Restaurant review: Crazy Noodles, Hong Kong
The place to go for mouth-burning spicy Sichuan dishes
I love noodles. Just want to get that out there right away. And I’m picky about noodles, too. I like noodles that are thick, chewy, and flavourful or able to absorb flavour well. This includes knife-cut noodles, egg noodles, thick rice noodles, and maybe almost anything cooked to an al dente texture. And I usually like them fried, dry, and or mostly dry but covered in a thick sauce. I don’t like noodles most noodles in soup or plain noodles with a thin sauce. For example, I like vermicelli bowls overall because of the toppings but the noodles… Within the rice, noodle, potato, or bread equation? Noodles are my number one.
Now that that’s out of the way, imagine my surprise at learning that there was a restaurant called Crazy Noodles in Central and that I hadn’t been. At a glance, the restaurant ticks many of my boxes: serves noodles, is Sichuan food, has generous portions. Well done to my other half for finding it and suggesting that we go.
It turns out that Crazy Noodles was right under my nose. I must have walked past the building on Stanley Street hundreds of times during my time in Hong Kong but never noticed it because it’s literally in an office building and I guess I just never looked up and noticed the sign. Oops.
The spacious restaurant was busy on a weeknight and all of the booths were taken, so one of the many staff helped get us seated at a communal table. The overall vibe is casual, an eat and then go kind of place. But comfortable enough.
There are three set menu options between $73 and $93.
We ordered the Dan Dan Noodles, Noodles with Minced Pork and Mashed Peas, Bang Bang Chicken (+ $28), and Dumplings in Sweet and Spicy Sauce (+ $28).
The chicken was a little bit of a let down. Spice-wise it hit the spot but the overall taste and texture of the chicken was just okay.
Thankfully our next order, the dumplings, was excellent. The skin was bouncy, the filling was both generous and delicious, and the spicy sweet sauce was absolutely addictive.
Both noodle dishes had good flavour and depth. If I’d only ordered one option, I would have been happily satisfied with the taste. But since we had two to compare, personally I liked the Dan Dan Noodles more because of the sweeter sauce. Note that Crazy Noodles isn’t kidding around about its spice. I was feeling adventurous and ordered the noodles with the standard spice level which turned out to be way too spicy much for me. I forced myself to eat as much as I could though, spicy sweats and all…! Also, the texture of the noodles was slightly too soft for my liking. Next time, I’ll opt for the “Little Spicy” option and see if they can make my noodles harder.
Verdict
Overall, there’s a lot to love about Crazy Noodles. The food is good quality and value for money. The service is great, and the owner is very friendly.
1/F, Kai Tak Commercial Building, 66-72 Stanley Street, Central, 2311 3905
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