#14 - Naked Noodle Thai Style Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup

• Brand: Naked Noodle
• Flavour: Thai Style Chicken
• Cost: £1.00
• From: Sainsbury’s
• Description: Instant chicken flavour soup with noodles, coconut milk, spices and lemongrass flavour
• Weight: 55g (355g when made up as per instructions)
• Allergies: Cow's Milk, Wheat Gluten, Soya
  
  
                                                The best of the Naked Noodle range

So this is the last for me to try in the current line up of Naked Noodle flavours and given my views on the other two flavours (Hot & Sour, Chilli Beef) I'm not that excited. As usual there's too much packaging and too many plastic forks inside the box - there is only 1, but that is too many.

Upon adding the boiling hot water I'm met with a strong smell of lemongrass, this could be better than I expected, and wait, yes I can also smell coconut milk. Clearly these aren't the only flavours Thailand is famous for but it's a pretty good start. I really hope it's got a good chilli kick and a lovely sweetness to it...

“How do they taste?” The answer is not bad. It's quite sweet with a hint of bitterness. The noodles are of a good consistency, as is the soup. I can taste a couple of herbs coming through but I really hoped it would be spicy.

“Do they remind me in any way of a Thai style chicken soup?”  The answer is sort of, you can really taste lemon grass, coconut milk and ginger - surprisingly no chicken however, let me just check the ingredients list... NO CHICKEN!!! Not even powdered chicken skin (mmmm, chicken skin), what the hell are these nomenclature rules in British packaged foods, surely you should have to at least attempt a chicken taste - surely? For me Thai cuisine done well is the perfect marriage of spicy, sweet, bitter and salty flavours with a fragrant overtone. This is mainly fragrant (which actually produces the bitterness) with a bit of sweetness. The colour is a little insipid as well and a quick look at the ingredients shows they've used curcumin, please check the glossary to see what this is.

“How do I feel now I’ve finished it?” The answer is not bad at all, now I've got a little bit of chilli mingling with the coconut milk and lemongrass flavours it's actually a really nice after taste. I'm not too heavy and it's time to go at the afternoon.

Conclusion – These are my favourite of the current (08/02/2013) Naked Noodle range. They're a little bit different to most of the other types I've tried mainly I think due to the rich coconut milk flavour. I might be tempted to try these again.

Need 4 Noodle Rating: 5/10