Tsim Chai Kee Noodle     沾仔記  

主打雲吞及鯪魚球的麵店.
鯪魚球大粒鮮甜彈牙;
雲吞蝦不鮮質素一般;
麵質有點勁沒但蛋香;
湯底曖昧但有羅漢果香;
以平取勝, 中環飽肚之選

Cheap noodle shop in Central;
Noodles and wonton were just average;
Interesting broth with Buddha fruit;
Mud Carp balls were good.



Balls:

Again, another episode in my "wonton" adventure. This shop is just directly across Mak's Noodle (Mak Un Kei). Before doing some research on OpenRice, I've always thought that this was just another wonton noodle shop, always with a long queue.

Now I know that it's one of the most reasonable noodle shop in Central, which specializes in minced Mud Carp balls the size of a billiard ball and wonton the size of ping pong balls! A focused menu in Chinese, English and Japanese.

They basically do noodles only and don't have congee. Most ordered the three signature toppings, Dace balls, Wonton and Beef slices.

I ordered for Mud Carp Balls and Wonton. When I was asked whether I wanted egg noodles, vermicelli or rice noodles (Ho Fun) with my toppings, I immediately realized that this shop might not be a specialist in egg noodles. Anyway, I choose egg noodles and ordered a plate of veggies (in soup instead of oyster sauce).

Dace balls: What immediately made an impression was the size of the two mud carp balls. Really the size of billiard balls! The texture was springy and the taste was fresh and sweet. Much better than many others around town. This was good stuff.

(I wonder how it would taste like when fried?)

Wonton: The two wontons were also much bigger than usual. Normally, a wonton should be about 1/3 the size of those served here. Most of the filling consisted of pork, probably about 70% pork. The prawn meat inside the wonton was not that fresh. Not firm. It's got quantity but not really quality. Those at Mak's were just 1/2 the size and double the price. However, the quality was far better than here.

Egg noodles: Probably bought cheap in bulk. It barely had any egg taste but a strong alkaline taste instead. Unfortunately, probably the worst out of all the noodle shops I've tried so far. Adding vinegar and the chili oil is almost mandatory if you want to finish the whole bowl. Luckily, the apparently home-made chili oil had a balanced taste, neither too salty nor too spicy.

Broth: The broth was the same for the noodles and for the veggies. It was pretty indistinct. Probably some sort of pork bone soup. The flounder taste was fairly muted. I couldn't detect any chives or spring onion taste. According to other reviewers, the broth had some "Buddha fruit" (or luo han guo). I could taste a bit of that. Interesting but not my choice for a wonton broth.

Decor and service :

The place is bigger than Mak's Noodle right across the street but the tables were quite small. Not as comfortable as Mak's.

The mean looking obaba mentioned by other reviewers appeared to have been reassigned to the cashier, where minimal customer interaction is required. Never said thank you or attempted to squeeze a smile to customers. Good idea as this may help stop people borrowing their toilets. But the other waitress was friendly and polite.



Conclusion:

Good mud carp balls;
Average wonton;
Noodles weren't good;
Not too comfortable;
Good value for a filling meal in Central.

Have been visiting this joint everytime I'm near the area, their wanton never fail to impress me.

I've ordered 雲吞麵 & 鯪魚球... the 雲吞remains to be excellent, but the noodles quality has dropped quite a little,
very heavy in 鹼水味! Soup is somewhat diluted - that leads me to believe it's the chef who has the problem!
It's a cardinal sin to spoil the bowl of noodles with 鹼水味!

Given that this joint gets 米芝蓮車胎人美食 yearly, I'd expect them to keep up the high standard at all times!

When the talk about local food stirred during conversations, 'Wanton Noodles' never fail to shine as one of the top local delights. Alongside wanton noodles are its peers, namely beef and fishball noodles, which could similarly steal the heart of my stomach on any given day.

