Another one from my trips to Chin World up in Richmond, BC. Remember kids, if you’re coming from the states, bring your Canadian cash because they’re not going to take your cards or exchange your greenbacks for ya! Really interested in how this one’s going to be – last one I tried wasn’t too shabby from this brand so let’s take a look!
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add sachet contents and boiling water to line. Cover for 5 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, beef, and spring onion. Sweet potato vermicelli hydrated nicely. Broth had a very tasty beef flavor as well as a light spiciness – kind of caught me off guard as I expected it to be spicier. More savory this one. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 6924524200484.
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
So here’s what the folks at Japan Crate had to say about this variety -“Enjoy the two worlds of hot and sour with tom yum this season. With notes of pakuchi (coriander) and lemongrass, this Japanese take on Thai fried noodles will leave your stomach full and taste buds satisfied.”
Alright – so they recommend bacon with this. I’m going to take the leap and go with chashu. Let’s give it a try!
Nagatanien Tom Yum Kung Rice Vermicelli – Japan
Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Unsure but probably contains shrimp. To prepare, add vermicelli to a skillet with 200ml boiling water and cook 3 minutes. Add in liquid base. Stir and enjoy!
The vermicelli.
A wet sachet.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added scallions, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, black sesame seeds and habanero togarashi. The vermicelli came out pretty well – very thin and a nice chew. I liked also the fact that they were in semi-short lengths, making them easier to manage with a fork from the outset. The flavor was definitely a Japanese take on a Thai tom yum as it definitely was different. A lot of sweetness here and some lemongrass. It just didn’t rub me the right way. 2.0 out of 5.0 stars. JAN bar code 4902388014890.
Here’s one I found up in Canada – can’t remember where. Green curry is one of my favorite flavors, however not one that I think I’ve ever seen coming out of China. Sichuan Baijia has been coming out with more and more different varieties – and different little cartoon characters on their packaging. Let’s give this one a try and see how it fares.
Sichuan Baijia Green Curry Shrimp Flavor Instant Vermicelli – China
Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Unsure whether it contains meat – check for yourself. To prepare, add everything from pack to a bowl and add 500ml boiling water. Cover for 5 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
This is not rice vermicelli, but vermicelli from sweet potatoes.
Here’s a dry sachet.
A light powder – non-dairy creamer perhaps?
A wet sachet.
Curry paste.
A dry sachet.
Looks live chives and peppers.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, coriander, fried garlic, shrimp, lemongrass fried tofu and togarashi. The sweet potato vermicelli was crosscut a couple times with a pair of kitchen scissors to make them easier to manage. They has a standard kind of sloppy character and cooked up nicely. The broth on the other hand was such a letdown! I was really anticipating that this would be my new favorite variety from this company, but the blandness just was too much to bear. Not a salty component to be found, so while it tasted like green curry and had a nice thickness, it just didn’t have what it needed. Sad. 1.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 6926410334952.
Here’s one I found up in Canada at China World I believe. The sheer amount of varieties up there is pretty intense – especially ones from this company. Curious how it will be. Let’s find out!
Sichuan Baijia Sichuan Hot & Sour Vermicelli – China
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add 600ml boiling water and sachet contents . Cover for 5~6 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Finished (click to enlarge). Added sping onion. The sweet potato thread hydrated well. A couple of crosscuts with a pair of scissors made them more manageable. They have a kind of gumminess and clinginess that makes them a big clump of food – nothing wrong with that; it’s just their way. The broth has a sour taste from black vinegar and a chilli pepper spiciness – I expected Sichuan peppercorn in here but really didn’t come across is. Included pickled sprouts were decent in the end and gave a nice crunch. Beans were well hydrated as well. 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 6926410372633.
Today, we have one that was part of Japan Crate’s Umai Crate. So Japan Crate is a subscription service which has all sorts of different options for you. pretty neat stuff from Japan! There’s a coupon code for you too – just use THERAMENRATER to get a special discount at check out.
