If you've ever eaten out in Darwin, you've probably tasted Mr Ting's homemade fresh noodles.

Ting, as he prefers to be called, makes noodles for most of the town's restaurants and street food stalls.

He cooks about 700 kilograms of fresh noodles a week — from scratch — in his sweltering backyard shed in the suburb of Wulagi.

Ting's noodles cater for a large part of the city's demand of about 1 tonne a week for street food laksa soups and Darwin's multicultural restaurant scene.

Ting arrived in Australia in 1988 to study a bachelor's degree in business and accounting and complete his masters in computer technology, and then opened a schnitzel restaurant on Darwin's Stokes Hill Wharf.

The Malaysian expat and his Chinese wife, Jiequn Chen, started their noodle-making business in 2008 when they were approached by the town's only noodle-maker who wanted to retire.

Now he sells the noodles from a stall at Rapid Creek markets, from the kitchen door, and he delivers.

The pair has also been servicing Darwin's famous laksa street food stalls — queues for the laksa stalls at markets are always the longest in the Top End.

At the announcement of the Darwin International Laksa Festival, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said: "The Territory's laksas are recognised internationally as the best in the world".

Offering a superior product

The festival is a month-long trail ending in a festival day.

For the past 11 years, Ting and his family have barely had a holiday or a day off from their industrial backyard kitchen.

"It's very hard to take a day off because restaurants and takeaways have to be open," he said.

Ting's noodles sell wholesale for 44 per cent more than commercially available varieties, but despite his higher prices he believes he holds "probably 70 per cent" of the Darwin fresh noodle market because he offers a superior product.

"I see a few people using fresh noodles that aren't mine," he said when queried about his calculations.

"A good chef will always say 'local, fresh — always best'."

Ting gets his ingredients from Asian United Food Service owner Nelson Lay — one of the main food distributors in the Northern Territory — who says he sells about 300kg to 400kg of interstate fresh noodles a week.

That means Ting's estimate of 70 per cent market share is not inaccurate. But more importantly, he could claim to provide almost 100 per cent of fresh locally made commercial noodles.

"Ting is a loyal customer for a long time and he makes quality fresh noodles," Mr Lay said.

Darwin International Laksa Festival judging panel chairman and local restaurateur Jimmy Shu is a customer of Ting's, and will have a keen eye on the noodles at the competition.

"When judging I'd look for 100 per cent authenticity in noodles," Mr Shu said.

"Ting is the only one who makes noodles locally and serves it fresh.

"He's always improving in his quality and now he's refined it.

"You know it's fresh when it's not dry.

"Fresh is the only type of noodle that has a bit of bounce in it."

Apart from running one of Darwin's most popular Asian restaurants for many years, Mr Shu reckons he's a noodle expert.

"I can talk about noodles with some authenticity because 55 years ago in Sri Lanka my father bought the first commercial noodle machine," he said.

"I was privileged to make noodles. But I thought it was slavery at the time."

The dough is flattened into a long mat several times before pressing and cutting into noodles. Shing Hee Ting knows when it's ready by the subtle colour change

The daily grind in a stifling shed

The conditions in Ting's backyard kitchen are almost intolerable due to the Top End's weather.

Darwin's annual build-up season between September and Christmas means high humidity, high temperatures, and there is no air conditioning to offer relief.

"Everyone says 'Why don't you put on the air con?' but because of the flour you'd clog up the filter every day," Ting said.

"Dry season is good to cool the noodles but no good to dry noodles — they dry very quick and crack."

As I watched Ting laboriously making his noodles I asked him why he works in such uncomfortable conditions — surely there must be an easier way to make a living than toiling in a hot shed.

"I have a young family and I can do this at home and look after the family," he said.

Shing Hee Ting’s noodles are ‘handmade’ but by machine. The raw mix is pressed into a dough and then fed into a cutter to get the desired thickness of noodle

His wife — who he describes as the "main helper" — was on the school pick-up during this noodle-making session.

The Ting family eats noodles every day and they each have their favourites.

"I like rice noodles with a bit of gravy," he said.

"My kids are very fussy — they use my noodles for spaghetti bolognaise.

"Now I tell my customers they can also use noodles for spaghetti bolognaise."

But Ting's three daughters, aged 11, nine, and four, are forgiven for the cultural fusion because they are also part-time staff for the family business, helping with the packaging of the noodles once they have dried.

While Ting says the basic ingredients are flour, gluten, water, salt, colouring — and patience — he says the real skill is in the method.

"Don't overcook it, don't undercook it, and don't put too much oil in it," he said.

Shing Hee Ting’s noodles cooked in boiling water before drying on the bench. It’s then packaged and devoured by Territorians.

He wasn't too concerned with the extra workload for the inaugural Darwin International Laksa Festival.

He says it's good for business in a quiet time of the year and that larger orders than usual are arriving.