PUCHONG, July 10 — In an age run by cold, unthinking algorithms, even the deeply human idea of food hasn’t been spared from the increasingly crowded fight for eyeballs in the attention economy.
For every comforting, decades-old family recipe that endures, three more gaudy, Frankensteined creations designed to be eaten through a screen come alive.
Most don’t last, but the few that do tend to share a few things: they’re usually just a small tweak on something familiar, they’re easy to grasp, and most importantly, they’re actually good.
With centuries of development, Chinese cuisine and, by extension, Sichuan cuisine are often seen as deeply rooted and time-honoured.
Dishes like mapo tofu trace their origins back hundreds of years, while others, such as the now wildly popular suan cai yu, were only created as recently as the 1990s.
With the rise of the Internet and increasing Westernisation in China, a new wave of street food has emerged that looks quite different from what it was before.
These dishes are starting to appear here, with some quickly finding favour with the Malaysian palate.
Look for the bright red ‘Shasha mee’ store sign. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Enter Sha Sha Noodles in Bandar Puteri Puchong. Opened in August last year by a twenty-something Chengdu native, the shop specialises in a dish of mashed potato noodles.
That’s right, mashed potatoes, like the Western-style kind, served over wheat noodles similar to thin pan mee, and topped with a zha jiang style pork mince sauce.
As far as I can tell, the earliest mention of the dish (土豆泥拌面, tudou ni banmian in Mandarin) goes back to late 2023, but it began to go truly viral on Chinese social platforms in 2024.
Similar dishes featuring potatoes and noodles have existed before, such as 洋芋凉面 (yangyu liang mian), which features fried chopped potatoes in Sichuanese cold noodles, but this particular version relies on the starchy qualities of mashed potatoes to thicken the sauce and coat the noodles.
So what does this viral hit taste like here? A bowl goes for RM14.90 and arrives looking deceptively simple: a pile of yellow mash, minced pork and a single blanched green sit on a bed of springy noodles, obscuring a fiery red chilli oil underneath.
Do not miss the condiment station at Sha Sha Noodles. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Some assembly is required. Head to the condiment counter to grab some black vinegar, coriander and scallions.
I recommend going heavy on the coriander.
Everything goes into the bowl and gets mixed up, at which point the mashed potatoes begin working their magic, thickening and stiffening the oils and liquids into a dense, cohesive mixture that coats the noodles in a delicious mess of orange.
The mashed potatoes thicken the sauce, so that it coats every strand of noodle. — Picture by Ethan Lau
The potatoes integrate seamlessly into the sauce with no mealy or lumpy bits left behind, so all that remains is a complex mixture of savoury, tangy and slightly spicy flavours, with springy noodles, meaty mince and crunchy, bright herbs to finish.
Fair warning: even with a decently sized portion like this one, it is highly likely that one will feel rather bloated after finishing the meal.
Not a fan of double carb jeopardy? For the same price, there is an alternative with peas instead of potatoes, though its ability to thicken the sauce is not quite on the same level.
The peas are similar, but nowhere near as effective at thickening the sauce as potatoes were. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Also on the menu are more conventional beef noodles (RM14.90) and, for a snack, Chengdu spicy dumplings (RM9.90).
A speciality of Sichuan, these are chao shou, rustic square dumplings filled only with pork, served in an extremely spicy pool of chilli oil.
This is far spicier than what goes on the noodles. The filling is seasoned well, so if the tastebuds are not completely singed, one can get some idea of what it might taste like.
These Chengdu ‘chaoshou’ have more meat in the filling, compared to ‘wantan’. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Interestingly, there are deep-fried chickpeas bobbing around the bowl, offering a crunchy, spicy bite in between dumplings.
It remains to be seen whether this will last, but for now, this viral dish seems to tick all the right boxes.
As with most trends, its staying power may depend less on the dish itself than on whether people keep posting about it. This article included.
莎莎面馆 • Sha Sha Noodles • Puchong
10, Jalan Puteri 2/3,
Bandar Puteri,
Puchong, Selangor.
Open daily, 11am-10pm
Tel: 011-1676 3130
Instagram: @shashanoodles
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
* Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more musings on food and mildly self-deprecating attempts at humour.
