In the Hong Kong tea cafes (茶餐廳), this is an inexpensive and quick breakfast. It includes Hong Kong’s preferred Doll brand of instant ramen (the brand, gong zai mein, 公仔面, is synonymous with instant noodles in HK), a sunny side up egg, and a couple pieces of crispy Spam.
This no-frills, salt-filled, protein-packed, and MSG-laden breakfast of champions doesn’t seem particularly special, and we’re generally not big proponents of processed foods, but trust me when I say it is SO GOOD. There’s a reason why simple dishes like this endure!
If instant noodles and Spam aren’t you’re thing, we’re documenting this not just as a recipe, but as a cultural post. Read on just to learn more about this Hong Kong tradition.
Hong Kong Cafe Culture
Hong Kong tea cafes are a go-to for Hongkongers looking for something fast, economical, and filling. The menus were influenced not just by Southern Chinese cooking traditions, but also by British colonizers.
You’ll find specialties like ketchup-tinged spaghetti with meat sauce and copious amounts of melted cheese, baked pork chops, egg custard tarts, pineapple buns with giant slabs of butter, and Hong-Kong-style French toast (condensed milk is involved), all washed down with the all important Hong Kong Milk Tea.
You’ll also find this breakfast of eggs and Spam in a hot bowl of gong zai mein.
(If you like, you can add a few leaves of romaine lettuce or any other Chinese leafy greens. But I’d be lying if I said it’s better with vegetables.)
Finding the Original Doll Brand Instant Ramen
The name of the dish has the brand of ramen baked right in. Gong Zai Mein is actually the brand name. Like we said earlier, it’s synonymous with Instant Noodles in Hong Kong. That’s how ubiquitous it is!
That said, it’s a little bit tougher to find here in the U.S. We looked online and paid a premium on Amazon!
However, this endorsement from the Ramen Rater rings true. As strong beef flavor diehards, we rarely opt for chicken flavor, but this is definitely the best chicken ramen we’ve ever tasted. Plus, we think the chicken flavor goes really nicely with the eggs and Spam.
Now, we DO realize that the package says “artificial Chicken flavor,” and that Instant Ramen and Spam both contain a ton of sodium!
But while our blog focuses on recipes using whole foods and fresh ingredients, it’s not to say that we can’t enjoy a little junk food every so often. Feel free to enjoy this post simply as a cultural piece, and if you do want to try it, be sure to enjoy it in moderation!
A Final Note
You’ll see that there’s just the smallest pinch of finely chopped scallion in the final dish. This was a subtle but important part of the recipe that my mom pointed out to me. The scallion should be in the dish just as an occasional flavor note. Resist the urge to put in a giant fistful of roughly chopped scallions!
Recipe Instructions
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot.
Fry the Spam in a pan until it’s golden brown around the edges. Turn off the heat, leaving it in the pan to keep it warm. Also start frying an egg sunny side up. Cover with a lid, and cook until the white is no longer runny, but the egg yolk is still soft.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles. Things will move quickly, so keep an eye on your egg to make sure it does not overcook. Stir the seasoning packets into the water, followed by the noodles, and cook for 2 ½ minutes, stirring to break them up. (At some point, you may need to take your egg off the heat to avoid overcooking.)
Pour the noodles and into your serving bowl, and arrange the spam and the egg over the top. Sprinkle with the scallions and serve immediately.
Gong Zai Mein (HK Breakfast) 港式公仔面
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1-2 slices Spam (about 1/4 inch or 0.6 cm thick)
- 1 package "gong zai" Doll brand chicken flavored instant noodles
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch minced scallions (green parts only)
Instructions
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot.
- Fry the Spam in a pan until it’s golden brown around the edges. Turn off the heat, leaving it in the pan to keep it warm. Also start frying an egg sunny side up. Cover with a lid, and cook until the white is no longer runny, but the egg yolk is still soft.
- Meanwhile, cook the noodles. Things will move quickly, so keep an eye on your egg to make sure it does not overcook. Stir the seasoning packets into the water, followed by the noodles, and cook for 2 ½ minutes, stirring to break them up. (At some point, you may need to take your egg off the heat to avoid overcooking.)
- Pour the noodles and into your serving bowl, and arrange the spam and the egg over the top. Sprinkle with the scallions and serve immediately.
Seeing this recipe up made my heart soar. Its always so nice to see traditional HK dishes – staples to cha cha tangs. Would be cool to see an alternative that features elbow macaroni to make HK style macaroni soup, too! Thank you for sharing, please keep it up!
We had this for a quick, late dinner last night, and it was very good. It’s something we’ll definitely be having again, though probably not as breakfast. I’d considered switching the Spam for Canadian bacon, but our local market was out of Canadian bacon, and I’m now glad we had it with the Spam. We hadn’t especially ever liked Spam before, but it really works in this combination, and we’d make it with Spam again! Really liked the Doll chicken ramen too! I didn’t know instant ramen could be that good, but will be stocking that from now on! To make other brands of chicken ramen somewhat more palatable years ago, used to mix a large spoonful of creamy peanut butter into it, but the Doll ramen was a nice upgrade. Thanks for both the great recipe and the great tip about Doll!
I laughed at first, but it’s really delicious and the spam is shifting it to a next level. My stomach dislikes too much artifical flavour though, so I had to improvise with chicken stock, and some fresh veggies. Have to start making this simple pleasure more often. Thanks!
Yum! My favorite flavor of gong jai mien is the scallion oil. Chicken is very good too! And shrimp!
Yummm that sounds so good!
I’m a former vegetarian and diehard instant ramen fan who formerly hated SPAM. OMG! I’m now craving SPAM? WTH?!! Shockingly delicious!
hahaha, who knows where life will take us!
I can relate, Janice! LOL! Who knew?????? I hadn’t liked Spam the couple of times I’d had it many years ago, but thanks to Kaitlin’s recipe post I’m now a Spam convert too. I’d sliced and frozen the remaining Spam for encore indulgences of Gong Zai Mein. I really liked it!
This is incredible. We ended up eating nearly the entire can of spam. That’s too much spam for two people, but we couldn’t stop.
5/5 would snarf again
Heheheh spam’s pull is real!
OH MY!!! Thanks for the post. My dad is Cantonese and from Hong Kong where he worked in restaurants so lots of background and love for the food. But when I was a kid in Hawaii they used to refer to ramen (usually Maruchan) as gong zai mien and I alway thought that was what instant noodles were called. To the point that when I met my husband I told him that Chinese for instant noodles was that. Great to hear why :)
You’re welcome, Anne! I find there are so many little ABC kid lost in translation moments like that hahah you’re not alone!