Thursday, February 23, 2006

Sun Lu Mein

Found this in the mail today. Post any answers in the comments below.

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I am looking for a brand of instant noodles we ate while in Taepei, Taiwan in 1972-1973. I was a young child and my whole family loved them. They were called Sun Li Men. They were in an orange striped package with a chicken on the front. There were rumors that the factory that made them burned down do you know of them?
Thank You,

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19 comments:

M.C. said...

I thought "Sun Li Mien"/生力麵 was the generic term for all ramen...! As it turns out, I guess it was a case of brand-product identification like Kleenex...

My curiosity piqued, I poked around for online histories of ramen in Taiwan, and found a neat little "museum" for Uni-President/統一 (http://www.noodle.com.tw/), which makes one of my current favorite cup noodles (nevermind the company name). They've been in the business for a long time, and they DO have stripes on their noodle packages... while they started out with a chicken-flavored ramen, it doesn't seem to be a standard flavor now. Pork, beef, vegetarian, seafood-flavored noodles seem to sell better in the local market...

M.C. said...

I guess the 生力食品公司 who started it all only had one flavor -- 陽春麵/Yangchun noodle flavor, which... I don't think is chicken-based? (I don't cook! Someone has to check me on this one.)

Other companies like 統一 Uni-President, 味王 Ve-Wong, 味丹 Wei-Chuan, 維力 Wei Lih, etc. introduced minced pork, classic Taiwanese beef noodle soup flavors... still having trouble finding this elusive chicken flavor, though.

(Kungfu chicken ramen was my favorite chicken-flavored ramen back in the States, and they ALSO have orange stripes on their packaging, but that might be a Hong Kong-based company or... okay, more internet detective work is required.)

MJ Klein said...

wow, talk about memories.... i ate a boatload of Sun Li Mein back in the mid 70's in the USA, along with my Taiwanese friends.

i know the director of Uni. i should ask him about it. or, maybe not....

Anonymous said...

Well now, I was a freshman at West Liberty State College in West Virginia (yes, there really is a STATE of West Virginia) in the mid-seventies. Anyway, we had a very large international student population-kids from all over the world. My friends there, for years, were Vietnamese-- refugees and veterans. My best friend, Lap, was in the south's air force. He introduced me to Sun Lih Men and referred to it as "the noodle." Like all of you, I've never had anything like it since. My sister used to send me cases of it from a store called "Mekong" near Yorktown, Virginia. The last time I remember getting it was in the early to mid-eighties. You have the package design right. The little flavor pouch said something like,"onion,pepper,
capsicum," or some such. Every person I ever shared them with loved them. I ate boatloads! They had the greatest springy texture. I STILL get the craving. Thanks folks. At least I know it wasn't all a dream.

Reggie said...

I was Googling Sun-Lih Mein and found this blog. I was hoping that I could still find it somewhere. i grew up on this stuff in the 70s-80's along with Doll Noodle.

It came in a yellow package with red stripes. I never understood why they called it "chicken flavor" because the seasoning pack was pepper, dried onion, MSG and some other items.

Unknown said...

Like Reggie, I googled Sun Li Mien and found this blog. I was curious about its current existence from a fond childhood memory of the instant savory noodles. Its something I mostly remember eating as a kid in the 70's, as an after school snack. We had it shipped to us by the box load from relatives in Taiwan. Yes I remember the yellow package with the red stripes and the chicken logo on it. Thanks for the memories!

Tim in Indy said...

There should be a reward for someone to find the illusive best ramen noodles ever created!

Anonymous said...

I am also looking for these elusive noodles....they were the best I ever had. We sponsored a family from south Vietnam we I was in school and they turn us on to these noodles.....oh how I wish these were for sale instead of ramen.....sigh

Anonymous said...

When we lived in Taipei used to crush them up and add the pepper packet and eat them dried. I have been looking for them for years too. The noodle had more flavor than regular ramen. Maybe the chicken flavor was on the noodles?

Anonymous said...

@ Anonymous (July 9th) ...we did the same thing. We crushed them up and ate them dried! Anyone live in Wellington Heights 1972, 1973? I had one brother and 2 sisters. I was young so I only met a handful of people there but I have such fond memories!

Anonymous said...

We did the same they were good dried or cooked!! Anyone live in Wellington Heights in 1972 or 1973. I have such fond memories!

Unknown said...

I have the original package that I saved hoping to one day find these somewhere.Would love to find these as they were the best!!

Anonymous said...

I too used to buy case after case of these delicious noodles. A Cambodian born woman turned me on to them and I asked every Asian Market if they knew of them or if they could get some. This blog is the first time I have seen someone else mention this tasty food.

Susi said...

I miss Sun Lih Mein so much. Been on a mission to find it or a comparable version. I saw a post advising that after the factory burned down, Nissin continued the production of the ramen. This is what I'm trying to look for locally before buying on eBay or Amazon.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nissin-Chicken-Ramen-Instant-Noodle-Japan-1-3-5-10-20-pack-free-shipping-/131646809919

Diamond Dog said...

This has been rebranded under the Kung Fu brand name. It's exactly the same as Sun Li Men. Same msg flavor packet, same chicken flavor. Even the same other flavors. You can get it in most Asian grocery stores. It's also on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Kung-Fu-Instant-Oriental-Noodle-Chicken/dp/B00EPG8A3Y/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1467786651&sr=8-3&keywords=Kung+fu+noodles+chicken

Anonymous said...

Just had the Kung Fu noodles - definitely NOT the same as Sun Lih Mein :(.

Unknown said...

I went to college in Boston from 1992-1996, and through that time, would have cases of Sun Li Mien sent to me from my parents in Buffalo. I remember the product being Taiwanese. Too bad we did not have cameras readily available to students in those days. Nonetheless, I remember the orange-yellow packages with red stripes. It is one of my fondest memories of College, sharing those noodles with friends around midnight... The noodles were delicious just crushed fresh out of the packagel It was the only brand that one could do that with. It was of course before the time that they needed to include the amount of salt and MSG in the labeling. I can say that they were less salty than the products that came out in subsequent years. Has anyone found the recipe so that there might be hope of replicating the product today? I would bet that it would make a lot of money among today's college kids. How much would it cost

Unknown said...

Oops - did not finish my last comment.

I was going to ask how much it would cost to resurrect the product! Anybody interested?

Keith

Diamond Dog said...

Keith. The product is available. It has. Even rebranded under the Kung Fu brand. Someone posted that I was wrong and doesn't taste like it (anonymously)' but I assure you it is spot on. It is available in most Asian Grocery stores. Lookmat the label here so you know what to get. Try it and report back so people can disregard anonymous's comment. I ate so much Sun Li Men as a kid and know this flavor and texture. Here is a link to what the package looks like

https://www.amazon.com/Kung-Fu-Instant-Oriental-Noodle-Chicken/dp/B00EPG8A3Y/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1467786651&sr=8-3&keywords=Kung+fu+noodles+chicken