Street Eats: Hearty Cantonese Beef Brisket Noodles Near Chaoyang Hospital

Many foodies dream of living a food editor’s life, being paid to indulge in five-star hotel buffets, fine dining restaurants, fancy cocktail bars, and specialty coffee shops. But even food editors are slaves to payday, and believe it or not, half of our lives are spent in the modest eateries around the office.

After a matcha-intensive summer of restaurant and sweet shop coverage, the start of autumn has been marked by an uptick in Hong Kong-style foods and stalls. Perhaps it's the dropping temperatures that have us dreaming of hopping on the next flight and fleeing to Hong Kong for hearty beef brisket noodle soup (think the always-packed Kau Kee on Gough Street in Hong Kong).

Regardless the inspiration, we’ve found a small eatery opposite Chaoyang Hospital to fit the bill. On the purple shop sign, there are several Chinese characters saying “Hong Kong Laoma Niunan” (mom’s beef brisket) in yellow. After the ayi welcomes you in, you'll notice that just like most of the street eats in Hong Kong: The space is small, with about five tables and golden wallpaper to remind us of the golden years of the '80s. On the menu: beef brisket, chicken, pig trotters, and fish balls, served with rice (RMB 23-26), vermicelli soup or with flat rice noodle soup (RMB 10-24), and wonton noodle soup, to which you can add beef brisket or pork trotters (RMB 26-40).

We opted for the bestselling beef brisket noodle soup (RMB 22), which had several pieces of beef brisket, and were quite tender and flavorful. There were also some vegetables with the vermicelli.  The soup is clear, rich, delicious and not oily as others'. While you're eating, the vermicelli slowly soaks up the soup and expand. Don’t be shy and ask the owner for more soup if you like, it’s quite common.

There are a bunch of simple dim sum, like shrimp dumplings, shumai (RMB 18), steamed ribs (RMB 16), baozi (RMB 12-14), and small dishes such as spiced daikon (RMB 10), the flavorful daikon seasoned with soy sauce and pepper. You can also go the extra mile in your journey to the south and try the fried fish skin (RMB 12). The deep fried fish skins are similar to the addictive Chicharon, seasoned with salt and quite dry, making them the perfect snack to go with drinks (so where’s my beer?).

Just like at the original eateries, here you order and pay at the entrance. After asking if you want shallots, the wife will shout back to the kitchen in Cantonese and bring you your food straight away. We've all seen Vietnamese-run Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, or people from the south managing a Sichuan restaurant, but here you can rest assured that you're getting the real deal, as evidenced by the ayi’s Hong Kong-native husband and staff serving up authentic beef noodles. The kitchen's background music is all Cantonese songs and we wouldn’t be surprised if they get a TV and start showing '80s kung fu movies. Laoma, we hope you start to provide milk tea soon so we can live out our Hong Kong daydreams.

Hong Kong Laoma Niunan
Daily 10am-10pm. 34 Zhongfangli, Chaoyang District (150 0102 9083)
香港老妈牛腩:朝阳区中纺里34

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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos: Tracy Wang, Dianping