Quack, quack, quack…

This very popular made-in-Thailand instant noodles company has come out with a new range – their so-called oriental style instant noodles. My girl bought two flavours that day, beef and duck…

…and I took a packet of the latter…

…to try.

Pa-lo…or phak lor is braised or stewed in Hokkien. We can hardly find duck being served outside, other than the roast duck at a few places, but at a very small town along the road/highway between Kuching and Sibu, Sg Tenggang, their braised duck…

…served with kolo mee is a major attraction. I did stop by once but I went to the wrong shop, the nicer-looking one. They said I should have picked the dark, not that attractive looking one. Even so, I did enjoy it a lot but sadly, there is no place selling that here in Sibu. If I am not wrong, they do have it in Serian and maybe, also in Kuching.

I was glad they did not toss the noodles in the sauce – I would not have enjoyed that. That was why I was wondering whether the soup in this packet of instant noodles will be some diluted or washed down version of the phak lor five spice powder (ngor hiang hoon) sauce. There were these sachets inside…

– the oil, the seasoning and the chili flakes/powder.

I boiled the noodles in a bit of water and emptied the contents of the sachets in it. I refrained from using all of the seasoning though – I just added a bit at a time and when I felt it was enough, I threw away the rest. Lastly, I broke an egg into the boiling noodles and once done, I poured everything out into a bowl…

Oops!!! I was not careful and broke the yolk while I was doing that. Never mind! I just sat down and ate…

…and yes, I did think it was rather nice but it had a taste of its own. There was nothing in it that one would associate with braised or pa-lo duck, as we know it…

All in all, I would say that there was nothing Thai about it. If you are looking for that exotic taste that one would associate with Thai cuisine, you will not find it here. Ah well! After all, they did insist it is “oriental style” – they never said it was Thai.

I did spot some spring onions in the soup so probably there were some dehydrated bits in the seasoning that I did not notice earlier, and I rather liked the light hint of the daun sup (Chinese celery) that I used to garnish the bowl of noodles, though it was mainly for presentation.

Incidentally, I was browsing through some of my old posts while I was writing this and I stumbled upon this…

Obviously, this is not new – only the packaging is different, and they have grouped it in a range of its own. Well, I enjoyed it then and yes, I did enjoy it again this time around. I’ll try the beef some other day – hopefully, it will be just as nice.

DELTA – THE MARKETPLACE (2.311968, 111.847043) is located in the basement (lower ground floor) of the Delta Mall…

…at Taman Seduan 8, Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai (formerly Jalan Pedada).