It had been some time since we wanted to give Tsim Chai Kee Noodle, located on Wellington Street, which houses many other top local eateries serving its never ending stream of busy diners. What caught our attention at Tsim Chai Kee was the tally of accolades ranging from local awards to recommendation in the Michelin Guide for four continuous years running starting from 2009.Apart from the need to share tables with other diners, there were more than sufficient compelling teasers in the dishes served to entice one for a quick meal fix.Fresh Minced Fish Ball Noodles (HK$21/-)The noodles were perfect al dente standard and left nothing for us to castigate, which I would personally and quite critically too, when it comes to a 'Noodle House' specializing in serving quite simply - noodles. The soup base was mildly saline but complemented the bland egg noodles well. The generous offering of spring onions enhanced the flavours of the fish stock. What was highly commendable though was the huge minced fish ball, made from dace. Being one of the more commonly used ingredient in the making of fish balls, the minced dace did not have the typical appalling 'fishy' smell nor taste. It tasted surprisingly fresh and what rounded up the dish was the bouncy and springy texture of the fish balls, making one crave for a second bite after the first.

Verdict: 8.5/10

Back then when I was still a little kid, my dad always bought shrimp wontons back home. Together the wonton and a bowl of noodles would make a perfect simple yet tasty supper. I remember clearly the big round wonton having a superb al dente texture. However after my dad moved his office elsewhere, I haven't had any of these fabulous wontons anymore. Now then after I have grown up, suddenly missing the these wontons, I asked my dad where he got those wonderful wontons and he told me he bought them from Tsim Chai Kee. This is the moment I decided to pay a visit to this Michelin awarded restaurant myself, to search that scrumptious taste that filled my childhood.
It was about tea time when I arrived the shop. Looking from the outside, the shop has a simple but as well as a gorgeous setting. I was particularly caught by the gorgeous calligraphy of its sign at the entrance. It's not a big shop but it feels a very neat place to me.
I didn't go there over the lunch hours as I know there'd probably be lots of people queuing for lunch. Nonetheless, even if it's a non-busy hour, I still had to wait for a seat. Thankfully, soon enough, someone left and I had my seat. Merely having an afternoon bite, I ordered a bowl of wontons, only wontons, and it was served pretty soon.Full of anticipation, I immediately had my first bite. I find the wonton skin is extraordinarily good. It was thin, and sort of al dente. It was such great texture. The fillings were flavorful and refreshing as well. The flavors lingered on my tongue, the sensation was just as the way I remember. Nevertheless, it felt like there was something missing about it and I figured that the whole wonton was not as al dente as I recalled despite the skin alone indeed was al dente. In my opinion, the filling didn't manage to give rise to such texture, and that is the missing key to what I recall in my childhood memories. Anyway, it might not taste as great as i remember, but it was indeed an absolutely stunning dish. What's terrific about it was that it still kept a fairly cheap price while other restaurants' prices are skyrocketing and most importantly is that it still kept its standard and quality.
It was a pleasure to have finally visited this place to try their wontons myself. It did flood me with many childhood memories and perhaps that's the reason that I feel a connection to the place. I don't care if the waiters actually are not exactly really friendly, all it matters to me is its taste and a taste to bring me back to childhood memories is a bonus. It undeniably serves the best wontons in town, at least it does to me especially when it sparks up my memories and emotions.

沾仔記 have been around Hong Kong for 20 odd years. I bet no one ever thought of eating a quality lunch or dinner for20 bucks, 沾仔記 do the work for you! The menu hasn’t changed forever, 雲吞, 鯪魚球 and牛肉 with粉, 麵 or米 and of course 油菜. Despite the limitation on the menu, diners are queuing for a bowl of noodles everyday outside沾仔記.

