Nam Kee Spring Roll Noodle Co. Ltd    南記粉麵  

The pricing policy here isn't as cheap as I thought compared to the downstairs menu - everything ended up around $30+ per noodle's dish rather than the $25-26 I had envisaged.

紫菜四寶麵 -
The fish and squid balls were ok, better than street stall versions but not impressive. The noodles were average commercial quality, seaweed is seaweed and is always a bit fishy. The problem lies with the soup - which is too full of MSG and also it had this egg-shell/fish eye/protein like taste to it for some reason, probably from discarded fish remains as well as pork bones? It tasted utterly weird but with the additional of the free to scoop 冬菜, this balanced up slightly. 3.2/5

水餃河粉加春卷 -
Did not anticipate this soup-base to be slightly chili-sour like at all as its not mentioned on the menu. It felt weird and quite sour at first but after a while I got accustomed to it and it was enjoyable! The sui-gwau weren't that good though, even 灣仔碼頭 tastes better. The Tofu-Skinned 春卷 were enjoyable but then again it can hardly go wrong! 3.5/5

油菜菜心 -
This was boiled well. Went well with the chili sauce they provide. 3.5/5

************************
Had another bowl of noodles another day not mentioned above, can't remember as didn't take photo. Would I come back for 3rd time? That's a question I can't even answer myself. I didn't think it was that bad, but at this price there are plenty of Chiu Chow style noodles shops I could rather explore around first, hopefully discovering better shops than here.

So I came to Nam Kee (南記) with a friend for a little afternoon tea snack. I read about the place from a food blog and decided I should try the place.

Environment: Place is pretty bare bones and Chinese fast food style (looks similar to a Café de Coral/Fairwood interior). Not uncomfortable by any means but you shouldn't expect much.

Service: Well, considering it's fast food style it's sort of self serve. Although the cashier who took my order and the lady who gave me my food were both courteous and efficient.

Based on the food blog I read I decided to order the following:

Pork Brisket Noodles with Spring Rolls (小鍋豬腩肉米線加春腃) - I ordered the spring rolls specifically cause I read it was great. To me it's super strange to have spring rolls in noodle soup since it will go from crunchy to soggy quickly. Then I realized their spring roll isn't really a spring roll. It's more like a tofu skin roll (腐皮捲). Although not fantastic it tasted kind of sweet and chewy and was a nice contrast to the rest of the dish. Reminded me a little of the sweet tofu skin cakes they have in Japanese ramen.

Onto the good part. The pork brisket is really tasty. Flavorful and kind of chewy. To me this is the star of the dish. The noodles are chewy and good texture as well (even after it sat for 5 minutes because I was taking photos). I personally like thicker noodles (reminds me of 擔擔麵) and there was so much of it. Honestly, I couldn't finish the dish. The soup was mildly spicy (for the first time I didn't want to order the super spicy one since I was worried it may wash out the real flavors) but had a nice tang to it. I drank a few spoon-fulls (would drink more but worried about MSG) and I liked it. Also it was a good touch to add the bean sprouts to give the dish some extra crunchy texture.

Overall I though this was a satisfying (both in amount and taste) meal. I am super sensitive towards MSG and it seemed like there wasn't much in it (mouth wasn't really dry afterwards). I think next time I am in the area and craving a bowl of noodles I'll be coming back to 南記.

I REALLY like 南記!

I go there a lot...usually because it's cheap and so I can afford it...but seriously, also because they have REALLY nice noodles. Most of the time, I order Fish Ball noodles ($15). It takes about 1 minute waiting time (these guys are amazingly fast) and the bowl of noodles is HUGE!

Not only that, the noodles are impressively "Dan Ah" (chewy). It's a self serve seating...so not really convenient if you're not eating here with someone else. The drinks aren't amazing...but then again, it's a noodle shop...not a drink shop!