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The wonderful world of instant noodles. (Image: Archi Banal)
The wonderful world of instant noodles. (Image: Archi Banal)

KaiApril 6, 2022

The ultimate instant noodle guide for the end of the world

The wonderful world of instant noodles. (Image: Archi Banal)
The wonderful world of instant noodles. (Image: Archi Banal)

With supply chain shortages potentially set to hit our instant noodle shelves, you’d be wise to stock up on these top-tier recommendations from Charlotte Muru-Lanning and Naomii Seah. 

Instant noodles are cheap, easy, fast, and most importantly, they always taste good. Well, they always taste good if you know which ones to buy. (Looking at you, Indomie “Hot & Spicy” flavour.)

But as living costs increase, so too could the price of this cheap eats staple. Indomie, one of the world’s most recognisable instant noodle companies, is facing supply chain shortages that could soon hit New Zealand shelves. That’s because most packets of Indomie are manufactured in Indonesia, whose top supplier of wheat was Ukraine. 

Partly due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the global price of wheat has increased to levels not seen since the global financial crisis in 2008. And although Nestlé, Indomie’s parent company, has confirmed that New Zealand’s supply of Indomie is made in Malaysia from Australian wheat, we can’t count ourselves safe from a noodle shortage or price increase just yet

Thankfully for all the noodle lovers out there, any price changes likely won’t eventuate for a few months yet, meaning right now there’s a golden window to branch out and try some new brands and flavours.

Indomie BBQ Chicken flavour might be the most elite instant noodle available at Countdown, but there’s a whole other world of instant noodles out there. So get your chopsticks ready – these are our top picks of other elite-tier flavours to try.

Maggi Instant Noodles Asam Laksa and Samyang Buldak Carbonara Hot Chicken.

Maggi Instant Noodles Asam Laksa  

Let’s get things straight. These noodles will never come close to the goodness of an actual bowl of asam laksa, with its thick umami soup, pineapple chunks and thick chewy noodles. But they’re pretty dang good for an instant noodle flavour. These noodles are perfect for anyone who likes a good amount of MSG-laden broth with their afternoon snack. The noodles themselves are pretty stock standard – decent, but not mind blowing. But the real star of the show is the almost neon-orange flavouring, which feels like a salty, sweet, sour and subtly spicy slap in the face. Garnish these noods with spring onions and an egg if you’re feeling really fancy. / Naomii Seah

Samyang Buldak Carbonara Hot Chicken

Everyday feels like Valentine’s Day when you know you have a pack of Samyang Buldak Carbonara Hot Chicken in the pantry, with its adorable pink-tinged, love heart-covered packaging. Samyang’s range of various spicy instant noodles has garnered internet infamy over the last five years – particularly for the boisterously hot “3X Spicy Buldak” flavour that has become a viral eating challenge. The slightly more pared-back carbona twist on the flavour remains intensely spicy, but thankfully is defanged by a packet of cheese powder added at the end. Don’t let the idea of “cheese powder” put you off though, the final product is a heap of delicious, glossy, bouncy noodles. Chef’s tip: they’re better served with about half the liquid suggested on the packet. Egg, spring onion and steamed ong choy (or some type of green) are requisites. / Charlotte Muru-Lanning

Ottogi Jin Ramen Spicy and Nissin Kyushu Black

Ottogi Jin Ramen Spicy

These are the pantry staple variety of ramen: practically perfect cooked as the packaging suggests, but also lends itself well to adaptations. If you like Shin Ramyun, I promise you’ll like these. Similarly, you’ll end up with a bowl of noodles in a wonderfully spiced broth. Although these ones are accompanied by an intimidatingly hefty sachet of powder, the flavour here is perkier than you’d imagine – but still wonderfully warming. Through extensive kitchen investigations I’ve found that Jin Ramen works particularly well in Tina Choi’s chilli oil ramen recipe and in this Kewpie mayo ramen recipe. / CML

Nissin Kyushu Black

These are the ramen noodles you’ll want to have on hand now that daylight saving has ended. Smooth and springy wheat noodles in a milky roasted garlic broth topped with fried shallot chips and sesame seeds – what a dream. What’s really impressive about these is the lovely little slicks of oil that float atop the broth. Most instant noodles make me feel immensely aware that I’m at home, but artfully top these ones with a soft-boiled egg cut in half, shards of spring onion and a couple of nori sheets and you’re just a few daydreams away from a cosy ramen shop in Fukuoka. / CML

Thai Mama Tom Yum Instant Rice Noodles and Paldo Kokomen Spicy Chicken Flavour

Thai Mama Tom Yum Instant Rice Noodles

No worrying about a wheat shortage with these bad boys. Thai Mama’s range of rice noodles are always on the money, but the tom yum flavour in particular is extra juicy, and a firm favourite with the Asian aunties. The noodles are light and delicious, with that delightful slippery texture that makes chewing them a truly messy yet amazing experience. Slurping encouraged. If you chuck in some of your own cocktail prawns and fish balls, you might even be fooled into thinking you’re eating a lovely home-cooked bowl of tom yum. This bowl packs a spicy, limey taste that hits the back of the throat just right. / NS

Paldo Kokomen Spicy Chicken Flavour

The label promises four things: fun, yum, clean, spicy. All qualities I strive for but if I’m honest, mostly fail at. Unlike me, however, these noodles really do manage to be all four at once. Here, the noodles are suspended in an almost clear broth that truly is fun, yum, clean and (slightly) spicy. Chicken is the hero flavour, but it’s less salty than its counterparts and spiked with a distinct jalapeno-esque flavour. If you’re a fan of Maggi two-minute noodles, these will likely strike a perfect balance between the familiar and the new. / CML

