Xin Pin Xiang Zhou Mian Dian – Random Noodle Shop with No English Name in Bowrington Road Market

新品香粥麵店 (Xin Pin Xiang Zhou Mian Dian) has no English name, in Chinese it literally translates to “new stuff fragrant congee noodle shop”.  It is located in Wan Chai in the Bowrington Road Market.  Bowrington Road Market is a very cool open air market with lots a vendors selling meat, fruits, seafood and other stuff.  It also has an indoor section that has an awesome cooked food court (see my post on Wai Kee).

It’s a small shop that is pretty run down with maybe 6-7 tables.  It was our first meal after we had gotten to Hong Kong and we ate here around 8am in the morning. They do not speak English and none of the menus are in English, in fact I even had a really hard time understanding their Mandarin because they had such a heavy Cantonese accent.  The service is quick, efficient and brisk.  It’s really the type of places that people come in to get a quick meal and that’s it.

Here’s what we got:

Beef Brisket Noodle Soup (Niu Nan Mian):

This was pretty good, not the best version I’ve had in HK, but still tasty.  The meat itself was quite good, very tender and flavorful.  The noodles were good as well, good chewy al dente texture with good flavor.  The broth itself was also quite flavorful and not too salty, however it’s downfall that it was too heavy, it was much heavier / oily than it should be.  The vegetables were fine, but pretty standard. 8/10 (8.25/10 for the beef and noodles, 7.5/10 for the broth)

Zha Liang (Fried Crueller Wrapped in Rice Noodle):

Zha liang is a favorite dim sum food of mine.  It is a you tiao (fried crueller) wrapped in a white rice noodle that is sprinkled in sesame seeds with a light sweet soy sauce.  The version here would be good except it wasn’t that fresh, so the you tiao was a bit soggy and the rice noodle had also gotten soggy.  The flavors were good, unfortunately it was just not fresh. 7.5/10

Overall, it’s not the best place I’ve been to in HK, but it was pretty decent.  Their noodle soups would be considered awesome in NY, but again we’re talking HK not NY, so the bar is pretty high.  Also, it is extremely cheap, you can eat here for $4-5 USD and you’ll be full.

Address:
253 Wanchai Road, Wan Chai
灣仔灣仔道253號地下