Ramen 23: Let Us All Chook Together

  • September 8, 2023

The ramen review madness continues. I’ve lost track of how many it’s been. Is it over 50? Let’s go…

Maruchan Instant Lunch Select Chicken (280, 12 g fat, 730 mg sodium)

I was initially put off by the flavor dust being obviously baked into the noodles, since in other products this has produced an unsatisfying broth, but once I added the water and let it steep for a while I was rewarded with an acceptable taste and nicely cooked noodles. However the dehydrated veggies remained a bit flat and chewy, and I think this product may have benefited with fewer of them. Also the cardboard cup (obviously they’re trying to phase out styrofoam) wasn’t very insulated and it got a bit too hot to hold, which may be a strike against it for some. I’d eat this again: 7/10

Pho’Nominal Bowl, Chicken (200 Calories,1 g fat, 649 mg sodium)

It had loads of flavor powder and herbs, and was attractive before I added the water. But as with all pho products I have tried, it stunk of cut grass when made, tasted even worse (like greasy dirt) and the noodles had the consistency of elastic bands. Abysmal: 0/10.

Sapporo Ichiban Chicken Flavour (270 kJ, 10 g fat, 730 mg sodium)

I used to love Sapporo chicken noodles, and until I discovered Gefen it was my ramen of choice. But that was a brick ramen and I was surprised to see they now do a cup. My first thought was it took longer-than-usual for the noodles to soften, and the smell was unpleasantly strong. The taste was solid though, if a bit salty, and in a world without Gefen I believe I’d eat this one regularly. A respectable 8/10.

I’m not stopping the plain chicken ramen reviews since I’ve learned that as long as the world turns I’ll still occasionally find new versions. But I’ve grown to love reviewing food, and think it may be time to expand my culinary review talents into a new product category. Stay tuned…

  • Posted in Food
  • Robert

Stardisc Trek

  • August 27, 2023

A few weeks ago I purchased this in an antique store:

A sealed box of Star Trek: TNG ‘Stardisc coins’! Released in 1994, this was a product I don’t remember but likely would have ignored at the time since ‘stardisc coin’ is just another synonym for ‘Pog’. Yes, this is a box of Star Trek Pogs!

The box contained 36 packs, each of which has six Pogs. I paid $21.75 for the box, or $0.10 per Pog. Would you have bought it?

The packs promise much: “A must for the true Trekker”! Note also the spelling of ‘colour’ and the tease of rare gold versions. I tore open the first pack with some dread…

Each pack contains three cards, each of which has two Pogs. Immediately this seems to be a second-rate product, since you need to punch the Pogs out yourself. This is tedious, and even after opening only two packs I hardly wanted to start.

Each pack also includes a checklist and instructions on how to play a ‘game’ with the discs. These are of course laughable, and I very much doubt the writer ever believed anyone would play it.

The checklist is important since the Pogs themselves don’t have any name on the back, which is unusual since they are uniquely printed (with a number) so they could have easily added the name. Also it’s worth mentioning that the quality control wasn’t great, and more than a few of the ones in my packs were damaged:

The back of the wrapper includes this laughable statement:

At a 1/72 rate, I had a 50% chance of opening the gold Pogs, so I was surprised that I got them in only my third pack! Here they are:

At this point you’re noticing that each card contains two Pogs, which means that for the set of 60 there’s only actually 30 unique cards (since the same two are always on the same card). So in the box of 36 packs, there are 108 cards which could – in theory – net more than three full sets. These statistics seem to hold up, since I was able to complete the set in half the packs, and I completed a good quality (no damaged Pogs) set in about 2/3rds of the packs:

This is a terrible product. The print quality is high, but who wanted these? No one ever played the game with them, and ‘collectors’ would have just put them in a box and forgotten about them immediately. They’re just a ‘thing’ that has no use or even purpose, manufactured and sold simply to profit from that bizarre Pog craze of 30 years ago.

I’ve got a few unopened packs left. If you want one let me know. Even if you don’t, maybe I’ll send you one anyway 🙂