Gogyo

Gogyo
Shop 3020, Level Three IFC Mall
1 Harbour View Street, Central

Fruit tsukemen with lobster bisque dipping sauce, assorted skewers, garden salad. Fruit tsukemen is a surprisingly good concoction, imparting freshness and balancing out the creamy thickness of the bisque. The noodles are chewy and al dente, and seem ready to soak up a hint of umami dressing covering the fruits. The skewers are average; the garden salad is fresh and, at 60 hkd, a good deal.

Kotarou

Kotarou
朝阳区 新源街2号(近机场高速辅路)

Recently Kotarou has added ramen to its menu. According to the kitchen, they would start cooking the ramen soup base at around noon, and have it ready by around midnight. Customers would flock there late in the evening, and by 2am the soup would be gone and a new batch would start afresh the next day. These are all evidence of a serious ramen proprietor, but on the day of review, the ramen falls short of expectations. The tonkotsu soup base is strong and concentrated, full of flavors of pork and fat. A tinge of smokiness suggests that the chashu pork is slightly charred on the grill before simmering in soup. The pork is tender but, regrettably, a bit too soft and lacking a chew-able body. The noodle is the weakest link: it is surely not made fresh, as evident from an artificial bounciness and a relative lack of flavors.

Food court at Phoenix Galleria

Food court
Phoenix Galleria
Sanyuanqiao, Beijing

A fast-food and not-so-tasty version of reganmian (热干面), or Wuhan-style stir-fry noodles.

Wuhan-style noodles, with pumpkin congee.

Food court at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur)

Signatures Food Court
Suria KLCC
Kuala Lumpur

Fabulous fish-based noodles at the food court.

Ssam

Ssam
工体北路8号三里屯SOHO2号楼B1-238室

Korean cold noodles, reimagined.

Sapporo Ramen Domon

Sapporo Ramen Domon
49-51A Sing Woo Road, Happy Valley
Hong Kong

Decent Hokkaido-style ramen, with extra bamboo shoots and soft-boiled egg.

北京老家

北京老家
銅鑼灣記利佐治街1號金百利廣場7樓R3室

Beijing noodles (炸醬麵), leg of lamb, braised pork belly.

Wah Lam Noodle Restaurant

Wah Lam Noodle Restaurant (華南粉麵茶餐廳)
G/F & 1/F
5-11 Thomson Road, Wan Chai
Hong Kong

Beef brisket noodles, and vegetables.

Thai noodles

Thai noodles.

麵屋武蔵

麵屋武蔵
Kwun Tong apm
Hong Kong

Average ramen, interesting fries.

Huangheshui Noodles

Huangheshui Shanxi Restaurant (黄河水陕西小吃)
Sanlitun, Beijing.

Back for the umpteenth time, this place has never disappointed. It holds ground yet again.

Korean Garden

Korean Garden
2/F, 247 Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan
Hong Kong

Decent jajangmyeon, and one of the few places in Hong Kong where Cass is served.

Chopsticks Kee

Chopsticks Kee (筷子記）
Shop A1, Khuan Ying Commercial Building
85-89 Wellington Street, Central

Noodles with braised pork belly, squid balls, and green veggies. Everything came out perfectly in this self-designed concoction: the spice in the noodles soup cut through the fat of the pork belly. The squid balls ruptured with juicy squidy goodies, and provided heft to the concoction. The green veggies were green veggies -- added a layer of freshness to balance out the meats.

Lamb soup in Beijing

Beiping Lamb Soup (北平羊汤馆) and Wusheng Lamb Soup (武圣羊汤馆）.

Liu Family Cuisine

Liu Family Cuisine (刘家食府)
Beijing

Cabbage with tofu shreds, soybean tofu (麻豆腐), spinach with peanuts, Beijing noodles (炸酱面), braised beef, Beijing meat bun (老北京肉笼).

A random walk down the streets of Guiyang

Batons of deep-fried eggplant with fried fermented soya beans; an assortment of preserved meats; and vegetables braised in red chili peppers, at Yi Ding Xuan (壹鼎軒). Changwang noodles (腸旺面), with fried pork belly cubes and marinated egg. Glutinous rice with soya beans and brown sugar (黃粑).

