Ying Leong Look Funn Factory

Growing up, my mom always took me to Chinatown and this was one of her many iconic places I was taken to, like to the butcher down the street or where she buys all her other grocery. I hated walking around Chinatown.
Now that I’m older the workers start saying to my mom «Gum dai go la» (she’s so big now) then goes on in Chinese how they can’t recognize me… ok ok don’t make me feel bad for not coming here with my mom.
I like the char Siu cheong funn better than the shrimp. Mom always bought me that and steamed it with shoyu. I then add lots of srircha on it. SO YUMMY! They sell ho funn which is the plain without anything used to make chow funn or look funn where they add beef tendons and just put it in msg water. I think the plain ho funn has that grainy texture when it’s in soup which is why I’m not a fan but I’m ok when it’s used to make chow funn, only when it has enough wok hey.
You have the option of getting it cut or non cut. My mom usually buys it non cut and then cuts it herself when she gets home. She thinks it’s better that way so you can control your piece sizes. If you want to eat it right away then they can cut it for you. It’s already cooked and ready to eat!
Over the years prices has gone up. The ho funn feeds more people than the char Siu cheong funn but mom knows I’m that spoiled picky child, she used to always get it for me. Since prices has gone up, I only get them once in a great while but she’ll buy ho funn since it’s cheaper. My brother and her usually eat that in soup. While she has to buy me something elsewhere. (hence the picky yet favorite child)

If you want good, cheap look funn noodles, look no further. A hidden, gem in Chinatown, but all the local, older Chinese seem to know about this place. For one «piece,» you can make a a couple good meals out of it, and it’s so cheap! You can ask them to cut it for you as well. Usually I’ll just throw some of these into beef broth and make a noodle soup out of these but you can always just throw some soy sauce on them and eat them as plain noodles (option to get plain, char siu, shrimp, and one other flavor). For the price and freshness, it can’t be beat. When I’m lazy or when I’m cold or sick, these noodles save me.

Best place to get their specialty which is look fun — plain, with charsiu or dried shrimp, its all good. Great to take home and cook all of your favorite look fun recipes.

Sole guardian of a 70+ year piece of Hawaii food history producing just one dish, look funn.
Opened in the 1940’s and in continuous operations since, the factory now supplies restaurants throughout the State.
On a recent visit, an impromptu «you want to see?» The look funn is made almost entirely of long grain rice, ground on premises. Batter is poured into generously oiled pans and steamed. Once cooked, the noodle is brushed with more fat then rolled. This isn’t health food. The process remains manual.
The only change over the years to this austere dish; less pork fat drippings and more vegetable oil. It has reduced the flavor but if you’ve never had it from the 80’s and 90’s, you won’t be able to tell the difference.
The flavor is now much cleaner, like an non-​fermented rice cake with just the hint of porky goodness. Tender and soft if you eat it fresh, becoming toothsome if you choose to reheat it.
Dried shrimp and char siu both, classic with very small ground bits evenly distributed throughout the noodle and imparting their respective taste. Top props to their current mushroom special (shitake and wood ear fungus). Pronounced mushroom aroma and flavor made even better with a dark aged soy.
Prices up but still a bargain at $ 2.35 per gigantic 18″ noodle.
A part of Chinatown history that hopefully lives on.

Most definitely a fan!
Look fun is my favorite dim sum dish, so I was ecstatic to discover a factory in Chinatown that makes these delicious noodles FRESH daily!
For $ 1.20 per plain roll or $ 1.60 per char siu/​shrimp bits infused roll, it’s a cheap, easy, and delicious meal/​snack. The plain rolls are perfect for making fresh chow fun at home, and the look fun with bits of char siu or dehydrated shrimp are awesome just alone.
The noodle sheets are thin, heavenly soft, and rolled into long tubes, seemingly a foot and a half long. Ask them to cut it for you into bite-​sized pieces since cutting it yourself can be a pain. Then pair with hot mustard and shoyu for that extra pop of flavor!
Cheap, easy, and SO delicious! If not for the inconvenience of parking in Chinatown (your best bet is probably parking in Chinatown municipal), I’d revisit all the time!
Tip: Make sure you go early, as I’ve heard they often sell out by lunchtime! Opens at 5AM!
Cash only!