Cuisine: Cantonese
Food rating: 3/10*
Service: 3/10
Ambiance: 3/10
Price: HK$25 (per head)

* Food Rating: 6/10 is equivalent to 1 Michelin star, 8/10 to two Michelin stars, and 9/10 or above to three Michelin stars

Wonton Noodles
The wontons were very different from the conventional one. Usually, the wontons are a mixture of prawn and pork, but not at沾仔記. They used couple of prawns as filling, more or like a prawn dumplings using wonton wrappers, as u can imagine, it was pretty big. The prawns were crunchy, and with a little bit of prawn flavour. The soup is different from the traditional one too; it was slightly sweet because 羅漢果 was used instead of 蝦籽, yet it has kept the大地flavour. The noodles were al dente, and the alkaline taste was lighter than usual! More importantly, it was HK$20. It is a pretty damn good wonton noodles for it price. Choi Sum with Oyster sauce
It was fairly standard, nothing special. Boiled Choi Sum and topped with oyster sauce. While I was working at soho, 沾仔記 has always been one of my top choices for afternoon tea! The success of 沾仔記 is a legendary.

I like this noodle store better than the Mak's Noodle across the street. The first significant factor is the price. We only spent HKD55 for two including drinks and 2wonton noodles, while we paid HKD 115 for two across the street. The noodle portion is bigger, even use a much larger bowl.Aside from the money value, this HK noodle are fine like the size as angel hair pasta, highly recommended for angel hair pasta lover. This store provides chilli oil, instead of chilli sauce. If u prefer chilli oil, this is the place.There are three different toppings to ur bowl of noodle:1. Wontons2. Fish balls3. Sliced beefYou can have it plain or all three. choices is yours.My personal preference is the wonton as the prawns are fresh and juicy.Opens longer than Mak's. Mak's noodle closes at 8 sharp.Having had the noodle at both places, one thing that I notice, Mak's Noodle are served by male waiter and Tsim is served by female waitress. Interesting.

There are only a few options here, wonton, siu gau, fish balls or beef, and a choice of noodles.

Been in this branch quite a few times. My fav would be siu gau with rice noodles

The plates are served super fast as their menu is limited. Siu gau is quite big and flavorful. With rice noodles it could be a bit bland hence I always pour a lot, and I mean A LOT of vinegar into the soup and it tastes awesome!!

A side veggie is also decent portion, can have it with or without the fermented sauce.

Service here is nice, BUT there's this one lady (maybe even the boss?) who has this super high pitch annoying voice!! It's piercing and sort of affects my appetite...

In any case there's not a perfect place for wonton noodles anyway.. better withstand her voice and keep eating!

Always see such a long queue during lunch time, sort of puts me off. Anyhoo actually queued up at lunch today, and glad I did!

Ordered a wonton rice noodle, and a choi sum. There were only 3 wontons but the filling was great. The broth didn't have a strong taste and as I'm a vinegar freak, I poured LOTS of canto red vinegar into my noodles... and even more for the wontons hehe

The veggies were fair, quite cheap for the portion, but for a reason - they weren't the freshest and they were boiled with the water that boils the noodles.. as you can tell since there were bits and pieces of noodles in the veggies.. oh well what do you expect it's only $10!

As for a noodle place that's so cheap, the restaurant was relatively clean! The service was SUPER FAST.

One thing I would like to change... the lady with the BLOODY ANNOYING VOICE!! Her voice is super piercing and high pitch (not sure if she's the boss, probably not) but the whole time I was sooo annoyed with her high pitch non stop voice.

I have to say in terms of original and authentic wonton, the "mak ung kee" opposite would be the actual wonton place that you go to. But guess what? I'm just an OL in Central who can't afford a $42 small bowl of wonton noodles so here I am at Tsim Chai Kee!

They only have three choices: beef balls, fish balls and wontons. Their portion's huge given the price. Only $17 for wonton noodles. Basically I think everything here is great except the noodles and broth. Great service (hilarious receptionist lady), comfortable enough environment, big portion and delicious wontons, but the noodles are just simply inedible without anything to go with it. The broth's also not flavourful, so basically after finishing the wontons I can't really bring myself to finish the noodles

The vegetables are of decent portion, especially only for $10 in Central. Basically a great quick lunch spot!

