Cycle 13 – Item 255

17 (Sat) September 2022

Imperial Big Meal – Super Hot Pot Beef Flavor

3.0

by me

at home

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

solo

Imperial Big Meal is an instant noodle product by Taiwanese brand Uni-President Enterprises (sound more like a holding company).

Though I’d never heard of it, I was delightfully surprised to find the item in our local convenience store, if only for the novelty – Korean convenience stores tend to stock only Korean products, especially instant noodles.

The package was quite packed, including dried noodles + dried scallions + powdered spices + seasoned oil + wet sauce + wet meat.

Not bad.  The flavor was vaguely reminiscent of Taiwanese beef noodle soup (see for example 5.112 Niu Rou Mian), but in any case a welcome escape from Korean instant noodle soups, which all taste more-or-less the same.  The thick noodles had nice chew.  The meat made the dish seem more like a DIY noodle kit (requiring actual boiling) than an instant noodle bowl (just adding hot water).   I will definitely keep these in the pantry.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)