Growing up as a kid, my grandparents used to always take me down to Chinatown to get fresh look fun. When I saw the Ying Leong Look Fun Factory, my heart raced and I was super excited! Inside I found an older gent at the counter, serving plain, shrimp and char siu look fun noodles. I snuck a peek towards the back and you can see the older Asian ladies working so hard to make these noodles! Fun!
I got one each of the plain, shrimp and char siu look fun noodles. The employee wrapped my noodles inside of the typical pink meat paper and kept it closed with a rubber band. Just like they did in the good old days! Nostalgic.
I believe that this store is run and operated by Chinese Vietnamese. The noodles were a bit on the thick and starchy side (typical of what I’ve found in Vietnamese noodles). It wasn’t the thin, chewy, and transparent noodles that I used to get as a kid from the Chinese look fun places. It was good, but not what I remembered it to be. I’d still go back!
Food Grade: C
Service Grade: B+
Worth the Money Grade: A–
Overall Impression: C+

Ying Leong has been in business forever! They supply their fresh cheong fun to tons of restaurants on Oahu. If you’re eating them and the restaurant don’t make them inhouse, they’re most likely from Ying Leong. No clue why they call it Look Funn, it must be a local word. Google it, you won’t find this verbiage anywhere else except in Hawaii.
Good stuff whatever you wanna call it. About $ 2 per piece. Eat it with soy sauce/​shoyu or I prefer it with ponzo sauce.
A must visit if you’re playing tourist in Chinatown.

If you want Cheong funn, this is the place to get it. Cheong fun is Chinese white, wide noodle that’s filled with char siu (BBQ pork) and some green onion. They also have shrimp if you don’t like char siu. Cheong fun comes in a roll like sushi roll so you want to cut it or I guess you can eat it as is. You also want to dip it in soy sauce.
They’re located at Kekaulike Mall in Chinatown between Hotel and King Street. There’s no parking available so you have to find street parking.

I did not like this look funn at all but I am giving it three stars for the experience. This is a friendly family-​owned business and they are hardworking people. I found the look funn to be bland and I did not care for the tiny pieces of dried shrimp or char siu studded in the sheets. I am used to the look funn served in dim sum restaurants with giant pieces of fresh shrimp or other filling inside topped with green onions, cilantro and a sweet soy sauce. This place only had a bottle of salty shoyu by the cash register, which fell short for me. Yes, I realize I sound spoiled. But kudos to the family for their hard work and keeping this place in business.

Stopped by this shop through a recommendation by my wife. Great place to grab look fun. Super affordable and one of the best look funs that I have had.
You can get plain ones for only $ 1 and char siu or shrimp ones for $ 1.60. Can’t beat the pricing. Taste is excellent especially if you can dip it in a mix of shoyu and hoisin sauce. MMMM.
The cashier at the front was very friendly and even chatted me up a little. Thanks Daniel.

I love dim sum and dumplings so when I read about this place I was willing to walk the 6 blocks from work. I only tried the shrimp because I don’t eat pork. The texture of the fun was excellent, smooth and soft and a little gooey. But it just really lacked flavor. It needed a sauce or something to go with it. Also the shrimp is almost non existent– u can barely taste it it is so small. The roll is very long though, probably enough for 3 or 4 to snack on. Sorry those who live this place, it was just ok for me.

On weekends, my parents would bring us to market in Chinatown and Ying Leong Look Funn Factory was a routine stop. I marveled at the workers in back pouring the rice flour batter into oiled full-​sheet trays and laying them into the huge steamers. Also, when the batter had steamed, they would retrieve the trays from the steamers then roll or fold the now cooked batter. It was hot, hard work for them back then with no air conditioning. Fast forward through several decades, this factory still exists and has been singly owned by the Chee Family. My siblings were always «divided» between noodle or look funn eaters… me, as the youngest child, ate and enjoyed both!
There are other look funn factories around Chinatown, but, I think Ying Leong makes a «silkier», soft and not so oily funn (rice noodle). Over the years, I’ve not noticed any changes in quality or flavor but just the «usual“price increases. There are several types of look funn to choose from. Look funn is folded and plain which makes it ideal for either stir-​frying or served in broth with vegetables, seafood or meat. Look funn doesn’t have much of a flavor on its own but it’ll absorb and compliment any additions. The other rice noodle (ji cheong funn) is rolled and is «studded» with EITHER bits of Charsiu or rehydrated dried shrimp. In restaurants, you can get its elevated version from the carts as «look funn rolls» that are merely steamed look funn wrapped around fillings of Charsiu, beef, scallops or shrimp.
Although today is Chinese New Year and Chinatown is crowded, I found the service here to be quite efficient… no rude, elderly folks. Haha.
Well, I’m trying to start a modified gluten-​free diet so rice in Chinese food seemed like a good familiar place to start.