Visiting central weekly after work for class. I love to come here for food coz this little noodle shop providing us delicious noodle at rather cheap price.

Last time i even met my friend with her family who spent a day in ocean park. My friend told me she had visited this shop daily when she was in nursing school many years ago! I'm so happy that i'm not the only one who appreciate their food quality!

The food i like the most us wanton noodle. Yet the size us rather small to my big stomach, i ordered wonton with 河粉. It tasted good as expected. The wanton is big & the taste of shrimp inside was so fresh! My friend's family ordered wanton, fish ball and beef noodle, i can see how her sons like the food so much!

When you plan to have a quick lunch by yourself, here is the best choice!

Tsim Chai Kee is always packed with people during lunch time in Central because their food offers pretty good value. Their wonton noodles is good plus their wontons are like the size of a ping pong for only $17 (Pretty cheap in Central I would say, however it was only $16 2 weeks ago). Despite their increased price, their wontons noodles are still good value. I will recommend people to come here when they would like to have a hot bowl of noodles and good wontons!

I'm a regular here whenever I'm in Central and need a quick bite to eat. The place is quite clean, unlike what you would expect from most noodle shops. I find the environment quite comfortable. Ditto for service; it is a noodle shop!

Really springy noodles, large wonton and fish balls. I don't eat beef myself so can't comment on that.

They are quite specialized with a small but focused menu selection. Prices are very reasonable for the area, and the same throughout the day.

For those who don't like vegetables with oyster sauce, you can try it "in soup".

Plain and simple, just want to say, good is not too bad at all, but price wise is kinda expensive. Well don't expect exceptional customer service, But food is actually quite tasty, just hope they will lower the price abit...

Went here for lunch and finally was able to get in when my friend arrived.

We were shocked at the limited selection of wonton noodles they had, but nevertheless we both went for 雙拼. My friend ordered the wonton noodles with beef and I went for the wonton noodles with fish.

We also ordered soya bean drinks and a bowl of soup vegetables. Our dishes came very quickly and honestly, the portion was very good! Not too small and not too big. The fishballs were not very good though. I really liked the wonton! They were super big and the prawns were fresh! My friend also said the wonton was huge, but the beef wasn't very good.

The soup vegetables tasted alright. Not enough leaves though.

The soya bean drinks were alright as well.

Prices are reasonable here. The wonton noodles each cost around $21 (with 2 toppings), soya bean drinks cost $6 each and the soup vegetables cost around $9 per bowl.

All in all, it was a reasonable lunch, good for value and the texture of the noodles was very good. Service wasn't the best though as a waitress very quickly took away our utensils once we finished our last bite. I guess that's the reason why the turnover rate of this restaurant is so high.

So I came to Tsim's after having a bowl of won ton noodles at Mak's across the street. Here's what I thought:

The good: At $16, this is a much better deal than Mak's (the bowl of noodles at Tsim's is about 2 times bigger as well). So at $22 I got a bowl of won ton noodles plus a soy milk drink while at $28 I only get a small bowl of noodles at Mak's. Plus Tsim's is a much newer/cleaner place than Mak's across the street.

The bad: The won ton noodles is pretty good but not as a good as Mak's. Tsim's golf ball size won tons (although I appreciate the generous whole shrimp pieces inside) doesn't feel that 'dense' relative to Mak's and for some reason I think they are less flavorful. It feels like you are eating a beef ball that you get from a dim sum cart. The noodles are more chewy (in this case not a plus in my book) and again not as flavorful as Mak's. Broth wise...I guess they are similar with the edge given to Mak's.

Taste wise I think Mak's seems like a clear cut winner but then again Tsim's offers a very affordable meal. It's still a very good bowl of won ton noodles but I think for me I'd rather go across the street to Mak's.