A little taste of Malaysia at Duane Reade

Duane Reade - NYC's largest drug store chain - carries just about every snack, nail polish or greeting card you could ever want. When I was there yesterday there was liquid sand polish, and even though I don't know what that is, I do know I want it. There was half-off Valentine's Day candy (my favorite kind) as well as a huge assortment of Easter treats.

 

 

New to me, there were also some great Asian Meals from Malaysia Kitchen in three varieties: Garlic Sesame, Lemongrass and Shitake Mushroom.

A few of the Duane Reade stores I visited didn't carry the soups, and the one I found them at only had two - I guess the Shitake Mushroom is popular!

My kids have been on a noodle soup kick lately, so I was interested to see what they thought of this brand, which they had never had before.  The soups couldn't be easier to make. All you do is empty the noodles, veggie packet and sauce packet into the enclosed bowl, add water, and heat for a few minutes in the microwave.

My kids liked the garlic sesame a lot, but deemed the lemongrass "too spicy."

I thought they both tasted good, but the garlic sesame would be my pick as well as it has a high-but-still-ok sodium amount of 330 mg, the lemongrass had much more sodium - 880 mg. For both the soups, I put in only about half to three-fourths of the enclosed flavor packet. They still had plenty of flavor, and I was glad to be reducing the sodium.

I was surprised by the high-amount of sodium, as all Malaysia Food noodle soups are all natural, and have no MSG, artificial colors or preservatives. Still, for ease of preparation these would be good to have when you want a quick, warm and tasty meal.

If all this talk of Malaysian food leaves you wanting more - that's perfect! This Thursday and Friday, February 20-21 is the Malaysia Kitchen Winter Market at Bryant Park, with events each day from 11:30am to 7:30pm.

Here's the full line-up (click on the image to see it larger):

You can learn more about the Malaysia Kitchen event here, and about Malaysia Food in general as well as upcoming sampling events at their website: http://www.malaysiakitchennyc.com. Malaysia Kitchen is also on Facebook and Twitter @MalyasiaKitchen.

To connect with Duane Reade, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @DuaneReade.

For more photos from my shop, check out my Google+ Album. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter at #DRAsianMeals.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®, Duane Reade and Malaysia Kitchen. #DRAsianMeals #CBias.

All opinions are my own.