麥奀雲吞麵世家 or 麥奀忠记麵家

Food lovers who frequent Hong Kong will undoubtedly have tried Mak's Noodle 麥奀雲吞麵世家, the famous wonton noodle located at Wellington Street, which is a stone's throw away from the famous Yung Kee Roast Duck restaurant.    Then, there is another lesser known Mak's Noodle 麥奀忠记麵家 at Wing Kit Road also in Central but the location is closer to Sheung Wan.    So what is the difference, you may wonder, given the latter has a Zhong Ji (忠记) attached to its name?  For the answer, we will first have to appreciate the history behind the Mak's Noodle family business which I will quote from Wikipedia as follow -

"Mak noodle today is a third generation family business dating back to the 1960s, and is now run by Mak Chi-ming, whose grandfather Mak Woon-chi (麥煥池) served the dish to Chiang Kai-shek.   It is claimed that the recipe has remained unchanged since Mak's grandfather's time.

The Noodles restaurant has its roots in a Guangzhou eatery established pre-war by Mak Woon-chi.   One of his sons, Mak King-hung (麥鏡鴻), nicknamed Mak Ngan (麥奀) because he was extremely skinny as a child, started an open air food stall in Central in 1968 in which his younger brother was the chef.    The founder retired in 1983, and renounced his food stall license in lieu of HK$36,000 in compensation from the Hong Kong government.

The founders eldest son, Mak Chi-ching (麥志忠), opened his own restaurant Chung Kee Noodles (忠記麵家) in 1986, while Mak senior partnered his son-in-law in 1989 to reincarnate his original business in Wellington Street.    He ran the restaurant himself and retired again in 1996.   The business was succeeded by his second son, Mak Chi-ming, the current proprietor.

In recent years, Mak's Noodle has established outlets at Olympian City, China Hong Kong City, Causway Bay and Jordan, and one restaurant in Macau." - unquote

As to whether the current shop in Central is in the exact location as the one started by Mak Ngan way back in 1968, I am not sure.

Mak Noodles have a reputation of not only serving authentic and  tasty wanton noodles but also irks many a patrons for their ridiculously small servings given the price.

Having been to both the Mak Noodles, I prefer  麥奀忠记麵家 at Central.   Firstly, as you can see from the picture above, 麥奀忠记麵家 retains the traditional, old-style road side stall look (which I prefer) whereas 麥奀雲吞麵世家 have taken a more up-market kind of restaurant style set up.  For a brand that is so steep in history, a retro set up tend to give you the turn-back-the-clock feeling while you are having your meal.    Secondly, the service  I experienced at 麥奀忠记麵家 is one that is more courteous and warm, given that the shop space is smaller and there are less waiters compared to 麥奀雲吞麵世家.

Food wise, both are quite similar in serving and taste.     Noodle is cooked just right, not soggy but with the right amount of "springiness".    The soup is favourful , with a tint of "soap water" taste to it.  I really don't think they have used any MSG when preparing the soup.   The wanton have a reasonable sized prawn in it.
Overall, a very, very nice and satisfying wanton noodle albeit the small serving.   Then again, one can order and down another bowl quite easily without feeling overly bloated after that.

We were told that Kailan was in season (it was winter then), and that we should try it steamed and topped with Oyster Sauce.   As it turned out, this dish was superb.     Fresh, crunchy and juicy Kailan and not too salty oyster sauce.   Yummy.

Some people may just settle for  Maxims or Tsui Wah when it comes to their bowl of wanton noodle, but for me, it must definitely be Maks Noodle Zhong Ji because in my opinion, this is the best one can find in Hong Kong.

MAK'S NOODLE (ZHONG JI) 麥奀忠记麵家

G/F, 37 Wing Kit Street, Central

(Sheung Wan MTR exit E2)

中環永吉街37號地下

Tel : 2541 6388