While many Dai Pai Dongs in Hong Kong specialise in wok-and-toss dishes, others churn out heart-warming noodles in soup. To many local Hongkongers, a bowl of soupy noodles is the ultimate comfort food. It can range from a steaming bowl of egg noodles with wontons, to a large bowl of flat rice noodles with fish balls, to a scrumptious bowl of noodles with braised pork knuckle. 

Chinese Noodles 101

Quick recap on the different types of noodles. Egg noodles - the most common Guangdong noodles made with eggs and very often, lye water, giving it a subtle but distinctive soapy smell. The lye water also makes the noodles chewy. Flat rice noodles (hor fun) - very wide, flat rice noodles. The good ones have a silky texture that allows the diner to slurp them up. Round rice noodles (laai fun) - made with sticky rice, these thick, round, semi-transparent noodles go particularly well with roast goose and roast duck. Rice vermicelli (mai fun) - thin rice noodles that have a rougher texture but are the healthiest option since they are not made with lard. 

An "Educational" Dai Pai Dong Crawl

On his day-off, we invited a fellow foodie, the Under Secretary for Education, Kenneth Chen, to join us on a Dai Pai Dong crawl to some of the eateries listed below. He likes the unpretentiousness and the open-air nature of these street stalls, and like us, he finds the food sinfully tasty.

Now grab a plastic stool and join us for the best noodles among these Dai Pai Dongs. Disinfecting the chopsticks with your tea is optional, and although this is not unheard of, you still risk sticking out like a sore thumb and being frowned upon by fellow diners. Dig in! 

Hon Fat Noodles (漢發麵家)  

166 Kei Lung Street, Sham Shui Po

Famous for their beef briskets, pig's trotter and wonton noodles, this street stall is a family-run business with more staff-to-customer ratio than a five-star hotel. The current owner, Mr Kwok, is the son of the licensee holder. 

While many order coffee and buttered toasts in the afternoon at Hon Fat, it is equally common to see diners slurping Hor Fun with Beef Brisket at 4pm. The soft and smooth hor fun soaks up the tasty soup and is delicious on its own; the beef briskets just add another dimension to the meal. Those who want something with a stronger flavour should try the Egg Noodles with Pig's Trotter. The tender pig's trotter goes well with the noodles, which have a soapy smell that you can barely taste but adds a zest to the dish. 

Get here early as they close at around 5pm, unlike other dai pai dongs in this neighbourhood.

Cheung Fat Noodles (長發麵家) 

1 Yiu Tung Street, Sham Shui Po

The first thing one notices at Cheung Fat Noodles is not the green roof, nor the à la carte menu on the walls; instead, one cannot miss the knee-level, enormous wok with bits and pieces of a pig bubbling inside. Indeed, your sense of smell will direct your gaze to this mini-refinery, where home-made liquid lard is obtained. 

The noodles are truly al dente in a Chinese way, almost elastic. A tiny bit of lard is added to the noodles, making them extremely flavourful, even on their own. Other famous dishes include home-made fish balls, which are made on-site. White eel meat is minced in a blender-like machine, before being squeezed by hand to get the right texture. The "fishballer" is so swift in squeezing out these balls that you begin to wonder how many he can manage a day. These lard-soaked noodles and fishballs were some of the most memorable dishes for Chen.

Also worth trying are the chilli sauce lo-mien (tossed noodles) and soy sauce lo-mien, although the latter can get a little too salty if you dunk all the noodles in the sweet soy sauce. 

Hung Fat Congee (烘發油器粥店)

15-16 Yiu Tung Street, near Nam Cheong Street, Sham Shui Po

In our opinion, the noodles at Hung Fat are only decent. However, it is a nice follow-up to Cheung Fat Noodles, which is just across the street. Here the star of the show is the congees. With an excellent congee base, the various made-to-order congees are creamy and thick without any added corn starch. The menu on the stall does not show all the combinations so you have to just ask for what you like. The fish congee is fantastic, but beware of the minced beef congee as excessive tenderiser has been used to treat the beef, making it a tad rubbery. Also, stick to the noodles and congees as the different types of deep-fried dough were not fresh on the day we visited. 

Lan Fong Yuen (蘭芳園)

2 Gage Street, Central

Arguably the most famous dai pai dong in town, Lan Fong Yuen has even opened a branch in Tsim Sha Tsui. Although there is a proper kitchen at the back, all the milk tea, coffee, toasts and sandwiches are prepared at the stall out on the street. 

Besides the silk-stocking-milk-tea-fame, this place is also renowned for its chicken butterfly-cut with instant noodles, served with a big pile of chopped spring onion and ginger in oil. The chicken is tender inside and crispy on the outside, but the essence of the dish is the spring onion and ginger in oil - this is what makes the noodles so delicious. Other instant noodle dishes are also available, of which, the most popular one is probably the fried egg with luncheon meat. 

Shui Kee (水記)

2 Gutzlaff Street, Central

Located on a slope, this dai pai dong has bricks under stools and tables to make sure diners do not topple over or more importantly, the food does not slide off. A noodle eatery specialising in different parts of beef brisket, this is the dai pai dong's answer to the infamous Kau Kee on Gough Street. 

If you arrive early (or befriend the owner), you may get one of only six portions each day of their special cuts, including interesting areas such as the upper part of the fourth stomach, or the cut just below the neck. 

Sing Heung Yuen (勝香園)

2 Mee Lun Street, Central

Tucked away from charming Gough Street, this dai pai dong dishes up its famous tomato broth noodles with beef to a packed lunch crowd every day. It can get so busy at lunch, in fact, that the diners who are waiting for a table are a traffic hazard. And lunch seems to last till it closes at 5:30pm, as it is always packed. There is no secret ingredient for the tomato soup base; you can see cans of stewed tomatoes sitting on the counters. Nonetheless, the tomato soup base is refreshing, and regulars choose macaroni as the noodle of choice. 

Culinary Landmarks

Chen and WOM enjoyed every morsel of food tasted on this crawl. When asked what he thought of the concept of street food stalls in Hong Kong, Chen says, he believes there will always be a need for unpretentious, family-friendly, and outdoor outlets of comfort food.

He adds, "As a local hang-out, these outlets are where the local community could coalesce. They can also be distinctive landmarks for their respective districts". We hope these stalls will be here to stay too.

In the next article in our Dai Pai Dong series, we will be bringing you the classic Dai Pai Dong food - wok-and-toss dishes. Stay tuned! 

Related Articles

Hong Kong's Dai Pai Dongs - www.womguide.com/hot-features/all-about/hong-kongs-dai-pai-dongs

Are Dai Pai Dongs a Dying Culture? - www.womguide.com/hot-features/all-about/dai-pai-dongs-the-future