So here’s what the folks at Japan Crate had to say about this variety -“Take a break from the accompanying udon and ramen noodles with this vermicelli noodle dish. Vermicelli is a traditional type of pasta similar to spaghetti. With an added green curry sauce, toss your favorite meat and vegetables for a filling feast.”
I’m a green curry nut. Let’s get to it.
Nagatani Green Curry Rice Vermicelli – Japan
Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Unsure whether this contains meat. To prepare, add vermicelli to a skillet with 200mlk boiling water and cook 3 minutes. Add in liquid base. Stir and enjoy!
The rice vermicelli.
The green curry base sachet.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added chicken seasoned with NuTek Salt For Life, red bell pepper, spring onion and Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts. The vermicelli hydrated pretty well but was slightly tough which was a surprise. The notion that this was akin to pasta kind of seems evident here. I find the gauge too thick. The green curry flavor is pretty good – could have used a slight bit more. All in all, tasty. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars/. JAN bar code 4902388014906.
Alright so when I found this up at China World in Richmond, BC, I was curious. ‘What’s this torpid all about, anyway?’ Well, Thanks to my friend Kyle, that’s been cleared up. It’s a really bad translation. This really should be Sichuan Spicy Flavor. As far as torpid goes, here’s the definition –
tor·pid tôrpəd/ adjective
mentally or physically inactive; lethargic. “we sat around in a torpid state”
Spicy and lethargic beef flavor? Yummy! Translation is a seriously tough thing. It’s definitely an uphill battle for me – Google is of very little help. I’ve been asked in the past by companies what I would call a product and helped them with translating and making it sound like a good name for something sold in the west. I think that would be a neat job – helping companies with western translations. So I guess if you need help with someone proofreading a packaging bound to be on products for the west, contact me maybe I can help. Alright – let’s do up some spicy beef vermicelli!
Chencun The Flavours Of Yunnan China Torpid & Peppery Beef – China
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add boiling water to fill line and sachet contents as well. Cover for 508 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Finished (click to enlarge). Added spring onion. The rice noodle hydrated really well and ended up the perfect chew – just the way I like it. The noodles and broth worked together in harmony. The broth, with it’s deep red color and Sichuan peppercorn and beef taste has a nice oiliness and richness to it. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 6911754102589.
My father had a full set of the Oxford English Dictionary. I remember looking in one of the volumes and just flipping to a random page, looking at the ceiling and dropping my finger on a spot. One time, I found the word nothing – which refereed to something called a nithing post. A nothing post would be erected in someone’s yard – someone who wouldn’t share their meat.
Alright – now if this isn’t something that doesn’t make you wanna check your head… So we went up to Canada yesterday. What was up there? This, the second one I’ve reviewed that has a little sachet that actually heats the bowl of noodles and cooks it. Where did I find it? I’m sure you’re thinking ‘oh some neat Asian grocery store.’ No. Hold onto your butts. My wife saw this one. At Walmart. Yeah. Walmart. The Walmart locations both in Richmond, BC and Vancouver, BC have decent noodle aisles with varieties from all over. It should be noted though that there’s a huge Asian population in this area – and so kind of makes sense in a demographic way. I mean, you certainly won’t see this near Walmart HQ in Bentonville, Arkansas…I thought it would be really cool if my son Andy got a chance to try and cook one of these. It should be fun! Glad we found it at Walmart – it was our last stop before heading back home. We go to Walmart every time we go to Canada. It’s really nice up there. Let’s cook this sucker up!
Da Long Yi Self Heating Hot Pot – Vegetable Version – China
Detail of the stickers from the outer wraps (click to enlarge). The barcode on this sticker is different from the barcode on the cardboard. Remember to avoid the burning hurt at all costs.
Detail of the underneath of the cardboard outer (click to enlarge). Says it’s vegetable. To prepare, take off lid and take out inner bowl. Add sachet contents and noodles. Add hot water to cover. Underneath in the lower bowl add the cooking sachet. Add cold water to cover the sachet. Put top bowl back on top and put lid back on. Let cook for 8 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Two ‘arms’ wrap themselves around the sides of the bowl (click to enlarge) – here they are side-by-side.
