Obento Spicy Kung Pao

£1.40 from Tradewinds. This is a large pot of udon noodles with lots of flavour packets and cooking instructions. These are made in the microwave. The bowl supplied is not the one in the picture - it's transparent and somewhat more flimsy, so care needs to be taken when removing from the microwave. The resulting mess is not worth the price or the effort. Made in China.


Score: 3

Indomie Mi goreng Rendang Spicy Beef Flavour

Cooked according to the instructions the noodles tasted undercooked and wheaty, and too dry. The sauce was spicy, sweet and savoury with no distinct pleasant flavours. A bit of a muddle. Sprinkle some soy sauce, sugar, chilli powder, and a bit of peanut butter on plain noodles, and you'd get a better experience.  Not very good.

Rendang is  like a caramelized beef curry.

Veggie.

Score: 2

Beef flavoured

Indomie noods

Indomie noods

The Indomie brand is owned by Indofood, and is the largest instant noodle company in Indonesia, with a 72% market share. The brand was launched in 1982, introducing the Mi Goreng ("stir-fry" ie, serve drained of water) variety a year later in 1983. The brand has strong world wide distribution, and a second processing plant in Africa.

Indomie Mi Goreng Satay Flavour

Indomie Special Chicken Flavour

Indomie Mi Goreng Hot & Spicy

Indomie Instant Noodles Vegetables Flavour

Indomie Instant Noodles Beef & Lime Flavour

Indomie Mi goreng Rendang Spicy Beef Flavour

Indomie Instant Noodles Chicken Flavour

Indomie Chicken Flavour

Indomie Instant Noodles Onion Chicken Flavour

Indomie Instant Noodles Shrimp Flavour

Omachi Lau Tom Chua Cay (Shrimp)

Omachi is the instant noodle brand of Masan, a Vietnamese company founded in 1996.  Omachi is their premium brand, they have two other brands, Sagami and Kokomi.

Crunchy noodles in a spicy sauce with small pieces of textured food that could well have been beef, even though the product is meant to be shrimp. The noodles come with three packets - the dried veg, the sauce powder, and some flavoured oil.  It was tasty enough, though a little heavy and spicy for me. OK, just didn't rock my boat.


Score: 5

Mr. Min Original Korean Ramen Cup Gout Fruits De Mer

Savoury and pleasant. Bought in Carrefour, Marseille. Made for the French market, but the name is in English. All other wording on the cup is in French, but the name itself is in English.

Nissin Nouilles Japonaises Saveur Wasabi

Perfectly decent Nissin pot noodles bought in Carrefour in Marseilles. Decent firm noodles and a pleasant sauce - delicate and flavoursome. My problem is that the wasabi fumes were a little chocking when inhaled. This meant the noodles couldn't be eaten too hot otherwise each time I picked up a forkful I breathed in the wasabi fumes. When the pot had cooled a bit this was perfectly fine.

Score: 5

Nifty Nissin noodles

Tanoshi Crevette Yosenabe (Prawn Soup)

Colourful pot, bought in France. Tanoshi are a company which makes instant noodles in Vietnam for distribution in France as "authentic" Japanese noodles. The noodles are chewy, sticky, doughy and flavourless. Bit of an effort to get through. But the sauce/broth iw wonderful. Very fresh, light, and savoury enough to keep the interest going to the end. I loved the sauce. Different noodles would make thios one of the best instant noodles of all time. But with the current noodles, they are a bit of dirge, despite the wonderful broth.

Crevette is French for prawn or shrimp, while Yosenabe is a form of Japanese broth.