Instant noodles, the world's cheapest meal in a cup, are getting a touch classier - and expensive.

For 29.9 yuan ($4.62), the "Man-Han Feast" boasts features such as "high-heat sterilized beef," "freeze-dried green vegetables" and "high-end packaging," according to a recent ad campaign.

Uni-President, the Taiwan-based maker, hopes the product will lure price-minded consumers from the one-to-10 yuan brands and herald what their slogan calls the "2.0 age of instant noodles."

However, that age may not be just now. According to Chinese e-commerce giant Taobao, fewer than 30 cups have sold since their launch in March.

The product has also received mixed reviews. "The packaging is really elegant, but it still tastes like instant noodles," wrote a reviewer from Guizhou Province on jd.com.

But the marketing campaign has gotten attention. The hashtagged product received more than 140,000 views on Weibo - and plenty of snark.

A Chengdu Business Daily survey showed only 16 percent of 1,829 respondents said they would fork out the cash.