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.

Mr. Min Authentic Korean Udon Fresh Noodles with Vegetable Broth

Bought in Carrefour, Marseille. Large tub, which contains a sealed packet of udon noodles - thick, floury and tasteless, a packet of soup broth - a thin and pleasant enough soy sauce, and a packet of dried vegetables - which remain dried and unpleasant, no matter how long you leave them to soak. When put together as instructed you end up with a waxed container with the floury and tasteless noodles sitting in a very watery soy sauce sprinkled with dried vegetables slices. Not an attractive meal; no matter how "authentic" it is meant to be, this is not an experience I want to repeat.

Mr Min is a Korean product designed for the French market. The packet also contained instructions in English, though I've not seen it in the UK yet.

The best beef flavoured instant noodles

Beef is a popular flavour for UK noods - especially Pot Noodle, who do a number of variations. It is also used by Asian noodle companies for the Asian market, but not as often as other flavours. Most companies use a beef flavouring rather than real beef - I suspect this is more to do with cost than morality, though some manufacturers might feel that as the taste can be easily and cheaply replicated, there's little sense in alienating a large and growing sector of the marketplace.

Nissin Cup Noodles Beef Flavour

 Hot Marmite drink with vegetable pieces. Veggie. Score: 8

Mama Instant Chand Noodles Beef Flavour (Pho Bo)

 Savoury, not beefy. Rice noodles. Veggie. Score: 8

A-One Pho Bo Beef Flavour Rice Noodles

 65g for 32p. Veggie. Rice noodles. Not very beefy. Lime and coriander.   Score: 7

Pot Noodle Mr Chu's Golden Noodle No.7 Sticky Rib Flavour

 Beefy. Score: 7

Nongshim OoLongmen Beef Flavour

Veggie. Onion.  Score: 7

Indomie Instant Noodles Beef & Lime Flavour

 Veggie. Onion. Score: 5

Golden Sunrise Instant Noodles BBQ Beef Flavour

Veggie. MSG. 70g for 20p.  Score: 5

Aldi Make in Minutes Instant Noodles BBQ Beef Flavour

 Veggie. Peanut butter. 108g for 18p. Score: 5

Koka Beef Flavour

 Veggie. Marmite.  Score: 5

Chung King Instant Noodles Beef Flavour

 Floury beef. Veggie. Score: 4

Lidl Newgate / Vitasia Speedy Noodle Beef & Tomato Flavour (cup)
 Floury tomato ketchup. Veggie. Score: 4

Pot Noodle Chilli Beef

 Hot chilli sauce. Score: 4

ASDA Beef Flavour Noodles

 XXX Meat. Score: 3

Lidl Vitasia  Beef Flavour (packet)

Veggie: Score: 3

Batchelors Super Noodles BBQ Beef

 Mushy curry flavour. Score: 3

Pot Noodle Beef &Tomato

 Tomato ketchup. Score: 2

Mug Shot BBQ Beef Flavour


Veggie. Score: 2

Indomie Mi goreng Rendang Spicy Beef Flavour

 Spicy peanut butter. Veggie. Score: 2

Sawadee Beef Casserole Flavour

 Wishy-washy beef. Score: 2

Batchelors Super Noodles Roast Beef & Onion

 Score: 1

Chung King Instant Noodles Beef Flavour

Four for 99p in a 99p store. Floury but acceptable noodles in a savoury sauce. Beef flavoured, but all veggie. It tastes like yeast extract. This is the noodles equivalent of Marmite on toast. OK.

Score: 4

Beef flavoured

Nissin Soba Japanese Fried Noodles Chili (packet)

Very yummy. Lots of onion and Worcester sauce flavour, with just enough chilli heat to make it lively and interesting, but not so much as to burn. Firm and tasty noodles, and a nice thickness to the sauce. I enjoyed these.

Score: 7/10

Nifty Nissin noodles

Lidl Newgate / Vitasia Instant Noodles Curry Flavour

The new brand name for these Lidl noods is Newgate. Veggie ingredients. No info on where they are made. 108g. The curry flavouring is very mild and sweet, but pleasant enough. I enjoyed these and wouldn't mind having them again.

Date: May 2016    Score: 4


There's not a lot going on here. More noodles than flavouring. And the flavouring is barely noticable - some chip shop curry flavour which needs enhancing with salt. Edible, but not brilliant.

Date: Jan 2016   Score: 3

Tasty enough. Decent noodles, firm and chewy, with a decent curry flavour. Nothing exciting, but it does the job.

Date: Nov 2014    Score: 4

Comparisons

Lidl Curry V Sainsbury's Curry

Sainsbury's is the winner.

Date: March 2017   Score: 3

Lidl Curry v Asda Curry

Lidl is the winner.

Date:  Nov 2016   Score:  4

***

Best curry flavour instant noodles

Nissin Demae Ramen Prawn Flavour

The noodles are delicious. Plump, soft, and very fresh tasting. The flavour is delicate and pleasant, though could be a little more assertive. At times this feels too much like eating plain noodles, though the quality is such that it tastes so fresh you could be at a noodle bar.

Nice.

Date: Oct, 2014   Score: 6

Nissin are excellent value for money noods - you get 100g for between 20p and 45p. The noodles are fleshy and tasty, and the flavourings are generally very tasty. These prawn noods are a trifle disappointing. The flavouring is a little vague, and a little harsh, and a little artificial. Add a bit of butter to soften it, and it's fine, but otherwise it can leave a slightly unpleasant aftertaste. Veggie.

Date: Sept, 2015   Score: 4


Overall score: 5/10

Other reviews
*RamenRater

Nifty Nissin noodles