One of the most popular dishes to eat in Taiwan in Taiwanese beef noodle soup – I think it’s something nearly everyone gets excited about eating. When I was in Taipei, I was really doing some research and trying to decided which beef noodle soup restaurant to try out, and finally I settled on trying Lin Dong Fang (林東芳牛肉麵), one of the old school and most respected names in the beef noodle crazy Taipei. So one day for lunch, Ying and I headed to the restaurant early before the lunch rush, ready to slurp down a bowl of noodles.
The simmering pans of beef were all sitting at the front of the restaurant, slowly braised and brewing in their own liquids ready to be dished out. The noodles were first blanched in water for a few minutes and then dished into a bowl, paired with the beef and tendon and then topped in slow brewed soup. The menu is not all that extensive, and nor does it need to be, because when you eat at Lin Dong Fang (林東芳牛肉麵), you come there for the Taiwanese beef noodles. You can either order the large or the small sized bowl, I decided to go for the large bowl which was served in a metal bowl. Another choice you have is about meat and tendon, of which you can either choose one or the other, or you can get a combination of half and half, which is also what I did – that seems to be a pretty common thing to do.
The broth was made with beef, but also with an extremely pleasant combination of Chinese medicinal herbs and spices, so it had a very soothing flavor and aroma to it. The noodles were on the bottom, topped with both the slices of beef and the tendon, and then a handful of green onions were placed on top. It was so simple, but so well prepared and well assembled. The meat was unbelievably tender, fall apart tender, and it was full of flavor as well. Tendon is not my favorite cut, but even the tendon at Lin Dong Fang (林東芳牛肉麵) was pretty good – it was nice and tender, and almost had a creaminess to it. Even though the beef noodle soup was good enough to eat on its own without any condiments, there’s no hurt in adding some condiments to any bowl of noodles – that’s another great reason to eat soup. On every table at the restaurant there was a cup full of some red chili paste that looked like peanut butter. After adding some to the soup, the broth took on a lovely dry chili flavor, which enhanced the broth even more. There was also a bottle of Chinese style vinegar chili sauce which tasted pretty good on the meat as well.
I’m not sure if Lin Dong Fang (林東芳牛肉麵) is the best beef noodle restaurant in Taipei, because there are so many restaurant and so many choices, but I can say that their bowl of beef noodles fulfilled my expectations, and made me very happy about eating Taiwanese beef noodles. If you love beef and noodles, I don’t think there’s anyway you won’t love eating at Lin Dong Fang (林東芳牛肉麵) restaurant when you’re in Taipei.
Lin Dong Fang (林東芳牛肉麵), Taipei, Taiwan
Address: No. 274 Bade Road, Section 2, Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan
Open hours: Monday – Saturday from 11:00am – 6:00 am
Prices: The big sized bowl of beef noodles is 240 TWD ($7.30) – not a bad price for everything included in the bowl, the normal bowl I believe is 170 TWD ($5.17)
How to get there: The restaurant is located on Bade road, about halfway in-between Nanjing Fuxing and Zhongxiao Fuxing Station. I think it would be about a 5 – 10 minute walk from either of these stations.
The music in this video is from Audio Network
This food travel video was produced by Mark Wiens and Ying Wiens. For more information about us, check out our blogs: http://migrationology.com/blog & http://www.eatingthaifood.com/ & http://www.travelbyying.com/
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Read the full blog post about Lin Dong Fang (林東芳牛肉麵) beef noodles in Taipei: http://migrationology.com/2015/08/raohe-night-market/