[台北] - 牛爸爸牛肉麵 - Beef Daddy Beef Noodle$$$$$$....Who i$ Your Daddy?

Who's Yo Daddy? Why it's Beef Daddy (688 Noodle) of course. 牛爸爸牛肉麵

How much are you willing to pay for a bowl of Taiwanese beef noodles/niu rou mian 牛肉麵?

US$2? $5? $9? These are typical price ranges of bowls you can get in Taipei, night markets, casual eateries, sit down casual restaurants, and beef noodle specialist shops.

Too cheap for you? How about US$20 / NT$600 range? Whoa.... that is starting to get insane by local standards. But wait that's not just it!

Can you handle US$100 / ~ NT$3000 for one bowl of 牛肉麵? Damn dude, not even a plate of dry fried beef chow fun 干炒牛河 is worth that much (even if they use Japanese beef). Then again some people prefer Ferrari's over Honda Civics.
If you are a beef noodle fanatic, then 牛爸爸牛肉麵 will specifically cater to the beef noodle crazy in you.

About 5 min walk away from 忠孝敦化, is literally a temple of beef noodles.

Professor "Beef Daddy" Wang 王聰源 (owner and chef)

牛爸爸牛肉麵 certainly has an interesting story behind it. Mr Wang lived overseas in Vancouver for about 20 years. He gave up pursuing a career in architecture and decided to become an artisanal beef noodle 牛肉麵 maker.

After much careful research (and a lot of $ invested), he has come up with quite an award winning formula. The menu apparently sports multiple price levels of beef noodles, from cheap to crazy expensive. As you go higher up in price, the quality of goods used in the product increases exponentially. What is even more interesting is that Mr Wang originally had a few very affordable bowls of noodles, but business was not good. Contrary to common sense, which LOWERING the price would theoretically attract more customers, Mr Wang decided to go against the grain and RAISE the prices of his beef noodles...but at the same time invested more in quality.

About 8 years ago, Mr Wang came up with the NT$3000 (~US$100) bowl of beef noodles. The general blogosphere thought that was crazy and brave. But Tony stuck to his guns, and insisted on raising the price for this bowl, while being able to control quality with fewer crowds coming through the door.

They say that on most given days, the restaurant can be fairly empty, but Tony's restaurant does have some fiercely loyal fans.

For those who want the Rolls Royce, Lamborghini of beef noodles, professor Wang's has one for you. It costs NT$10,000 per bowl (~US$330)  called 元首牛肉麵. I couldn't afford the bowl, but at least here are the photos of others to give you a glimpse.

To say Mr Wang is a specialist or professor is an understatement.

This NT$10,0000 bowl allows you to customize the types of noodles you want (different thickness, width, and texture). I believe he has a special source for his noodles (similarly to how Ono Jiro of Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo has a unique supplier for his rice).

The beef? Where do I begin? A medley of specific cuts from cows across the world....New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, and Japanese Matsuzaka beef.

The NT$10,000 bowl is served with a side of beef broth essence. Apparently this is pre-made in advance and kept in deep freeze, so that when a customer orders this, he just needs to reheat it. You've heard of stories like 72 beef noodles using 1.5 kilos of ox bones to make a serving of white ox bone broth that takes 72 hours to simmer....only one can guess how much labor and material went into making this beef broth essence here.

When this bowl was introduced around 2008 or so, the restaurant was immediately escalated to world gourmet status, maybe some Guiness world record, coverage on CNN and other business magazines, and a lot of super rich high profile locals and foreigners interested in seeing what the fuss was all about. It has also been said that Tony even said that the NT $10,000 tag is a suggested price, and he offered customers the option to pay what they think the bowl is worth. One Taiwanese executive loved the bowl so much he paid almost triple the amount...

Despite the sillyness, it is said that even the NT$300 and below bowls here are quite good, or the ~NT$600 tomato beef noodles. The varying price levels of this restaurant is one interesting aspect to this restaurant, in addition to Mr Wang winning various awards in the past in the annual Taipei Beef Noodle Festival.

This place is certainly not for the casual beef noodle fan, but for those who can appreciate subtleties and fine attention to detail (including the numerous available condiments/sauces), the fact that this is one of the cleanest beef noodle restaurants around with an almost immaculate kitchen that would make the health department proud), make this place stand out. 

Have you tried the NT$10,000 beef noodle bowl yet? If you have, consider yourself lucky!

牛爸爸牛肉麵 (688 Noodle / "Beef Daddy")
台北市忠孝東路四段216巷27弄16號 Taipei City Zhongxia E Rd 4th portion, Alley 216, 27 / #16

02-27783075

[台北市] - 麵面俱到 - can you handle clams in your beef noodles?

麵面俱到 offers an interesting twist on the typical style beef noodle.

