What: Egg noodles with curry fish balls and vegetable

Where: Homestyle Hong Kong Cafe, 615 S. King St. (at Sixth Avenue)

Cost: $5 plus tax and tip

Official Tasting Notes: A few months ago, a friend took me to Homestyle HK Cafe for the “stone bowl steamed rice,” which is an oven-hot bowl of white rice topped with pork and salted fish or a creamy “Portuguese-style” shrimp curry with eggs and peas (from the Chinese special menu on the wall). Just as with bibimbap, the stone bowl rice gets brown and toasty. That’s it—the trick that packs the tables. I love crunchy rice, but I returned to the cafe to try the “street cart noodles” I’d noticed on the menu before. You buy a bowl of noodle soup for $2 (choosing chow fun, skinny rice, or egg noodles), then you pick toppings—at $1.50 a pop—from a list of 12–16 different things such as tripe, fried tofu puffs, black mushrooms, or beef stew.

I splurged on two toppings: vegetable, which turned out to be baby bok choy stir-fried with ginger, and curry fish balls. The chicken broth was already flavorful, but then the cinnamon-tinged curry blended in with the soup and made it even richer. Plus, when you bite into one of the spongy, mild fish balls, the center holds a dab of sweet, bright-orange shrimp roe. After two meals here, I’m falling in love with this place, which also serves other Hong Kong small eats like congee, boiled or steamed dumplings, and toast with condensed milk.

Insider Tip: Get a drink. The mango tapioca drink is a big fruit Slushee with coconut milk and small tapioca pearls, and the 7-Up with salted lemons that I tried on my recent visit ($2.50) was oddly fantastic.