Ramenbox Review: Our first FAILURE.
Mar. 6th, 2010 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xyzzysqrlI have a few notes to myself, for this one.
First: Chili Powder does not -dissolve- in water/broth. It just floats. Leave this out.
Second: If you're going to drain water by clamping a paper plate over the bowl and pouring slowly, make sure it's one of those wax-covered paper plates that are nice and stiff.
Three: Can fingertip burns be fatal? Find out.
Four: Get a colander, you moron.
Okay. On to Mama TomYum Shrimp, which I must say out of the gate is a dirty dirty lie. This is the kind of shrimp your mother serves if she HATES YOU because she always wanted a girl/boy/houseplant.
Nothing seemed amiss while I was mixing it up. Same layout as the Mama Pork, chili powder, flavor packet, and mysterious sludge. The noodles were rather orangish and smelled of peanut oil, but I LIKE peanut oil, so that was not concerning. Now, what raised some worries for me was when I opened the flavor packet. I got hit with a head-spinning floral scent, something odd and sharp that made me slightly dizzy. But I'm used to things being strong before cooking, so I tossed it in and mixed and waited.
Then I ate.
Oh god. How do I describe... this wasn't shrimp. This was like eating noodles, except they're not actually noodles, they're thinly-sliced whole lemons that have been rolled in chili powder. There was no shrimp taste at all in this. The ad-copy on the ramenbox site mentioned "spicy lemon grass and lime juice broth", and that is in fact what made me order this. My love for lime is legendary. But this was PURE CITRIC ACID. The noodles were sharply acidic and the broth was a chemical weapon that would melt the flesh of the innocent.
I ate some of it, then cut with more water (another first) and that made it slightly more bearable, but... I DO like citrus, even intense citrus... But I don't think I'll order this one again. The reviews on the site suggest a strong love it/hate it bias line, and I fall down... well. On the "Tom/Yum" scale, where Yum is delicious and Tom just peed in your ramen, this comes down hard on Tom.
First: Chili Powder does not -dissolve- in water/broth. It just floats. Leave this out.
Second: If you're going to drain water by clamping a paper plate over the bowl and pouring slowly, make sure it's one of those wax-covered paper plates that are nice and stiff.
Three: Can fingertip burns be fatal? Find out.
Four: Get a colander, you moron.
Okay. On to Mama TomYum Shrimp, which I must say out of the gate is a dirty dirty lie. This is the kind of shrimp your mother serves if she HATES YOU because she always wanted a girl/boy/houseplant.
Nothing seemed amiss while I was mixing it up. Same layout as the Mama Pork, chili powder, flavor packet, and mysterious sludge. The noodles were rather orangish and smelled of peanut oil, but I LIKE peanut oil, so that was not concerning. Now, what raised some worries for me was when I opened the flavor packet. I got hit with a head-spinning floral scent, something odd and sharp that made me slightly dizzy. But I'm used to things being strong before cooking, so I tossed it in and mixed and waited.
Then I ate.
Oh god. How do I describe... this wasn't shrimp. This was like eating noodles, except they're not actually noodles, they're thinly-sliced whole lemons that have been rolled in chili powder. There was no shrimp taste at all in this. The ad-copy on the ramenbox site mentioned "spicy lemon grass and lime juice broth", and that is in fact what made me order this. My love for lime is legendary. But this was PURE CITRIC ACID. The noodles were sharply acidic and the broth was a chemical weapon that would melt the flesh of the innocent.
I ate some of it, then cut with more water (another first) and that made it slightly more bearable, but... I DO like citrus, even intense citrus... But I don't think I'll order this one again. The reviews on the site suggest a strong love it/hate it bias line, and I fall down... well. On the "Tom/Yum" scale, where Yum is delicious and Tom just peed in your ramen, this comes down hard on Tom.
