Mama instant noodles have been brought to you from Thailand courtesy of Thai President Foods for over 40 years. Some of their offerings are traditional Thai fare, others are, well, more unorthodox.

Mama Pad Kee Mao

Despite the 60g tag this makes a reasonable portion of noodles, the dried colour of which is golden and not pale. The chilli and soupbase appear standard but the later thoughtfully includes some dehydrated leek and a definite fishy nose (probably shrimp). The real shock is reserved for the flavouring oil which turns out to be rather robust and bright green. The inevitable comparisons to condensed mucus do not bode well but this turns out to be a suprisingly tasty, earthy little number, well worth a second look at an exceptionally cheap price. A close examination of the ingredients on the metallic gold and red packet reveals the contents of the noodles and two of the sachets but not the mysterious green sludge. I may never know…

Mama Minced Pork

The hand dyed orange wrapper, the golden toasted noodles and the sense of adventure – yes Thailand’s own Mama noodles are back with another intriguing snack. Weighing in at a light 60g (although you wouldn’t know it, they cook up well) and with a flavouring oil that is not, on closer inspection, oil at all but rather a lard/dripping combo for that authentic piggy aftertaste, you may think you’d be in for a fairly greasy time. But no. Instead the flavour is meaty yet at no point outstays its welcome, no extra napkin work required. The piggy taste is at odds with the off-putting albino minced flesh and plastic parsley cover shot and is both warming and satisfying. Also there is no overpowering smell as is all too common with pig based products. All in all a very satisfying experience and one worth repeating.

Mama Tom Yum

A powder that should be a paste, a paste that should be an oil – what is going on here? Another cryptic product from the Mama range – there are ingredients in English on this one but only for the flat noodles so hardly a revelation. The instructions mention garlic oil but the flavour oil sachet is clearly onion paste. The Tom Yum paste is a huge sachet of crystals and powder. Add the notoriously fickle flat noodles to the whole affair and you’d be right to be suspicious. But first impressions don’t necessarily last and in this case you are more than amply rewarded. The noodles cook without protest, the Tom Yum flavour is very good, far better than could be expected from a powder, and the whole package makes a delightful broth that belies its 50g pedigree. Hot as only the Thais can make it, sweet and delicate. Not recommended for the novice as these noodles are seriously hard to handle with chopsticks, slipping all over the place and making a right mess!

Mama Yentafo

Mama’s mysterious packages continue unabated with yentafo, a flavour shrouded in the most lurid candyfloss pink packaging devised yet – the soupbase in a similar bright artificial pink metallic sachet. The kitchness continues on cooking, these are seriously pink noodles, a real surprise. The flavour is really strange – very sugary sweet with a hint of shrimp, citrus and a whack of tingly chilli hat really hits the spot. There’s a little back taste of fermented soya beans that really lifts this into a different plane, the tell tale Mama leek making a shy appearance just to appease tradition conscious consumers. This is one party noodle, bubbly, light, sweet and hot – absolutely unlike anything else I’ve ever tasted, I am unsure as to whether it comes recommended but I’ll be stocking a few for when I want something that’s not afraid to be different.

Mama’s Tom Yum Goong – Spicy Shrimp Soup

Soup is good. Noodles are good. But blend and make them accessable and easy and you have, as is decribed in minor but sucinct (if a little uninspiring) detail on the cover of this predominantly card bowl of soup supping joy “Instant Rice Noodles Soup Spicy Shrimp Flavour”. This bland, succinct but accurate descriptive title ahead of the multiple font, changed case implementation and background coloured indication that this is better described enthusiastically as “TOM YUM GOONG Spicy Shrimp Soup”. This is TomYum so soup and spicy is the expectations and her they reside with the hearty addition of noodles. The noodles on offer here are rice based flat noodles that are a welcome complement to the soup. You hope, so you need to instigate the creation process. Often this is a normal, simple, instant noodle creating process but there can always be a hint of doubt when launching into the cooking process but also the requirements of consumption after cooking. Have you remembered the eating utensils? If not, don’t panic as mama has prepared it all for your ease of consumption. Not only is your noodle soup available to eat in its own recepticle you are even given the necessary utensil to consume your meal (you’ll need to drink the soup by supping from the pot naturally) in the form of a useful fork, handily folded to fit in the contasiner and providing a welcome surprise meaning all you need for the broth and noodle excursion is some boiling water. Mama has sorted it all, although she trusts you enough to finish her created concoction, provided you do what she says of course, because mama cares but also has rules. Fortunately though the provided three sachets are delightfully colour coded to place things in context – two dried and one tasty pastey so you know how to sprinkle and squeeze as is appropriate. So when the bowl has been cooked just as mam has said you manufacture your suplied fork and tuck in , swirling the rice noodles around before supping the soup, the flat noodle concoction proving ideal for the fork iin the liner nature that makes the utensil ideally sorted to the non rounded noodle variety. Taste is good and tom yum with the heat accompanied by the sweet and sour emphasis of the lemongrass that gives a nice side taste. The shrimpy nature is also inherent and plasent and then the surprise. Theres a nice chewy brief texture and you realise that the shrimp is not just the expected (but totally acceptable) shrimp powder (of which there is some for broth accent) but shrimp. Real little shrimp that have come from dried. Just a few little crustacean mastication ensues but its the little shrimps (sorry, details) that make the difference. So all but you need bar boiling water in a spicy bowl of soupy supping flat noodle joy. Puts the yum into tom yum.

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