Wai Wai Minced Pork Tom Yum Flavour Instant

I don’t think I had heard of the Wai Wai instant noodle brand before holding this package of instant ramen in my hands. It’s a brand by the “THAI PRESERVED FOOD FACTORY CO. LTD.”. These guys surely know how to pick an appetizing name for their company. You devils, you had me at PRESERVED.

The packaging of this Wai Wai (more like LoLo) instant noodle package promises “Minced Pork Tom Yum Flavor”, which is honestly a lot for a package that probably clocks in at a few cents per package. Is this promise is kept by Wai Wai or does it tastes more like PRESERVED FOOD? Let’s find out.

Content

A brick of deep fried noodles. Fried in palm oil. Yum.
A sachet of soup powder
A sachet of palm oil. Tried it a bit while adding, seems to be slightly garlic flavored…but the ingredients don't include garlic ಠ_ಠ

Preparation

Add 350ml of water to a pot and bring it to a boil.
Drop in the noodle brick and boil it for 2 minutes.
Transfer water and noodles to a pot and stir in the soup powder and fat.

Review

From the moment you drop the brick of noodles into the boiling water, the smell of fried instant noodles fills the air and transports you back to the days, when cheap instant ramen were all you could afford. Nostalgia runs rampant in your mind, remembering all the great bowls and cups you had. But wait, not all were great, were they?

Dropping the soup powder and oil into the hot water with the noodles kind of confirms my suspicion that this is too much water for not enough seasoning. It’s a pretty sad looking bowl without any additions.

The noodles don’t really make a much better impression. After giving them a slurp or two, I can confirm that these are bottom of the barrel, cheap fried noodles without any noteworthy redeeming features. Well, at least they are not completely awful, but surely nothing to be called “good”.

The soup has a biting lime and lemongrass flavor, but offers basically nothing else beyond a bit of spiciness. I can’t really taste anything of the claimed minced pork flavor. I would not even be able to recognize this as Tom Yum, even though it says so on the package.

To summarize, this is a pretty disappointing bowl of instant noodles which offers very little beyond some sourness and spiciness, paired with very cheap noodles. I am pretty sure there are better ways to eat 280 calories.