a pho soup. I’ve not liked these in the past and was apprehensive, and once I added the water and the kitchen began to smell strongly of cut grass I knew my fears had come true.
As with similar products I have tried in the past, the noodles were slimy and the broth was bitter and very oily. Absolutely not my kind of instant soup, and I suspect not yours either: 2/10
Cup Noodles Artificial Chicken (310 Calories, 11 g fat, 1360 mg sodium)
This seems to be a Japanese product although it’s labeled as being made in Hong Kong. Cup Noodles is of course the inventor of instant ramen and we visited their museum back in January, but strangely I was unable to find a chicken flavour in Japan (this one came from a local Asian grocer). I’ve reviewed the USA version already and liked it a lot, so how does this one compare?
Firstly, this was a seriously strong seal on the lid! Having opened 50+ different products this was easily the strongest seal and I almost debated cutting it open. Once I had opened it the presentation was lovely, with a lot of veggies and meat chunks on top of the noodles. Adding the water released a delightful smell and I couldn’t wait to tuck in. I ended up eating the entire thing, and my verdict is similar to the USA version: this is amongst the very best chicken ramens I have tried, and were it not for my beloved Gefen brand I daresay I’d make this my go-to product: 8/10
Sapporo Ichiban ‘Tokyo Classic’ Momosan Ramen (370 Calories, 9 g fat, 1960 mg sodium)
Amazingly I even found a new type of brick ramen, and this was an unusual kind that even came with a liquid flavour packet! I followed the instructions to the letter (which included adding water separately to the flavour and the the noodles afterwards) and once prepared it was an attractive soup with a thick broth.
Tastewise… to me this isn’t chicken. It had a strong earthy taste, like dissolved beef stock, which I imagine is supposed to be roast chicken but that I just found a bit repellant. The noodles were good though. Kristin liked it more than me and ate about half. I’ll give the average of our scores then: 5.5/10.
And there we have it. I’ve actually got a few more ‘ramen adjacent’ items I intend to show off, as well as (maybe) the next installment in my ‘universes beyond’ ramen series. But they can wait for another day 🙂