It's a Noodle Bar not a Wine Bar

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

This was OK. I like the noodles. Firm with a decent wheat flavour. The flavouring is unexciting - mainly MSG with some onion. There's chicken and beef both in the ingredients, which seems a shame, as their flavours don't come through, but they added an ingredient that many people find offensive. Why? It's like the French adding lardons to everything, just to piss off vegetarians. Made in USA by the Japanese Sanyo Food company. 100g for 75p. Given how unremarkable Sapporo Ichiban noods are, I won't be buying this brand again, unless the price is lower. I was keen to try them, though, given that they are such a big seller in the US. Asian instant noods dominate in the US, and while Sapporo is not in the top three big brands, it is still big enough to have its own factory there, and is often mentioned on American nood blogs.

Date: April 2014 Score: 4

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***

Sapporo Ichiban

Monday, 7 April 2014

Sapporo Ichiban Miso Ramen

My first Sapporo Ichiban. Pleasant chewy noodles - quite flavoursome. Asian noodles are made from wheat flavour, palm oil, and often potato starch or tapioca starch or some other thickener. I might look into investigating the difference between Asian and British noodles, as I do prefer Asian. Anyway, the flavour powder is vague - no distinct flavours come out, and there is not much range. No high citric notes, nor any deep, meaty savoury notes - just this grey nameless savoury sludge. Salty mushroom and faint shrimp and seaweed. The flavour is miso, which is a soy bean paste, and is used to make miso soup. I've had miso soup, and it does taste like this - a grey, nameless savoury with a sort of earthy seaweed tang.

I can't see miso flavoured noods really becoming a favourite of mine; nor can I see them taking off in a big way in the UK. But it's each to their own.....

75p for 101g from Tradewinds oriental Shop. Sapporo is a Japanese brand, but the brand is popular in USA, so that's where these are made. That's why they are not as cheap as noods actually made in Asia.

Date: April 2014 Score: 3/10

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*Oodles of Noodles A dull YouTube video of a man eating the noodles - it's not attractive, and its not funny, but there you go; they posted it, 830 people have watched it - well, I skipped through it.
*NoodleNut Another YouTube video of someone eating the noodles. Well, I assume that's what he does - I didn't want to waste 5 minutes of my life watching it - but if you do, there's the link....

Sunday, 6 April 2014

MAMA Instant Noodles Yentafo Flavour

Very pink! Sweet with some faint fish flavours. Yentafo (or yen tafo or yen ta fo) is the Thai version of the Chinese yong tau foo, essentially a clear soup with a variety of ingredients. It apparently originated as a restaurant dish in the early 1970s - at that point it was tofu stuffed with meat and fish paste.

I thought this was OK, but perhaps lacking in impact, and just a bit too sweet. Seems that MAMA flavourings consists mainly of sugar, salt and chilli. I kinda like that for a while, but after eating a series of MAMA noods, I'm beginning to tire of the sweetness.

Date: June 2014 Score: 4

These are very yummy. Sweet and spicy with an exciting warmth that never prickles or overheats. Pleasant tomato flavour. Good noodles. Contains shrimp but no meat.

Date: Jan 2016 Score: 6

MAMA's best

Saturday, 5 April 2014

MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Tom Yum Pork Flavour

April, 2014
Oooh. Quite a fresh and lively taste to this. There's lime and coriander leaves, and a pleasant sweetness in the finish. Also included are tomato, pork, and peanut butter flavours. As with other MAMA noods, there's no meat in the ingredients. 60g for 28p - made in Thailand. The flavouring sachets were a little different to the others. They were all in a clear plastic packet. Not sure why - that just seems like additional packaging for no reason. Perhaps it speeds things up in the factory. There were three packets, but one was sesame seed instead of chilli powder. I like that, as there is generally enough chilli in MAMA noods for me anyway, without adding more - and I do like sesame seed. Yeah - quite tasty these.