Prima Taste Laksa La Mian and Samyang Bajirak Kalgugsu

Samyang Bajirak Kalgugsu

I grew up collecting tuangi from the estuary near our family bach and then gorging myself on the shellfish for breakfast the next day, so I have a nostalgic affection for anything clam-based. When I discovered these clam-flavoured instant noodles, I was tickled. They’re an instant version of traditional Korean dish 바지락 칼국수, which is knife-cut noodle soup with clams. As if summoned from my own childhood memories, the broth is clean-tasting and delicately clam-flavoured. The noodles here are elite-level chewy. If you’re interested in levelling these up, do consider adding a tumble of actual clams to steam while your noodles cook. These may not be for everyone, but as the saying goes: don’t yuck my yum. / CML

Prima Taste Laksa La Mian 

From the cursive brand lettering to the seductive black packaging, these Singaporean noodles scream elegance. Of course, they’re no competition for an expertly made bowl of coconut laksa, but for a bowl that takes just seven minutes to cook, they’re pretty impressive. While laksa tends to be brimming with rice noodles, the noodles here are wheat-based. The end product is a silky coconut broth with an improbable depth of flavour that’s punctuated by shrimp paste, shallots, ginger, garlic and spices like turmeric and coriander. These are hearty instant noodles, and could even pass for a pretty decent slap-up dinner as is, but sneak in some mung beans, a spliced boiled egg, sambal, deep-fried tofu, fish balls or prawns and you’ve got yourself a proper feed. / CML

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All I want, all day, every day, is the ability to eat a hot cross bun. (Image Design: Archi Banal)
All I want, all day, every day, is the ability to eat a hot cross bun. (Image Design: Archi Banal)

KaiApril 5, 2022

Let me eat hot cross buns all year round

All I want, all day, every day, is the ability to eat a hot cross bun. (Image Design: Archi Banal)
All I want, all day, every day, is the ability to eat a hot cross bun. (Image Design: Archi Banal)

Why is one of our top-tier baked goods only available sometimes? Sam Brooks rages against the seasonal availability of the hot cross bun.

The first three-to-four months of the year are my favourite. I can wear shorts, I can hang out in the sun for longer, and I can make full use of my paper fan collection. I can do those things at the end of the year too, but there’s one thing those glorious summer months are missing: warm, well-buttered hot cross buns.

Hot cross buns exist at a perfect yeasty intersection. They’re pure, sweet carbs with a little spicy kick. They absorb butter like a goddamned sponge. One can be a snack, two or three can be a whole breakfast. They can even be adapted to include chocolate rather than the traditional raisins and other spices, should you so choose. 

Some might suggest that fruit bread is a good substitute for hot cross buns. As someone who has eaten more than his share of fruit bread because it is available all year round, I disagree. Fruit bread doesn’t have the same softness, and the same joy about it that a hot cross bun does. Spice buns are also available year round, but they’re not the same either – they’re more bread-y, and they don’t have that beautiful, waxy cross on top.

Look. I don’t want fruit bread. I don’t want a spice bun. What I want is a hot cross bun, whether it’s January, June or September!

Hot cross buns are, of course, traditionally tied to Easter. They mark the end of Lent, and the different ingredients of the hot cross bun have meanings tied to Christianity. The cross represents the crucifixion of Jesus (bleak!) and the spices inside the bun symbolise the spices used to embalm him at his burial (bleaker!).

Give them all to me. (Photo: James Dann)

It’s not wild to me that seasonal foods exist. That’s the natural way of the world. You eat berries at this time of year because they’re ready to harvest at this time of year. What is wild to me is that there is a baked good that is seasonally available based on a pagan holiday (it’s true, look it up) with a date determined by when the first full moon after the vernal equinox is! 

Pretty much every ingredient that is in your average hot cross bun is available year round, and are staples of the home baker’s cabinet (according to me, who has never baked). Yeast, sugar, flour, butter, milk. The bits that aren’t – sultanas, cinnamon spices, orange peel if you’re fancy – are readily available in supermarkets. These are not weather based ingredients! Let them roam free, into the baking tin, then the oven, then my stomach.

I get the argument as to why hot cross buns shouldn’t be in supermarkets year round. A seasonal food, even one based on an event in the lunar calendar, being available year-round would lessen how special it is for those few months leading up to Easter. You wouldn’t get that moment where you first see a hot cross bun in its own little special place in the supermarket aisle or bakery cabinet, realise it’s been maybe eight or nine months since you’ve had one and go “Holy shit! I want a hot cross bun!”

I understand that. But if you feel that way, you don’t have to eat them all year! Keep on eating them in your preferred season, but please don’t put your seasonal food desires onto me.

It could be that the reason they’re only available seasonally is because people only want them seasonally, and that’s just economics. I am but one man, I do not have the ability or financial freedom to single-handedly support the hot cross bun industry. I am also aware there’s technically nothing stopping me from learning to make my own. 

Don’t steal my joy because you only want them three months out of 12. I want to be able to reach into my pantry, slice a hot cross bun in half, toast it, drown it in butter, and eat it every single day of the year, should I so choose. And deep down, in your carb-devouring soul of souls, I think you want to be able to do that too.

If you are an intrepid baker who wants to make hot cross buns year-round and is looking for a reliable source of very little income, you can reach me at sam@thespinoff.co.nz

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