Yeah, I realize this is a forum for restaurant reviews, but mama's poor right now, so today she'll be blogging about Annie Chun's Hot & Sour soup bowl mix instead. If you've never tried this line before, basically, you pour hot water over the noodles, combine it with the soup mix and toppings, and stick everything into the microwave for two minutes. The envelope containing the soup mix advises you to "add to taste," and being fairly conservative, I only added half the packet.
See, I've been recovering from a mild cold for the past couple of days; sensing this soup might have been the perfect cure for my ailment, I eagerly retrieved it from the microwave, stirred together all the ingredients, took a spoonful...and was totally bummed. First of all, the broth was lacking any discernible flavor; however, to its credit, after squeezing every last drop of what was left of the soup mix packet into the soup, I did notice a slight tang in the back of my mouth after each sip. Also, I'd like for you to take a look at the picture above and notice the abundance of shiitake mushrooms depicted. Well, Annie Chun is a deceitful wench. I saw one shiitake in my entire bowl of soup, sunk to the bottom, a paltry, thinly-sliced indistinguishible apparition of its former self.
I ate it all, primarily because the price is so absurd. I mean, $3? Do you know what I can get at Maido during their daily happy hour for $3? A squid salad. OR a tuna roll. OR a vegetable tempura. All of which are exponentially better than this prepackaged sodium bomb.
-Amanda
