Kun Wo Food Products - Fresh Rice Noodles in the Mission - Confirmed!

[Dave MP]

Thanks to foodiemonster's tip back in March, I have been on the lookout for the fresh rice noodle factory at Mission and 16th. I've been by a few times, but the door has always been locked, but today it was open! Just as foodiemonster described, I walked inside and was able to buy sheets of rice noodles by the pound. I chose not to have them cut, though they offered to cut them for me. I bought two very large sheets (total weight on 1 lb) for 1 dollar, and they were still slightly warm.

Not a store, and not very pretty, but an excellent cheap source for rice noodles closer to home - no need to go all the way to Chinatown.

Here's a link to the previous post, and thanks again to foodiemonster for the tip!

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/494752

Kun Wo Food Products has a small sign, and it's on the south side of 16th St, between S. Van Ness and Mission. Just west of Bar Bambino.

Dave MP

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Kun Wo Food Product
2939 16th St, San Francisco, CA

[david kaplan]

Just bumping this thread up, adding more info. According to the guy who runs Hwa Lei across the street, Kun Wo is open every day 6 am - 2 pm and is always happy to sell a pound (or more) to people walking in off the street, though the vast majority of their business is delivery to shops and restaurants. I love the way their noodles separate and sear when stir-fried. Cost is still $1/"pound", and when I've asked for and paid for a pound I have been given anywhere from 1 lb 4 oz to 2 lb 8 oz. No English spoken at Kun Wo aside from amounts, dollars, and asking whether you want noodles cut into strips or left as sheets.

Hwa Lei dependably has thai basil and thai chiles, so one can get all the ingredients for pad kee mao (drunken noodles) on that one block. That's dinner tonight!

[TerryL]

i dont know the exact hours but i know that my dad goes to work around 5am and comes home at 6pm.

and as of what i know, i dont think anything else is sold in the shop. haha

though if you dont want to go down to the shop, you can go to the supermarket and buy the noodles made by superking. they are our sister company owned by my aunt. the noodles are made in the same way.

[yimster]

Dave, how large are the sheets. Yuen Kee's are about 12"x8" and are 25 cents a sheet.

Like to compare the sizes.

Thanks for the tip.

Will save me a trip to Chinatown.

[Dave MP]

I got three sheets at 22" by 14" and this cost 1 dollar. However, price was by weight (the noodles were weighed on a scale), not by sheet count. So it seems about the same pricing as Yuen Kee in Chinatown.

They did not appear to sell anything other than rice noodles, though I didn't ask. It was in no way a store - I was standing in the middle of a wet and noodle-filled kitchen, and I got the sense that many customers buy much more than 1 pound.

[Xiao Yang]

Was that $1 per sheet, or for all three? In the former case, you would be paying 25 percent more per square inch than Yimster did at Yong Kee; in the latter case, you would be paying 60 percent less that at Yong Kee.

[Dave MP]

1 dollar for all 3. This was 1 pound of noodles. So I guess it's a good deal!

[yimster]

Thanks for the update. Next time I want to make a super rice roll I will be there. You said they were willing to cut it for you. I hope they can cut the 14" side in half.

Open 7 days a week?

[david kaplan]

Such a great find. Can't wait to check it out. Do they sell anything else?