The little hole in the character’s mouth is a steam vent! These things get extremely hot
An included pair of chopsticks!
The noodles.
The first of three sachets.
This one is exceptionally large.
A smaller liquid base sachet.
Yeah – don’t eat this. This is the heating pack. It’s pretty amazing – a little sachet with a lot of power. This is what makes the bowl bubble and steam and get extremely hot.
Finished (click to enlarge). The noodles came out nicely – good thickness and chew. The vegetables – especially the lotus bean pod – were crisp and fresh. The broth was thick and very oily with a strong Sichuan pepper and chili pepper hit to it. I would say t his was the best one so far and many more to come. 3.5 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 6970164115060.
Alright kiddie, hold onto your butts! So we have something here I had to review the day after I got it; not because it was going to expire but because I was a little wary of storing it. Why’s that? Well, first off I got this up in Canada at Osaka Market at Yaohan Centre in Richmond, BC. I’d just returned from my trip to Taiwan, my jet lag now gone (for the most part). I had some leftover Taiwanese currency and the Kingmark Currency Exchange doesn’t charge for exchanging which is nice. I converted it so I could treat my family to some wheel cake and milk tea at a little Taiwanese shop at the centre.
I had NO INTENTION OF GETTING ANY NOODLES. PERIOD. I have so many noodles at this point and have to pare down my stock on hand as soon as possible because there’s more coming all the time! Well, we wandered into Osaka Market and their usual big display of fancy imports was replaced by Christmastime cookies and treats. We then hit the noodle aisle and I saw some things I didn’t have, but I held back. So far so good. Then my wife Kit spotted a couple things. One was a Yuzu Cup Noodle that was pretty cheap so went for that. The other was this strange bowl.
My first impression: it was heavy. The second was that I noticed something mentioning ‘self-cooking.’ So I thought this is unique so went for it. Let’s look inside and see what’s going on here.
Yumei Instant Spicy Hot Pot – China
First, let’s look at the English instructions (click to enlarge). Here we go:
CONSUME DIRECTION:
1. Open the box, remove the upper layer, tear off the sauce bag and chives bag, and pour them into the upper layer. 2. Tear off the vermicelli bag and vegetable bag, and put them into the upper layer, and stir and mix them together. 3. Add water into the upper layer, but not over the edge of the layer (hot water recommend for the better favor). 4. Open the self-heating package bag, and put the self-heating package into lower layer, add cold water until the self-heating package soaked totally. 5. Put the upper layer on the top, and cover the lid, wait 8 minutes or more and enjoy the hotpot. CAUTION: THE HOT STEAMING AND PREVENT FROM BURNING HURT.
Okay – a couple interesting things here. I do want to avoid the burning hurt when at all possible. Another is that this has a self-heating package that works via a chemical reaction in the lower level of the packaging. Wow – so this stuff literally cooks itself. Fascinating!
Here’s the distribution/import sticker (click to enlarge). Note the numbers here – 72 calories and over 9000mg of sodium. Judging by the 46% RDA on this, I’m guessing it’s 915.6mg – that’s more logical. But only 72 calories for this thing? That seems a little suspect. But let’s continue on after noting the name of the distributor – JC Bunny Bunny!
The underside of the outer cardboard packaging (click to enlarge).
An included fork!
A napkin.
The package of vermicelli.
A large liquid base sachet.
A huge sachet of vegetables – fresh vegetables.
A sachet of chives.
This is the fascinating item – the heating bag. When cold water is introduced, it starts a chemical reaction which brings the heat – apparently enough to cook this product. I’m really very curious about this – never have I seen such a thing in an instant noodle before. What gets me though is that it recommends using cold water in the lower tray with this and hot water in the upper tray with the food. If you need hot water to make this, why not just cook it with the hot water you’ve already prepared? But hey, this will be fun.
