Mak’s noodles seemed like what every Singaporean must eat when in Hong Kong. Been to Hong Kong about 4 – 5 times, but have never tried it there. Since they’ve recently opened a branch in Centerpoint (Orchard Road), we went to experience the hype. 

    
 We were not surprised by the queue, patrons were confused with the queue direction due to the placement of the sign and ended up queuing for the cashier. We did not wait long for a table, probably 15min. But when seated could not order till the previous occupants paid. Never mind, let’s look at the menu. 

 Nothing fanciful on the menu, just good old egg noodle, soup and beef brisket dishes. We ordered the dry wanton noodles and beef brisket soup noodles. 

   
Noodles were very Q (chewy and cooked al dente), nice texture but too much alkali made it bitter. Their wanton soup stock was nice, I like the yellow chives in it. Wantons which meant to have fungus, pork and shrimp did not taste like they have any pork or fungus though they still taste good. The beef brisket noodle was quite disappointing. Besides the bitter noodles, the soup was so oily and so were the brisket. Overall I’d rate the food average as there are better wanton, brisket noodles in town with bigger portions for the same price or lesser.

The queue to pay was long and slow. The cashier could not handle the turnover and therefore patrons have to wait for the previous ones to pay before they could order. They can probably do better with service. In Hong Kong, patrons usually order immediately when seated and have no problems paying. Not sure what went wrong in Singapore, perhaps the automated ordering system?

Would we go back? Probably not.