#ewew tries Red Chef Sakura Prawn Noodles

I was eager to try this brand of instant noodle after reading about it on world of buzz that it made it to the list of The Ramen Rater's Top Ten Instant Noodles for 2018.

In fact, 3 Malaysian brands were placed in the top ten....and the instant noodle that came in at No. 2 was this Red Chef's Spicy Sakura Prawn Soup Noodles.  The other two being CarJEN Nyonya Curry Laksa (at #4) and (again) Red Chef Tom Yum Soup Noodles (at #6).

And you know how I love me prawn noodles, so it's a foregone conclusion that I must try, of course.

I bought this pack of Red Chef's Spicy Sakura Prawn Soup Noodles for RM10.39 and each pack contains four individual packets.

In each packet of noodles, you'd find a sachet each of seasoning powder, a cooked chilli paste and a garnishing of fried shallots.

On opening, the dark-coloured cooked chilli paste for the prawn broth looked really intense...and I was hoping for it to taste as good as it looked.  The paste reminded me of MyKuali's Penang Hokkien Prawn Noodles as they look rather similar.

The instructions on how to cook this seemed rather odd to me.  They'll ask you to cook the noodles first in boiling water while the paste, seasoning powder and fried shallots are added to a separate bowl.  You're supposed to remove the cooked noodles and pour it into the bowl.  

I chose to cook it differently as I wasn't sure if the paste would dissolve adequately if done following the instructions on the package.  So I did it the usual way (as I would normally cook any instant noodles) and that is to boil the seasoning and paste first before adding the noodles.

I have to say the fried onions garnish was plentiful and generous...and the crunch of the fragrant shallots is all one needs to enjoy this packet of instant noodles in its most basic form.

Occasionally, I would add a fried egg that has been scrambled to bits to bring it up a notch for a fuller meal...and a fuller enjoyment! ^_~

The noodles are thicker than the norm, a little starchier and yielding a firmer chew.  When it comes to instant egg noodles, I have to hand it to Maggi...no-one can make it quite as springy-textured as they can.

But what is a bowl of prawn noodles without any prawns, right? :P

Or hard-boiled eggs.

So add them in for maximum satisfaction.

I'm not sure about the 'Sakura prawns' in the name of the noodles though...were Sakura shrimps actually used or was it to impress upon us the quality of prawns used in the paste for the broth? ;P

The broth did have an exceptionally strong prawn flavour with a fair amount of spiciness.  You can smell it even when the paste is cooking.

Though the soup base looked intense with its bright orange hue, it wasn't too oily and had a nice thickness to it.  The taste of this broth came the closest to that of a good prawn mee.  It's by far the best-tasting instant version of prawn mee I've had.

If you think MyKuali's Penang Hokkien Prawn Noodles was good....this one by Red Chef is even better! ^.^ It'll have to do when I need a prawn noodle fix at ungodly hours.

My search for a good instant prawn mee has finally come to a happy ending as it has led me to Red Chef's Spicy Sakura Prawn Soup Noodles.  For fans of tom yum (can't say I'm truly one), you might want to try their Tom Yum Soup Noodles that came in at #6.