Nissin Now Has Mala Noodles With Pork & You Can Get It Sent To S’pore

Ah, mala.

The majority probably has a love-hate relationship with mala — some love tearing up from the spiciness and numbness, then hate the searing bowel situation after.

Some love the spice, but downright refuse the numbness (apparently you can do that by calling mala without ma; but what’s the point?).

Some simply hate mala — they reject its sole existence because they can’t handle spicy food.

But at the end of the day, we still find our legs heading to that mala store, our mouth ravaging the food through the pain.

Still, there are few stores that perfect the balance between spiciness and numbness, and we tirelessly search every nook and cranny to find our own gem — the one that suits our taste.

What if I told you that you no longer have to find that store?

Nissin Mala Cup Noodles

Nissin has been coming up with new flavours that are getting Singaporeans excited.

First, they had the Army Stew cup noodle, which was a hit with Singaporeans.

And now, we’re hearing about the Sichuan version of their cup noodles, Mala flavour.

Made from ginger, garlic, chilli bean paste and Sichuan peppercorn oil from China (authentic), the cup of goodness also contains a rarity among cup noodles in Singapore: lard and other pork products.

It’s available exclusively in Japan since 11 March and it’s marketed as Sichuan pepper intense spicy mala flavour.

So if you’re a xiaola eater, then it’s probably in your best interest to tread with caution.

For meat lovers, hold up — the only meat you’ll be getting is peppered meat cubes. Aside from that, the ingredient packet merely contains vegetables; as any other instant noodles have.

That said, we can always dump our favourite ingredients into the existing cup. But that betrays the whole concept of instant cup noodles, and the cup is not exactly built for that function; so that’s a no-go.

Each cup is going for 205 Yen ($2.50) before service and tax.

But, if you’re not going to Japan anytime soon, or don’t mind spending the extra moolah…

It’s Available in S’pore Too

You can pre-order it from AirFrov, the website that crowdsources travellers into buying overseas items.

Or go on Carousell where some entrepreneurial Singaporeans have put up the mala noodles for $5 per cup.

But if you’re a cheapskate that can live without mala, purchase it for $2.50 (205 yen) the next time you travel to Japan instead.

Or be ready to beg on your knees to get your friend to shove at least six cups into the luggage.

Before anyone rushes to buy it just because of the hype, we should all know what we’re getting into.