No. 272-1, Senlin 1st Rd, Xinxing Dist
高雄市新興區森林一路272-1號
(07)235-7121
Tuesday-Sunday
10:00am-8:30pm
English friendly: no
vegetarian friendly: ish
average cost: 70-100NTD
I've never completely understood how something as basic as beef noodles (read: beef, on top of noodles) could be considered a traditional Taiwanese dish, but it's near the top of almost every list of Taiwanese cuisine I've read so I'm not one to argue. It's sort of hard to define Taiwanese cuisine in the first place, which is probably why they keep making lists.
The first thing you'll notice about this place is that it is PACKED, even at noon on a Monday. That must be a good sign! But it was kind of a pain to wait for a place to sit and then get continually jostled by people reaching over for the hot oil. (Like hot sauce, but an oil... funny I never realized that doesn't exactly translate into English.)
They offer all sorts of animal parts--regular beef, cow ???, cow tendon, pig foot, mustard leaf and shredded pork--served on top of noodles in soup (拉麵, ramen) or noodles in sauce (拌面, in which you "拌" the noodles and sauce together by massaging the whole thing vigorously with your chopsticks). They also have wontons, soybean paste noodles (炸醬拌面, which I am pretty sure are a Beijing specialty...), and sesame paste noodles (麻醬拌面, your Taiwanese "traditional flavor" sauce of choice).
The beef noodles (in soup) came with beef in ball form (beefballs?) rather than slice form; what that means is up to you. The soup had a smoky 紅燒 flavor, and the toppings were fairly generous.
As were those of the mustard leaf and shredded pork noodles in sauce, a convenient choice for those among us who don't eat beef. (Common in Taiwan among descendants of farming families! Our discovery of Taiwanese culture through food continues.~)
If you only mix it a little bit, it looks kind of sketchy...
...But the end result is really good! Aaaah.
These. Noodles. Were. Delicious. I definitely recommend sesame paste noodles of any kind for those of us missing peanut butter (it's basically sesame butter), but more than the sauce the noodles themselves were seriously quality. Thick and soft and chewy in all the right ways: that handmade, definitely-not-dehydrated-then-rehydrated feeling. UGH. I wish I could eat them all over again.
Another fun thing about this place is the selection of intriguing and sometimes horrifying side dishes up at the front counter. We decided on pickled cabbage and pig's ear, because. Well. Because.
The pickled cabbage was actually (SHOCKINGLY) quite special. It tasted almost exactly like that jar of homemade sauerkraut I made that one time in college--three ingredients: cabbage, salt, and LOVE, i.e. a week sitting on my shelf--so I'm pretty sure it has been made by hand as well. It has a really overpowering sauerkrauty flavor, and if you're into that it is totally delicious.
The pig's ear was more there for shock value than anything else (wait until I tell my mom!) but it was pretty good too. I mean, it tasted mostly like fat and cartilage. Hard to mess up.
You should definitely take the crowdedness of this restaurant into account before going. Also a panhandler come around to our table multiple times during the meal and tried to sell us gum, then stood there staring silently when we said no... It may have been just that one time, but still. It was sort of uncomfortable. And probably because I'm white.
OH WELL. The noodles are worth it.
OVERALL RATING: 4/5
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