June, 2015
I just got a case of 30 of these for £3.90 from Tradewinds as they are out of date. That's 13p each. Bargain! I love the zesty lime flavours combined with the sweet tomato flavour (there is no tomato in the ingredients, but the flavour is there), and with a touch of heat from the chilli. Great combination. And the noodles are nice and wheaty. Proper noods. No meats or fish or birds used in production. Easy to make. Quick and nourishing and alive with flavours. Good stuff. As a cooking tip, add a knob of butter. Delicious.

Score: 8

Dec, 2016

In a taste test face off with Nissin Thai Tom Yum these appeared somewhat inferior in comparison. A little too strongly flavoured, with too heavy a use of artificial flavourings.

Score: 7

MAMA's best

Most yummy Tom Yum

Thursday, 3 April 2014

MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Pork with Black Pepper Flavour

Imported into the UK in the Thailand packet, so the name is written in Thai language, reading right to left. As usual with MAMA noods, the ingredients are veggie. and also quite spicy. Good, firm, tasty noodles in a savoury sauce. These MAMA noods are OK, though starting to taste a little the same - they are like a Marmite drink with chilli powder into which some noodles have been dumped. I like that they are flavoursome, cheap, spicy, and somewhat exotic. I enjoyed these, though wasn't over-excited. I did like the black pepper flavouring - I found that neat, and quite original.

Score: 5

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MAMA's best

Battle of the brands

Top Noods

Nifty Nissin noodles

Ko-Lee

MAMA's best

Noods tasted: 11

Highest score: 8

Lowest score: 3

Average: 6

Sawadee

Vifon

Sainsbury's own brand noodles

Top Pot Noodle (the best of the slags)

Symington's

Noods tried: 17

Highest score: 7

Lowest score: 2

Average score: 3.8

Batchelors Super Noodles are crap

Crap Noods

*Indomie

**Indomie Mi goreng

*Kohlico

**Ko Lee

**Sawadee

*Maggi

*Mama

*Maruchan

*Nissin

**Demae Ramen

**Cup Noodles

*Mr. Noodles

*Pot Noodle

*Sapporo Ichiban

*Shin Ramyun

*Smith & Jones

*Super Noodles

*The Nation's Noodle

*Vifon

*Wai Wai

Wednesday, 2 April 2014

MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Pad Kee Mao Flavour

Pad kee mao (also known as drunken noodles) is a popular spicy noodle dish in Thailand. Seafood and fish sauce are common ingredients. This MAMA version is spicy and very savoury, with fish sauce flavours. The noodles are very soft, though not slimy like UK noodles. Though I normally like firm noodles, I am very struck by these soft noodles - very smooth and comforting. A great balance to the heat of the chilli. And there's a pleasant sweetness a swell. Overall a very enjoyable experience. I think seafood flavours work well in noods. It's perhaps a little hot for my sensitive palate, but I do enjoy a bit of warmth.

Score: 6

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MAMA's best

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

MAMA Oriental Style Instant Noodles Pa-Lo Duck Flavour

A good savoury sauce. More Marmite than duck - the flavour comes from "artificial duck flavouring", which is Chinese five-spice. Made in Bangkok. The noodles are firm and chewy, and the sauce is a reasonable consistency. I enjoyed these.

Score: 6

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Mama's best

MAMA's best

MAMA is a brand made by Thai President Foods in Thailand. MAMA is Thailand's leading noods brand, with a 45% market share. The company claim they are the tenth largest noods company in the world.

They have a website: mamalover.net, and a FaceBook page. They are fond of using pictures of attractive young women holding a MAMA pot:

Packets are cheap - 28p - but tend to be small - 55g. The flavouring powder is mainly sugar, salt and chilli. They tend to be firmly flavoured, but often tasting of Marmite and/or sugar, with chilli. The meat flavours don't contain meat, though the fish flavours will contain fish and/or seafood. The packets will tend to have three sachets: the flavour powder, garlic and chilli flavoured palm oil, and a chilli powder. Most are spicy already, so the chilli powder is not always needed.

They are a decent to moderate nood. Unexciting, but acceptable and often very tasty. The flavourings are not quite as interesting as the exotic sounding names suggest, and tend to be a little too hot, but are better than the average cheap nood.