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I thought it fitting to start things off with probably the variety most familiar to people – pho, and in particular, pho bo. There are a ton of pho restaurants nearby me – haven’t been in a while and as I type this in after reviewing this one, I’m thinking I need to visit one. It’s been too long! Unfortunately, no restaurants open at this point – luckily, I’ve got a series of Vietnamese varieties to review! Let’s check this one out!
Time for a new Meet The Manufacturer! Today, we start with an interview with John Nguyen of Thien Huong Food of Vietnam. This is the first Vietnamese MTM I’ve done with a company, so this is pretty special! Look forward to some neat varieties over the next few days! With that, let’s begin with the interview!
Here’s one fro Jame in Lakeside, CA – thanks again! This is an interesting one – oatmeal soup? Hmm!
A big thank you to Daniel from exoticnoods.com – her recently traveled to Taiwan and brough me back a trove of neat varieties and this is one of them!This is the second I’ve tried from this company. The last one was a delightful salted egg. Now it’s spaghetti. Let’s do this.
Good morning! I’m getting this post ready at 2am. I actually shot the pictures around 1am. Did 18 miles of walking yesterday and so when my buddy Matt decided to play with his Google Nest device and call me at 11:50pm and wake me up and alerted me to a bad leg cramp about o catch fire I ended up staying up. I’ll sleep tonight… Anyways, yeah – been a while since some pho – fingers crossed. Let’s give it a go!
This one was sent in by a reader named Steven – thanks! So I’ll start off with saying I’m really not a big fan of mushrooms. I’m curious though because this one does contain a retort pouch – but my hopes aren’t up. That’s okay though because I’ve been pleasantly surprised in the past. Let’s give it a go!
A very long time ago, I tried their pho as part of a Meet The Manufacturer series – a series of one review! I’ve started seeing their products more and more and thought hey look – it’s in Walmrt – I’ll give it a try. So, here we are. I’m curious how it’s going to be – brown rice noodles! Let’s find out.
Here’s one sent in by Steven – thanks, man! I rarely get any Vietnamese varieties! Let’s check it out.
Here’s one I found up at the Osaka market at Yaohan Centre in Richmond BC, Canada. I found this a few weeks before Christmas and usually like to peruse the interesting specials this store has around that time. They had some really interesting things like sake flavored Kit Kats and other things. Kind of expensive. But I did find this, and it wasn’t too pricy. Let’s hit it!
I found this one up in Canada at a place called Hen Long Market. Did find a whole lot there, but this was definitely a score. They’re made in Vietnam – however they’re for Poland! Poland! European noodles! Yeah – I’m sure you can tell that makes me happy. Always wish I can find more stuff from/for Europe.
We found this one at a place called Hen Long Market up in Surrey, BC on a trip a few months back. Thanks to my friend Ken for telling me about this place! So this one’s from Vietnam and I don’t often have come across Vietnamese varieties like this one. Usually, I see the same thing again and again and this one is definitely different. Let’s have a look at this minced pork variety!
These came by way of Snackoo – a company that supplies you with great snack boxes, containing all sorts of fascinating things as well as ramen noodles. Why not check them out?
These came by way of Kimmy N. of Connecticut, USA! Thanks again! It’s rare these days that a new Vietnamese variety crosses my desk – always welcome of course! I know there’s quite a few that I’m not getting which bums me out. Definitely would love to try more of them. I’ve tried a ton of them in the past, but going forward I’d like to do a lot more of these reviews.
Here’s one sent by Colin from Massachusetts – thanks again! So I don’t usually get thrilled with instant noodles that are mushroom flavored. Mushroom can be hit or miss and usually I find mushroom to be a little funky. Let’s give it a try with an open mind.
I got an email a couple weeks ago from Kimmy N. or Connecticut asking if I’d tried Binh Tay Crab noodles. I haven’t, and she offered to send some!
Here’s another one I found during a November 2016 trip to Taiwan. I found this one at Carrefour in Taipei at the Miramar Entertainment Center. So one thing I found while there was that almost everything (unless you go to a Family Mart of a 7-Eleven) comes in a multi pack. I really didn’t want to get any of those – they take up extra space in luggage and a lot of the time they were really big multi packs. This one’s from Vietnam and looks to be a shrimp variant.
Been awhile since I’ve had something Vietnamese… This one sounds tasty – sour crab! This bowl has a lot of things inside, so let’s get to it!
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!
Here’s another one sent by reader Colin – thanks again man! So it’s been a while since I’ve had any of these Vietnamese Acecook variants. Sounds like a good one for today – let’s check it out!
It’s been a while since I’ve done any re-reviews and there will be a couple in this Meet The Manufacturer. This is from a long time ago – last time I had this bowl was in review #304 which I posted February 20th, 2011. Yep – very old review and should be interesting to see how I like it now as opposed to back then. I know it’ll look nicer than back then – I used to drop two fried eggs in with EVERYTHING and a lot of the time it looked like a hideous trainwreck. Let’s revisit this one!
Here’s another one sent by a reader named Colin – thanks! He’s sent quite a few! This one’s from Vietnam – haven’t reviewed many from there in a while… Let’s have a look!
