Lidl Newgate / Vitasia Barbecue Beef Flavour (packet)

Cheap but not cheerful. There's a lot of chewy noodles, but not much flavouring. Could do better.


Date: November 2015  Score: 3

 As part of Lidl's rebranding these are now marketed as Newgate Instant Noodles. The ingredients are veggie - the flavouring comes from onion and yeast extract. It tastes of onion. Needs a little bit of extra seasoning. It's acceptable. Nothing to write home about, but edible enough. Doesn't say where they are made.

Date: May 2016   Score: 4

Beef flavoured

Naked Noodle Thai Tom Yum

The noodles are too small. The taste is OK, with some lime, but just a bit too much tomato,  and a little too much heat for my personal preference. They're OK, but not my thing really. Reminded me of some of the Polish noods - sweet, tomato flavour with thin noodles, and too much heat. Not enough depth and body, but edible.

Date: Nov 2015  Score: 5

***

Most yummy Tom Yum

Symington's

Mug Shot On The Go! Oh Soy Saucy Chow Mein Noodles The BIG One!

It's edible, but it does taste like rehydrated British soup. There's a fair amount of onion in this. If you like the taste of rehydrated onion and flour water, then this is fine. It's edible, and it's savoury, but it's not actually a delight.

Score: 3

***

Symington's

Best instant noodle chow mein

Mug Shot On The Go! Satisfying Cheese & Ham Pasta The BIG One!

Made in the UK. Uses pieces of reformed pig. Tastes horrid. Not an experience I would like to repeat.

Score: 1

Symington's

Naked Noodle Vietnamese Beef Pho Flavour

Veggie. Made in the UK. Bought from Tesco as part of a multi-deal for 90p - normally £1.19.  This is a savoury nood - mostly onion and soy sauce flavouyrs, but pleasant enough. A little warmth, but not too much. An enjoyable British nood - a little floury, yes, but that's OK. Sometimes I like a bit of floury. Think Pot Noodle, but slightly better.


Score: 7

***

Beef flavoured

Symington's

Mug Shot On The Go! Magnifique Bolognese Pasta The BIG One!

Normally £1.09 for 85g - bought in Tesco as a multi-buy for 90p. Veggie. A decent enoiugh but unremarkable herb and tomato sauce on pasta. You can eat this, and then forget it. Not one to stick in the mind. It's OK. That's it really. Job done.

Score: 4

Symington's

Mug Shot On The Go! Mighty Spicy Madras Noodles The BIG One!

Normally £1.09, but picked up in Tesco as part of a multi-buy deal for 90p. This is a Pot Noodle clone, and it works well on that level - sticky and floury paste, with a British curry flavour. Quite warm, made me sweat, but a good warmth - not like some of the biting Asian spicy foods which are little more than chilli. Sweet and largely tomato flavoured this is very edible, though eaten side by side with Symington's Naked Noodle Curry, I found the greater range of flavours of the Naked Noodle more appealing. But there is something very comforting and dirty about this . A very close Pot Noodle clone.

Score: 6

***

Best curry flavour instant noodles

Symington's

Naked Noodle Malaysian Laksa Curry

Normally £1.19, bought for 90p in Tesco as part of a multi-buy deal. Priced at around the same price as Pot Noodle, but aiming for a more upmarket audience, I bought this at the same time as the company's (Symington's) Mug Shot cup, which is priced slighter lower (£1.09) but available on the same multi-buy deal at 90p. This is a typical floury UK nood, but the packaging and the finished product look good, and the product is quite tasty and flavoursome with some subtle lenongrass flavours and a gentle spicy warmth. I have previously slammed the Naked Noodle brand, and the Naked Noodle Laska product in particular, so I wasn't expecting much of this, but I ended up liking it quite a lot. Eating it side by side with the Mug Shot Madras, the similarities are obvious, and I enjoyed both, but this Laska Curry is more to my liking.

Score: 7

***

Best curry flavour instant noodles

Symington's

Nissin Cup Noodles Crab Flavor

Another wonderful one from Nissin. So fresh and natural tasting, and full of yummy flavours and textures. I don't like this as much as the  chicken flavour, but it still knocks socks off just about everyone else. This really does taste like you'd get in a noodle shop. Awesome. No meat, but does have dried seafood.

