Celebrating 20 Years Of Instant Noodle Reviews
To start, I want to take a moment to recognize the passing of Nunuk Nuraini. Many of you haven’t heard of her and so I wanted to tell you a little about her. She was the spice mixer for Indomie and died earlier this year. The flavors she shared with the world are legendary I thought it fitting to honor her with a mention before we start this list. If you’d like to read and article about her life, there is one here.
We didn’t stay up to ring in the new year. Sad I know. Must be getting old. We did however head up to Canada on new year’s day. Found this while up there! Let’s give it a try!
This is a big and somewhat heavy bowl from Taiwan. I’ve reviewed the version not made for export (this one usually goes to Hong Kong). What was funny about this one is that I found it up in Canada at a store in Aberdeen Centre – defintely not where this belongs. It’s full of beef and import restrictions would bar it from Canada. What a nice surprise! Let’s check out this one with Australian and New Zealand beef!
We found this one up at Foodyworld in Richmond, BC. They were on a great sale – 2 for $3CAD! Not bad at all! I have to say I love this packaging’s graphic. The food is all sharp and colorful and contrasts so well with the background. Very old school Chinese! Sorry about the lack of pictures of what’s inside the sachets – woke up late and so rushing to get just this one done! Let’s have a look!
Well, it has been a long time coming but here it is. This is the one I’ve been looking for. For three years. Why so hard to get? It’s really popular in Taiwan – why couldn’t I get it? Simple. Beef. There’s a big pouch of beef in here – not artificial beef, but real beef. I got this in Taiwan and brought it back with me. It’s kind of stupid; if someone sent this to me in the mail, it’d get stopped by the USDA inspectors that check the mail. I go there and pack it in my stuff, it comes through fine. What’s nice too is that it is in perfect condition; like I went to the store here and bought it and brought it home. Let’s crack this thing open and take a gander at this huge pack of noodles.
Here’s one I got at 7-Eleven in Taiwan. I’ve seen these for so long with the stripes and they’re very popular in Taiwan. Here’s a little about Uni-President, the company that makes these – from Wikipedia –
Here’s one sent to me by Roger S. – thanks! I haven’t had one of these Unif-100’s in a while. I had the Cayenne Beef a little while back, but this is one of the ones that are distributed here in the US quite widely. Chances are if you have an Asian grocery local to you, they’ll have some of the Unif line of instants. Now, while beef is a very common flavor where instant noodles are concerned, tart beef is something I’ve not encountered before. Let’s see what’s inside and how it tastes.
This is an interesting one; there’s ABC and there’s President. I’ve seen the logo on products made in other regions too – Taiwan most notably. Let’s see how this one tastes!
A box came the other day – noodles!
Four varieties of pillow pack instants by ABC President.
Here’s another from my friend in Jakarta, Indonesia – thanks! I’ve got high hopes for this one. Why? Well, the Spicy Chicken version placed on my Top Ten Instant Noodle Cups of 2013. Also, Indomie’s Rendang placed in the Top Ten Instant Noodles of 2013 list. I guess we’ll see how this does! Let’s check it out!
