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S&B Mentaiko spaghetti sauce, 52.4g pack, front showing spicy cod roe and 明太子
A closer look

S&B Mentaiko Spaghetti Sauce Spicy Cod Roe Pasta 52.4g

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Made byS&BTokyo, Japan

S&B Mentaiko Spaghetti Sauce Spicy Cod Roe Pasta 52.4g

Two sachets of roe sauce with chilli that turn plain boiled spaghetti into Japanese mentaiko pasta, stirred through the hot drained noodles with nothing to cook.

Regular price $4.98AUD

$9.50 per 100 g

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Why we say this

On sale in Japan since 1988, one of the two flavours the line launched with, and the Japanese pack has thousands of reviews on monolog, a Japanese food review site.

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Product information

About

Two sachets of roe sauce with chilli that turn plain boiled spaghetti into Japanese mentaiko pasta, stirred through the hot drained noodles with nothing to cook. It tastes salty and savoury with chilli through it, and there is no butter in it. Buy it if you want roe pasta with some heat; if you want no heat at all, this is the wrong sachet, and the tarako one (plain roe, no chilli) is the one to take.

からし明太子, karashi mentaiko (men-TIE-ko); karashi here means chilli. The pack's English says "spicy cod roe".

What you're getting

  • What it does to the pasta: it coats every strand in a salty roe sauce with chilli through it, and a sachet of chopped chives goes on top. It is the finished dish, not a base you cook further.
  • How hot it is: chilli pepper is in the sauce itself, so every mouthful carries some heat, more than the plain tarako. Some young children find it too hot, so try them on a small taste first.
  • Cod roe, or pollock?: mentaiko is the Japanese name for Alaska pollock roe seasoned with chilli. Pollock is a smaller relative of cod, and the English on the pack calls it cod roe. Our guide to mentaiko has the whole story.
  • How much pasta: one sachet for 100 g of dry spaghetti, which is one serve, and the pack makes two.
  • Not the pack sold in Japan: this is the export edition. It comes with chives instead of the dried seaweed of the Japanese pack, and its ingredient list is different, so a pack you bought in Japan will not match it line for line.
  • Allergens: contains fish, wheat and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.
  • Also on the label: there is fish in it. Besides the roe, the seasoning uses a protein partly made from fish, and it is coloured with cochineal, a dye made from insects.

The instructions on the back of the pack are in English.

Ingredients

Sauce: cod roe, shortening (hydrogenated rapeseed oil, hydrogenated palm oil, palm kernel oil), monosodium glutamate, salt, sugar, water, chilli pepper, hydrolysed protein (fish [bonito, sardine, tuna], corn, wheat, soybeans), disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, trisodium citrate, powdered soy sauce (soy sauce [soybeans, wheat, salt], dextrin, salt), cochineal extract (colour), powdered yeast extract. Topping: chive.

For your safety, please check both the information on this page and the printed label on the pack. If anything is unclear or the information differs, please contact us before consuming the product.

Allergens
Contains
  • Fish
  • Wheat
  • Soy
Dietary notes

Not vegetarian: besides the roe itself, the seasoning uses a protein partly made from bonito, sardine and tuna, and the colour comes from cochineal, a dye made from insects.

For your safety, please check both the information on this page and the printed label on the pack. If anything is unclear or the information differs, please contact us before consuming the product.

Details
Maker
S&B · Tokyo
Made in
Japan
Net contents
One pack: 52.4 g, two sauce sachets and two chive sachets

Our guide

How to cook with it

  • Cook 100 g of dry spaghetti per sachet and drain it well.
  • Stir one sauce sachet through the pasta straight away, on the plate while the noodles are still hot; the sauce itself is never heated.
  • Scatter one chive sachet over the top and eat it straight away.

Good to know

  • It works off pasta too: stir it through hot udon (thick Japanese wheat noodles), or spoon it over rice or potatoes.

In their own words

What Japanese buyers say

  • For mentaiko, this is the only one I buy.

    明太子ならこれ一択

    from monolog, a Japanese review site

  • The heat is just right, and it's tasty.

    辛味が丁度良くて美味しい

    from monolog

  • I eat it over udon noodles and tofu.

    うどんや豆腐にかけて食べています

    from monolog

  • Maybe it's the chilli, but the fishiness doesn't bother me.

    唐辛子のお陰か生臭さが気にならない

    from monolog

  • Too hot for me.

    私には辛すぎる。

    from monolog

  • I add butter and milk and stretch it over more pasta.

    バターと牛乳を足してパスタを増やしていただいてます

    from monolog

  • Compared with the plain tarako one, it has a slight peppery heat.

    たらこと比べると少しピリッとした辛さがあります

    from mognavi, a Japanese food and drink review site

  • Maybe a bit hot for kids, but just right for adults.

    子供にはちょい辛いかもだけど大人にはちょうど美味しい

    from monolog

  • Maybe because it's spicy, it felt more satisfying than the plain tarako one.

    辛いせいか、生風味のたらこよりも食べごたえがありました。

    from delici.jp

  • It is fishy after all.

    やっぱり生臭さがある

    from monolog

  • Just the right amount for 100 g of pasta.

    パスタ100gに対しての量がちょうどいい

    from monolog

  • The kids didn't seem to like it.

    子供は苦手みたいでした

    from monolog

  • Too salty, and awful once it goes cold.

    しょっぱすぎ そして冷めるとめちゃくちゃマズい

    from monolog

  • Everyone from the kids to the adults enjoys it.

    子供から大人までみんな美味しくいただける

    from monolog

  • I think it's better with mayo added.

    マヨ加えた方が美味しいと思う。

    from mognavi

  • Properly spicy, and good.

    普通にちゃんと辛いしおいしかった

    from monolog

  • Pleasantly spicy and tasty.

    ピリ辛で美味しい

    from monolog

Real quotes from the review sites named on the cards. We show no star rating from those sites.

The maker

Where it comes from

  • S&B
  • Tokyo

S&B began in Tokyo in 1923, when its founder made the first curry powder produced in Japan. The letters stand for Sun and Bird, the company's mark since 1931.

Its stir-through spaghetti sauces started in 1988 with two flavours, a plain tarako and this chilli mentaiko, and the line has been on Japanese shelves ever since.

Product facts here are checked against the maker's own page: sbfoods-worldwide.com (opens in a new tab)