Chan’s Noodle Bar

Mare Street is already known for a cheap eat area with its wide selection of Vietnamese restaurants and Turkish restaurants both serving generous portions of food for under a tenner. But sometimes I don’t want to spend over £5 for lunch but don’t want to settle on a sandwich either.
That’s where Chan’s Noodle Bar come in. Cheap affordable dishes for no more than £5.00 a dish and depending on what you get you might even about to squeeze in a 0.70p can drink or 0.50p for a pot of green tea. Just don’t expect spectacular Chinese food or you will be disappointed.
The décor is very school canteen like, basic and old. But it’s clean and full of Oriental people which usually a good sign if you’re eating their cuisine.
Service was great and friendly. It was either an old lady walking round to take your order or order at the front with the older man.
As we wanted to ‘splash out’ we ordered:
Crab and sweetcorn soup.
I was genuinely surprised how well seasoned and fragrant this was, not overly salty but lovely and thick. I didn’t expect much crab and there wasn’t. It was mainly sweetcorn and egg whites but that was lovely enough to settle our hunger.
Hot and sour soup
So many restaurants have got this wrong being too salty or sour. But they got the balance just right, rich in flavour and the right thickness in texture. It had a nice kick to it too.
Grilled pork dumpling
Came in pieces of 6 but the photo shows 4 because we ate 2 already. It may not be for everyone being half fried and still doughy inside. But we enjoyed the half fried texture. It had that nice fried taste but also the doughness of a steamed dumpling. The filling was meaty and full of veg and herbs to add texture and flavour.
Special fried ho fun.
This was probably the most disappointing dish. It wasn’t so special after all. Ho fun was not fresh but pre dried ones that lacked wok energy and flavour. The dish was obviously rushed and cooked unskilfully. You pay the extra for a mix of meat but it was only a few bits every now and then but mostly noodles.
Special Ho fun soup.
This was surprisingly very good. The broth was fragrant and had depth and therefore giving the Ho fun flavour. I could taste a bit of Vietnamese influence in the broth, might have been seasoned with fish sauce which added a more rich flavour compared to salt. There was a nice mix of vegetables and meat in there too added lots of natural sweetness.
Looking around many ordered rice dishes that came really generously on large dishes. They all came with egg fried rice and it’s the usual sweet and sour, black bean sauce, roast duck or roast pork on the rice.
Even with the Ho fun I was pretty happy with our order and experience at Chan’s Noodle Bar. I will definitely be returning to try their rice dishes and other soup noodles again. Sharing 3 starters, two mains and a pot of green tea for no more than £9.35 per person I left pretty content. Usually I pay a similar amount for one bowl of phở or more for burger and fries in the area.

If you want VALUE and like noodles. Come here.
Don’t be put off by the awkward, sterile communist-​looking décor (or lack there of) or the MASSIVE menu. Just pick something. All these dishes are basically a variation on the same thing anyhow. Either noodles with soup and stuff in it, or noodles stir fried with sauce and stuff in it.
Insanely inexpensive, and for what you get, pretty tasty. Hey! Where else could you eat out and be full from the change left on your dresser or in the sofa? My noodles were served super hot, just like stir fry should be. And all for about £3. Oh, I also got a hot and sour soup, which was very vinegary, but I like it that way.
Yes, they do take away, but yes, they also have plenty of communal seating.

Chan’s Noodle Bar is located on Mare St. in Hackney Central. I had heard from a few people that this place was a real gem. One person in particular, who has lived in Hackney for 20 years, told me that this place is somewhat of an institution with people in the know.
The food is really cheap and really amazing. I am not a fan of the restaurant itself though, mainly because of the excessive amount of artificial light. I usual get take away for that reason. But definitely go and try this place out, don’t just take my work either, take a long time Hackney citizens word for it.