Score: 8

Nifty Nissin noodles

Nissin Cup Noodles Chicken Flavor

Awesome. I am so happy with Nissin, they are my type of nood. Easy to make, all veggie, excellent value for money, and so delicious. I wonder how they can do it so well, and others fail so miserably. The noodles in this are sublime. Perfect texture, flavour and character. The flavouring is savoury, interesting, fresh and satisfying. The little bits of dried vegetables break down into soft delicious bites. And it's not spoiled by too much chemical flavouring, or heavy chilli spices to cover up the inadequacies of the product. These are great.


10/10

Nifty Nissin noodles

The best Chicken flavour noods

Lidl Vitasia Instant Noodles Authentic Oriental Noodles Chicken Flavour

18p for 108g from Lidl. Cheap, but not good value. You get a lot of noodles, but not much flavour. The powdered flavouring is tasteless - you have to add your own salt or garlic powder or whatever, so you might as well just buy some plain noodles and add your own flavouring.

It's veggie. Doesn't say where it is made.

Date:  Oct  2015   Score: 1

I like this sort of noodle. Soft and tasty. Made in China. Veggie. Seasoning is a bit weak, so extra seasoning is required - a bit of salt or garlic or soy sauce, whatever, just something to make to feel a bit pleasant than eating some wet string.

Date: July 2016  Score: 3


Other reviews
*Live a Lidl

***

The best Chicken flavour noods

Vit's Seafood Instant Noodles

35p for 78g from Tesco. Made in Malaysia with "prawn seasoning powder" and "chicken seasoning powder" so a little vague on animal content.The noodles are OK, if a little firm, but the sauce is too hot. It's got some tomato flavour and some seasoning, and a lot of blunt chilli powder. This is not my thing at all, and if animals were killed and ground up to put into this product, then that's a vile shame, as there's no way anyone could taste it, so they might as well have gone veggie.

Score: 1

Other reviews
*RamenRater - we rarely agree!

Maggi 3 Minute Noodles Chicken Flavour

Yeah. It's edible. But does lack a bit of flavour and character. Probably best as a base with some tasty things added, such as chopped spring onions and chopped baby tomatoes. 

Date: Sept 2023   Score: 4 

Cheap to buy. Quick and easy to make. No dead chickens. Soft edible noodles, and a bland but acceptable flavouring that comes a little more acceptable with salt. Not great, but does the job. I wouldn't object to having them again.

Date: July 2016   Score: 4/10

No chickens were ground down into powder for this version, unlike Maggi's Two Minute packet version, which does use dead chickens. But other than that the products are the same. Thin tasteless noodles and a thin flavouring which doesn't quite have enough impact, but which still manages to leave your mouth tasting of MSG. Put in some salt and it's edible enough, so I'm not going to object to it, but there are tastier products available.


Date: Oct, 2015  Score:  4/10

The best (and worse) Chicken flavour noods

Itsu Vegetable Festival Crystal Noocle (Cup)

The Itsu (or is it itsu) range are usually around £2, which is rather a lot for a snack that can be usually purchased for less than 50p. But now and again there is an offer, and I'll grab a few. These were severely reduced because they were "out of date". There is a lot of style and packaging with an Itsu noodle. A see through top (why?) and a large pink plastic spork.  You can see where the money goes, and it's not really on the food. The noodles are dreadful. They are gluton free, but that's no excuse for making them so bad. They are made out of mashed potatoes and peas. Yes. But the resulting texture and flavour is plastic. The sauce, however, is quite tasty. A savoury, herby, tomato flavour  - though there are no tomatoes, with some hint of roasted vegetables. It is nice. The sauce is actually a liquid rather than being dried. Not sure why that is, because there is still a processed flavour about the whole thing, but the ingredients do work. It's more of a soup with some plastic wire put in, and it is difficult to eat. The spork is genuinely useful here. My recommendation is to throw the potato noodles away, and just drink the soup. Or better yet, just buy an Ainsley Harriot packet soup.


Score: 3

Maggi 3 Minute Noodles BBQ Beef Flavour

Cheap cup noodle from Tesco. I used less water than recommended yet it was still watery. More flavoursome than the curry flavour, but still needs seasoning to bring the flavours out. It's supposed to be beef, but the main flavours are onion, herb, yeast extract, MSG, and sulphury egg. Finishes a little dirty/artificial due to the MSG. It's edible, but probably less likeable than the curry flavour. Thin noodles.
Cheap, veggie, easy to make, edible. I wouldn't object to eating again, though wouldn't search it out.

