Back in 2016, Indomie caused a stir when it introduced Mi Goreng-flavoured Chitato potato chips. Chitato is the potato chip brand that’s also owned by Indomie’s parent company, Indofood.

Recently, Indofood has flipped things around by offering potato chips-flavoured instant mee goreng to celebrate Chitato’s 30th anniversary.

Called the Chitato Rasa Sapi Panggang Mi Goreng (which roughly means ‘Chitato Barbecued Beef-Flavoured Mee Goreng’ in Bahasa Indonesia), each packet contains a slab of noodles made with potato starch (gotta commit to the potato theme, we guess), a sachet of crushed potato chips topping, and Mi Goreng seasoning.

It’s sold exclusively on Indomie’s official e-store on Indonesian online marketplace Tokopedia. A bundle of 10 packets costs Rp 52,500 (about S$5) excluding delivery charges, which works out to 50 cents a packet. But we did a search on our good ol’ local Carousell, and found sellers hawking the instant noodles for S$1.20 to S$2 a packet.

We tear open the foil sachet containing the chips to find bits of ridged potato chips nestling inside, and crunch on an itty-bitty piece. It tastes salty and is no doubt chock-full of MSG, but there’s barely any barbecued beef flavour.

We cook a packet of this newfangled noodles and here’s our verdict: it’s like eating mildly spicy Mi Goreng tossed with a fistful of crunchy, junky potato chip bits that a toddler had mischeviously dropped on our plate.

Potato noodles are typically chewier and springier than the typical wheat flour-based instant noodles, but we don’t find the texture of Indomie’s version particularly QQ. Its texture is just like regular, al dente Mi Goreng.

And our noodles taste strangely bland, despite us spamming it with all the seasonings included in the packet. We’re kinda disappointed. Give us our flavourful, sodium-laden original Mi Goreng any day.

Unlike the umami, garlicky original Mi Goreng, this latest version comes with a tiny sachet of chilli oil that you add to your noodles, turning it a pale orange colour. It gives a gentle, spicy kick, but we find it too tame and had to add cut chillies to ramp up the spiciness.

Instant Indomie Mi Goreng and potato chips are a dirty, somewhat unholy combination (remember Salted Egg Yolk Indomie?). We’re not exactly a fan of this mash-up, which Indomie affectionately calls “#GreatCollab” on its social media. The potato noodles are neither exceptionally springy nor more flavourful than the original, excellent Indomie Mi Goreng. And the addition of crushed potato chips just makes our meal sit uneasily in our stomach. Pass.

Available via Indomie’s official Tokopedia store, and Carousell.

PHOTOS: YIP JIEYING