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2013-05-17
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中式意粉有特色但不算彈牙。麻香豬耳帶香又爽脆；上湯蘿蔔湯清甜醇和；感覺有誠意，如在附近，可以壹試。Signature Chinese pappardelle with sweet soy sauce;Good turnip in light broth and marinated pig's ear;Reasonably priced;Worth a try if you're around the area.Mian's main door:I've always been interested this famous shop which serves a thick Chinese noodle which looked very similar to pappardella pasta. I finally managed to find the shop was but was confronted with an immediate problem - I couldn't open the main door! I stood at the entrance like
麻香豬耳帶香又爽脆；
上湯蘿蔔湯清甜醇和；
感覺有誠意，如在附近，
可以壹試。
Signature Chinese pappardelle with sweet soy sauce;
Good turnip in light broth and marinated pig's ear;
Reasonably priced;
Worth a try if you're around the area.
Mian's main door:
I've always been interested this famous shop which serves a thick Chinese noodle which looked very similar to pappardella pasta. I finally managed to find the shop was but was confronted with an immediate problem - I couldn't open the main door!
I stood at the entrance like an idiot trying to open Mian's door using a variety of methods: push, pull, stepping back to activate the sensor, sliding it to the left and sliding it to the right... Finally, the waitress opened it for me from the inside. There was a button somewhere... I strongly recommend adding some signs to assist customers. I noticed that I wasn't the only one who faced the same problem.
Decor: The place had about 7 counter seats, a large table for 8 and another 4-5 smaller tables. The whole place was air-conditioned. Fairly comfortable and modern looking. Unlike your normal Chinese noodle shop.
Service:
It certainly took them a while to bring me the menu. Certainly not enough staff. There was just the boss who also acted as the cashier and another waitress serving the whole shop. Not very efficient at all. Definitely a lot of room for improvement.
Menu:
The lunch menu was rather focused. It's in Chinese and in English. It consisted of a Chinese pappardelle pasta, a thinner one which reminded me of mee goreng (Indonesian yau mien) and pearl rice. You could choose different toppings such as sweet soy sauce with pork, dried bean curd with chili, vegetarian, salt-marinated chicken, meat paste with preserved vegetables and a few other toppings.
They also do two different types of snacks, namely, pig's ear and turnip in a light broth.
I ordered what appeared to be their signature dish : Thick noodles with sweet soy sauce and "butterfly brisket".
I also ordered both snacks.
Thick noodles with butterfly pork brisket:
The noodles were similar to pappardella pasta, or a lasagna cut into thick pieces. Unfortunately, contrary to my expectations, the noodles weren't that al dente. The noodles were quite bland as well. I was expecting something like the very springy noodles at the Japanese ramen shop "Bario". But perhaps that's not altogether a fair comparison.
Luckily, the light, sweet soy sauce, sesame, chopped spring onions, red pepper and preserved cabbage all added complexity to the otherwise bland taste of the noodles.
QQ? I found a few shreds of "QQ" noodles in my bowl of Chinese pappardella. Those weren't that QQ - i.e. Taiwanese way of saying springiness/chewiness. Seemed very much like yau mien or Indonesian fried egg noodles. Interesting texture.Butterfly brisket: I thought this term is used to refer to beef brisket only. For beef brisket, it refers to the part of the brisket nearest to the stomach. It's more expensive than normal brisket because of it's scarcity and crisp texture. I suppose it's the same for pork then. Chan Chuen Kei (陳春記 - no English name on OpenRice) at Sheung wan (located next to Tsang Kee) faired much better. Soft, tender and flavourful. They give you a generous amount here but all were fairly tough and tasteless.
But the way, if you like butterfly beef briskets, Shui Kei at Central is an excellent choice.
Since I prefer strong flavours, I mixed the whole shacha sauce (a Chiu Chow variation of Satay sauce) in to the bowl of noodles. That helped somewhat. I think more spring onions and perhaps a little bit of garlic or vinegar might help.Spicy pork ear had a lovely sesame aroma with a slight hint of chili aftertaste. It's certainly not as spicy (and it's not supposed to be) as the normal Sichuan version. The texture was just right. Very crunchy. Recommended. (HK$12)
Turnips (HK$10) Served in a soup similar to a winter melon soup. Flavourful with no MSG detected.
The generous amount of turnips weren't bad. Some were mildly bitter but on the whole very satisfactory, especially the price.
Conclusion:
Noodles with brisket weren't exceptional but the two snacks were great.
Snack were good value.
Total : HK$80 with no service charge.
Might be worth a try if you're around the area.
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