Just as I wasn't too sure on what to have for dinner last night, I came across this prawn noodle shop on Landell street which has a fair number of of other eateries that I wanted to try out, but I already had afternoon tea so I thought noodles wouldn't be as filling as a large chicken fillet right? As it was right before dinner time at 5pm, there were only 3 other customers when I walked in. I was a bit surprised at the high ended prices that I was looking at for a bowl of noodles, but I glance
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Just as I wasn't too sure on what to have for dinner last night, I came across this prawn noodle shop on Landell street which has a fair number of of other eateries that I wanted to try out, but I already had afternoon tea so I thought noodles wouldn't be as filling as a large chicken fillet right? As it was right before dinner time at 5pm, there were only 3 other customers when I walked in. I was a bit surprised at the high ended prices that I was looking at for a bowl of noodles, but I glanced over at the other customers and saw that the portion is fairly big. I chose the laksa seafood noodles with the thick flat rice noodles and the lady there kindly asked me if I wanted a smaller version+drink (it was their tea set and two dollars cheaper), but I was here for dinner so I asked for the normal portion.
When my noodles arrived I noticed that they were really generous with the soup because I can barely see the seafood and noodles. I took a sip of the soup base first and it wasn't as spicy as I thought it should be, compared to what I've eaten in Singapore, it was actually slightly sweet and the curry flavour wasn't too prominent either, in fact I think the curry flavour may have been overwhelmed by the coconut milk that the soup tastes strongly of. I can't entirely deny the existence of msg but I did see herbs and leaves floating around in my noodles.
Though the soup base is acceptable, the amount of seafood in the noodles is far too little! On the menu it states that it contains prawn, mussel, fish cake, squid, crab meat etc., I must say that the term prawn is a bit of an overstatement for the little "shrimp" that was cut in half to mask the fact that there was only one "shrimp" in the bowl of noodles, and it didn't even taste too fresh either. Again there was only one mussel in the noodles, I would've thought that for $60 they would be more generous with the toppings, the squid were those little round ones which tasted like frozen products, and I only remember eating two of those... The fish cake ×1 was worth praising as it was nice and chewy, the deep fried tofu corners were also pretty good as they absorbed all the goodness from the soup. The flat noodles were nothing special and they were a bit too soft and overcooked. Overall I think for this price and quantity I would not be coming back for the laksa, perhaps the prawn noodles might've been the better option?
Just as I was complaining to my friend who is Malaysian about the lack of good Malaysian food in HK, he took us here on a whim as we were in the neighborhood for some coffeeshops. My friend highly recommended the prawn noodle and I wanted to try the laksa too so the three of us each ordered a bowl to share so we can all try each other's. We ordered one laksa, one seafood prawn noodle, and one meatball prawn noodle. You can order different kinds of noodles like thick noodles or vermicelli or both
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Just as I was complaining to my friend who is Malaysian about the lack of good Malaysian food in HK, he took us here on a whim as we were in the neighborhood for some coffeeshops. My friend highly recommended the prawn noodle and I wanted to try the laksa too so the three of us each ordered a bowl to share so we can all try each other's. We ordered one laksa, one seafood prawn noodle, and one meatball prawn noodle. You can order different kinds of noodles like thick noodles or vermicelli or both. We got 2 with thick noodles and 1 with mixed noodles. The prawn noodles came first and the soup was rich with a hint of spiciness. I liked the soup a lot and with every spoonful of noodle I took another spoonful of soup. The seafood is just okay and I much prefer the pork meatball as it was more flavorful. Against my friend's suggestion, I had to order a laksa even though he said the prawn noodles are better here. He was right. The laksa, while not bad, paled in comparison to the prawn noodle. The broth and the content was not very memorable. I would come here again just to get their prawn noodle.
I had read about this place and heard good things. It was my first visit and opted for the 'Spicy Seafood Noodles.' The noodles arrived quickly and the portion was good. The soup had a good flavour but lacked any complexity. The seafood consisted of one prawn, two small squid and one mussel. Nothing special but OK. The noodles were standard thick egg noodles, again OK but nothing special. For $58 (if I remember correctly) it was not great value. The greatest disappointment was the spicy level -
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I had read about this place and heard good things. It was my first visit and opted for the 'Spicy Seafood Noodles.' The noodles arrived quickly and the portion was good. The soup had a good flavour but lacked any complexity. The seafood consisted of one prawn, two small squid and one mussel. Nothing special but OK. The noodles were standard thick egg noodles, again OK but nothing special. For $58 (if I remember correctly) it was not great value. The greatest disappointment was the spicy level - nothing like the level I would expect, certainly not what you would get in Malaysia or South East Asia generally. Overall, OK but not below my expectations. With so many places to try I may go back to try other things but not immediately.
