Saturday, November 10, 2007

San Francisco Curly Pasta Noodle Soup - Extra Hot

I was really surprised to discover these noodles were made in the USA. I have never seen them before despite having been to countless American grocery stores and Asian markets. Finally, I found them in a Korean supermarket and decided to give them a try. Here's the website for SF Curly Pasta if you'd like to check them out, they've got some cool pictures of their ramen factory.

Although these are American made noodles, they still have the description printed in 4 languages (English, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese). Maybe they plan on exporting this package to other countries. Since I picked these up in the Korean supermarket and there is a picture of two chilies on the front, I expected these to be quite spicy. Sure enough, they were cough-inducingly spicy! The flavor of the broth really reminded me of Korean instant noodles.

True to their name, the noodles themselves are very curly. Instant noodles are purposely curly so that they can be packed tightly together, but these took curliness to a new level! I suspect that the curliness appeals to Americans who would have an easier time eating these noodles with a fork. For an Asian person eating noodles with chopsticks, the curliness doesn't make a difference in ease of eating. I enjoyed the curliness in my mouth as well, since I tended to get more flavor in each bite.

This noodle soup was powerfully spicy with nice hints of onion and mushroom. I rather enjoyed it, but to be honest, it is one in a sea of very similar spicy Korean instant noodles. Oh wait, this one wasn't even Korean, it's American!

San Francisco Curly Pasta Noodle Soup - Extra Hot - 6.5/10

7 comments:

  1. I've tried the Spicy and the Vegetarian. Personally, I think the Vegetarian has more flavor although it is very spicy. The Spicy is just plain hot being Red Pepper flavored. I have yet to try others, although I will in time. The noodles are very good. Nice and fat and cook up in 7 minutes in the microwave. This is my favorite ramen since I've discovered it at the asian market.

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  2. The company has engaged in false advertising by claiming in large bold letters in Korean newspaper ads that their noodles are MSG free. Well, they are not. Just read the ingredient labels, because they explicitly state that MSG is used.

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  3. Hm... I was skeptical of the MSG-free advertising too, so I looked at the ingredient list. There was no monosodium glutamate listed. I don't know why they would advertise it as such since it's so easy to just check the list.

    But anyway, Curly Pasta is also among my favorite instant ramen brands -- was devastated to find it not carried by my usual Korean market anymore (hence the reason for googling it and finding this page).

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  4. I've tried the spicy one and it's amazing. Really good.

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  5. If I have to cook between a soup which is already made and a cooked one I will take the second one.

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  6. Seeing your blog I am just to eager now to try this soup. I don't know when but very soon I am going to try it out soon.

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  7. i just love noodles and i am surely going to try this personal. i will go for the spicy one! i love spice

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