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Where to eat the best wonton noodles in Hong Kong, and how the dumplings reached the city

Wonton noodles, one of Hong Kong’s most well-known dishes, have a long history in the city. We find the restaurants that serve the best

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Wonton noodles, one of Hong Kong’s most well-known dishes, have a long history in the city. We find some of the top restaurants serving them, including Shek Kee Wonton Noodles (above) in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Take a bite out of history with our exclusive series on the delicious ingredients, dishes and techniques behind the unique taste of Hong Kong.
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No bowl of wonton noodles is complete without dumplings made with shrimp or pork (or both) and wrapped in a thin, wheat wrapper.

A famous Hong Kong dish of Cantonese origin dating back thousands of years, one of the earliest mentions of wonton noodles in mainstream Hong Kong media was in a 1930 edition of Chinese-language newspaper Chinese Mail.

Wonton noodles had long been revered in Guangdong, in southern China, but were “entering a new era” in Hong Kong, a short passage reads.

Bowls of wonton noodles at Mak Man Kee Noodle Shop in Jordan. Photo: Edmond So
Bowls of wonton noodles at Mak Man Kee Noodle Shop in Jordan. Photo: Edmond So

It is unclear when wontons were first eaten, but the consensus is that they originated in Hunan province in central China. In their earliest iterations, wontons were filled with ground pork, a readily available ingredient in the inland province.

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During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the people of Guangdong began incorporating river shrimp and dried flounder into the filling, and they started using thinner wonton skins and adding them to a bowl of bamboo pole noodles.

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