The changwang noodles, a staple food in Guiyang, can be found on every street in the city. The basic ingredients are pig intestines, pig blood, chili oil, and egg noodles. To make the egg noodles, fresh farm eggs and water are mixed with high-gluten flour to yield a malleable dough, which is then pressed, folded and then hand-cut into shreds of noodles. To properly cook the noodles, the starch is blanched and shocked in a cold water bath. Just before serving, the noodles return to hot soup with chili oil, blanched intestine pieces and cooked blood curds. Optional pieces of fried pork belly cubes and soy sauce-marinated egg typically enter the fray to contribute sizzle. The resulting bowl of noodles was a symphony of harmony, with the freshness of the piggy bits fully accentuated by the chili oils, while the pork belly cubes and egg provided added colors and textures to the concoction. The noodles got bite but was not overly chewy, and despite the masculine strength of the chili oil, the egg in the noodles shone through. Local folks typically drop a healthy dose of black vinegar into the soup to enliven the palate even further. I have been told there are better joints for these types of noodles, though I have also been told that everyone in Guiyang has their favorite noodle joint, and that no one restaurant stands out objectively above the rest. In any case, at less than 1 USD a bowl, including all the options, this is definitely the best thing money can buy in this part of China.

Rating: 3 stars to the changwang noodles.

[caption id="attachment_2020" align="alignnone" width="529"] Batons of deep-fried eggplant with fried fermented soya beans.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2021" align="alignnone" width="529"] An assortment of preserved meats (臘肉).[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2022" align="alignnone" width="529"] Vegetables braised in red chili peppers.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2023" align="alignnone" width="529"] Changwang noodles (腸旺面), with fried pork belly cubes and marinated egg.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="529"] Glutinous rice with soya beans and brown sugar (黃粑).[/caption]

Kitchen 65

Kitchen 65
Shop 7, 2/F, Miramar Shopping Centre
132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Hong Kong 

Singaporean Laksa. Nothing stands out, but everything comes together in a synchronized whole.

Qixi Kitchen

Qixi Kitchen (七喜粥麺小廚)
2 Kiang Su Street, To Kwa Wan
Hong Kong

Goose intestines with noodles (鵝腸粗).

Mutekiya

Mutekiya
G/F, 9 Mercer Street, Sheung Wan
Hong Kong

I had high expectation for this place not least because it arrived in
Hong Kong amidst an explosion of new, high-quality ramen joints, but
because the name sounded eerily familiar: it carries the same name, if
not also same vibe, as the highly-rated ramen joint in Ikebukuro,
which I've written about back in 2009. Unfortunately, the shop manager
said that this one had no connection with the one in Ikebukuro (in
fact, she said that she had almost never heard of it -- it's like a
steakhouse manager not having heard of Morton's or Ruth's Chris...but
I digressed). The bowl here was a disappointment: the noodles were too
overcooked and soft, the chashu was too thinly cut and imparted
neither character nor flavor. The side veggies: wood ear mushrooms,
spring onions, sprouts and Chinese water spinach seemed to be thrown
into the bowl without any thoughts of how these flavors would blend
together (they didn't). Its only redeeming light was its price: at
under HKD 60 including tips, it wasn't on the surface a horrible deal
in this expensive part of town. But given its quality amongst its
peers, it needed to seriously up the ante. For a start, perhaps a
visit to the Ikebukuro temple of ramen ecstasy wouldn't be a bad idea.

Ramen Kureha

Ramen Kureha (拉麵來)
Shop B, G/F
20-22 Wun Sha Street
Tai Hang, Hong Kong.
Tugged away inside a small street in the sleepy part of HK Island,
Ramen Kureha sports such a cartoonish facade that it looks like
it was lifted out of the midpages of a Japanese manga. The interior,
adorned with corny toy miniatures, effused the touch of a charismatic,
jovial spirit. The order was the house special, "Soulful" (魂の一杯),
which was basically a chashu ramen with a seriously thick soup base. The
chashu was a disappointment as it came out dry and without any
discernible taste. The soup base was so thick it could double as a
nice gravy for rice or spaghetti. The noodles, the only redeemer of
the lot, came out al dente as ordered and got some lovely, tangy bite.
At 98 HKD, it wasn't the most expensive in this expensive town but
didn't prevail as a bargain.