Snapdragon is DANG good
I grew up eating Maruchan Ramen. The saltiness was soooo good to me when I was a kid. I tried so many flavors, but the beef flavor is hard to get over. The way that I make the maruchan ramen is to never use the whole flavor pack and always pour out the water before eating. In my opinion, the only thing that the water (which would be broth with the flavor pack, if only I’d known that then) was good for, was making the noodles consumable (now, as an almost 40 something, break the noodles in the pack and toss them on a salad, akin to croutons).
I, for sure, survived pretty heavily on the microwaveable noodle variety in college before learning to cook. And by that I mean, learning to cook better. I knew how to cook a lot of things already. It is hard to get over the flavor of those at home ramen packs. I’m probably going to review a few Ra Myun (ramen) spots in Atlanta on this blog, but that is for another time. Enough about ramen, in my adulthood, I moved on to pho.
There is an amazing Pho spot out in Smyrna, but now that I use public transport, I can’t make it out there as frequently. In this absence, I have resorted to SNAPDRAGON and PHONOMENAL (a vegetarian option). These could be considered cup pho. I think that their flavors are divine, and though the broth of these two pho leave a bit to be desired, (especially if you have had the pho from Pho Hoang Long on Pat Mell road), they are still quite good and satisfying. If only I could have that lime soda too! IYKYK. Pho Hoang Long is such a hidden gem over in the Marietta/Smyrna area.
The noodles are standard rice noodles, the flavor packs are really quite good, and the bowl size makes it easy to slurp the end of the dish right on up. The pho also comes in packs similar to what many are accustomed to seeing on shelves, almost like the ramen packs but slightly larger. Just so you know, I’ve also tried the Annie Chun flavor and it didn’t rest well with my pho loving soul.
Give these a try to switch up a thrifty lunch, a lazy dinner night (cook up some baked crispy wings and top with garlic chilli crisps), and sip on some bubbly water or a nice cold Pepsi. You will not be disappointed, at all. I love adding some extra cilantro and garlic for flavor. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
This PHO is definitely NELLIEL APPROVED. Thumbs up.
