MAMA Artificial Pa-Lo Duck Flavour Oriental Style Instant Noodles

Made By:  Thai President Foods, Ltd. [Thailand]
Required to Prepare:  12 oz. boiling water
240 calories per package

I wanted a small serving of noodles this morning as a pre-brunch snack, which is the perfect occasion to try one of these 2-ounce size Thai noodles.  I chose MAMA's Pa-Lo Duck flavor, so I can compare it to the "non-fried" duck flavor noodles I had a while back.  A cursory Google search seems to suggest that "Pa-Lo" is simply another word (the Thai word, perhaps?) for "five-spice", so I'm imagining the flavor will be at least similar.  I told you I was going to try to find the same flavor with the good noodles!

The package contains our lovely MAMA dark seasoned noodles, a packet of thick light-colored garlic-scented oil, and a double foil packet that has our soup base and the obligatory chili powder.  We add all the ingredients into a bowl, add 1-1/2 cups of boiling water, and cover and let stand for three minutes.  After a quick stir, we're ready to eat!

The noodles are definitely way better than the "non-fried" ones, with the nice firm texture that I am used to.  They might be a little less flavorful than I remember, but maybe it's not fair to compare these to noodles that have soaked in Tom Yum broth.  The broth is a bit spicier than I was expecting; I did rate the other ones at about a 3-star level, but these are probably more like a four.  Perhaps due to this, the five-spice flavor seems a little bit subtle, but it is there, along with a nice rich duck-broth base.

Overall, these were quite enjoyable, though they seemed a bit overly spicy for a morning snack.  Of course, I could probably do something about that by leaving out some or all of the chili powder, which I might actually do in the future--while I don't usually mind spice heat, it seemed a little out of place in this one.  While I still prefer the flavor of the Tom Yum varieties, I could see wanting this one again.  Oh, and of course it practically goes without saying that for only twenty extra calories per package, this one is just strictly better than the "non-fried" version. :)