You can try to search Wong Kei London online, and I bet the most words you’re going to see are ‘Upstairs! Upstairs!” Widely known as the famous Chinese restaurant that serves cheap authentic Hong Kong style food in Chinatown, they’re also famous for its staffs’ arrogance and attitudes. You’re most likely to be greeted with “Upstairs!” instead of “Hi” when you stepped in. The meaning is plain – go upstairs to find your seats or I’ll kick you out!

Such were the comments that I got from web, but my friend insisted that I should try Wong Kei, as part of the Chinatown experience. Gulp! OK.

You can imagine how sheepish we were, standing 4 feets away from Wong Kei entrance, summoning the courage to step in. “You walk in front,” I told CS but he retorted, “No, lady’s first!” Oh ya *rolleyes*, since when ‘lady’s first’ became CS’s life motto? I don’t remember him saying that when we’re digging in Baskin Robbin tub.

Then, a guy walked in. Like an automatic robot, a staff pointed down and guy A descend the stairs. A guy B came, and we quickly followed behind him. The same signal happened and we got to lower ground. Hey, we got a ‘Downstairs! instead of “Upstairs!”

As it’s only 6 pm, the place was barely full. An elderly Chinese man attended to us and surprisingly, no rudeness, no attitude. As my friend recommended, I ordered a beef fried hor fun and CS (still longing for authentic HK wanton noodles) ordered wanton noodles soup.

Oh Boy, my beef fried hor fun was huge! A taste at the hor fun, there’s no doubt it was cooked with a good dose of ‘wok hei’. There’s not a single piece of hor fun that was overcooked, became ‘melty’ and stick together. While my photo didn’t show it clearly, that’s generous amount of beef in it but they’re a little overcooked for me.

On the other hand, wanton noodle soup is okay la, but you’re going to be disappointed if you’re looking for the exact quality as in Hong Kong.

All things considered, Wong Kei is a good place for cheap food or when you’re craving for Chinese food after days of English bread. Afterall, the quality are not bad. Our meal only costs us around 7 pounds, the cheapest meal we had in UK.