Hon Kei Food Corner — Restaurant in George Town

I have partaken of countless bowls of pork noodles in many places. None have come close to touching what this place has to offer. The soup is slightly milky with a clear and rich flavour. The amount of meat that they give is almost overwhelming, and the juiciness of it makes the mouth water. Each individual component of this work of art must first be tasted and enjoyed separately when the bowl arrives. Soup first, then noodles, then meat. And then, arrange in your spoon all the ingredients (at a ratio of 1/3 noodles and 2/3 meat) and immerse this with as much soup as you can. Gently place this as a whole in your mouth and close your eyes. Focus. On the swill of soup against the noodles and meat. On the blending of the separate flavours and textures. The bouncy and sweet, juicy meat intermingling with the snapping of a multitude of individual strands of noodles, accompanied all the while by the rich, caressing soup swirling all around. All this blends so that one becomes indistinguishable from the other. Soup becomes noodle, noodle is meat and meat was once soup. Swallow. Let the singularity be absorbed unto you. Know that pork gives not only nutrients and life, but also a reason for existence. Give thanks to pork. .... ... Other than that, the ambience is acceptably comfortable though when it gets really busy it's super crowded and cramped. Waiters seem a little distracted at best. It can get rather warm inside too. Ambience gets 3.18 stars. Service is 2.38 stars. Food, a solid 4.65 stars. If you fancy pork in any way at all, you need to make a pilgrimage here. Prices are damn reasonable too...

This is a famous spot in Georgetown serving pork noodles. I have been here on numerous visits and I thought that the pork noodles here was one of the better ones in the island. Today I decided to drop by again after some time of not patronising the shop. Instead of the usual bak chor mee or minced pork noodles, I opted for their fried fish noodles with added minced pork and egg. To my surprise, the soup base looked a little different. It was more cloudy this time around with an almost milkish appearance which reminded me of the fish head noodles in KL. The soup this time around was flavorfully rich in umami goodness with a nice little tang and sweetness which made it a well rounded power broth. This soup tasted much more intense in comparison to the usual pork noodles broth I had in past visits. Although the price was on the higher end, the amount of ingredients justified it. There were generous amounts of minced pork and fried fish. I was pleased with how the food turned out as the broth was not the familiar taste I had before. If the pork noodles broth remain the same as before, then I would recommend to go with the fish noodles for a stronger and deeper taste of the soup base. If you have a lighter palate, I suggest that you go with the normal pork...

Today, my family had dinner here. I am utterly disappointed by:

A. Poor service B. Snobbish inattentive staff C. Drop in taste & quality of food, soup, condiments used, meat D. Inefficient processing of orders where newer customers received their orders before other customers who came much earlier E. Long waiting time

The only thing that was up to standard and pleasing was the herbal tea.

I have eaten at this place since the late 1970s when it was run by the late founder owner who would ride his motorcycle to buy ingredients. Then, it was a roadside stall and despite its humble set-up, food served was fantastic.

With the demise of the nice gentleman, it is definitely tragic that his legacy of decades of excellent food has not been maintained by the heirs of his business but has morphed into an adulterated form of what it used to be in the name of commercialisation!

The sharp hike in price is N.O.T. matched by an improvement in quality or taste!!!

For sure, I will NEVER come here ever again. It is too painful to see the sorry state of the cuisine and service here. I rather cherish the memories of what Hon Kei USED to serve than to pay through my nose and be rudely awakened by the drop in standards!!!

DEFINITELY NOT...