When visiting any major city you’re always going to be eating out – unless you have family in the city. For this reason sometimes you just want to get something quick, tasty and cheap.

My wife and I had been travelling around the Southside of Hong Kong, which had been a great experience but had also left us pretty shattered. Whilst very efficient, public transport in Hong Kong can be a touch slow and very cramped given the volume of traffic!

Wanting a cheap eat where two weary travellers could sit down without really looking too polished (!), we consulted our guide book (we used Fodors which so far has been very good) and picked out a low cost noodle shop off the main area of Central in Hong Kong Island.

When approaching Mak’s, it was hard to see why it had got such a positive review as it seemed to be a little bit out of the way compared to a few market streets that had been full of hustle and bustle.

Add to this the fact that when we sat down the staff seemed a touch intrigued as to what we were doing at their restaurant and I had a slight moment of panic that we had got out of our depth very inadvertently and very quickly!

Despite this feeling, all nerves were calmed by a very courteous waiting team who seemed very keen to ensure you were served in a polite but speedy manner as well as the very happy sounding slurps and positive chatter emanating from other patrons (most of whom I would hazard a guess were local repeat diners).

Looking through the translated menu and re-checking the guide book the beef brisket and spring onion and ginger noodle dishes were the ones that jumped out at us and we decided to take the plunge.

When you’re waiting for food and you’re not quite sure what will turn up it can be a slightly worrying experience but as soon as the complementary bowls of soup turned up and we joined in with the locals and slurped them down, we knew were on to a winner as the aromatic flavours started to awaken our taste buds. The moment the good-sized portion of noodles turned up it was almost an additional treat!

With a beautiful beef juice running through the brisket noodles and the brisket itself being very tender this was definitely the dish of the day yet the understated spring onion and ginger option really provided a nice enjoyable accompaniment to the flavour explosion the brisket noodles provided.

With dinner coming in at under ten quid in total you couldn’t argue with the price nor the quality of food and I would simply say that if you are looking for a cheap eat in Hong Kong then Mak’s is really one to go to.