In fact they go a bit overboard with allowing you to customize.
Let's start with the soup base. You can pick 川味 (spicy) broth, 蕃茄 (tomato), and of course 清燉 (clear beef broth). But did you know you can also get pork bone broth 豚骨高湯?!

OK so you're thinking, what's so great about this place? It gets a little better...these guys allow you to add fresh clams to the beef noodle bowls!

牛肉蚌麵 (beef noodles with clams)

or how about pairing it with FISH?

豚骨鮮蚌魚麵 (clams and fish with pork bone soup)

Don't like seafood, but you love innards and parts? How about some pork organs with your beef noodles?

川味原汁三樣麵 (spicy broth, featuring beef, pork liver, and pork intestines) 

The cost for all this goodness? About NT$150 for a bowl.....maybe a bit over US$5.

In the USA, a bowl of Japanese style ramen loaded with MSG and salt will cost you more than US$10 after tax and tip. In Taipei, eating beef noodles (and so many varieties at that) seem to be the more logical choice.


麵面俱到 (Mien Mien Chu Tao Tasty Noodle House)
台北市士林區福華路162之1號（捷運芝山站二號出口)
Taipei City, Shihlin District, Fu Hua Road 162 / #1 (Get off Zhishan station, exit #2)

[台北市] - 功夫蘭州手拉麵 - How good is their kung fu?

Haiiiiiii YA!

No it is not Bruce Lee. Suddenly Beef Noodles 牛肉麵 is associated with Kung Fu.
To many non Chinese, Kung Fu sounds like some serious martial artist who kicks people's asses.

But from a Chinese context, 功夫 refers to a lot of hard work put in, attention to detail, labor intensive, perhaps doing a lot for a better result. Sometimes it is just a buzz.

Upstairs from Taipei Main Station (train / MRT) is "Breeze Center" 微風臺北車站. Lots of food courts and restaurants, like this one. Perfect if you are not terribly hungry, or just want a convenient bite downtown (nothing spectacular, but nothing bad).

The main focus here is the visual and sound of noodle master thwacking the dough and pulling noodles by hand, Lanzhou style. In a way it is their way of bringing the Chinese art of hand pulled noodles, and applying it to Taiwan style beef noodle soup.

Some say that this shop, while has won past award in Taipei Beef Noodle Festival, somewhat misses the mark on the broth or beef. So depending on your focus and on what is more important, the noodle may be interesting, but the other elements could be potentially lacking.

This shop is definitely catering towards visitors, who might be shocked and awed by the chef action.

The most interesting looking item here? Could be the clear broth oxtail noodle. 清燉牛尾拉麵 .

Enjoy a couple of pictures of oxtail noodle porn.

Goji berry, daikon, green veg, and oxtail. Might be a slightly more enjoyable experience that Ramen Nakamura in Hawaii (oxtail ramen)...

So if you try it, let me know how it tastes.


功夫蘭州拉麵 Kung Fu Lanzhou Noodles
地址: 台北市中正區北平西路3號2F(微風台北車站) Zhongchen District, Beiping S. Rd #3, 2F
(Breeze Center, upstairs from Taipei Main Station)
Tel: 02-2388-2298

[台北] - 老外一品牛肉麵 - Foreigner's Beef Noodles - Fusion Done Right

In Tokyo, there is a New York expat named Ivan Orkin who opened up his own ramen restaurant (Ivan Ramen) to great instant success, fame, and worldwide recognition. A foreigner who against the odds, entered a field of fierce competition where you had better be good, no...excellent, in order to get to the top.

There is a similar success story, all but shunned from international media, in Taipei, Taiwan. Many foreigners settle down in Taiwan, bring their food and culture with them, and have their own success stories. You see people from the Middle East, India, Pakistan who open up their own eateries and food stalls. You find Turkish ice cream at night markets, and of course the grilled lamb wraps (where the wrap skins are hand tossed and grilled to order). But for someone who came from Iran, entered the field of beef noodles/beef noodle soup, or niu rou mian 牛肉麵, and came out with a very successful product, business, and loyal fan following, is rare and unheard of.

The Ivan Orkin of Taipei in the beef noodle world is a man named Davod (= David) Bagherzadeh. He speaks fluent Mandarin (I'm sure way way way way way better than mine) too.

The clear stew noodle broth is made with beef knee bones and is simmered for upwards of 4 days.

The signature red stew broth contains tomato, various spices, and a secret blend of Persian herbs that brings out the needed spicy kick and fragrance. Many Taiwanese who studied abroad (e.g. New York) and have had a range of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean street food, then come back to Taipei and eat at 老外一品牛肉麵 will find many familiar flavors in this bowl.

Definitely a must try.