Traditional Chinese look funn made fresh every day by the same skilled workers. This is where we come on weekends for some char siu look funn rolls for breakfast. My little girl loves it and would eat almost one full roll by herself. Ying Leong is getting more and more popular, love by the locals and tourists. It even became a part of the Food Tour of Honolulu.

It totally made my day to have been able to walk out of here with a bagful of still warm look fun. I bought three servings of the plain look fun ($ 1.20 each), to make some drunken noodles at home. $ 1.20 each was just totally insane to me. Cheaper than I have ever seen, and FRESH nonetheless. Stir frying these noodles came out perfect. They maintained their texture and did not get soggy at all.
Next time I will try using them in a noodle soup. Chinese comfort food for me = a bowl of look fun in chicken broth with fish balls and fresh Chinese veggies. Season with white pepper and fish sauce /​shoyu. Try it!
Tip 1: They have this thing that they can cut up the look fun for you in a quick second. One less step when cooking at home!
Tip 2: One serving ended up being a lot. I would say to buy 1 for a average sized plate of noodles. When I bought 3, I was eating drunken noodles for a week.

I went to Chinatown the other week to check out this place at Maunakea Marketplace that’s supposed to serve laksa but as it turned out that business has closed. (Insert sad face here). Nothing else in the food court there caught my attention, so what to do for lunch? Then I remembered old reliable Ying Leong Look Funn. I was first introduced to this place while at my first job fresh out of college. The look funn here is so cheap and super delish!
They are located on Kekaulike Mall. If you’re coming out from Maunakea Market Place, you would cross Hotel Street and it’s one of the shops on the right side of the mall. Blink & you might miss it.
The Char Siu or Shrimp flavors are $ 1.50 each and $ 1.00 for the plain. Tax is included. You have the option of having them chop it up for you or not.
I went around noon time on a Saturday & they were already sold out on the char siu, my favorite. So I got the shrimp instead. It looked like they were almost sold out on the shrimp too so I would recommend going early. Get the plain one and you can make your own chow funn.
TIP: Simple & best way to eat this is a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ mixture of shoyu and oyster sauce. Dip in sauce & eat. It is broke da mouth ono!

1 roll Look fun, 1 roll char siu fun $ 2.50
If you are looking for freshly made look fun, this is the only place I go to… been going here since I was a little girl…
Prices have risen from 10 cents to $ 1…but I guess it’s a sign of the times. Gets really busy mid-morning…all of the Chinese restaurants and people shop here…
Just be ready to tell the lady or guy what you want and pay in cash…

I came here again as I wanted to eat chow fun again in jazzing up some leftovers.
As a kid I remembered this older man who was behind the counter for many, many years but haven’t seen him for some time now so I asked the young man behind the counter. That man is now over 80 yrs old and has retired and that young man is his son, who I guess is taking over the business. I found out his name is Mr. Chee!
I got my look funn noodles and requested it to be pre-​cut again. Tonight is gonna be an easy and yummy dinner!!!

After dim sum one day I bought a pound of the plain look funn at Ying Leong so that I could compare the look funn from the factory to the dim sum we had.
They are a relatively small operation and there is a certain no-​fuss attitude in service which reminded me of my older Chinese relatives: p
A few days later, wantanmien’s video (
) inspired me to reheat the look funn in the microwave and roll it with some dried shrimp and green onion. Check out her easy dipping sauce recipe! It hit the spot and I was left wishing I had purchased more look funn from the factory.
What an economical treat! One thing I wish I had done was ask them to cut the noodle for me. Lets just say that my cuts were less than stellar: p
P. S. If you’re a dim sum junkie like me, check out wantanmien’s videos. She speaks Cantonese but the videos are easy to follow along and she posts the recipes in the information box.

I’ve passed this place so many times and have never gone in, I always thought it was some warehouse because there’s tons of boxes stacked up by the front.
After reading about it on Unilocal,I went in today after getting some fresh udon from the noodle factory around the corner.
I got some char siu look funn and I had wanted some shrimp but it wasn’t ready yet.
I LOVE places like this, where they specialize in 1 thing and they are good at it!
They give you some soy sauce but I went home to steam mine, and made my own sauce — so yummy!
Cash only! it’s super cheap

I’ve been coming to this place for years whenever i can make it to China Town, although I must say the rat video on Youtube a few years back kind of grossed me out. This place is right across that store.
Plain look fun roll is 90 cents and the shrimp look fun is $ 1.30. They wrap it up in butcher paper for you. Don’t bother asking them how to cook stuff because they probably won’t understand you either.
The price has not gone up in the last ten years… that’s good.
Parking…bad. Find it on the street or park in the municipal parking lot (I call it the urinal).