With my son Andy over here, it’s usually a good bet that he will like some chicken noodles with some nice garnish. His favorites include fish cake and cheese – which don’t always go with everything. I’d usually choose something like that combo for spicy Korean seafood ramyun. He did indeed get his cheese after the final picture of the noodles were taken today, and so all things are good in the world. Let’s check out this variety from Vietnam!
This one came by way of Michael over at EastLand Foods – thanks! I haven’t reviewed a Vietnamese instant noodle in ages it seems like – let’s see what we have here!
Been a while since I’ve done a pho review. I would definitely say I’m a fan of pho, but definitely the beef varieties. Where I live, there’s no end to the pho restaurants – I’m guessing there’s probably at least 20 within 5 miles of here. Anyways, let’s check this one out.
Here’s a cup from Vietnam’s Vina Acecook. It’s been sitting in my hamper a little while so thought today’d be a good day to give it a try. So I looked up satay and found this:
Another one from the bottom of the hamper! A very plain looking label – but how’s it taste? Let’s check out this variety from Vietnam.
Once in a blue moon I find an instant noodle in my hamper of which I have absolutely NO CLUE WHERE IT CAME FROM. I mean, yeah – I know it’s made in Vietnam and that it’s a chicken curry variant, but I have no idea how it got into my hamper. Where did I get it? Hmmm… Well, it needs to be reviewed so here I am. Let’s check it out!
Paldo Foods is a South Korean company, and it looks like they’ve expanded to Vietnam with Paldo Vina. Now mushroom isn’t generally my favorite flavor, but I’ve been surprised in the last year or so at how much I’ve liked many mushroom instants. Let’s see how this one pans out.
Here’s one from Vietnam. Vietnamese instants usually tend to be pho flavors for the most part, but a lot of them are Thai or in this case, South Korean styled. Let’s see why this one’s leaning South Korean, other than the flavor.
Here’s one of the ones sent by Marvin R. of Ft. Worth, TX – thanks again! So he originally asked me about identifying there. They look a lot like another Vietnamese brand, but the info on the back seems to show that it’s definitely not them. I’ve found in general that onion flavor is usually a good bet – but what about satay? Here’s what wikipedia has to say about satay:
Here’s one I got this year up in Canada on my birthday! My wife spied this one on a lower shelf . She’s got a knack of finding ones that I don’t notice which is really quite handy! It’s also interesting how many spaghetti varieties come from Vietnam! Anyways, let’s check out this New Way variety.
Last year, my son Andy noticed a ton of these A-One cups at a local Asian grocery. “Do you have these, Papa?” he asked me – and no, I didn’t! So that was a great score thanks to my boy! Let’s check out this Vietnamese variety from A-One.
I’ve always heard good things about ginseng for vitality, etcetera. But vitality noodles? Hmm. I’ll admit I know little about ginseng, so here’s what wikipedia has on it:
Here’s something new from Vina Acecook – Mikochi. Never seen Mikochi before, but I thought it sounded interesting. These are non-fried noodles, so they’re lower in fat. I’m a big fan of tom yum flavored anything, so I’m hoping it’s a good pick. Let’s check out Vina Acecook Mikochi!
Here’s one of the ones sent by Marvin R. of Ft. Worth, TX – thanks again! It’s kind of interesting – these packs looks so similar to another brand. Curious how it’ll be… Let’s check it out!
Last spring, I remember my son and I took a walk to the local Asian grocery when we were living in Edmonds, WA. We were getting something for my wife for Mother’s Day I believe! Anyways, as always I like to take a stroll down the instant noodle aisle (no big shock, right?). I found a few different varieties of these A-One cups and got them. This is a pork flavored one – from Vietnam. Let’s check out what’s inside!
Paldo Foods is a South Korean company, and it looks like they’ve expanded to Vietnam with Paldo Vina. Been curious about this line for a while now and wondering how they taste. Shrimp ounds good for today – let’s go!
Okay so first off, I want to thank the person at the company who made the decision to use paper as the material for the outer packaging. One of the big tasks I have for the reviews is to do a lot of editing in Photoshop, mostly removing glare from packaging. Since they’re plastic wraps usually, they pick up the lighting and so angling the packs to get the least glare and reflection is key, but then sometimes it’s just not possible to get rid of all of it. Then I have to scan the packages and there’s always a good amount of glare there. This will be the first review I’ve ever done of Miliket instant noodles, so let’s check therm out!
The first thing you’re going to say is ‘porridge isn’t ramen.’ Well aware of that, dude. Then again, these often show up on the instant noodle aisle of an Asian grocery and as such, I thought it could use some attention. This is a Vietnamese seafood porridge, much like what they call congee in China. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Vietnamese rice porridge:
Here’s one of the ones sent by Marvin R. of Ft. Worth, TX – thanks again! So he originally asked me about identifying there. They look a lot like another Vietnamese brand, but the info on the back seems to show that it’s definitely not them. This is a pretty neat review – the cusp of my 1,500th. Let’s check this one out!