老外一品牛肉麵 Foreigner's Beef Noodles
Website: http://persian-gulf.web66.com.tw/web/Home
台北市中山區吉林路403號1F (Taipei City, Zhongshan District, Jihlin Road #403, 1/F)

四訪 知味館 - Yum's Bistro - Fremont, CA (USA) - I Just Can't Get Enough...I Just Can't Get Enough

"When I'm in here baby, I go outta my head....I Just Can't Get Enough....I Just Can't Get Enough."

It feels like I'm running out of material, which in some cases is true. But one thing I extremely enjoy about Yum's Bistro 知味館 in Fremont, is that there is always a surprise in virtually every visit, big or small. Sometimes you have to make that surprise happen yourself, and take the reins of a wild horse, and see what path you venture down with it.

It pains me sometimes to read the food adventures of many of my favorite Hong Kong based bloggers (I love you guys, your writeups, and pictures to bits) but as an expat living on the other side of the globe, that good stuff, particularly classical style Cantonese food, is so far out of reach.  Sometimes I couldn't be half arsed to settle for pricey pretentious crap at an overated high end seafood restaurant. Other times, there are just not enough people to partake. But more importantly, quality and traditional original taste are generally missing, let alone not authentic.

But the chef owner here, man.... this guy that I've come to refer to him personally as 旋哥, who was a retired chef before he decided to get back in the kitchen to run his own restaurant, not only delivers in quality at a very affordable price, but he also knows the traditional flavors of Hong Kong, and is probably the best chef of his genre in the entire SF Bay Area.

It is also no secret that he has already amassed a loyal cult following from expats who know how to navigate the waters in the Bistro, but yet you will rarely find detailed writeups, blogs, or reviews of some of his best dishes.

On a cold winter night in December 2011, a few of us came in. Pre-ordered a few dishes, and we just let the evening run its course.

Chef owner gave us this free on the house, roasted squab 紅燒乳鴿

The skin was softer this time round, tasted less greasy, more marinated. No salt pepper dip, but overall very satisfying. I even ate the entire head which I normally don't do...and it was actually quite juicy!



Yes, we should not even compare this with Shatin, let alone most places in Hong Kong, but this is already miles better than anything else.

This is what happens when you let the chef be creative - HK style won ton claypot chicken soup

砂鍋雲吞雞

This is a typical Shanghainese claypot soup that you could easily find in many non Cantonese Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. Typically a whole mature chicken is stewed in a claypot for hours (with pork won tons, maybe napa cabbage and Jinghua ham). Chef Yum basically took this dish and gave it a more Cantonese approach....using fresh wontons he made himself (excellent pork to shrimp ratio), mature chicken, and the American Jinghua ham substitute, smoked Virginia ham, and napa cabbage. While not tasting the same, it was pure natural deliciousness. You could virtually taste all the ingredients, and was extremely comforting on a cold night. 

Even crazier is that this is the absolute best won ton I've had in town. Beautiful bite sized, form fitting, and additional skin slack. American comfort soup is chicken noodle soup. But Cantonese comfort soup that is chicken based, would be something like this.

I could use 30 more of these things

I unfortunately did not get a chance to find out what kind of fish was used for this steamed fish dish, but it looked way better than it tasted. Some parts were a bit chewier and dryer than others. Sad to see one inconsistent dish. Unfortunately it is not easy to get interesting exotic fish most of the time, unlike Hong Kong where there are hundreds if not thousands of varieties, if you include boney ocean wild fish, and ones swimming off the South China sea. What Cantonese Chinese restaurants in SF Bay Area refer to as "mouse grouper" (humpback grouper) 老鼠斑 is not equivalent to the rare prized humpback grouper in HK. Sigh.

This is not on the menu - 糯米蒸蟹

Again I have to thank all my favorite Hong Kong bloggers. You guys eat like Roman emperors. Some of your eating adventures (particularly around crab) remind me of something I've craved for years, but haven't had a chance to eat again locally, as my lack of faith in many seafood restaurants make me worry that they cannot execute a traditional receipe like this. And what better than 糯米蟹 (crab steamed with glutinous rice), which is another perfect dish for the winter, on top of Chef Yum's expertise with crab and lobster dishes. Nothing beats quality seasonal local dungeoness crab being used in this traditional receipe. One can only have so many spicy crabs, typhoon shelter crabs, salt pepper crabs, or even salted egg yolk crabs.

Easily the best dish of the whole evening. Simple yet it felt luxurious. There's nothing sexier than crab juices and essence dripping down into the perfectly made glutinous stir fried rice (that is rich with flavor and ingredients). 

Never have I seen so much care and attention in a glutinous rice prep with steamed crab! Chef Yum went entirely old school on this one. 蝦米 (dried shrimp, and BIG long ones too) and 魚乾 which are similar to dried anchovies, really brought out the flavor. Every glutinous rice grain was moist and more importantly 上色. Ridiculously good...

