Speaking of not getting a Costco hot dog, I had this for lunch when I got home. It has been sitting in our garage refrigerator for about a month, so I decided to eat it before letting it sit for another month. If you have never heard of P.F. Chang’s, it is a high-end Chinese restaurant chain. Their website says they have 217 locations in the US, with the most in California, Florida, and New York. I have eaten at the Irvine and the Newport Beach locations, and the food is definitely Americanized and quite expensive. It does not mean the food tastes bad or anything, but you will not confuse the flavor with more authentic restaurants, like Sam Woo for example. P.F. Chang’s is more like a fine-dining Panda Express.
I do not know when P.F. Chang’s started their Home Menu line, but I guess it is the frozen entree version of their restaurant dishes. It is either going to taste like a typical frozen entrée, or taste like the restaurant original, which is hardly a complement. I do not remember the actual food in the restaurant, so I cannot really compare flavors. The only think I recall is that all the wait staff were white (i.e., no Asians).
Back to the frozen Pad Thai. Here is what it looked like coming out of the microwave:
I do not typically have high expectations for frozen entrées, but this was not inexpensive. It is currently “on sale” at Albertsons for $4.79, but the regular price is $5.99. For six dollars, at least use something better than a flimsy paper bowl. All that aside, the taste was not that great. In fact, it was too spicy for me so all I tasted was the spiciness, and nothing else. The box rated it as two peppers. Maybe they were using an authentic Thai spiciness scale so one pepper would have been too much for me. Perhaps someone else would like the taste better. There were a lot of ingredients, and at least I could feel the different textures while eating. Too bad I could not really taste any of it.
Also, I followed the heating instructions closely. The box said heat for 4 to 5 1/2 minutes, which is a huge range for a 1100 watt microwave. I heated for 3 1/2 minutes, checked the temperature with a probe thermometer (110°F), then added another minute. Instructions said the target temperature was at least 165°F, but it was up to 190°F after 4 1/2 minutes in my microwave. The result was that the needles were somewhat harder and chewier than what I expected. Maybe my crazy microwave overcooked the entrée. I did managed to eat the entire bowl, and my mouth was burning for about 30 minutes. I have also tried their frozen Chicken Mini Egg Rolls and there were just meh as well. Based on the mediocre taste and expensive price, most likely I will not buy frozen entrées from P.F. Chang’s in the future. Sticking with my $10 for 3 roasted turkey from Marie Calendars. 🍗
Nutritional information if anyone is interested. Salty and too much added sugar.
Life with chronic diseases 