Beef Noodles at 21 Gough St

A friend recommended a beef noodle place the other night, so we arranged to meet there. Even though both YH and I took down the address, when we arrived at Gough St, Central, we just walked into the first Beef Noodle restaurant we saw. It was brightly lit and had articles on the front, so we just assumed we were at the right place.... we found out shortly after that we weren't! So if you try this place out, make sure you go to 21 Gough St. The name of the place is "Gau Ke Ngau Lam" or "Kau Kee Ngau Lam" (it's in Chinese characters only) which roughly translates as "Nine Record Beef Brisket". 

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Apparently there is almost always a queue to get in, so be prepared to wait a while. We were lucky that evening as we didn't have to wait long, but after we were seated, there was a line outside for the entire time we were eating. Also be prepared to share your table with several other groups.

The restaurant is very local, so the decor isn't flash, and the service is a little hurried, but the beef noodles more than make up for it. There's beef brisket with a choice of noodles (ee meen, hor fun and bee hoon), in a clear soup or a curry soup. We tried the ee meen in both clear and curry (the hor fun was sold out - our friend informed us this usually happens by night-time). We all preferred the clear soup to the curry. Although our friend said the beef brisket was less tender than normal, I found it was still pretty good, as were the noodles. The soup was a little salty on its own, but it complemented the noodles and beef very well. It was also a tad oily, but that was probably why it tasted so good... 

We didn't see an English menu, but as their food options are fairly limited, I think one could get by with pointing at a fellow diner's bowl of noodles - someone is sure to be eating what you want to try!

Update: We later went back to try the hor fun noodles, which were very smooth, thin and tasty. I also spotted an English (and Japanese) menu that you have to ask for - they have one copy at the front counter.

To order the beef brisket with ee meen noodles, ask for "ngau lam ee meen" or "ngau lam ee".
For the beef brisket with hor fun noodles, ask for "ngau lam hor fun" or just "ngau lam hor" or even shorter, "ngau hor".

The restaurant is located at 21 Gough Street, Central. It opens from 12:30pm - 7:15pm, then closes and re-opens from 8:30pm - 11pm. They are closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.

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