Hong Kong Macaroni Soup in Sydney

What is Hong Kong macaroni soup?

When the British ruled Hong Kong, they brought their breakfast with them: bacon, eggs, toast, and pasta. Cantonese kitchens did what Cantonese kitchens have always done. They took what the colonisers ate and rewrote it.

Macaroni stopped being a side and became a soup noodle. The pasta lived in a clear chicken broth instead of tomato sauce. Ham, sometimes spam, sometimes a slow-fried egg, took the place of bacon. By the 1950s the dish had its own name, 火腿通粉, and it was a fixture of the cha chaan teng breakfast set, eaten with a spoon, the way you'd eat congee.

The dish is so embedded in Hong Kong life that even the NSW Government's healthy-eating portal publishes a recipe for it. It opens the day across Hong Kong, and increasingly, across Sydney.

How we make it at The Peak

The broth runs for twelve hours. Whole chickens, simmered slowly, skimmed every hour or two, until the liquid is heavy with flavour but still pale.

Then the move that distinguishes our version from the standard cha chaan teng one: evaporated milk, stirred in just before service. It gives the broth the thicker, rounder texture SBS Food's Annie Hariharan wrote about in her March 2025 piece on our kitchen, a creamier soup than the clear stock most places ladle out.

Macaroni cooked al dente at order. Sliced ham folded in at the end. White pepper on the side, the way Hongkongers expect it. Served piping hot in a deep bowl.

"Hong Kong macaroni soup… is thick and creamy, unlike other Chinese-style soups, which are clear and light."

In an October 2025 Sydney Morning Herald Traveller piece on the British colonial dishes that became Hong Kong's own, we spoke about the cha chaan teng's role in turning a coloniser's breakfast into something distinctly local. The macaroni soup is the cleanest example of that transformation: a humble bowl that captures a whole century of Hong Kong's culinary identity.

When to order it

Hong Kong macaroni soup is a breakfast dish first and a quiet-weekday-lunch dish second. It pairs naturally with a hot Hong Kong milk tea (港式奶茶) or yuenyeung (鴛鴦), the half-tea-half-coffee that fuels Hong Kong's offices.

If you'd like the full experience, order it as Set Menu A ($29.50): the macaroni soup with thick scrambled egg, ham and toast, plus your choice of milk tea or coffee. It is the cha chaan teng breakfast set, served the way it is in Mong Kok or Sham Shui Po, on a Glebe morning.

On the menu

Ham & Macaroni Soup · 火腿通粉 · $18.00

Set Menu A · with scrambled egg, ham & toast, plus milk tea or coffee · $29.50

Cold-drink upgrade +$1.

Frequently asked

Why is Hong Kong macaroni soup creamy?

The clear-broth version is the most common across Hong Kong, but at The Peak we finish ours with evaporated milk, a Cantonese touch that gives the soup the thicker, creamier texture you may have read about in the SBS Food piece on our kitchen. The chicken stock simmers for twelve hours before the milk goes in.

Where did Hong Kong macaroni soup come from?

British colonial breakfast culture. When Britain ruled Hong Kong, pasta arrived as part of a Western breakfast tradition. By the 1950s, cha chaan teng kitchens had reinterpreted it: macaroni stopped being a side and became a soup noodle, simmered in chicken broth and served with ham. The dish has been a fixture of Hong Kong breakfast ever since.

Is the Ham & Macaroni Soup vegetarian?

No. It is made with chicken stock and ham. We can substitute the ham for spam or scrambled egg. We do not currently make a vegetarian-stock version of this dish.

How is it traditionally eaten?

With a spoon, like congee, not twirled like Italian pasta. It is most often eaten at breakfast or as a quiet weekday lunch, usually paired with Hong Kong milk tea or yuenyeung. At The Peak it also anchors Set Menu A, served with thick scrambled egg, ham and toast.

Can I order it for delivery?

Yes. Through DoorDash and Uber Eats from our Glebe location, 25A Glebe Point Rd. The soup travels well; the macaroni softens slightly on the way but the broth holds up. For the best version, walk in and have it served in a hot bowl with white pepper on the side.