#18 - Sticky Rib Pot Noodle

• Brand: Pot Noodle
• Flavour: Sticky Rib
• Cost: £1.00
• From: Tesco
• Description: Noodles in a Chinese style Sticky Rib flavour sauce with vegetables and a little sachet of Peking sauce.
• Weight: 90g (305g when prepared)
• Allergies: None listed
  
  
                                              Hmmm...

The full title of this product appears to be: Mr Chu's Golden Noodle Pot Noodle No.7 Sticky Rib Flavour - fair enough... I don't think there are any other Golden Noodle flavours and I'm unaware of numbers 1 - 6.

The first thing I have to say is that as soon as you add the hot water you get a great whiff of what smells just like Chinese spare ribs - these should be good!

As usual the packaging is nearly entirely recyclable, the instructions are easy to follow and the packaging is conducive to ease of preparation.

“How do they taste?” The answer is alright, if not a little bitter. I'm not a great fan of blackbean sauce because I find it bitter in the same way as I find this but at least there's a good amount of sweetness to almost balance it out

“Do they remind me in any way of sticky ribs?”  The answer is almost a little bit but not really. The smell when you're preparing it is as close as you're going to get. The overall flavour has elements of Chinese-style but they're a bit jumbled up and not that great. Looking at the ingredients there really isn't a lot of flavour in it full stop. We've got peppers, onion, chives, garlic, spices (what spices exactly?), barley malt extract and soy sauce - doesn't appear to have too much Chinese influence does it?

“How do I feel now I’ve finished it?” The answer is satiated but with an overriding bitterness lingering around my palette.

Conclusion – Not a great effort by the Pot Noodle posse, it's almost as if the flavour was invented and then named because I'm sure the ingredients would have been a bit different if they were trying to emulate an authentic Chinese dish from the get-go.

Need 4 Noodle Rating: 4/10