Instant Cures for a Foodie’s Homesickness

It’s a hard-knock life for a noodle snob at Columbia. Coming from Hong Kong, home of the most perfect little bowls of wonton noodle soup, I have scoured the city but have found no soups that can compare. Nonetheless, New Yorkers should not be forced to endure the limp, bland, noodly nonsense that sets the standard here.

Naturally, there is little that upsets me more than bastardized Asian cuisine. But this fall, when I discovered Café Swish, I was surprised to find their kimchee udon pretty good. So imagine the disappointment when Swish, a Hong Kong international student’s only nearby salve for homesickness, closed, leaving only Ollie’s and M2M as noodle soup options.
Let’s not even talk about Ollie’s, because anyone thinking of spending money on their insipid bowls of wonton noodles will be bitter the rest of their Columbia career. While M2M’s vegetable udon soup is no winner either, their extensive instant noodle section makes up for their utterly disappointing udon.

Students looking for good noodles should head to Westside Market and pick up an instant pack of Thai Kitchen Mushroom Rice Noodle Bowl. The packets inside have nary a dried carrot bit or desiccated kernel of corn in sight—instead, the soup is filled with meaty pieces of shiitake mushrooms and a small packet of garlic oil, both of which impart a deep, earthy flavor to the soup.
The rice noodles are silky and light, perfect for a quick lunch. Best of all, they are gluten-free and vegan—perfect for everyone to enjoy. Other flavors include Thai Ginger, Spring Onion, Roasted Garlic, and Lemongrass & Chili, all at less than $2 a bowl.

Another good option is Shirakiku’s Fresh Japanese Style Sanukiya Somen. I was skeptical when I read the word fresh—how fresh could convenience store instant noodles be? It was thus a nice surprise when, upon opening the package, I found a packet of vacuum-packed, still-soft (but not fully-cooked) fresh noodles. The noodles, made with tapioca starch, had a pleasant bounce and the mildly spicy, bonito-flavored soup was comforting. Had it I not been eating from a large paper bowl, I would have thought I was at a street-side noodle stand back home.
Annie Chun’s Korean Kimchi Soup also has a great, authentic-tasting soup—even the reconstituted kimchee has the same crunch as real kimchee. Though the noodles were gummy and stuck to my teeth with every bite, Annie Chun’s is a good, vegetarian-friendly alternative to Thai Kitchen.

Lastly, Nong Shim Shin Bowl, though mercilessly spicy, is a delicious blend of flavors that makes up for the styrofoam-like consistency and taste of the noodles. Get this if you’re congested, not if you’re craving a good bowl of noodles.

At less than $4 and no more than 240 calories per package, these noodles are great stand-by meals. Stock up on a couple of bowls for those times when you’re just too busy to go out to eat or can’t be bothered to do more than pour hot water and microwave for 3 minutes.

These instant fixes certainly can’t replace a proper bowl of noodles in my heart, but, in the meantime, they’re good enough.