It’s safe to say that most Singaporeans love instant noodles. After all, it was the first thing that some people reached for when they were stocking up at the supermarket for a prolonged staying-in period. It’s the MVP of pantry items, especially in the time of our circuit breaker: affordably-priced, delicious and easy to whip up, even if you only know how to cook, well, instant noodles. And we have observed that there’s one type of instant noodles that’s consistently popular — instant mee goreng. Unlike hot, soupy noodles, which is more comforting on rainy days, mee goreng is for all seasons. Come rain or shine, we crave for the luscious mix of shallot oil, chilli flakes and MSG seasoning slicking al-dente, curly noodles. It’s pure junk food which we indulge in only occasionally, but it hits the spot every time we do.

Not all instant mee goreng are created equal, though. To cater to customers’ demand, most major instant noodle manufacturers offer their version of mee goreng. After munching through nine nugget brands to find one that’s closest to a McNugget, we embark on another mission, this time to find the best instant mee goreng.

We choose to rank the original flavour instant mee goreng from as many brands as we could buy as undercover, paying customers (note: this is not a sponsored story). Our criteria: the packaging must have ‘mee goreng’ stated on it, so that leaves out same-same-but-different offerings like char mee.

To our surprise, unlike frozen nuggets, there aren’t that many original flavour instant mee brands available at the supermarkets here as we expected despite its popularity. Household name Maggi offers a range of spicy mee goreng cup noodles under its Hot Heads sub-brand, in flavours like seafood, tom yum and roast chicken. But strangely, we could not find an OG flavour on the shelves, or even a packet mee version easily.

Which is why we had to make a few exceptions for our selection. As Maggi is a common enough brand, we added a Hot Heads Roast Chicken Mee Goreng cup noodles that’s closest to the rest of the brands we’re ranking (some of which contain “artificial chicken flavouring” in its seasoning).

Another brand we pondered over was Indonesian brand Indomie: one of its most popular offerings is its Mi Goreng, which you may recognise from the white plastic packaging. But during our mee shopping spree, we discover that its original flavour mee goreng is actually in brown packaging labelled “perisa asli” (or ‘original flavour’ in Bahasa Indonesia). Meanwhile the white packaging is labelled “perisa spesial” (‘special flavour’).

Now, what’s the difference? We scrutinised the ingredients list for both flavours and they’re largely made of the same stuff, save for two ingredients: ‘original flavour’ contains non-dairy creamer, while ‘special flavour’ has “artificial chicken flavour”. As our criteria is to include only one product per brand, we decide to go with ‘special flavour’, as it’s the one that’s more popular with Singaporeans.

We suspect there might be more obscure brands of instant mee goreng out there, stocked at shops like Value Dollar or ABC Bargain Centre (both of which are currently closed for circuit breaker). But for the ease of our readers’ grocery shopping, we are featuring only brands that consumers can buy at supermarkets (like Redmart, FairPrice, Giant, Sheng Siong and Cold Storage). This includes: Indomie, Myojo, Ibumie, Cintan, Wingsfood’s Mi Sedaap brand and, even though its mee goreng cup is an odd one out, Maggi for inclusivity. The noodles are all cooked according to their package instructions.

And now, the ranking for instant mee goreng from worst to best:

About $1.95 a pack from major supermarkets like Giant

Mi Sedaap is a brand of instant noodles by Indonesian company Wings. But sadly, its instant mee goreng ain’t very sedap. Our freshly-cooked noodles have an odd, stale taste, and we feel like we’re eating an old Barbie doll’s hair. Compared to the other brands, its flavour is also not as complex. Instead of a whiff of shallots here, or a hint of chilli powder there, it’s just aggressively salty. The al-dente noodle texture is alright, though. With the exception of Myojo, which we will get to later, the mee brands’ noodles all have roughly similar texture and thickness.

About $2.55 a pack from major supermarkets like FairPrice

Surprise, surprise, this brand of noodles is manufactured by beverage giant Yeo’s. According to its website, it’s the first instant noodle brand to be sold in Malaysia in the ’60s. Cintan means love in Bahasa Melayu. But do we love its mee goreng? Not quite. While its savoury seasoning is packed with a beguilingly strong onion flavour, it has a strangely waxy, artificial aftertaste that makes the noodles taste extra processed.

About $1.95 each from major supermarkets like Giant

Out of the other five brands, this is the odd one out. It’s a super spicy, roast chicken flavour in cup noodle form. We add less of the chilli oil to neutralise it, and cook it like the others — in boiling water, then toss with seasoning. The noodles have a good bite and the seasoning is typically umami enough (it reminds us of curry Twisties). But man, is this hot. It may be just us, but we prefer our instant noodles to not punch our taste buds.

About $2.35 a pack from major supermarkets like FairPrice

Ibumie is a Malaysian brand, and literally means ‘mother[‘s] noodles’ in Bahasa Melayu. We guess it aspires to be as good as, er, mum’s cooking, and its mee goreng is really not bad. There’s a good balance of flavours in its seasoning — onion, garlic and a caramelly note (it has brown sugar in its ingredients list). The noodles also boast a slightly better quality than most of the other brands, springy and they don’t clump together.

About $2.25 a pack from major supermarkets like Redmart

While the other noodles are more or less uniform in thickness, Myojo’s mee goreng is more like mee kia. The thin noodles have more heft and bite to them, and look like a frizzy perm. We could also taste the wheat flour used. When coated with seasoning, the skinny strands pack enough gourmet, umami, caramelly flavour. Nice.

About $2 a pack from major supermarkets like Redmart

And the champion is… Indomie. This petite pack stands out from its competitors mainly because of its distinctive seasoning — an addictive medley of onion oil, chilli sauce and powder, MSG and crunchy fried shallots. The mix clings to springy noodles with a thickness similar to Hakata-style ramen, and the portion, while on the smaller side, is just nice for a light midnight snack. Hoover this with a sunny side up egg (or make gooey-yolked ramen eggs with ramen king Keisuke Takeda's recipe), plus cut chillies and spring onions.

PHOTOS: YIP JIEYING