I know I said the last review was the last one of 2024, but this is a very last-minute entry to close out the year, and not one I originally planned to review. After Christmas, my wife and I made one of our usual trips to Target to check out the clearance aisle, and this six-pack of A-Sha Hello Kitty Hand Pulled Style Noodles with Friendly Scallion Sauce immediately stood out. These were marked down significantly, and given the A-Sha brand is a solid one, it felt like something worth reviewing right away before the opportunity disappeared.
Read more: Noodle Journey Episode 187: A-Sha Hello Kitty Hand Pulled Style Noodles with Friendly Scallion SauceA-Sha is the same company that manufactures Momofuku’s noodles, which still command surprisingly high prices in many supermarkets. These Hello Kitty noodles use the same hand-pulled style noodle format, but at a much lower price point, especially if you can find them on clearance. While A-Sha’s sauces aren’t always the most exciting or innovative, their noodles are almost always exceptional and worth the cost.
Each pack in this box contains a single serving with a sodium level of 1460mg, which is reasonable by instant noodle standards. Inside the box are six individually wrapped packs featuring various Sanrio characters. Each pack includes thick, hand-pulled style wheat noodles made from a simple combination of wheat, salt, and water, along with a sauce packet containing scallion paste, soy sauce, shallots, garlic, black vinegar, sugar, spices, and a small amount of chili paste.
The noodles cook in five minutes due to their thickness. Once drained, they give off a very fragrant wheat aroma that’s typical of Taiwanese-style noodles. The sauce doesn’t look like much at first, but once mixed thoroughly, it coats the noodles evenly. This style is intentionally simple and works well either as a standalone dish, a side, or a base for additional toppings.
Noodles:
These are classic Taiwanese hand-pulled style noodles, and they’re excellent. Thick, flat, and slightly scalloped at the edges, they have a strong chew and a clean wheat flavor that really stands out. The texture is the star of the show here, and it’s the same high-quality noodle you’d expect from A-Sha.
• 10/10
Spiciness:
While chili paste is listed in the ingredients, there’s no noticeable heat that I could detect. Out of caution, given that some people may be more sensitive to spiciness, this still gets a very minimal score.
• 1/10
Overall:
The sauce tastes heavily of soy sauce, scallion, onion, and black vinegar, with a noticeable garlic presence. It’s mostly salty and sour, with a subtle sweetness from the scallion and shallot. While it’s a solid sauce and noticeably better than some of A-Sha’s more minimal offerings, I feel like the variety of spices listed in the ingredients doesn’t really come through as much as I’d hoped. A few more flavor layers would have gone a long way here, although admittedly it is tasty despite its simplistic nature. That said, value plays a major role in this score. At full price, this would land closer to the middle of the road: great noodles paired with a decent but not exceptional sauce. At clearance pricing, or during A-Sha’s buy-one-get-one promotions, this becomes a much more compelling purchase. These work well as a snack, side dish, or base for a more substantial meal, and the noodle quality carries a lot of that weight. If you come across these at Target during post-holiday clearance, they’re absolutely worth picking up.
• 7.5/10
