Macaroni cooked in a pale pork-bone or chicken broth, served in a wide bowl with overlapping slices of canned ham on top and a fried egg on the side. The broth is light and slightly sweet — nothing like Italian pasta water. Eaten with toast and milk tea as a complete cha chaan teng breakfast.
A product of post-war Hong Kong, when canned goods like Spam arrived with American military influence and macaroni was reframed as a breakfast noodle — boiled in stock rather than tossed in sauce.
A wide shallow bowl, broth clear and faintly golden, macaroni just past al dente so it gives without snapping. Two or three overlapping slices of canned ham on the surface, a fried egg beside it — yolk intact, white just set. The broth is mild, barely salted, slightly sweet from the pork bones. The ham adds a salt punch the broth lacks. Eat by splitting the egg yolk into the soup and drinking the macaroni directly from the bowl.
The broth is built on pork bones simmered 2–3 hours, skimmed repeatedly — the goal is a clear, almost tea-pale liquid, not a milky stock. Macaroni is boiled separately and added to the bowl at service so it does not cloud the broth with excess starch. Canned ham (usually Tulip or Spam) is used because its salt and fat are calibrated — fresh pork would be bland by comparison in this context. The combination of near-neutral broth and salty processed protein was the cha chaan teng morning compromise: fast, cheap, filling.
Variations
Some shops use chicken broth base instead of pork bone. A common upgrade is adding a hot dog alongside the ham. Satay-broth macaroni exists as a variant. Capital Café and Tsui Wah each run their own ham-quantity proportions — Tsui Wah tends toward three slices, Capital Café toward two.
On the Palate
Where HK Macaroni Soup sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 2
How it's made
6 steps · 20 min
- 15 min
Place pork bones in cold water, bring to a boil, and blanch 3 minutes; drain and rinse under cold water to remove scum.
- 245 min
Return the cleaned bones to a pot with 1.5L fresh water; bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 45 minutes to build a pale, slightly sweet broth.
Watch outA rolling boil turns the broth cloudy and grey — keep it at a low trembling simmer to maintain the characteristic pale, clear colour.
- 310 min
While the broth simmers, cook the macaroni in a separate pot of salted boiling water until just past al dente, about 8 minutes; drain and rinse under cold water.
Watch outHK macaroni soup is served soft, not al dente — cook until the pasta has a slight give all the way through.
- 45 min
Strain the broth, season with salt and white pepper; pan-fry the spam slices in a dry pan over medium heat, 1–2 minutes per side until the edges caramelise.
- 54 min
Fry the eggs sunny-side up in a separate pan over medium-low heat until the whites are just set and edges are lacy.
- 62 min
Divide the macaroni into warm bowls, ladle the hot broth over to fill, arrange spam slices overlapping on top, and set a fried egg alongside.
