28 July 2010

Doner Kebab Pot Noodle [By Spectre] (Sainsburys)



First launched in 1977, Pot Noodles have been a benchmark of student life ever since. I initially braved them in the 1980s and didn’t think much to the flavours. The last one I ate I think was Curry flavour and that was about twenty years ago. Geez… that makes me feel old! Doner Kebabs first came out in the UK in 1971, so it was only natural that this flavour would find itself in a Pot Noodle at some point. Okay, not really. Been as though I’ve never professed a liking for Pot Noodles to Cinabar, in fact, quite the opposite, it too was only natural that I’d be lumbered with trying this new flavour. To be honest I can think of other things I’d prefer to try that begin with “Pot” before revisiting this brand, such as “Pot Holing”, where the phrase “Every hole’s a goal” simply doesn’t apply. To be honest, after some recent and disastrous horror films involving deep holes in the ground, monsters and people being eaten alive, I may never go into a cave again! Potatoes are nice. There’s pot roast too. Hell I’d even prefer to eat Potpourri, rather than a Pot Noodle. But as I could see the fear in Cinabar’s eyes, I agreed to do the review.

After a number of weeks of staring at the Pot Noodle I came across a point where I had no choice but to eat it. Cinabar was away on holiday with her mom and I’d been swimming after a long day at work. Apart from some eggs, a little cheese and some bread, the Pot Noodle was the only thing left to eat in the whole house (there wasn't even any Potpourri). I boiled some eggs and made a cheese sandwich with lashings of beer mustard. I followed the instructions on the plastic pot to a tee. Add boiling water, leave for two minutes, stir, add sachet, leave for two minutes and (for God’s sake) don’t reheat. I scratched around and managed to find a bag of Welsh Rarebit crisps and a Hot flavoured Pepperami. I sat down to “Battle of the River Plate”. I have to admit my unusual concoction of food all went rather well together, whilst I watched battleships pounding each other with shells. The hot spice in the pot noodle took me back a little, especially on noticing the finely chopped chillis mixed in with the curly noodles. The instructions on the pot recommend you eat it with a fork, which makes for a loud and particularly messy meal. I ate a few noodles, my mouth began to burn after a while, but I had to imagine the taste of lamb, because it seemed to be missing from the pot. I used the boiled eggs to cool my mouth, dipped my sandwich in the pot, the Hot flavoured Pepperami also complemented the pot noodle well. All in all I had a strange, yet very tasty meal indeed. If I’m devilishly hungry and desperate for a very quick meal in the future, I may look to the other flavours of Pot Noodle and give them a try to see which one I like the best, but the Doner Kebab flavour has a thumbs up from me!
By Spectre

4 comments:

Oscar said...

i've got the fish shop curry favour, just out of interest...there favours seem really "nice" sounding...i have yet to open and boil a kettle mind you....just waiting till theres no other option left...which will never happen. i did have some of the other brand of pot pasta thou, cant remember the name but its right in there with the pots nods.

cinabar said...

When I was a student - I used to love Super Noodles, sometimes on toast (don't judge me).
I may have to have a little look at what flavours they are available in these days - see if they taste as good (?) as I remember! :-D

Dan Thornton said...

Pot noodle?

Good God, no.

The secret that kept Pot Noodle going in the 70's and 80's that I need to share is this.

Ordinary noodles cook in a couple of minutes anyway. Throw in random kitchen bits (veg, anchovies, cheese etc), and you have a far better snack that pot noodles...

cinabar said...

Pot Noodle just have a cult following, but they are not really my cup of tea. Spectre seems to have a secret liking for them.