Our hungry stomachs led us to a small alley of the shopping district. The dimly lit street stall was packed with locals, I guess that’s a good indicator on how you find the cheap and good eats.

With only a few tables available and limited seating, in Hong Kong it’s very common to share your table with strangers. We sat down with a gentleman slurping away at his noodles. When asked what the speciality was, he said it was the fishball noodles with beef brisket. Sold. Sounds fantastic!

While we were waiting for our noodles, we continued to chat about Hong Kong past and present. He walked us through a tiny bit of Mong Kok history, and pointed out places of great eats. I guess we’re not that different, Hong Kong-ers love their food as much as Singaporeans do.

The steaming hot bowl of noodles was amazing and a great introduction to our culinary journey as we eat our way through Hong Kong. The kway teow noodles were thin and slippery, similar to the kway teow teng) you get in Penang. Fishballs were soft and spongy, and the beef brisket so tender. Soup was a beef stock and incredibly full of flavour, and if you like, a dollop of their chilli sauce would give it that extra kick . The best part of the dish was the beef tendons, which is that light brown piece of meat you see in the top right picture above. Its consistency is like the bottom of a jelly bowl. You know when you make jelly at home, the bottom is slightly harder and chewy than the top? That’s how it tastes like.

Our table friend finished up his meal and proceeded to ask the lao ban for the table’s bill! We insisted that WE pay for his dinner after giving us such a detailed introduction to Hong Kong. We lost the fight and thanked him for the lovely meal.

He wheeled himself away in such a hurry we didn’t even get his name.

I’m not sure the exact address of that place, but I tried to take a picture of the signboard (scroll up to see the photo). Anyone know what it says? Danli, help me out, was it opposite some bookstore?

*update got it! see below.

榮園麵家
Address: Nelson Street, Mong Kok