Hong Kong Eat: Man Kee Cart Noodle (文记车仔面) @ Sham Shui Po

Man Kee Cart Noodle (文记车仔面), located along Fuk Wing Street in Sham Shui Po (深水埗.福荣街), is famous for cart noodles and recommended by Hong Kong Michelin Guide since 2018. The restaurant occupied 4 units in the same row of shops, but not consecutively. The original outlet has a signboard and settings that are different from the newer, modern outlets.

Cart noodle (车仔面) is a popular Hong Kong noodle dish that used to be served by street vendors pushing carts in the old days. Everything in a bowl of noodle can be picked from a wide array of ingredients, noodles, soup bases, etc. There is no standard taste as every bowl is personalised.

The cart noodle (below) has pig blood cubes (猪红), braised chicken wings (鸡翅尖), prawn tofu roll (鲜虾腐皮卷) and vegetable added on flat yellow noodle in beef broth with a special sauce and lots of chopped spring onions. The beef broth is rich and flavourful in taste, needing no other condiments to spice it up. The servings of the ingredients are generous, making the noodle dish a pretty big bowl.

Another cart noodle (below) is comprised of beef brisket (牛腩), fish skin dumplings (鱼皮饺) and pickled mustard (榨菜) on yellow noodle in the same beef broth and topped with spring onions and a spicy curry sauce. The dish is similarly delicious with tender, juicy beef brisket and the addition of pickled mustard makes this a flavourful beef noodle dish. The curry sauce is not too spicy and adds more flavour to the dish. The fish skin dumplings are actually meat dumplings wrapped in wrapper skins that are made using fish meat and flour, resulting in a texture that is firmer and chewier. This combination is good.

Lining the wall, on a horizontal rack, are various types of condiment, including spicy preserved radish, fried garlic bits, chilli, sweet syrup, soy sauce, pepper, vinegar, etc, for adding to the cart noodles to tune the flavours according to one's taste preference. However, the cart noodles are already very flavourful on serving — at least for the dishes above — and no extra condiments required.

Not knowing what to eat in Hong Kong? Visit Man Kee Cart Noodle to concoct your own noodle dish with whatever ingredients and flavours you like.

Address:

121 Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Opening Hours:

11am to 4am | Daily

Next: Hong Kong Eat: Tsim Chai Kee Noodle (沾仔记) @ Central