When shopping at Ladies' Market in Mong Kok, do your homework. If they are open from 12pm, DO NOT be like us and go early. We were anxious to come back after previously walking away with great bargains from the Ladies' Market. This time we came early at about 1030am. But guess what? Some of the stalls were empty and for some stalls, the vendors had some of their merchandise displayed and were busy still setting up. The vendors were ignoring us. So what did we do? We went looking for food.
We clearly had over an hour to kill so we walked along the street looking for a light meal and came across Yong Yuen Noodle House (YYNH). From the outside, this clearly was a small restaurant specializing in Hong Kong style comfort foods of noodles, won tons and beef stew brisket. The leader of the group decided to give this place a try and we hit jackpot.
As we sat down, we noticed the chairs were smaller and lower which made it difficult to sit. For me, I almost had a Charlie Horse! After we took our seats I grabbed a menu. Luckily, I am able to read the Chinese menu and decided on the classic bowl of fishcake with look funn noodles. I also noticed seaweed as a side dish which seemed interesting so I added that on.
I like restaurants that advertise house made items and in this case, their fish cake. I judge it by the texture, appearance and taste. The fishcake had a firm texture with a good bounce. You could taste the fish (it wasn't fishy at all), white pepper and sesame oil. There was a balance in these flavors which stood out in the bowl. I noticed the look funn noodles were sliced thinner than what I'm used to. I added the seaweed which brought another level of flavor and I enhanced my bowl by adding some red wine vinegar and chili sauce. When I was done polishing my bowl of noodles, I didn't feel stuffed. As a side dish we also had some choy sum with oyster sauce that was good.
When in Hong Kong, order a glass of milk tea that is served either hot or cold. It was still warm in mid-November so I asked for the iced version. The milk tea was amazing. It's a far cry from what I drink here at home. The brewed tea is strong and has a great balance with evaporated milk and sweet condensed milk. It was so good that I polished my glass quickly and ordered a second one.
Service was standard for a Chinese restaurant. Because we spoke in Cantonese we got exactly what was ordered on a timely basis. Not sure if service would be compromised if you don't speak Chinese.
Overall, we walked away very happy because not only did we kill time, we had tasty Hong Kong comfort food that didn't put a dent in our wallets. It was priced reasonably where I definitely would recommend if you're in the area. read more