Who doesn’t want to live like the Jetsons? They had flying cars, jet packs and a sassy robot maid with a feather duster. We’re not quite there yet but at this shiny, new cart-style noodle joint, you can feel just a bit closer to Orbit City.
Housed within Whampoa Gourmet Place, MinMix1950 is set up like a modern day canteen with a futuristic white and yellow motif running across the room. Touchscreen computers are perched atop every table where guests can place their orders at the tap of a few buttons. The bilingual programme opens with a choice of seven Chinese noodles (all $8) and six sauce-glopped pastas including fettuccine with cheese and angel hair with black pepper sauce (all $20). Additional ingredients are $8 each and are categorised into meats, seafood and vegetarian options on the screen. The restaurant also offers a sizeable lineup of snacks, ranging from American grilled Angus steak ($28), Japanese-style onsen eggs ($16) and even braised abalone bathed in oyster sauce ($68).
Once you’ve settled on your selection, click ‘submit’, tap your Octopus card and – voilà – your mission is complete. On a side note, remember to top up your Octopus card since it’s the only payment they accept and, inconveniently, there’s no value-adding facility within the actual restaurant.
Unfortunately, MinMix1950 hasn’t invented the food synthesiser yet so you’ll still need a living, breathing person to cook your food and deliver the goods to your table. This is when the fun ends and the disappointment begins. The noodle broth is mouth-puckeringly salty as are some of the add-ons, including the pig’s blood and deep-fried fishballs. That’s not the only problem; if you order flat egg noodles, they’ll come undercooked – not in that delightful al dente sense – but with a touch of raw starchiness still lingering on each strand. Thankfully, the gelatinous beef tendons and sliced pig’s intestines here are deliciously sweet and all greens are cooked so that they still retain their natural crunch. The side dish of chilled cucumbers ($16) is also done well, crisp and garlicky without being overtly pungent.
Overall though, the food is substandard, especially since the prices here are relatively high for cart-style noodles. Yes, the futuristic, auto-ordering system is a fun gimmick but, at the end of the day, a gimmick doesn’t feed the stomach. Dorothy So
Shop 116, 1/F, Whampoa Gourmet Place, Whampoa Garden, Hung Hom, 2303 0122. Daily 11am-10pm. Dinner for two: around $150.