Sometimes people send us stuff for review. However, in general I don't do reviews. In particular I don't tend to do negative reviews, on the "Bambi principle" that if you can't find anything nice to say it's better to say nothing at all. However, every so often there is a product from a company large enough to know better which really deserves a slating, and this is one of them. Let me present Amoy Wok Veggies
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| Just horrible... |
We cook from from fresh ingredients very nearly every night. There's not all that much choice if you're vegan - ready meals pretty much don't exist, and restaurants aren't too reliable either. Normally I'd choose to buy fresh vegetables, mainly from this country and certainly with a preference for those which have not been flown thousands of kilometres.
However, yesterday I came across something I'd normally not consider. Amoy's Wok Veggies claimed to be "crispy" and they would certainly be easy to prepare. What's more, they'd been discounted heavily making them actually less expensive than fresh veg. Just for a change, I thought I'd try them.
On opening the packet I found that everything within was limp, chewy and absolutely tasteless. It was impossible to tell whether I put a piece of mushroom, carrot or the unknown green vegetable in my mouth. All tasted the same... of nothing. I've never known anything so tasteless as this in my life. Anyway, despite my initial reservations I persevered and stir fred these veg with a little onion, garlic and quality soy sauce. I should not have bothered. This was simply wasting good ingredients on the bad. The result was a chewy mess which tasted of nothing more than the good ingredients I'd added. The majority of the meal cooked with these vegetables ended up in the dog's bowl. Luckily I'd also cooked some fresh vegetables which were tasty as expected.
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| The dog's bowl. Sorry, Harry, you deserve better. |
I'm left with a bit of a mystery. Amoy's instructions suggest that these vegetables be used with meat, one of their strong sauces, and their noodles. However, what's the point ? I don't see that adding these vegetables to any meal would improve it. Amoy's noodles are simply noodles. Their sauces might have a strong flavour but that won't cover up that there is nothing left in these "wok veggies" to enhance, and nor will it turn limp chewy vegetables into "crispy vegetables".
How did they make these things _so_ tasteless ? Peas from a jar are a vast improvement.
Just don't buy these things. Any fresh vegetable cut up into small pieces will taste better than this. Any fresh mushroom will taste better than what is left of the premium mushrooms in these packets. These packets are normally sold at a premium price, but they are absolutely not worth it.
