Mak's Noodles

What we love…

• One can hardly visit Hong Kong without indulging in wanton noodles, and Mak's Noodle is easily one of the best. Mak's Noodle has been around since the 60's serving the same few dishes, and not much has changed since they first opened. The noodle shop started as a dai pai dong (open air food stall) but since has grown into a full, albeit tiny restaurant. Each day hundreds of people stop by to get their fix of wanton noodles, so there's always a line. Since the menu is fairly limited, and customers typically eat quickly, the line up moves really fast so your wait won't be long.
• The wanton noodle is a deceiving simple dish. Wantons are plump shrimp wrapped in a thin flour based pockets, served over thin egg noodles in a broth made from powdered fish, dried shrimp roe, and pork bones. Noodles must be springing and have a slight bite (al dente). The wanton itself should be crunchy, in a wrapper so thin you can see the shrimp inside. The broth should be thin and translucent, and is always served piping hot. When all these factors come together you get the perfect bowl of savory comfort food.
• Mak's has been consistently churning out a great bowl of wanton noodles since day one. The only with Mak's is serving size, each bowl of noodles and wantons is served up in the smallest bowl you can imagine and they charge $32 HKD for each bowl, the same price as other places that have larger servings. Mak's claims that serving small portions ensures the noodles don't become soggy in the broth, although the Chinese slurp soup noodles notoriously quickly so we doubt there's much validity in that claim. Regardless of the small size the noodles and wantons are great, and worth a visit—even if you do need to order two bowls at a time. 
• Mak's Noodle isn't the only place to get good wanton noodles in Hong Kong, but it is one of the most well known. Since the bowls are pretty small there's no reason you can't sample a few places, and as luck would have it, Tsim Chai Kee another fantastic wanton noodle shop is located conveniently​ right across the street from Mak's.