Mama Fusion Mala and Pork Soup Flavour

Today we are giving Thailand’s biggest instant ramen brand called “MAMA” a try, which is produced by Thai President Foods, which has a market share of over 50% in Thailand and can be found well beyond the borders of Thailand these days. I got my hands on their Fusion cup with Fusion “Mala and Pork Soup Flavour”. And yes, it is spelled flavour on the cup, so that’s what I am using.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of instant noodles from Thailand, as so far, they have always managed to convince me with their fragrant and punching flavors as well as their pronounced spiciness, with some exceptions. They are sometimes a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to noodle quality and additional ingredients like freeze dried meats and vegetables. It seems to be more expected that you add your own stuff on top. And this seems true even for their cup noodles.

The Mama Fusion Mala and Pork Soup Flavour instant ramen cup of seems to follow a similar formula. The flavor combination sounds very intriguing, but a quick look inside reveals that you only get noodles and soup, nothing extra. But maybe that’s all you need if both are really great, right?

*2 sachets and a plastic fork come on top a palm oil fried noodle brick.*

Content

The Mama Mala and Pork Soup Flavour instant noodle cup comes with 2 sachets and a plastic fork, some assembly required. The bigger dark green sachet contains the pork soup powder, while the smaller lime green sachet contains the mala chili oil.

Underneath you find a simple deep fried noodle brick with curly thin noodles.

*Powder and spicy oil paste, usually a good sign for fragrant instant ramen.*

Preparation

Cup noodles are rarely difficult to figure out, but here we go with the instructions:

Take out sachets and fork.
Add sachet contents on top of the noodles.
Fill to the line with boiling water. Close lid.
Wait 3 minutes. Then enjoy!

*Fully prepared instant noodle cup, the spicy oil clearly visible on the sides and floating on top.*

Review

First impression, as expected, very fragrant. The air is filled with a nice spicy aroma that widens the nostrils. The chili oil quickly settles on top of the cup, so you need to stir things up a bit before every bite, if you don’t want everything purely covered in spicy oil. But even then, this cup of instant ramen is SPICY. I heavily advise against slurping, as getting some of that oil into your throat has to be awful. I struggled a bit with the spice here. Not only because it’s spicy itself, but because for me the spiciness covered all the other flavors that might have been around. I could not real get any numbing pepper flavor, which I would have expected from the Mala name of the flavor.

*Visually, it actually looks excellent and promises a tasty instant ramen cup experience.*

While the soup flavor itself was already disappointing, the noodle quality unfortunately added to the negative impression. Maybe I am spoiled by the noodles quality of Japanese instant ramen and cup noodles, but I did not like these noodles. They immediately transmit a “cheap and unhealthy” image into my head from the first slurp. Maybe it’s the flavor of the palm oil that is used for the frying process. To be clear, they are not complete garbage like the noodles of some European cup noodles I previously had.

Overall, I am quite disappointed by this instant cup from Thai President Food’s Mama brand. If you are looking for something that is just super spicy and nothing else or if you have a high enough spice tolerance, then maybe this might be interesting for you. For me, the hotness overpowered everything and made this a not very enjoyable cup of instant noodles.