KAU KEE NOODLE 九記牛腩 HONG KONG

I am typing this post right now in my Mongkok apartment with concern and I literally can not sleep, I am in the middle of this horror of what is predicted to be the biggest typhoon attack in Hong Kong after a very-very long time and right this very second, the current view from my bedroom is both rain and wind that are getting stronger and stronger. I really hope everything is okay and the typhoon magically disappear.

Anyway, of course the main purpose of this post is to share you guys my culinary experience and this one was really impressive that I HAVE TO share! It's our (I and my foodie friends) fourth day in Hong Kong and for the past few days we have strolled the city, visiting numerous restaurants, coffee shops and eating non-stop! One of the highlight (if not THE HIGHLIGHT) of today's culinary experience has got to be this noodle house that I accidentally found (yet again)...

I think that's the beauty of travelling and strolling the city, so because of the huge amount of recommendations given by you guys, to be honest I get a little overwhelmed (but in the same time SUPER THANKFUL FOR YOU!), I did keep everything on my note but I didn't observe each and every restaurant by the address, phone number, and region. So initially we wanted to visit Elephant Grounds at Gough Street and then Yardbird which is just 5 minutes away from Elephant Grounds, and while walking towards the Gough street (and probably just 2 minutes away from Elephant Grounds), I saw this little restaurant with 10 people queuing outside and apparently that restaurant is my blog post for today.

It took us less than 10 minutes to be seated, trust me when I say Hong Kong people are the fastest eaters and somehow I find them very cool because most of them eat with no bullshit and they appreciate food for how it is: to be enjoyed. I rarely see people here take pictures of their food, as soon as the food is served they directly eat them fresh! I wanted to show you guys the photo of the exterior & interior, but I took it with my Sony compact camera and the MMC has been a fucking pain in the ass lately! Need to recover my photos ASAP and I promise I will update this blog post.

The main menu in this restaurant has got to be what they are famous for: their beef brisket noodle, and it comes with some other variations from the toppings, soup and noodle base like beef slices, beef tendon, E-fu noodle, flat noodle, vermicelli in broth, curry, oyster sauce and special sauce. Price for food here ranges from HKD 40-65.

They have a strict regulation of HKD 45 minimum spending on each person, so technically you everyone HAS TO EAT here.

Beef Brisket in E-fu Noodle in Broth - HKD 45
The naming sounds a bit weird but anyway this is one of the best selling menus here! I expected the noodle to be soft (and I bet you would think that when you look at the picture), but hey sometimes looks can be deceiving because turned out it was quite chewy with just the right firmness that I like! The soup was seasoned spot-on with what somehow this ginseng-like flavor to me with just a tad of sweet too, and it definitely fits the generous & uber tender beef brisket! Brisket can sometimes be tricky but they executed it perfectly. It was probably the best beef brisket I've had so far: thick, fatty, juicy and altogether delicious!

I can still taste the texture of the noodle in my mouth!

Beef Tendon with Vermicelli in Curry - HKD 45

We ordered this because a couple whom we shared our table with ordered this and I shamelessly asked them what number is this because it looked freaking good, and the thing with numbers here because most locals you would meet in local restaurants here (I wanna say waiter but somehow it's a bit un-proper) doesn't speak English as the first language, if you don't speak Cantonese or Mandarin, sometimes ordering food can be quite challenging here, and it's better that you mention the number instead of the actual name. By the way this is number 16 and I LOVE THIS! The curry broth had this rich curry character and spicy at default, it's oily but not the type where it's loaded with a lot of coconut milk, and more to the clear one. The beef tendon was tender and juicy, normally I wouldn't have vermicelli, but I think for this particular dish, vermicelli is the best fit even more than the E-fu noodle.

With the huge amount of F&B variety here in Hong Kong, I don't know if I want to label this "the best", you just gotta explore and explore more in Hong Kong because it's indeed the land with tons of good food, but this 90 year old restaurant certainly left good impression on me with their simple, humble yet timeless creations. I would be more than happy to recommend this to everyone visiting Hong Kong!

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Kau Kee 九記牛腩

21 Gough Street, Central, Hong Kong // 中環歌賦街21號地舖

+852 2850 5967
Opening hours:
Mon-Sat: 12:30 PM-10:30 PM
CLOSED ON SUNDAYS, PH AND LUNAR NEW YEAR FOR 10 DAYS!
Dresscode: none

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Map for Kau Kee Restaurant