Noodles are in my veins for a Korean who grew up on knife-cut noodles (kal-gook-soo) and cold naeng-myun noodles. The Chinese specialty at Kam Hong is a knife-shaved, or knife-cut noodle made from a ball of dough and tossed into hot broth. Kam Hong also has the well-known hand-stretched noodles mysteriously transformed into a long strands from fastidious pulling and wheedling over a floured counter. At one hit, the strands separate into even strings and are ready for delicious consumption.
I had the beef noodle soup, spiced with star anise and a bit of clove. It wasn't as rich or oily as one might expect from Dai Ho Kitchen, but the subtlety of the broth lent toward emphasis on the superb knife-shaved noodles which were thick and slightly chewy. Probably a bit hard to grab with unseasoned chop-stick veterans, I attacked the noodles with my dextrous grip.
We also had a bowl of the seafood noodles, similar to "champ-poong" at Korean-Chinese restaurants. They accidently forgot to add in the spice so we just added it ourselves from a small tub of chili oil. The oil was necessary as the broth was a bit bland. This bowl had the hand-stretched noodles and were also superb in texture and flavor, lending a slight doughy-ness of fresh noodles.
Accompanying the noodles were excellent xiao long bao (soup dumplings), thin-crisped scallion pancakes, and a beef roll similar to a Middle-eastern lavash roll. Prices were extremely reasonable (cheap, I dare say), but they only take cash (like many other Chinese places).
Kam Hong Garden
848 E Garvey Ave
#A
Monterey Park, CA 91755
(626) 280-9318
4 comments:
1) nice new layout Matt
2) kam hong has 3 types of hand made noodles:
hand knead, machine cut
hand pulled (thin strings)
hand knead, knife cut.
for noodle soups, I still maintain (after a quick re-survey of 3 noodle shops again last wk), the hand knead, machine cut has the best chew / retention of flavors.
3) Dean Sin World's XLB w/ the chicken stock aspic is EONS above anything KH/NH are churning out.
4) as you already know, Kingburg's NRM is far superior to anything KH/NH is churning out.
kudos!
Tony,
Thanks for the tips. NRM is still new to me, but the knife-cut was still interesting. I'll have to go back and judge the hand knead/machine cut noodles. I didn't think the XLB at KH was exemplary, but they were still pretty good. I'll be sure to check out DSW sometime. I did like Kingburg's NRM, but the noodles left something to be desired. Still, it was a solid spot for the dumplings and bao. Nice review (both Danny and I picked up on it).
Congrats on your own site, looks like we've both got some legitimate blogs now.
Hi Matt, You've made me hungry. Have you had 101 Noodle Express' beef rolls? I wonder how the two compare.
pirikara: I haven't had the beef rolls at 101 Noodle Express. If I get the chance I"ll try them and let you know. What other places in SGV would you recommend?
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