Who wants to go back to school?! (said no one ever)
So you…read morethink you can find Scoool? Scoool is located in a very obscure, hidden industrial building in some back alley way in Kwun Tong. Sounds sketch, I know. It requires a bit of brain power, navigational skills, and asking for directions with local security guards. Talk about the Amazing Food Race... (My brain is going haywire from seeing school spelled as 'scoool' with the red squiggly lines underneath...)
When you turn left onto Hing Yip St from the Kwun Tong MTR/Hoi Yuen Road, be sure to walk down the right side of the street. After 800 ft or so, look for a large overhead sign between two large industrial buildings, which will say "美興工業大厦" (Mei Hing Building) with an arrow pointing up, and "永興工業大厦" (Wing Hing Building) with an arrow pointing down - This is to indicate whether you turn right (for Mei Hing) or left (for Wing Hing Building) after walking down the inner alley. You want to turn left for Mei Hing, remember.
With the help of some guards, who correctly guessed we were going to 小時光 (seems like many before us were also lost; I hope this review helps!), we were able to find Scoool, that is, after going up an elevator for Mei Hing block B (there's a block A too...so confusing) to the first floor, THEN walking across an empty lot to block A, from which you turn left (passing the block A elevators on your right) to a fire escape door at the end of the hall, and behind it, Scoool (C1). Phew, what a mouthful, and I haven't even gotten to the food or the restaurant interior yet.
The second we walked in, we found ourselves transported back in time to a classroom setting, wooden desks and chairs. We were handed a menu and told to walk down to the end to place our order at the cashier. We arrived at around 8:55pm, just in time for the last order call at 9:00pm. The menu is only in Chinese - with Taiwanese pinyin (Zhuyin or Bopomofo) on the right-hand side of each Chinese character, a nice detailed touch!
We ordered a fried chicken bento 夜市香酥雞便當 (HK$55), and upgraded the rice with mince pork rice 魯肉飯 for an additional HK$8, plus a beef noodle soup 紅燒牛肉麵 (HK$48), which is a must in any Taiwanese restaurant. After placing our order, we turned around and started to walk back to "our" table only to find it occupied by someone else. For a strange reason, I was hit by a sudden wave of nostalgia and felt like I was navigating my way through a high school cafeteria, trying to find an open seat among different friend groups and cliques. (Lots of flashbacks happening in this review...)
We were given a buzzer, which buzzed when our order was ready. Dishes placed on trays, we carried them back to our table, while picking up cutlery on the way. We tried the fried chicken first - I liked it but only wish they had more chili powder to it. Thankfully it wasn't too salty for my tastebuds. Big plus is that they didn't jip us on the chicken portion - a substantial piece of chicken breast - perfect for that post-workout protein fill (as my friend and I went to the gym beforehand). The mince pork on rice was a bit of a let down and not as authentic as the one I had in Taipei. It was very dry and not saucy. But the beef noodles, hands down the best dish that evening. The beef chunks were slightly fatty but so tender, the meat just fell apart in your mouth. Noodles perfectly chewy. The soup with thin slices of red chili for that subtle spicy kick, ugh so good. I would have drank more but noticed the beef fat/oil solidifying and stopped myself. There were also small sides of bean sprouts, Bok Choi, and pickled radish.
I can imagine this place getting crowded during weekday lunches, since the overall quality of the dishes is fairly good and for an unbeatable price. Now I know where to go to get bowl of delicious Taiwanese beef noodle soup 紅燒牛肉麵, yessss.