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Food and Drinks
LifestyleFood & Drink

Who sells the best noodles in Asia? Club of Indonesian noodle connoisseurs reveal six of their favourite places

  • The 30,000 members of Indonesia’s Bakmi Club are dedicated to their quest – tasting the best noodles in Asia, from Hong Kong and Beijing to home
  • They share recipes, try new ingredients, review noodles and post their photos and messages on social media

Reading Time:5 minutes
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The Bakmi Club was set up in Indonesia for noodle lovers to share their passion with others. Bakmi Club member Tjin Soei during a gathering.
Marcel Thee

Indonesians can’t get enough of their noodles. Available in a wide variety of styles and flavours, and served with extras ranging from bean sprouts and tofu to egg and chicken breast, they are a daily staple nationwide – from Aceh in the archipelago’s far west to Papua more than 4,500km (2,800 miles) to the east.

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One Indonesian collective, the Bakmi Club, comprises perhaps the country’s most enthusiastic fans of the stringy staple (“bakmi” means “meat noodles” in the Chinese Hokkien dialect, and in Indonesia is often used to refer to noodles in general).

Its nearly 30,000 members, who include national culinary celebrities, travel across the country and around Asia to find the most delicious noodles, learn to work with new ingredients, and write reviews to spread the word.

“Some of us were already friends, but now we are closer than ever and we go on noodle hunting travels all over the world together,” says Eric Wirjanata, the club’s founder.

Bakmi Club founder Eric Wirjanata indulges his passion.
Bakmi Club founder Eric Wirjanata indulges his passion.
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Members accompanied Wirjanata to Hong Kong for three days in 2018, sampling dishes prepared by six noodle vendors.

“In the more famous places, you can spend 45 minutes just waiting in line. But it was worth it, especially when we finally ate the noodles at Kau Kee,” Wirjanata says, referring to the almost century-old restaurant in Hong Kong’s Gough Street, famed for its beef brisket noodles. Bakmi club members also visited Beijing last year.
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