Annie Chun's Soup Bowl, Japanese Style Udon, Non GMO, Vegan, 5.9 Oz (Pack of 6)

Overall it’s yummy and feels healthier than regular udons as it’s doesn’t taste as salty. Now straight to the point --- 1. I heated in microwave for 2.5 minutes as I like mine extra hot. And it was extra hot as I had to get some paper towels to take it out of the microwave. And let it stand for a bit. Maybe I'm just so used to cup ramens. Noodles typically need a little more time than the instruction says to get to that right texture and taste. Typically. 2. Container - It feels very sturdy and nice quality. It doesn't feel cheap paper-ish and actually feel more gourmet. (Although there's really no such thing as gourmet instant food. "Gourmet" and "Instant" or "microwave" just can't exist together when it comes to food. 3. Look - It looks like... Udon. :-) It's got thick udon noodles and the soup looks like udon soup. Nothing fancy here. 4. Smell - Surprisingly good! It's very close to the normal udon smell and that's a good thing. 5. Taste (soup) - First got a spoonful of the soup and ate it. Mmm... pretty good. Typically udons could get really salty, but this one wasn't. It felt just right amount of sodium at least for me. If you like things salty, you could probably add a little more soy sauce or something. But I liked the mild taste of the soup. 6. Taste (noodle) - Then got a chopstick full of the noodles and had it. Ah~ this is where a star deduction happens. The noodles didn't quite suck in enough soup to give it some flavor on my tastebuds. Being a thick udon noodles, I could see why, but still. It probably also has to do with the soup being mild. This happens quite often with a lot of the noodle or rice cake dishes. It takes time for the noodles to take in the flavor from the surrounding soup. So typically that's where spoons come in and help. Get a spoonful of soup then noodles then spoonful of soup. That's how typical mild soup noodle dishes are eaten anyway. I still wish the noodles sucked in the soup flavor a little more. 7. Feel - It felt good. I was satisfied after eating it. Typical instant ramen have not-so-good after tastes, but this one felt pretty good. So overall I was pleasantly surprised. It's good stuff. I was a little skeptical because of some bad reviews, but glad to have stocked up with these. Perhaps it has stronger flavor before? or probably MSG? This one's Non-GMO and Vegan, so I guess the taste had to be toned down, perhaps? Regardless, I liked the taste and how it felt. It suited my needs quite well.

The noodles aren't fried in this soup, which is a big plus - traditional ramen soup noodles are fried and high in fat. One major tip when making this soup: dont use more then 1 cup water or it will substantially dilute the flavor. The noodles are soft and reconstitute nicely - its sufficient to just add all the contents to the bowl, add 1 cup boiling water, cover and steep for 2-3 minutes. If you are on the go but still want to add some more food to this, you might consider canned, white meat chicken breast. The broth is mild and not spicy, and tastes mostly like soy sauce, and is tasty, especially with more soy sauce. Personally I wish there was a little more sodium, so I could add more broth and have it still be flavorful. In a few reviews some people said it was spicy, but I think this is due to the fact that occasionally you will get a red pepper flake to chew on that does taste spicy (i love when that happens), but the soup itself generally isnt spicy at all. Overall I would recommend this flavor. There isnt much to the vegetable packet, but they do reconstitute nicely. I think you are paying largely for the gimmicky stuff - the cornstarch packaging, charity donation coupon, organic ingredients, etc.. but its a bit expensive to buy locally ($4.79! What a ripoff!). Amazon's good price makes this soup worth buying, but at anything over $3 really feels like its pushing it for what you get. I'll take regular plastic packaging if it will get me one full piece of mushroom or tofu. Plus, you have to use the coupon for them to donate 50 cents to their charity, and its only up to $25,000, so it doesnt really change how much money gets donated anyway. The whole thing is gimmicky, but it is a good overall soup to keep on hand. I keep this in my mix of soups from Simply Asia and Thai kitchen. (Less expensive and more tasty in my opinion)