Wan Chai is a wonderful place filled with interesting eateries and unique, uncommercialized restaurants. It's practically a lifeline for those who work at Admiralty! I asked one of my Singaporean colleagues for recommendations around Wan Chai and she recommended this shop. Thanks to her, this is yet another good find! I went there at 1:00 p.m. and there was already a small queue forming. Luckily, it's easy to get in if you're a lone wolf. I haven't had laksa for quite a while so I was a bit tem
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Wan Chai is a wonderful place filled with interesting eateries and unique, uncommercialized restaurants. It's practically a lifeline for those who work at Admiralty! I asked one of my Singaporean colleagues for recommendations around Wan Chai and she recommended this shop. Thanks to her, this is yet another good find!
I went there at 1:00 p.m. and there was already a small queue forming. Luckily, it's easy to get in if you're a lone wolf. I haven't had laksa for quite a while so I was a bit tempted by it. However, the name of the shop - "Prawn Noodle Shop" is quite an obvious hint , so I settled for the first item on the menu, the "Spicy Seafood Prawn Mee". (I think I chose medium spiciness, if there was such an option.)
Soup had a very addictive prawn taste. It's super "prawny", if there is such a word. Definitely one of the very few places I recall had such a nice and strong prawn taste! It's also a bit sweet, so I think the seafood broth consisted of not just prawns but a lot of squid and other shellfish too.
Contrary to the colour of the stock, it wasn't super spicy, again, if you are used to Korean food then you won't find any problems with it. On the other hand, if you can't handle spicy food - just don't order spicy food.
The spicy stock they used was completely different from "Tong Yum Kong". It appears to be made of garlic, a bit of dark and light soy sauce plus some herbs, possibly lemon grass. The chilli oil in the broth was similar to "Gwui Lin chilli sauce" but milder and less oily.
The red items at the left side were crab sticks. Quite a lot of crab sticks were provided (not to be confused with crab meat- which was wrongly stated on the menu - crab sticks are usually made of fish meat and some crab flavourings - you'll be paying triple the price if it's real crab meat). You might be interested to know that different brands of crab sticks have different compositions and very different tastes. Some had more "real" crab meat than others. Those provided here were quite nice and sweet.
The "Tung Choi" was an interesting surprise. It was fresh. Quite interesting with the spicy soup but the combination was a bit odd. Anyway, no complaints as the tung choi was quite fresh. According to Wiki, "Tung Choi" is also called "water morning glory", I wonder why.
There was also a piece of fish meat tofu (it's the white object on the right side of the prawn). That was quite different from the Shunde style and is probably Hokkein style. (Most Asian Hong Kongers originally came from Canton but most Asian Singaporeans originally came from Hokkein or Hakka, which affect the food culture forever). It tasted a bit like a fried fishball and was quite sweet. It's interesting.
You could choose different types of noodles like glass noodles and possibly vermicelli (I didn't notice the options on the menu though, but the boss was asking me what type of noodles I'd like). Since oil noodle was the default option, that's what I chose. To my surprise, the noodles were very fresh and had a refreshing egg taste. I never realized that "Yau Mee" (Oil Noodle) could taste this fresh. It's not chewy but crisp. It's not too thick and was just the right size and texture. Most of the yau mee I've had was basically carbohydrates with a little bit of egg taste to fill one's stomach temporarily, e.g. like oil noodles I've tried in most "Chee Jai Min" stall or at Ocean Park). This was good. The only quibble I had was that it was not super filling. I became quite hungry at 3:00 p.m. (perhaps it's time for tea.)
There were 4-5 baby squids inside the broth. Those were super fresh, crispy and delicious !! It really had a very aromatic squid taste. It's almost as if it had just been freshly caught from the sea and then served immediately! Definitely fresher than most squids which I had in Sai Kung or Lei Yu Moon, or believe it or not, sashimi. A shockingly good surprise indeed!
