7 Jul 2015. Today marks the Grand Opening of the first outlet in Singapore of Hong Kong's famous Mak's Noodle. I've read and heard a lot about the famed Mak's Noodles but have never tried it in Hong Kong. So, I am glad that I can try it in Singapore (though I have no reference point of what Mak's is like in HK).
Restaurant name: Mak's Noodle 麥奀雲吞麵世家 1920
Address: 176 Orchard Road #01-63, The Centrepoint, Orchard Road, Singapore
GPS: 1.301119, 103.839540
Hours: 11:00am to 10:00pm
Tel: 6235 5778
Non Halal
This first Mak's Noodle outlet in Singapore is a small intimate space on Level 1 in Centrepoint along Orchard Road. (In the 1980s, in roughly the same spot in Centrepoint, here was my favourite Hong Kong noodle and congee place.)
Tony who is the son-in-law of Mak Woon-chi, the founder of Mak's Noodle said that his father-in-law stressed to him that the business build is on "心 heart".
Mak's Noodle is based on the principles of "用心 dedication, 爱心 a loving heart, and 孝心 a filial and respectful heart."
Just a slick, well scripted public relations spill, no?
Perhaps.
Perhaps, not completely.
Hours after the Grand Opening and festivities were over. Long after the invited media had left, I passed by Mak's Noodle.
I saw Chef Chan 陈師父 from Mak's Noodle in Hong Kong personally hand making shrimp dumplings. He could have easily assigned the task to a kitchen help, but no. When no one was looking and when no cameras were around (except this pesky blogger who popped back uninvited), Chef Chan still makes the dumplings himself quietly with heart 用心.
How were the noodles?
Egg noodles dusted with lightly toasted (?) shrimp roe and served with a large dollop of mainly oyster sauce.
The egg noodles which were imported all the way from Hong Kong were slender and slightly dry. Freshly cooked Mak's noodles have a distinct tender springy al dente bite which is very likable.
The oyster sauce was quite intensely savoury/ salty and rather flat tasting. The powdery shrimp roe was also briny.
I checked if the chili sauce might rescue the "dry noodles" from the salty oyster sauce. It didn't help as the chili sauce was salty too and doesn't have that perky sting of fresh chili that I like.
The wantan soup came with 3 good sized wantans. Each wanton wraps a couple of small fresh shrimps. I enjoyed the shrimp's natural firmness and crustacean flavour.
We also had Mak's wanton noodles in soup (country bumpkin me, actually thought this was a sampling portion but it's the regular SGD6.90++ serving).
I like this soup version better than the "dry" version. The angel hair noodles stayed al dente even though they were dunked in the steamy broth. The soup had a mild savoury sweet flavour which allowed me to taste the noodles' egginess and a bit of alkaline flavour (which I enjoyed).
Chef Chan 陈師父 from Mak's Noodle in Hong Kong shared that these dried sole fish is a key ingredient in their signature broth.
Kailan 凯兰菜 greens simply blanched in hot water and served with oyster sauce. Simple and nice, traditional Cantonese way to eat crunchy and juicy fresh kailan.
Cantonese style braised beef tendons and chunks of brisket (牛腩). The chunks of meat were braised till tender and juicy with a nice savoury sweet flavour and lovely beefiness.
As I am a beef tendon (and brisket) person, I appreciate it that the plate of braised beef came with many chunky pieces of tendons. The tendons were all tender, chewy and gummy in different degrees, making the dish so delicious and interesting.
Next time, I shall try Mak's Tossed Noodle with Beef Tendon and Brisket 牛腩面 - egg noodles with braised beef and bathed in savoury beefy braising sauce. It's my favourite way to eat Hong Kong style noodles.
Read about Mak's Noodle at Westgate <- click
Disclosure: As this is an invited media tasting, the food is not reviewed.
Date visited: 7 Jul 2015
Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments submitted with genuine identities are published