Indonesia’s iconic Indomie is beloved by millions, from students in Europe to prisoners in Australia
- Sold in more than 100 countries, Indomie consistently tops the rankings of the world’s best instant noodles, especially its classic Mi Goreng flavour
- Expressions of love by fans include rap songs and Indomie-scented candles, while in Australia’s Victoria state, Indomie is the prison food of choice
The list saw a group of US food writers and chefs ranking 10 of their favourite instant noodles, and classified them into three categories: soupy, saucy and spicy.
Indomie’s original flavour, Mi Goreng, and its barbecue chicken variation, top the best saucy instant noodles list due to their “strong savoury flavour that comes from an onion oil and fried onions”, San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Soleil Ho told NYMag. This particular variant only costs US$0.50 in the United States.
Ho told the magazine that she had been eating Indomie since she was “in elementary school, when my cousins and I would prepare ourselves instant noodles when our parents were out”, adding that her favourite topping was a sunny-side up egg.
In Germany, PhD student Pia Dannhauer told This Week in Asia that Indomie was her “guilty pleasure [meal] for lunch between lectures” during her undergraduate studies in the Netherlands.
“My flatmates and I could literally look at each other and say, ‘Indomie?’ simultaneously any time we were actually planning on cooking together,” the 27-year-old said.
As Dannhauer is a vegetarian, her favourite Indomie is “the vegetable one”, which only costs around €0.40 (US$0.50). Typically, she only cooked what was in the package, although she once felt a little more adventurous.