Taipei Beef Noodle Competition - NOT

Posted in Chinese on May 26th, 2007 by mei| | .

niu_dian_tendon_noodles.jpgI was so happy to read this in today’s Taipei Times.

I have to say I only buy the Friday copy of TT just so that I can read the restaurant reviews. For the most part I’d side with the reviewers but that’s not saying a whole lot since the write-ups are usually only mildly opinionated IMHO… but today’s article on a certain beef noodle shop in Ximending put a ear to ear smile on my face… and a destination for dinner.

I actually had a similar experience to Jules (the TT staff reporter). Years back, I recall sitting in a cab listening to the taxi driver rant and rave about this one beef noodle restaurant in Ximending (trust me to remember anything food related, my dears) and although I didn’t follow through with that piece of info proffered to me, I am now thinking Mr. Beef-Noodle-Espouser could very possibly be the same guy singing his praises to Ms. Jules.

The “prize-winning beef noodle shop” that Jules had originally aimed for could only be… well, the one I had bashed in an earlier post. And, yeah, it really isn’t any good. Mr. Beef-Noodle-Espouser really wasn’t lying.

Tonight I had the Beef Tendon with Wide Homemade Noodles (牛筋寬麵). Beef is alright with me but tendon is always what I lurve in beef, I mean, tendon noodle soup. It has to be done right though. The tendons have to be stewed to the point where the sinewy bits are cooked to a soft mass, albeit one that still holds its shape. The broth was so slurpable. Thank god I went alone (mental note: not a date place?).

There were two choices of noodles: thin and wide. Naturally, the carb greedy beast in me opted for the wide noodles. So fre*king gooooood! Homemade - check. Cooked al dente - check. Happiness? Check! None of the mass produced mess the supposed king of beef noodle shops use.

Service was great as well. I was even offered more broth when one of the staff saw me licking my bowl. BTW, take note - there’s a cute girl working there.

So there. You have it. Another Beef Noodle recommendation. I do still remain faithful to Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle Soup　林東芳牛肉麵 from my Top Ten Taipei Tucks post. Don’t ask me to compare these two places. They are both really good… but different. You’ve got to just try them out for yourself.

There’s also Ma Na 嗎哪 in my neighborhood of Anhe Road which I thought was good but slightly on the expensive side.

Funny. None of these places made it on the list of top Taipei Beef Noodle Shops in 2006.
Tsk tsk.

Niu Dian 牛店
91 Kunming Street
Ximending
02 2389 5577
西門丁昆明街91號
Open daily from 11am to 10pm,
except Mondays

Ma Na 嗎哪
No. 4, Alley 74
Anhe Road, Section 2
02 2706 4436
安和路2段74巷4號

2 Responses to ' Taipei Beef Noodle Competition - NOT '

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  1. hungryintaipei said,

    on May 28th, 2007 at 9:30 pm

    i’ll have to check out that list! sometimes you _don’t_ want your favorite places to show up on top 10 lists because then you have the place all to yourself still… not have to wait in crazy lines if it becomes too popular. :)

  2. mei said,

    on May 29th, 2007 at 3:10 am

    agreed! but sometimes it would be nice to have faith on the results of food competitions and not think that it’s just marketing…

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