Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

The last post on Hong Kong was way back in June, so you may want to go for a refresher course by reading Wan Chai’s famous Kam Fung Cafe …. Perhaps the full Hong Kong-Macau 2011 series?

Craving for a Ketchup-y Experience? Fresh tomatoes and lean beef slices in a tangy, tomato-based broth with the Nissin noodles. Options include macaroni (their signature, but they ran out of that), or your noodles with chicken wing, or other meat.

Sing Heung Yuen is by far, the best example of Hong Kong style ‘dai pai dong’. Hawker stalls in its most ‘primitive’ form, only shaded by canopies or sometimes none, steel or wooden tables and chairs placed in a cramped layout, and strangers sharing the same table yet not speaking to each other while slurping on their favourite bowl of noodles.

To the uninitiated, this is best described as an ‘al fresco’ cafe best for a light bite. Unlike European cafe culture where lingering for long is the norm, at ‘dai pai dong’ like this, this practice is frowned upon. Lest you enjoy to be stared right through you for overstaying your welcome.

Familiar? If you’re an avid follower of Hong Kong’s TVB dramas, you might have seen this place being used for filming, since this is in the heart of Central of Hong Kong island, not in the rural suburbs.

Best if you sit down, don’t ponder for too long on the menu (or lack thereof, since everything’s in Chinese!), order whatever your neighbouring table’s having, eat up in the most rushed fashion (at say, 10 minutes for everything?), then leave.

The full story after the jump, and best time to come if you want to skip the snaking queue ….

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