I like this type of noodle, udon. I get tired of eating ramen. It's really nice to have microwavable/instant udon soup. The first time I tried Annie Chun's udon was from Trader Joe's (TJ). I think TJ had the original version because it tasted different and I don't recall seeing the label: "NOW TASTES EVEN BETTER!" on the box cover. Unfortunately it doesn't taste better... The reason I ordered this on Amazon because I really enjoyed it but TJ doesn't stock them anymore. It has more of a mushroom taste now and I don't really like mushroom... Oh well, it's still tolerable but if it gave me a choice between the original and the new, I definitely choose the original version. However, maybe the original had MSG. I don't know. I never looked at the ingredient list. I assume the updated version is "healthier" compared to the old. By the way, I tried the udon soup from Nongshim brand and I still prefer Annie Chun's. Nongshim in my opinion, has too much soy sauce and portion is a little big for me (I have small stomach). Although, it's my fault for putting entire packet of soy sauce. ------------------------- UPDATE 4/18/2019 It has been four years since my original review and I'm still enjoying these udon bowls. However, I been mainly buying the "miso" flavor. I doubt these instant noodles are healthy but it's convenient to have at home. The size is just right for me as well. These are mild flavor. If you like more flavoring you can customize it with your own ingredients from home. I personally don’t mind that. I eat enough strong flavored food regularly. I sometimes want to eat light especially when I am feeling unwell. **Images provided with review is for Miso version**

Really good instant food. It's only 300 calories and it feels like there's twice as much food in this package than a noodle cup, which has the same amount. The udon is pretty close to how it tastes if it was fresh. In truth, it feels a tiny bit like plastic but it's ok. The broth is bland but it tastes ok. I season it a bit when I eat it and I add some meat to it. It keeps me full for about 4 hours so that's really good for 400 calories total. If you get it on sale for 2.10, it's perfectly priced. Overall, if you wanted something that was well priced, tasted pretty good and you didn't have to put in any work to make it, this is it. It serves its purpose extremely well and that's why I'm giving it 5 stars.

This is very easy to prepare and has a very mild flavor. I was disappointed because the vegetables were extremely tiny pieces and few at that. Made up primarily of thick udon noodles. I also wish the seasoning was a little more flavorful. This can be delicious if you add more of your own fixings. A golden opportunity to experiment.

I have a very low-fat diet for medical reasons, and rely heavily one low-fat noodles like these. I'm very fond of this brand and version in particular. They're easy, fast, and tasty, though I like to "doctor them up" with additions, from Sriracha to calamari to miso to ground ginger as the mood strikes. I prefer this one over other more heavily-flavored variations by the same company, since it's simple soy and onion base can be bent to just about any preference. This one is also suitable for vegans, incidentally. The bowl it comes in can be reused. It is not the cheapest way to get noodles, of course (and sometimes Trader Joe's has them on sale for about 50% of Amazon's price), but they're quick, easy and satisfying. You don't need to follow the directions, either, with their bit about soaking and then draining. Just optionally break up the noodles a bit (less messy to eat), add the flavor packets' contents, add water to the fill line, and microwave for 2:30.

So dissappointed. I got the revamped updated flavour - apparently the original updated flavour was very spicy, and the company issued this new version. The good news is it's no longer spicy. The bad news is it's gross. I didn't even finish the bowl before throwing it out. I'll be giving away the remaining 5 bowls I purchased. I can only compare to the original recipe, so this may be a great improvement over the spicy version, so others may be delighted by the changes. First thing I noticed is the instructions no longer have you loosen the noodles in hot water and then drain. I did this anyway because the noodles seemed to have an unpleasant smell. Rinsing them didn't seem to help much. The seasoning packet is no longer the formed block, but loose seasoning that are maybe a fraction of the old amount. There were 3 or 4 of the red pepper rings (again, they weren't spicy at all), a ton of tofu cubes, and maybe 3 or 4 tiny cubes of mushroom, as well as some seasoning and green things. I dislike tofu, so I picked out all of the blocks (at least half the volume of the add ins) and threw them away. I added all of the remaining vegetables and the entire liquid seasoning packet. While microwaving, I noticed an unpleasant smell coming from the microwave in the last 30 seconds. I don't know what this smell is, but I found it unpleasant. I tried the soup anyway. The mushrooms were firm and chewy after the full cooking time. The other vegetables seemed to cook fine, and I didn't have much of a problem with any of them, including the red rings which I expected to be very spicy but weren't. So, the soup would be totally fine, evening having to pick out the unwanted tofu and the texture of the crappier mushroom pieces, but the flavour of the broth is totally different from the original flavour. It's mild, so some may like it, but i found the new taste very unpleasant and very... Sweet, maybe? Which makes sense as there are 7 GRAMS of sugar per serving. Totally disgusting. Won't be purchasing again.

This is delicious. Been wanting to try for a long time now. Flavor is excellent. The sauce packet is difficult to open. Tried it with a knife finally and it leaked in the sink. There's no easy way to open it. The separate packets of tofu, etc and noodles could have more in them. This product is so good but very small portions. Just be aware that it won't really be a whole meal.