#716: Vifon Hủ Tiếu Cá Asian Style Rice Noodles With Stewed Fish

Stewed fish huh? Found this one at Uwajimaya in Seattle around my birthday. It says there’s fish in there… Hmmm.

Here’s a closeup of the text on the top. Basa fish it says… Hmmm… What’s Basa fish? Well, Wikipedia says:

The basa fish, Pangasius bocourti, is a type of catfish in the family Pangasiidae. Basa are native to the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam and Chao Phraya basin in Thailand.^[1] These fish are important food fish with an international market. They are often labeled in North America and Australia as “basa fish” or “bocourti”.^[2] In the UK, the species is known mainly as “river cobbler”,^[3] with “basa” also being used on occasion. In Europe, these fish are commonly marketed as “pangasius” or “panga“.^[4] Other related shark catfish may occasionally be falsely labeled as basa fish, including Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (iridescent shark) and Pangasius pangasius (yellowtail catfish).

Wow – that’s interesting! So its like catfish eh? Here’s a link to the full Wikipedia article.

Kind of looks like a bunch of tape! This is going to be an interesting bowl of noodles!

Hey – an included fork! Already found one of these in another Vifon bowl a while back.

Here’s some powdered seasoning.

Very light powder.

Veggie packet.

Onions and such.

A retort pouch! I’m really curious how this will go here. .. Well, only one way to find out!

Finished and left it as-is. So these noodles – they have to be the broadest rice noodles I’ve ever seen – pretty amazing that they stay together being so wide and thin! They’re not too chewy and no mushy either. The broth is very interesting – kind of salty and kind of buttery – but absolutely not fishy. It’s got a thickness to it – not an overly greasy kind of thickness either. Lots of green onion bits here and there – they look nice and maybe add a little flavor to the broth. The Basa fish? Well, there’s not a huge amount of it but it’s good – not really fishy at all – like a whitefish. I will say that I do like Vietnamese catfish instant noodles! Unique, different and pretty good! 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 8934561260325 – get it here!

This is how I react when I see Asian groceries…

An informational video about Vietnamese catfish farming

 

#402: Sau Tao (Thick) Instant Noodle King Scallop Soup Flavor

I think this is the last of the Sau Tao’s I have for reviewing at this point. This one’s Scallop flavor with thick noodles. Again, these noodles aren’t fried. If you notice to the upper right of center, you are being informed that ‘Health is important.’ Looks like 4g fat and 7.5g fiber – not too bad actually.

So here we go with the packets. I really enjoy the look of the powder packet – the one at the far left. It’s got that old Asian product look that really draws me to the noodles in the first place. Next is a clear packet of seasoned oil. This packet might often be cloudy because the temperature would be cooler. The last is the veggies and other stuff packet, a good sized one.

An interesting melange of colors going on here… Those noodles are real weird looking are they not?

As is my constant behoove, I added one fried egg. I see fried eggs in all sorts of instant noodles from every part of Asia. Breaking a soft yolk really makes the broth more accommodating and relaxing to the palate, like a fleece blanket. The noodles, healthy as they are, are kind of lacking. I think frying them gives an extra bit of flavor and texture that these don’t have. The broth was extremely thin, and I would recommend using a little less water than the directions call for – maybe just fill it a tad below the line. The winner here were the veggies. They re hydrated nicely and were delicious. It all came together decently, but wasn’t anything really exceptional. 3.0 out of 5.0 stars.

NOTE: This one did come with a fork but I’ve done a Sau Tao fork update already.

It didn’t make me deflate.

When I grew up, I lived very close to the Canadian border, so I saw a lot of Canadian kids’ shows. Here’s a few…

#198: Shirakiku Sanukiya Somen Fresh Japanese Style Original

Some fresh noodles. Some this time – I know Udon, but what it somen? Wikipedia says:

Sōmen (素麺^?) are very thin, white Japanesenoodles made of wheat flour. The noodles are usually served cold and are less than 1.3 mm in diameter. The distinction between sōmen and the next thicker wheat noodles hiyamugi and even thicker Japanese wheat noodles udon is mostly the size of the noodle. Somen noodles are stretched when made, as are some types of udon noodles.

Sōmen are usually served cold with a light flavored dipping sauce or tsuyu. The tsuyu is usually a katsuobushi-based sauce that can be flavored with Welsh onion, ginger, or myoga. In the summer, sōmen chilled with ice is a popular meal to help stay cool.

So same stuff as the udon, just skinnier noodles. Also these aren’t server cold, by the way.

As you can see, the noodles are indeed thinner. A couple tasty packets awaiting dupmp into…

The bowl. Eveything in and a bath of water. 5 minutes in the microwave? Wow!

Here we are – piping hot noodles and soup. So initially when I took this stuff out of the microwave, I was hit with a strong smell of seaweed. I did some stirring and noticed that there was a nice plentiful amount of it in the bowl. Upon letting it cool, I started in on it, first the noodles. Not chewy at all but very nice texture. The seaweed blended into it, lending itself to a more flavorful nosh. I found myself sipping the soup then going to noodles alternatively; it was natural and was enjoyable. I complain about the lack of ingredients and simple nature of packs of noodles quite often as boring and unimaginative., Here we have simple and elegant; the other side of the spectrum. I found this to be qui8te good and would definitely enjoy this again and recommend it to others. I give it a 4.25 out of 5.0 stars. Get it here.

#167: Wai Wai Instant Rice Vermicelli Crab Flavour

So Wai Wai not some of this stuff today eh? Crab flavour. Haven’t eaten a whole lot of crab in my life. Curious how it will taste…

Three packets. Today the hot pepper powder is going to take a break. Wanna taste this one…

So we have some powder and some oil. Should be interesting I think…

These are some superthin noodles! I mean SUPER THIN! It is rice vermicelli, but jeez! Very salty broth. I think perhaps a bit of a crab flavor? Not really sure. I’m not really impressed but not put off and found this stuff pretty average. So, 2.5 out of 5.0 stars.