樂林小鍋米線

Lok Lam Noodles, definitely one of the holy trinity of Quarry Bay popular restaurants. It’s on Pan Hoi Street and neighbours the second shop within the trinity, Camper, and these two are usually so crowded the storefronts are constantly hidden behind a queue. It’s golden formula for success amongst the working crowd — It’s fast, it’s packed, it’s economical. If you go during lunch, go early around 12ish otherwise expect a 10min wait. Most people I see opt to wait 5mins for takeaway instead of getting a seat.
They made a solid Yunnan style noodle, I wouldn’t know if it is authentic, but it is good value — a bowl of basic noodle with condiments like minced meat, egg and veg starts at HKD 25, then you add $ 5, $ 6 or $ 9 depending on what extra toppings you want. I usually add 3 toppings (some veg $ 5, fish ball $ 5 and chicken or pork $ 9) and end up at $ 44. The portions are hearty and the flavor is quite good. You would be hard pressed to find better value offerings around Taikoo Place for lunch. Their signature noodles comes in SEVEN levels of spiciness, and they are known for being quite fiery, I started from the bottom now we… still at the bottom. I usually can go for moderate spiciness at other places but Small spicy (Level 2) is my comfortable level here, so good luck with going further. Besides noodles, Lok Lam also offers daily lunch sets that follows the basic rice + side food recipe, it’s cheap at HKD 40, but the rice is hard (tried twice, both times same) and the sides are mediocre at best. I advise sticking to their noodles.
Dinner is when the crowds dissipate and they start serving small dishes like a small Chinese kitchen. I haven’t tried them since I still get noodles if I go at night, but noticed the crowd is more neighbourhood-​ly. A lot of people coming in were in casual clothes and slippers, probably coming for dinner instead of cooking at home. That means the nighttime dishes are at least up to mama’s standards, I guess.
4 stars, mostly for value.