As shown and briefly discussed in this post, I recently visited a ramen noodle house that was literally the size of a small bedroom! And talk about hidden…this place was the definiton of Hidden Hong Kong! Tucked behind a labyrinth of tiny shops selling figurine animals and sequined baby clothes sits the Kakurega Ramen Factory on the 7th floor of the Dragon Centre in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong. Completely covered on the outside with hanging bamboo blinds surrounding the perimeter of the makeshift shop, we never would have found the place if we weren’t accompained by our friends, also repeat customers. When we approached the restaurant, I had to duck under a cotton drape hanging from the ceiling that was labeled with a symbol shaped like a bubbled figure 8 lying on its side. After walking in, we squeezed by a tiny bar overlooking the “kitchen” and past 1 of the 4 tables of 4 to our spot. Our seats were made out of old, plastic Coca-Cola crates stacked one on top of the other and tied together with rope. This was definitely unlike any place I had ever dined in.
Here’s some pictures of the food that we ordered. The correct name is tsukemen, which means the noodles are served separately in a bowl from a lukewarm dipping broth, which is later turned into a soup when the waiter adds hot water to your bowl. The noodles are kneaded, shaped and cut on-site every morning ready to serve only 50 bowls for lunch (starting at 11am) and 50 bowls for dinner (until 6pm).
There are three varieties of tsukemen to order – white, red and black. Each tsukemen is served with green onion, bamboo shoots, seaweed (more on that below), char siu and a half-boiled egg from Japan.
As I was finishing my tsukemen, I found a piece of thick seaweed floating in my bowl. As I lifted it up, our friends informed us that the name of the restaurant was stamped on it. Wow, now that’s cool! I fished it out of the soup and placed it on top of my noodles for a picture…but no, I didn’t taste it!
They even have a menu to teach you how to “correctly” enjoy Tsukemen.
Little Lucu fast asleep while we ate.
Another great find in Hong Kong!
More Hidden Hong Kong posts:
Luk Yu Tea House
The Hong Kong Waffle
Sham Shui Po Markets
The Pineapple Bun