Finished (click to enlarge). This was quite an experience. Definitely, watch the video where I cook this up. As for the vermicelli, it was cooked nicely. The broth was exceedingly spicy and just buzzing of Sichuan pepper. A little too much acidity going on for my taste. The vegetables did alright – all in all definitely a hot pot of noodles! 2.25 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 6952395703353.
Another one sent by Nissin Hong Kong for the Meet The Manufacturer they participated in! Thanks again! This is a lower calorie option instant cup – rice vermicelli is usually fat-free, which definitely cuts the calorie. Let’s give a Hong Kong product with a Korean skew a try!
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add in sachet contents and boiling water to fill line. Let steep for 3 minutes. Stir and enjoy!
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprout s, spring onion and beef sauteed with a little soy sauce. The noodles hydrated well. I made 2 cross-cuts with a pair of kitchen scissors to make them a little more manageable. But yeah – nice gauge and quality. The broth definitely had a kimchi taste and the included bits of vegetable (primarily kimchi) were really great = I like it when cabbage that’s hydrated comes out crunchy. 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 4897878170005.
If you follow my daily reviews, you might have noticed not just a lot, but a lot a lot of Nissin reviews lately. This is because I’ve done a few Meet The Manufacturers and they were kind enough to send more varieties than I review in a Meet The Manufacturer (15 maximum). Nissin Hong Kong sent around 50 different product varieties! That’s what we have today. Let’s check out this chicken flavor vermicelli!
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Contains chicken. To prepare, add in sachet contents and add boiling water to fill line. Let steep covered for 3 minutes. Stir and enjoy!
The noodle block.
The dry base sachet.
A light powder.
A liqdui sachet.
Has a nice scent of sesame and coriander.
The vegetables sachet.
Vegetables and dehydrated chicken.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added sous vide chicken (147 degrees for 135 minutes), hard boiled egg, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts and coriander. The vermicelli was a little on the tough side – aside from that, nice gauge. The broth had a chicken and coriander kind of taste for sure. The bits included coriander and other vegetable bits as well as what seemed to me like chicken sausage. 3.5 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 4897878170029.
Here’s a flavor I don’t usually have all to often – anchovy. Salty little fishies! I am hoping it’s tasty but not too fishy; there’s a fine line between yes and yecch when it comes to such things I believe. Let’s give it a go!
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Contains anchovy. To prepare, add sachets into bowl and add boiling water to fill line. Cover for 3-4 minutes. Stir and enjoy!
A freeze dried block – these spring to life when boiling water is introduced and usually contains lots of flavor and vegetables.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, spring onion, Busan fishcake, kimchi and chilli flake. The rice noodles were decent – nice gauge and well hydrated in the time allotted. I gave them a couple cross cuts with a pair of kitchen scissors to make them more manageable. The broth was a little fishier than I would have liked, but it is anchovy. It had an alright flavor and the vegetables were of good quantity. 3.25 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 087703111158.
Okay now this – this sounds good. I absolutely love a few things in this world. Curries, Korean BBQ, dim sum… Something new has been anything braised and Taiwanese. We’ve got a little restaurant nearby called Looking For Chai and their braised pork and braised beef is so good – tender and so full of flavor. Just a nice slab of it on a bed of rice and that’s all you need – well, that and a little milk tea. Let’s check out this spicy braised noodle!
Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Unsure whether it contains meat. To prepare, you can make it with soup or have it dry. Dried: 250 c.c cook for 3 to 3.5 mins. Soup: 400 c.c cook for 2.5 mins to 3 mins (Recommended).
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, cabbage, fried fishcake, tofu skin and spring onion. The vermicelli came out very well with a good gauge and chew – nicely hydrated and not dry. The broth was a real one two punch – a nice braised pork hit but then the Sichuan chilli pepper takes over and moves in saying ‘I live here and here is where I will stay.’ 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 4713008550250.
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