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2012-12-11
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We walked by Daimenko on the way to the old Wanchai Police Station and thought we'd give it a try another day. What a pleasant surprise! Should have come back last week instead of waste our meal at some random restaurant nearby this one... I have had these "rickshaw noodles" a couple of times before and was not very impressed. But I am a fan now. I think this place just "started" and are trying out their new operations, since their menus are still printed on A4 paper and just sticky taped o
I think this place just "started" and are trying out their new operations, since their menus are still printed on A4 paper and just sticky taped onto the counter at this time. They have digital menus and not a whole lot of instruction on how to order. However, it is not exactly rocket science to order a bowl of noodles and we figured it out soon enough. It was like ordering a salad or a pizza, except in this case, you order your noodles and pick your toppings. The cashier was not very friendly and did not appear very familiar with their computer system, so we took like a minute to place our order.
Once we ordered and paid, we were told to take a seat and pick up the noodles when they were ready. I was surprised they only accepted Octopus, which was great for me since I do not like carrying coins. The restaurant offers free seating using stools and the "tacky" street furniture. But on second thought, this actually went well nicely. I think the owners are proud of the heritage of their noodles and you can see a big poster of an old market food stall in the middle of the restaurant, probably of their old shop back in the day. I was told by my friend that this used to be a street food, hence the furniture I guess, which is appropriate.
Shortly after we picked a spot, our ticket was called (probably around 2 minutes after we paid) and we had to get up again to go get our noodles. Our noodles came in a stylish white Daimenko bowl with a handle, which we thought was pretty neat.
This is where things started getting better. I ordered my own combo including: Chicken Wings, Soy Egg, Beef Brisket and Curry Squid with Inaniwa Udon. My friend ordered some "dirty street hawker noodle", which according to him, is the traditional favourite. I passed on it because it included pork intestine which I am not that eager to try.
I started by eating the Chicken Wings. I will tell you that I have a bias as I generally like eating chicken wings and order it even when I go to Mcdonald's... That said, you wouldn't believe it, this is probably one of the BEST chicken wings I have had, a la Chinese style at a noodle shop in Hong Kong. The wings had the usual soy flavour which is good although not very strong - but the texture was PERFECT.
The Soy Egg was nice and had a soft yolk. Beef was good and so was the curry squid. I also ordered a fresh pear juice, which was nice.
The portions were just right and not very big. Some guys might like to have a "bigger" bowl of noodles, but I liked this size (as it left me "satisfied" with sufficient space for a dessert and not feeling very stuffed).
As for my friend, he liked the dirty street hawker noodle he had. Although he said the spicy soup could be "hotter", it was a good amount so that he could taste the other ingredients.
My friend tells me that my bowl of noodles was relatively pricey, but not expensive, given that a bowl of Inaniwa Udon would cost like 80-200 dollars at a Japanese restaurant. He thinks his bowl was good value at 33 dollars with like 5 toppings, especially for Wanchai. For me, I can simply say that I would pay 80-100 dollars for a bowl of noodles that looks like this and I ended up paying 50, so I am a happy camper.
We originally thought Daimenko was just another ramen place, but it is not. It is truly a Hong Kong noodle shop and much more than just a "ramen place" - even though they serve ramen too. It is not fair to benchmark this place using my New York "Zagat" comparison since this is not western food, but I would recommend this place to anyone who would like to have a delicious bowl of Hong Kong style noodles - without having to go to some dumpy, back alley shop with a 30 minute wait. Just goes to show that in Hong Kong, one can still "get lucky" like we did, just walking into an unknown shop.
Maybe Daimenko could do with a little music? But like I said many times before, the most important thing about a restaurant is the food and this place has what it takes to bring me back for another bowl.
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