Noodle name: Myojo - Spicy Lobster Hot Pot. Also says "La Ramen" which makes them seem rather diva-ish.
Country of origin: Singapore, though their parent company Nissin Foods is Japanese. Because I buy mine from a small, dusty independent Chinese shop on the grimiest part of (strong statement, I know) Seven Sisters Road I don't really like to think of instant noodles as products of giant megacorps, but this is the world we live in. May as well face it. Still, without those big bucks you wouldn't get quality advertising like this:
Flavouring packets: Two. One chilli/palm oil mix and one brown powder.
Overall: I like these noodles well enough and they're one of my go-to five packs in the cupboard. Though they don't taste anything like lobster, the noodle is firm, the soup is umami-y and unlike in Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens, the spice is not out of control. This is a thoroughly professional noodle, which does its job well. You cannot ask this noodle for more, nor should you, as it is basically highly-processed dough and would not be able to answer you anyhow. Not that this is to denigrate it. Being highly processed is not necessarily a bad thing, as the excellent Tim Hayward recently wrote on tremendously-harmful-to-political-discourse micro-blogging website Twitter: "Freeze dried stock, shrimp and veg might easily appear. on a Heston Blumenthal menu". As I desperately attempt to expand the scope of what is, very much a noodle-review blog into something more meaningful, I like to think this quest for easy answers is probably true of a lot of things in the world. Anyway, something about these noodles is terrifically satisfying. Whether it's the exuberant packaging, the familiarity of the flavours or the decent size-portion, they just work.
If these noodles were a crime novel, they'd be: The Selena novels by Greg Barth. Not for any real reason but these are great, roller-coaster pulp rides, which also happen to be free on Kindle unlimited. While this remains an appalling category for the judgement of actual noodles, I do like crime fiction.
Noodle rating: 4/5
I think this is almost certainly a case of Nissin buying a company that was already making more interesting noodles.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favourite noodle ads, and I like the noodles too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzxquCxrfAQ