11 traditional Hong Kong noodle dishes you must try

We thought we might start with a classic: fishball rice noodles. You can usually choose what type of noodles you would like with your fishball rice noodles when you order them in cha chaan tengs, but we usually go with hor fun, a thick flat noodle that is easy to slurp up. The dish is usually served in a clear broth with fish balls and also rectangular-shaped chunks of fish meat. If you’re lucky, the shop might even serve them with a piece of fried fish skin. Aside from excellent noodle-making skills, there is also an art to making superior fishballs, pounding the meat until it forms a smooth texture—and you best believe it takes a lot of time and effort to create the perfect, bounciest texture!

One of our childhood favourites is the stir-fried beef hor fun. The noodles used here are typically flat and very wide, cut in little rectangular pieces rather than long stripes is the way we like it. Stir-frying the noodles is a popular cooking method but it requires a lot of technique and a strong fire to keep the noodles al-dente and separate instead of a gooey mess that is all stuck together. With soy sauce and thin slices of beef, you can find this common dish in almost any cha chaan teng. Kam Wah Café is a popular place where you can find stir-fried beef hor fun.

We mentioned that stir-frying is a popular cooking method, so this time we are going to talk about the most basic chow meen, which is stir-fried noodles. These thin noodles may look like they are easier to stir fry than the thick hor fun mentioned above, but it takes a lot of practice to fry them in a way that doesn’t break the brittle noodles, and you still got to make sure you are stirring them enough to get the wok aroma cooked into the noodles. Everything needs to be just right: the number of noodles, the amount of soy sauce, the balance of oil, and the perfect texture. Try a perfect bowl of soy sauce chow meen for yourself at Xin Dau Ji.

An unlikely “noodle” dish but something that we bet most of you will have had is the quintessential cheung fun. It is made with a thin sheet of rice noodle mixture that is poured onto a thin piece of cloth and steamed before it is rolled up and served. It can be served as a street snack, with the smaller and shorter version of plain cheung fun dipped into sesame sauce and sweet sauce. You can also find it in restaurants, with fillings of barbecued pork or shrimp inside, but these are usually served in longer and bigger rolls with sweet soy sauce that you can pour over it. Some of the best can be found at Hop Yik Tai, Fat Kee Cheung Fun, and Chiu Chow Cuisine.

If you’re thinking about a traditional noodle shop, it doesn’t get more local than cart noodles. This noodle dish is usually served in local street stalls and you can mix and match ingredients to your liking. It is almost like a buffet since you can add as many toppings as you like—as long as you pay for the extras! One of the cheapest meals you can find in Hong Kong, your bowl of cart noodles will be prepared as fast as possible so that you can finish it in a jiffy and another customer can take your seat, so make sure you eat fast—you don’t want the shop aunties yelling at you! Find authentic bowls of cart noodles at Man Kee Cart Noodles and Wing Kee Cart Noodles.

Our personal noodle favourite is the beef brisket and tendon noodles in clear broth, a dish where you can also choose your preferred type of noodle. We like to go with thick hor fun to contrast with the tender beef brisket and have a fuller taste of the broth. The soup broths are always a shop’s best-kept secret, so you can around and compare between different beef brisket places to find your favourite. The braised radish that you sometimes find at the bottom of your bowl is gold since the radish will have soaked up all the essence of the broth, so make sure to finish them! Sister Wah and Kau Kee are among the highest-rated eateries for beef brisket noodles.

Of course, we couldn’t leave out lou ding, a cha chaan teng favourite especially during tea times. Ding stands for cooked instant noodles that are served dry, whereas lou means mixed with toppings. You can usually find it served with a scrambled egg or a fried chicken cutlet as a teatime snack or a quick meal in-between work hours. It is also a childhood favourite for locals, because what Hong Kong kid doesn’t adore instant noodles? Our favourite places to nosh on a bowl of lou ding include Law Mark Kee and Lung Mun Café.