#8 - Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle

• Brand: Pot Noodle
• Flavour: Bombay Bad Boy
• Cost: £1.00
• From: Tesco
• Description: Noodles in an incredibly HOT CURRY flavour sauce with vegetables and a little sachet of hot fire Chilli sauce.
• Weight: 90g (305g when prepared)
• Allergies: None listed
  
  
                                                Leaves me guessing...

So it's finally time to put Pot Noodle to the test. We were both born in 1978, me by my mum and Pot Noodle by Golden Wonder, a brand which was taken over by Unilever in 1995. In 2006 the Golden Wonder brand was sold to Tayto, an Irish food producer, but Unilever held on to Pot Noodle - they must be on to a good thing?

First thing to say is "Well done Unilever", the packaging is almost entirely recyclable save for the sauce sachet, and the preparation is as simple as pour, leave, stir, leave, stir, add sachet. The packaging makes a couple of references to the fact that there are no artificial colours or preservatives, another plus. This does of course require a quick view of the ingredients - here we discover that the noodles contain the firming agents Potassium Carbonate (E501) and Sodium Carbonate (E500), both heavily used in the production of glass.  The sauce contains Maltodextrin, a thickening agent derived from starches of corn, wheat, potatoes or rice, and there is also the ambiguous ingredient found in both the sauce and the sachet - "Flavouring" - what could that be? The only other thing to mention is that the sauce contains Citric Acid and the sachet contains Spirit Vinegar which would typically contain between 5% and 20% acetic acid.

“How do they taste?” The answer is I'm not sure. You see your palette is immediately bombarded with this 'hotness' but looking at the ingredients my guess (and it is a guess) would be that they're doing a bit of a con. There really isn't enough chilli listed in the ingredients to have the effect that this does so how do they manage it? My guess (still guessing) is that it's the Citric Acid which has a sourness index of 0.46 (Hydrochloric Acid being the benchmark at 1.0) that somehow stimulates the heat and pain receptors on the tongue as capsaisin (the heat producer in chilli) does. Also, I'm a bit of a chilli fan and it's not the heat that I love, it's the taste. The issue with this pot is that all you get is the sensation and none of the taste.

“Do they remind me in any way of a hot / spicy curry?”  The answer is no, well not a good one anyway. Living very close to Bradford and growing up by the Curry Mile in Manchester means I've been somewhat spoiled with my curry endeavours over the years. I do have to qualify this properly and say I did once have a curry that this Pot Noodle reminded me of but that was a ready meal during my poor student days and probably purchased from a bargain supermarket.

“How do I feel now I’ve finished it?” The answer is not bad at all, pretty satiated and no grumbling from the belly region. However, my tongue feels like it's had a mild chemical burn (still guess it's the acids) which isn't uncomfortable but a little annoying.

Conclusion – It's a Pot Noodle, it's a classic we've been enjoying in the UK for 35 years but this isn't their best offering. The peas and sweetcorn floating about are a nice touch but I think their prep instructions leave it all a bit too soupy / flavoured watery. Well done on the packaging and the lack of artificial colours and preservatives though.

Need 4 Noodle Rating: 5/10