I would like to clarify that I believe there is a typo on
the packaging of this product. I think
it should be called Shit-Ake Chicken.
Ok, now for the review.
(Can you guess what we thought of it even before reading further??! :) )
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| Looks tasty enough on the bag, no? |
I have BUYER’S REMORSE on this one. Sigh.
It is my own fault, I should have read the bag more clearly before
buying it, but I got excited! It looked really good in the photo!! And it looked like it would be so easy to
prepare! But if only I had taken time to
read the ingredients list I would have seen that not the first ingredient, but
the first TWO INGREDIENTS listed are dark meat chicken chunks. Putting aside my preference for white meat
chicken a moment, why did they list it TWICE??
And again, ignoring that if I have my choice I choose white meat
chicken, why didn’t they use better QUALITY dark meat chicken in this
meal?
 |
| Dark Meat Chicken Chunks - the ingredient so "nice" they listed it twice... |
OK, backing up; this is a frozen meal that comes in a
bag. It consists of dark meat chicken,
more dark meat chicken, shiitake mushrooms, edamame, and green beans. I was right about one thing with this
product, it is easy to cook and make a meal out of. But it does not make a TASTY meal, which is
something we like… I followed the
instructions and cooked it in a wok and served it over jasmine rice.
 |
| Lots of chicken... Lots of bad quality chicken... |
The two ingredients that made this product taste bad were
the bad quality chicken and the very bland, poorly textured green beans. The very best part of the dinner was the rice
(cooked separately and not included in this packaged meal…). But the best part of this PACKAGE was the
edamame and the shitake mushrooms – those bits were good. But those things can’t carry the weight of
the whole meal. I think something that
would jazz it up would be GARLIC. Give
it a bit of flavor.
This does not taste like a dish you would get at a
restaurant AT ALL. Well, I take that
back. It DOES taste like something you
would get at a restaurant, but the restaurant would be an all-day Chinese
Buffet in Daytona Beach, Florida. It
would be in a pan that had been left out all day on the buffet line, and senior
citizens who paid $4.99 for all-you-can-eat “Chinese” would be plopping it on
their plate for their 4:00 PM dinner.
THAT is what it tastes like! (And
I do not mean any offense to Seniors, we are AARP members ourselves!)
Orrrr, it might also be found in a junior high school
cafeteria.
I couldn’t finish my serving. I ended up eating more rice and heating up
some Trader Joe’s edamame (which I love) to finish out my dinner. As for the Shitake Mushroom Chicken dish, I give
it a 2.0.
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| David's take on Shiitake Mushroom Chicken BEFORE eating it... |
Here is what David thought: “I agree, this is not as
delightful as one might have liked. In
general, I do not have a problem with dark meat chicken, but this one... The beans in this dish taste like canned green
beans. It would be much improved by the
addition of green peppers, onions, maybe carrots… For me the best part about this is the
SAUCE. So instead of getting this again
I should just learn how to make a sauce like this – it is nice and savory but
slightly sweet so it is a tasty sauce. I
would give this a 2.75.”
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| And David AFTER eating it... Even DAVID didn't want second helpings, and David alllllways wants a second helping! |
We won’t be buying this one again. In fact, instead of putting the leftovers in
a Fupperware (fake Tupperware) container we threw them out, which never happens
at our house. David will (hopefully) be
figuring out how to make the sauce included with this package and we will put it with tastier stuff!
Price – $4.99
Rating – 2.5
