Cravings for Beef Noodle Soup

The packaging and the reality

The last few years I lived in Hong Kong, my office was above a gourmet supermarket called CitySuper, which stocked food like fresh oysters, truffles and foie gras, but also miso paste, tomato sauce and rice. 

One treat I used to get was a box of the Regent Taipei's signature beef noodle soup from the frozen section of the store.

Inside was a vacuumed pack of frozen stock with slices of braised beef, and another of noodles.

The directions were to heat up the broth still in the packaging in boiling water, while cooking the noodles in another pot.

The best home version of beef noodles

Once they were ready then to combine them together and the result was so delicious that it was like a hug in a bowl. The broth was clear and yet so flavourful, the noodles soaked up the taste, and the beef slices were very tender.

A few weeks ago at T&T Supermarket I saw the store's own brand of stewed beef noodle soup and in the freezer section for $9.99 and I finally tried it today.

I briefly heated up the frozen broth in its packaging in warm water before emptying the pot and putting the block of stock back in it to melt over the stove. Once it was simmering, I put the packet of noodles in for a few minutes before pouring them all into a bowl.

First, the picture in the packaging is a bit misleading, as there are four small pieces of beef, but in reality there are only three! So the ratio of beef to noodles is quite low. 

Second, the broth is quite salty and tastes flat, not having much flavour. The saving grace are the chunks of tender beef and the chewy noodles.

Sadly this pack did not satisfy my beef noodle cravings -- will have to head to Din Tai Fung for that!