Lau Sum Kee Noodle

HK Island dwellers are missing out. Shum Shui Po («SSP») has so many good local eats, if you picked any shop on Fuk Wing Street and plopped it onto a random spot in Central, Wanchai or Causeway Bay, I guarantee that people would start raving about the ‘local gem that has stood the test of time in a rapidly changing landscape’. Alas the rent on HK island doesn’t allow small local eateries to survive on selling quality food at reasonable prices, and that’s why us island dwellers should visit the dark side once in a while.
Lau Sum Kee Noodles has been around and popular for years, the Fuk Wing Street location is actually their 2^nd store in SSP to cater to the increasing traffic. They are known for making everything fresh and by-​hand, bamboo noodles are their main sell. It means the noodles are made by having the cook ‘ride’ one end of a bamboo shoot up and down, where the other end of the bamboo is fixed to the table where the noodles are, and the cook’s movements compresses and kneads the noodle dough so that it gets some ‘bounce’ in the bite. Think a see-​saw, where the cook sits on one end and the noodles sit under the seat at the other end.
Obviously such labor-​intensive methods of making noodles is being automated and becoming obsolete, so any store that does this is kinda of the treasure of the dining scene. A famous one is Wing Wah Noodles in Wanchai, both that shop and Lau Sum Kee are good, but Lau Sum Kee charges a fraction of the price. A pork knuckle noodle with shrimp roe is only HKD 39, while this very same thing would cost HKD 60 in Wing Wah. AAND Lau Sum Kee puts massive doses of that magic powder I call shrimp roe on, just look at the dark gold sheen in my picture. I love that salty sea-​fresh powder.
Food is fresh here and wonton is also freshly made everyday. Another surprisingly good item is the cubed pickled turnip they have in jars on each table. It tastes similar to the Japanese ones, and is crunchy, sweet-​sourish and refreshing. I have nothing bad to say about the food or the price. The location cannot be helped so you will have to come experience, a small tip is that when I come at night it is a bit less packed than during lunchtime.