Mr. Noodles Pho

I think most everyone has tried, and possibly consumed, many instant noodle packages - probably through college and into bachelor/bachelorette days. We even have a dish we make once a month or so based on the noodles. Other than that, there isn't much to recommend about them other than cheap price. So much to my surprise, browsing the grocery store the other day I came across a new Mr. Noodles food item - a soup bowl, supposedly instant Pho.

Now, I'm instantly skeptical. There are many good pho restaurants in Ottawa. Over the past 15 years or so, my colleagues and I have regularly tried a large variety of them, one of our number even created a blog dedicated to our amateur reviews of pho. So while not experts exactly, we certainly knew a bad soup from a good one.  But it's all about expectations, right? So I bought a couple of them and one day tried it out.

Mr. Noodles soup bowl with spice packets

First thing to notice, it comes with 4 little packets instead of 1. There is a spice package, one with little bits of dehydrated veggies, and two tiny ones with hoisin and Sriracha. And when I say tiny, I mean probably 1 tsp worth. The instructions actually say to heat in the microwave, but I'm not sure I wanted to try that so i just boiled some water and poured in the bowl. After a few minutes, a good stirring up of the noodles and contents of the packages got it looking ready to eat.

Mr. Noodles Pho soup bowl.
Might as well eat like you do in a restaurant.

To me it tasted exactly like the other regular instant noodle packages, except a bit spicier thanks to the Sriracha. But on the whole, not to bad for $1.49 or whatever it was.