香辣牛肉麵

Name: 香辣牛肉麵 Variety: Peppered Beef Flavor Distributor: Ve Wong Noodle: Ramen Flavoring: Beef in concentrated liquid seasoning + Dry veggie packet with powdered seasoning Preparation: Standard Notes: Product Code - 21191; Packaging Detail - 30/90 gr. Metalized Bag

Alex:

Smells like its going to be spicier than it is. Oil is subtler than advertised "spicy" varieties, but definitely catches the tongue.

Props go to the veggies. We have full on baby bok-choi bits here, with the actual leaf texture and flavor still in tact. The beef could be identified as beef (not a trivial feat).

Stock finishes saltier than the average - that's damn salty, for the record.





Anne Marie:

Noodle Quality:
Of the few instant ramen varieties I have tried to date, the noodles for this particular one actually rank fairly high (definitely better than the standard Maruchan ramen noodles). A slightly thicker noodle, but certainly not drier made for a gummier, and seemingly more al dente (if that is a term adopted by more than just the Italians to describe noodles) pasta. The good quality noodles thus did not detract from the overall sauce + noodle experience.

Sauce Integrity:
I appreciate instant ramen that comes with an oil packet in addition to the dry seasonings. This particular packet also contained the meat (beef) which I give major kudos to them for not drying the meat with the veggies in the dry seasoning packet. The meat was actually palatable (as opposed to the cup noodles meat which I inevitably throw out because reconstituted chicken just does not work for me) and the texture was that of roast beef/pot roast (only a tiny version of course). The veggies in the dry seasoning packet also reconstituted well and I was not reminded of the fact that i was eating rehydrated cardboard like so often is the case.

Overall Ramen Experience:
We cooked the noodles until slightly softened in the boiling water and added the two sauce packets while still cooking the noodles for the extra 2-3 minutes. Perhaps this changed the flavor slightly (for the better) rather than adding the powder after the noodles had already absorbed the liquid. The first bite made me think it was going to be spicy, but that didn't really pan out. The flavors were certainly stronger than the average instant ramen and it seemed that each bite had a slightly different character to it, which I appreciated. The flavors fell a little flat for my taste, but overall I was quite impressed with the combination of spices I would have liked the oil to have played a larger role, supplying more of a distinguishable taste perhaps.

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