Wonton noodles in Hong Kong

Do you know that wonton noodles (餛飩麵) is also nicknamed 細蓉 [sai3 jung2] in Cantonese?

For those who ask “what is a wonton”, wonton is a kind of dumpling in Cantonese cuisine, usually having shrimp and pork as the stuffing. So to put it simply, wonton noodles are noodles with Cantonese dumplings.

Let’s go back to its name. Some say the name was a poetic reference to refer to beautiful ladies; some say it was wordplay to describe what wonton noodles are: making the eaters warm and satisfying their hunger, as if a gentle embrace from a motherly figure…Sorry, I am not good with this literature thing, but you get the meaning.

                                                                       

細蓉 also refers to the size of the serving of wonton noodles. 細蓉 is the smallest, with one tael of noodles and four wontons; 中蓉 [zung1 jung2] is middle size, with one and a half tael of noodles and six wontons; and 大蓉[daai6 jung2]  is the largest, with two taels of noodles and eight wontons.

And don’t underestimate these plain-looking dumpling noodles. According to some wonton noodles experts, the formula of making good wonton noodles could be boiled down to three things: the wonton, the bouillon and the noodles.

Contrary to popular belief, the wontons should not be too big, where a mouthful size is preferable. The dumpling wrappers have to be thin, while the ratio of pork and shrimp can be adjusted to a person’s liking; the bouillon should be made with pork bone, dried flounder and shrimp roe. A good bouillon would be light brown in color and not too greasy; the noodles should be handmade egg noodles (it’s called “handmade”, but you can buy it from traditional noodles shop, so don’t worry) which taste smooth, thin and more importantly, al dente.

Of course you can eat it in whatever way you want, but care to try the traditional way?  Drink a spoon of bouillon, swallow a wonton, and then eat a mouthful serving of noodles. Rinse and repeat. You will be able to finish the noodles right on the fourth cycle!

You should have noticed though. The serving is pretty small. A bowl of wonton noodles is more like snack instead of proper meal.

But, hey, everything we have here is small AND expensive!

This is the essence of Hong Kong!