The mussel was quite big and fresh. It's about 5*3*1.5 cm! Because it's fresh, it had mussel taste. Not as sweet as the squid , but pretty close. Very nice.
The prawn itself, however, was nothing special. It's fresh but not particularly meaty. Probably it's essence had already gone into the broth.
A small bowl was provided together with your bowl of noodle probably for discarding the prawn shells and the mussel shell, which i used anyhow even if it's not meant for that purpose.
A noteworthy point was that the prawn had been cut in the middle before it was served, so customers could eat the prawn without too much trouble or soiling their hands. This is particularly important when you need to shake hands with people after lunch!
The noodle cost HK$54, which I find quite reasonable.
Environment: It was small but clean and well organized. Different from most noodle shops in Hong Kong, there were about 3 tables for 6 and quite a lot of counter seats facing the wall. This is good for those eating alone. You don't have to be odd one out at a table, listening to other peoples private conversations. They don't want you listening too.
The other shop which got this design in Wan Chai is "Lo Baat 鹵八".
The restaurant was not too spacious but the seats were reasonably spaced apart. To be precise, you'll have about 30 inches space for you and your noodle.
The ceiling was very high for a shop like this which is very good for reducing noise in a crowded space. It also had a classic colonial style fan on the ceiling. The air-conditioning was just about sufficient.
Delivery available if the order is over HK$100 (?) but add HK$2 to each item you ordered. If you collect the items yourself, that extra HK$2 per item is waived. However, I think you'll need to pay HK$1 for the take away bowls.....etc. Furthermore, there were slogans posted around the restaurant inviting the customers to save resources (their resources), i.e. only ask for tea, water and condiments if you have to. Having said that, the waitress gave me a cup of tea without me asking for it - perhaps she's new to the shop. The male boss looked a bit serious but the female boss was quite friendly. All in all, no complaints about the service.
In conclusion:
The spicy prawn noodle live up to it's name. The noodles were good. The soup had a very sweet prawn taste. The prawn itself was not the main focus. On the other hand, the squids and mussel were very fresh and tasty.
Environment is much cleaner and organized than other shops of this size. Good for single diners.
I think this attention to detail (regarding the sliced prawns, bowl to contain the shells, seat arrangements), it's cleanliness, and "resource management" is very authentic Singaporean. I'm sure my Singaporean friends and colleagues won't object to that!
A place which I'll return for lunch once in a while.
題外話/補充資料：
位於星街的"一碗麵"比 "蝦麵店"更重蝦味。但貴!
"Olala" 一碗麵 at Start Street is also very good. I've commented on Olala, a Michelin Bib recommendation. It's a completely different style, however, probably a Shanghainese style? The broth there was basically just prawns, prawns and nothing but prawns. It's orange. It's not spicy. Fans of super heavy prawn broth might like that too. However, Olala might have three times the prawns in their broth but the price was also three times the price at Prawn Noodle Shop!
On a completely different note, the new "Tsui Wah"翠華 at Wan Chai is also another blessing for those who work in Admiralty.
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我不想吃肉，選來了辣味蝦湯底的素米粉。
辣味蝦湯底是蝦麵店的招牌湯底，呷了一口，味道帶點甜勁，微辣，就連不吃辣的 "KS" 也覺不辣。蝦香若能調得更濃郁的話，吸引度定必提昇，整體沒有預期中的惹味。
素米粉配料有通菜、冬菇絲、豆卜和芽菜。通菜份量最多，可能還未到合時的季節，部份菜莖有點老，不過多動兩下牙臼便可以了，絕無困難！冬菇絲預先經過醃製，質感極之腍軟，可能我較喜愛爽彈的冬菇，所以感覺一般。而豆卜和芽菜的效果也不過不失，沒有驚喜！
怕油麵太飽肚，所以將素麵換成素米粉，雖然如此，米粉份量也頗多！
"KS" 選擇了冬菇雞絲米粉。湯底除帶輕微的雞味外，基本上很清淡。而配料的冬菇和雞絲亦非常普通，無甚驚喜！
我選了熱檬水，而 "KS" 則要了罐裝可樂。見她用餐時一直沒有揭開蓋掩，還以為她忘記了。原來 "KS" 特意留作餐後，欲一口氣喝掉，以釋放工作的壓力。我還是第一次看到這種減壓方式，這種方法既簡單又輕易，那又未嘗不是一個很好的方法！
