MAMA Pad Thai Noodles

  

Country of origin: Thailand
Bought at: Super Oriental Market in Homewood, AL
Price: 59¢
Let me start off by saying I had a REQUEST to review these noodles. A friggin’ request! How awesome is that? Maybe I’m finally making a name for myself in the instant noodle world…
Let me next say that I don’t know a whole lot about Thai food. I like what I’ve had at the few local Thai restaurants there are in Birmingham, my favorite being Taste of Thailand on Lorna Rd. in Hoover. I’m a big fan of curry, rice noodles and spicy food, however, so this may just be right up my alley. Instant Pad Thai noodles! What’ll they think of next?
Enough jibba jabba. Let’s crack this packa noodles open!

 So we’ve got a very neat looking block of rice noodles and three, count ‘em, three sachets (oooh fancy word). The little pack has a small amount of some fairly spicy seasoning and the pink one has a large quantity of a mild seasoning, similar to a soup base. There is also a pack of seasoning oil which smelled very strongly of lime and oil. This is one of those situations where it is very important to read the directions AND follow them. This isn’t a soup, it’s a bowl of noodles. The directions say to cook the noodles and then drain off the water, then add the spices. So that’s what we’re gonna do. Here’s the noodles ready to cook:

The noodles seem like they are good quality. They have a very pleasant texture that I’ve come to associate with rice noodles.  I cooked ‘em up quick in the microwave, drained the water and mixed everything together. Here’s the finished product:

Looks like a pretty tasty bowl o’ noodles. So was it? Decidedly yes. The lime taste is very strong at first but after that first taste of it you get used to it and after that it is very good. There is quite the array of spices going on here and it is a little bit spicy, but not very much. That’s really my only complaint. I would have liked it to be a little bit hotter but I suppose the low heat makes it appeal to a wider audience. Keep in mind this is not just like going to a Thai restaurant or even cooking a real Thai recipe at home. It takes three minutes to make and costs a little over 50 cents.  For the time and money, fans of Thai noodles will not be disappointed. Overall, this one gets a strong 8/10.