If there's two things that stick in my mind from childhood Chinese takeaways it's crispy duck and won ton soup. I remember as a young teenager calling won ton soup 'brains in used dishwater' but derogatory moniker aside I loved them. The pork and prawn filling, sometimes given crunch with some water chestnut, and the overcooked pasta dough that didn't need teeth to remove. The broth may have looked like used dishwater but its murkiness was nicely flavoured. The love of won ton soup has stuck with me, kept alive with cheap bowls of it in Wong Kei, and so when the trusty Lonely Planet spoke of Mak's Noodle - churning out cheap bowls of it to tourists and locals alike - I had to go check it out.
We arrived to find a tiny crammed in affair, luckily with space for two more where we were stuck on a little round table with two locals. I knew Lonely Planet rated the place but was pleased to find a quote from Anthony Bourdain (near hero of mine) in the window too. There didn't appear to be a menu but a glance around showed there was only three things being eaten anyway: won ton, ngau lam (stewed beef brisket) and a side of choi sum with oyster sauce. A glance into the window kitchen showed they were well set up for speedy delivery of bowls of noodle soup.
As much as I wanted some brisket I was here for won ton and that's what I was going to have. A two fingered salute and muttered 'won ton' received a solitary 'mee' in reply. I nodded to confirm our desire for noodles, added a 'choi' to get some vegetables too and we were off. Well within a couple of minutes we were anyway as that's all it took to arrive.
The most striking feature of the soup was the broth, the light chicken affair was still discernible but riding on top was a big slap in the face of prawn - gorgeous. The mee were toothsome and the won ton lovely and firm, not the overcooked dough I've grown to love but I guess that's not what you should be aiming for really. The prawns in the filling were big lumps, no paste here. My one complaint was there wasn't enough, maybe only 4 of them and not the biggest bowls either. Quality over quantity is definitely the aim here.
Just as we were getting up to leave a big new Audi pulled up outside and a pair of immaculately and expensively dressed locals hopped out, him in blazer and slacks and her a well tailored skirt suit. They stepped inside and squeezed in on one of the little tables with everyone else.
I've been reading your blog for a while (also a bit of a latter day Chinese food obsessive). Anyway, I was in HK a couple of weeks ago and also made the trip to Maks. Even though the servings are small, I enjoyed every drop of that broth and every bite of those wontons. Truly delicious. I also got taken out for a fantastic meal at a place called Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao which is in the big mall at Times Square. Wonderful, tiny eels stir fried with Chinese leek, and lovely, chewy jelly fish.
Anyway, I'm off to Hunan province at the end of this week, and shall let you know if I pick up on any gems whilst there.
Posted by: Sharmila | April 07, 2009 at 10:09 AM
YAY! Great post, good to read about your foodie experiences!
Posted by: Kavey | April 08, 2009 at 09:28 PM
Sharmila - glad you like my blog. Sounds like we missed out on an opportunity with Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao. Can't beat a bit of jellyfish. Let me know how Hunan is, as much as I like Fuchsia Dunlop's cook book about the region's food it's not on my Chinese roster yet - I could be convinced though.
Kavey - there should hopefully be a few more for you over the next few months. I've been in Kuala Lumpur for the last week but still have a couple more HK posts to do then another 3 or 4 so far from here. As strange as it seems being unemployed it's hard to find the time to write them. Going to give it an hour later on today so should hopefully catch up though.
Posted by: Joshua Armstrong | April 09, 2009 at 07:17 AM
Pork, prawn, and water chestnut, all the rememory of the good old days when I was young, wonton is my favorite Chinese food and all. My style is chicken wonton, and pan-fried wonton is better for me. By the way, combine wonton with spaghetti is as good as wonton noodle soup.
Thank you for sharing :D
Posted by: delicious wonton | July 13, 2009 at 12:47 PM
It seems like Mak's just doing a very traditional wonton soup (four wontons placed under the noodles). I'll definitely have to hit it up the next time I visit HK.
Posted by: Sherry | August 15, 2009 at 01:25 PM