hong kong soup noodles

There are countless noodle soup styles in Chinese cuisine. Most are meant to be a light meal and casual one at that. Whenever I visit Asia I eat plenty of them. The soup noodle that I miss the most is wonton noodle done in the authentic Hong Kong Cantonese method.

This is a wonton specialty shop in the Central district in Hong Kong. It is one of a handful that I consider worth eating in the city that has thousands.

this shop together with a few are ran by relatives; in this trip another shop in Sheung Wan that I frequented in previous trips has closed

 the noodle is placed on top of the wonton dumplings so you can eat it first before it get soggy

it should be a small bowl so you can finish the noodle before it get soggy; most patrons orders more than one bowl

there is only 4 wonton dumplings in a small bowl - they do have a large bowl for more money but I prefer the small bowl; the noodle is the star and outside of Hong Kong it is very hard to find noodle made and cooked so well

 this chain is famous for their all-prawn wonton; most other shops has pork in addition to the prawn

the broth is very fragrant - they use dried flounder to make the soup stock; at $29 HKD a small bowl this chain is amongst the most expensive

The other soup noodle that I like is beef noodle. In Hong Kong there are mainly 2 kinds. One in clear broth and a Chaozhou 潮州style. I prefer the more flavorful Chaozhou 潮州style. I had read about this one that serves the clear broth style in Sheung Wan and I made the point to try it. It is very famous as many guide books cover it. I wanted to see it for myself.
at 1:30pm and there is still a line outside waiting to get in

this place serves thousands of parties a day. the average dwell time of the patrons is less than 20 minutes

 they have a very small menu; the main specialty is braised beef brisket

 he is ladling in the beef brisket and broth into the bowl of noodle the kitchen prepared

the beef quite good but not spetacular - my home made ones can easily taste at least as good; the noodle is only average as typically the case with beef soup noodles in Hong Kong

eatery across the street

this is one noodle joint that has higher rating on food sites - it is in the neighbor called Sum Shui Po which is immediately north of Mongkok

 it has a fairly large menu

 it is famous for the noodle that is served dry with a broth on the side - like Japanese's tsukemen; this one has braised brisket that is only OK

few shops in Hong Kong now has such generous condiments

 bottomless pickled daikon

the Cantonese dumpling called shui gaw  水餃 is very good - it is like wonton but is larger and has more types of filling

I would rate this shui gaw 水餃 noodle above average

Another dry type noodle they serve here is one topped with shrimp roes; I tried it another time there but it was only average; it could use a bit of oyster sauce

this is a foodies' neighborhood has many restaurants - this one serves soup made with snakes and flavorful sticky rice

 across the street are more restaurants - this one has clay pot rice 煲仔飯

 an assortment of toppings

note that the chef uses 2 rows of burners; the bottom row is LPG which he use for their high heat; when the bowl of rice is half-cooked he move it to the top row using charcoal as fuel; the lower heat finishes the cooking

the no-nonsense ordering system - the order tickets are held in place by clothes pins

 salted fish in oil - almost like anchovies

 

next door is a Chaozhou restaurant

As a foodie no trip to Hong Kong is complete without eating this fish balls noodle.
generally when you see people lineup for something it does not hurt to join in and then figure out what the queue is for

the super-high throughput kitchen preparing the noodle orders

this Chaozhu style fish ball is best known in China; however with the modern era good ones are very difficult to find; the best ones are made with a specific kind of fish off the coast of Chaozhu. The fish in itself is not a good eating fish but when made into this fish ball and fish cake (the thin sliced one in the photo) they are delicious. To obtain the bouncy texture one beats the fish paste by hand instead of using a machine as they are all done nowadays.

 small menu is always a good sign

the noodle is best eaten with this Chaozhu style hot chili oil

my second bowl

followed with a cup of Hong Kong style coffee

 a grand total of $63 HKD - about $8 USD

Generally in Hong Kong the good noodle joints are never fancy in their decor. If it wasn't for a post by a local foodie blogger I would never want to take chances with this very much out of the way restaurant with it's wonton soup noodle. It violates every signs of a place serving a eatable bowl of wonton noodle. Too tidy, few customers, too many items on the menu, and worst yet polite and prompt service.

 a clean and tasteful modern decor

 it even has the right condiments for wonton noodle - red wine vinegar amongst them

noodle is served on top of wanton dumplings as it should be

broth made with dried flounder; most shop would substitute the yellow chives with scallion to save cost

After just having dimsum, and a a set meal of snake soup I was not hungry. I just want to experience the noodle here that I read about. From the broth, to the noodle, to the wonton dumplings the place did everything right.