Date: Oct 2015   Score: 4/10

Beef flavoured

Maggi 3 Minute Noodles Curry Flavour

Cheap from Tesco. One of the cheapest cup noodles available in the shop.Bilious yellow packaging that is not encouraging. You open the flavouring and pour it on yourself. Then pour on boiling water to the fill line and wait three minutes. The fill line is too high, resulting in a rather wishy washy flavour that needs some garlic and salt. The noodles are thin and slimy.  There is a curry flavour, and once I had added garlic and salt I enjoyed them. Not a quality product, but not offensive, not too hot, there's no bird or animal powder, and it's cheap and easy to make. I wouldn't object to having another.

5/10

Best curry flavour instant noodles

Nissin Cup Noodles Beef Flavour

72g for around £1 a pot. Easy to prepare and absolutely delicious! Veggie. Little bits of veg which quickly soften adding flavour and texture to the noods. The overall impression is like an Oxo or Marmite drink with noodles and veggie pieces. It's not sophisticated, but it's damn tasty, easy to prepare, and cleaner, fresher tasting than Pot Noodles.

Nissin are the best nood makers in the world. They really are.

Score: 8/10

Other Reviews
 *RamenRater   The American made ones are different to the Hong Kong made ones, which is what I had. I think the American made ones contain meat.

Nifty Nissin noodles

Beef flavoured

Lidl Newgate/Vitasia Instant Noodles Spicy Prawn Flavour

Noodles are soft flour paste - rather bland. The flavouring is warmly spicy with some savoury flavours that hint at curry more than prawn. It's OK because it's soft and edible without too much sense of artificial flavouring. Slips down easy. But is otherwise unremarkable or different from most other instant noods. It'll do for the price, and I'll be OK with getting these again, but they're not something I would go out of my way to get, nor are they something I would recommend.

Date: Sept 2015   Score: 4/10


You get a lot of noodle for your money. The flavouring is nothing special - a mild curry, but is edible enough.


Date: Jan 2016   Score:  4/10

Slight rebranding. These are quite edible. It's a warm spicy mild curry flavour. Piquant, but not scorching. Veggie. Doesn't say where they are made. Good value as you get a decent amount of noodles and enough flavouring to taste.

Date: Sept 2016   Score: 5/10

Nongshim Chicken Poulet Oolongmen

Bland floury noodles, and a murky undefined flavouring that is mainly MSG. This is an odd beast - it's not exactly ugly - you can eat it, but it's not terribly enjoyable as it's such poor quality, and so all over the place. It feels like they're really trying, but they just getting it all so wrong. This is a chicken noodle, but they use artificial chicken flour (mostly onion and MSG), so that sounds OK, but read on and there's dried fish cake added and - get this, there's textured soya lumps which look like meat and are flavoured with beef extract! WTF. You make a chicken product with artificial chicken and then put in artificial beef chunks flavoured with real beef. I'm confused as to the intention, but it's not 100% veggie for sure.

When I first had Nongshim I thought they were the dog's knees, the bee's bollocks, and everywhere in between. But I'm wondering of what I was reacting to was the hot spice rather than what was underneath it. Less spicy Nongshim products I've had have really revealed their weakness. The noodles are air-dried, so become tasteless flour paste. And the flavour combinations don't work as they are not clearly defined, and are too artificial.

This was edible, but only just, and it left me feeling dirty due to the high level of MSG. It has that effect on me - it leaves a greasy false taste in the mouth and a sense that the body has just been poisoned. It does have umami, but a very little goes a long way!

2/10

Nongshim

The best Chicken flavour noods

MAMA Instant Chand Noodles Beef Flavour (Pho Bo)

I love the flavour - good savoury, almost meaty taste with celery and coriander notes. All veggie. But I don't like the noodles. They are rice noodles, so are a bit hard and plastic. I am going to have to work out a good way to cook them because I bought a box of 30 for £3.90 from Tradewinds.

Date: July 2015  Score: 5

Pour on plenty of boiling water. Place in the microwave for 60 seconds. Mix in the two sachets, stir and eat. Yummy! The flavour is pleasantly savoury, without meat and without chilli. Cooked well, the rice noodles work. I enjoyed this.

Date: Sept 2015  Score: 8

MAMA's best

Beef flavoured