Chef Yum told us, "there's one more dish to come!". It was a surprise. Well not really, because he knows we like it.  Beef brisket curry claypot 咖哩牛腩煲. It tastes way better than it looks. Less coconut milk presence, and chef uses a blend of Indian and Indonesian curry and spices to create this. The addition of potatoes is vital to the outcome, and are not to be missed. Already full with glutinous rice from the previous dish, getting additional bowls of white rice was compulsory, especially when the sauce was not to be wasted. The second highlight of the contents was not the soft tender brisket, but the beef tendons.

And just when we thought the surprise was over, the complementary house dessert closed out the symphonic performance.

牛蒡糖水!!!

I don't know too much about Cantonese stewed dessert soups, but using BURDOCK/GOBO 牛蒡 in one is new to me!

Naturally sweet and a delicious combination. After having so many taro sago or red bean dessert soups, this was a breath of fresh air. 牛蒡 (burdock), 紅棗 (dried red dates), 雪耳 (snow ear funghi), 枸杞 (wolfberry). A simple game of classical genius!

Until next time...

Yum's Bistro 知味館
4906 Paseo Padre Pkwy
(between Capulet Rd & Deep Creek Rd)
Fremont, CA 94555
Tel: (510)-745-8866 





[基隆廟口夜市] - 世盛一口吃香腸 Keelung Night Market's "One Bite Sausage"

Out of many so called TV food celebrities out there, no one other than Anthony Bourdain, has had his fill of sausage in virtually every country or episode (save Asia, because there is food other than hot dogs).

Every food loving person will always have something to recommend when visiting some famous night market. At Keelung Temple Mouth Night Market 基隆廟口夜市, it is impossible to eat absolutely everything, or even 50% of what there is to offer, and inevitably someone will ask you to save some room to try something.

So if you are into really tasty high quality sausages and garlic, look no further than this signature stall.
世盛一口吃香腸. Literally "one bite sausage" because each weenie is small enough it fits comfortably in your mouth, whether you are straight, single, married. Of course not all weenies are equal, some are phatter than others. Each weenie runs NT $7 (used to be NT$5 in 2005 prices), and of course a piece of garlic is included. You figure NT$30 ~ US$1. So this is affordable. Even if you are a bit broke ass.

If you live in Southern California, you've probably heard of Sinbala and their sausages. While those are good if not frozen and reheated, the real deal can only be had at a place like this.

Looks a little greasy but devlish sexy right? Bourdain sadly never ate something this good.

Somehow the black pork sausage (chockful of tasty good stuff) eaten with one piece of garlic, is just a wonderous experience. Explosion in the mouth, and of course major stink breath. If only a chunk of raw onion was paired with it in addition! The effect of this, is very similar to eating Singaporean satay skewers (one bite of meat satay, one bite of raw onion). Somehow it all makes sense.

世盛一口吃香腸 (One Bite Sausage Stall)
基隆市 Keelung City (Taipei County)
仁愛區仁三路、愛四路交叉口(第43-1號攤位) Ren Ai District, x 3rd Rd with 4th Rd (stall # 43-1)

[花蓮縣] - 七星柴魚博物館 - Chihsing Tan Katsuo Museum in Hualien county - Holy Smokey Fishy Goodness!

Some years back I had the pleasure of joining some friends on a road trip that took us first from Taipei to Yilan county, then southward towards Hualien county 花蓮縣. It is truly an amazing oasis on the eastern side of the coast. What surprised me the most was that in the middle of nowhere, next to a rocky beach (no sand) that is supposedly near a military base (and often used for practice), is a museum. Right by the Chising Tan area 七星潭風景區.

Not just any museum, but one dedicated to....katsuoboshi or bonito flakes (鰹節 or かつおぶし in Japanese). Commonly referred by the Taiwanese as 柴魚片, coming from the fish bonito which the locals call 鰹魚. Whoa?! It turns out that every year, there are tons and tons and tons of katsuo harvested off the coast of Hualien, and made into bonito flakes via fermentation and smoking process.
This museum preserves some local history (showcasing the life of local fishermen), food culture, and knowledge, and is a very well known tourist attraction.

No need to give away too much, but make sure you drop by the gift shop for a lot of great fantastic katsuo based goodies, from the typical bonito flakes, bonito flakes seasoned soy sauces, dip sauces, and also Taiwanese snacks made with katsuoboshi (e.g. fish floss made with katsuo). Free samples for some stuff too. It is hard to resist.

And when you're done, don't miss the food section (looks like a canteen with benches and tables), where you can get takoyaki, fishball soup (stock enhanced with bonito flakes), katsuo roe sausage, and a few more.


七星柴魚博物館 Chihsing Tan Katsuo Museum
花蓮縣新城鄉七星街148號 Hualien County, Hsun Chun village, Chihsing Street #148