[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)

[台北市] - 寧夏路夜市 - 古早味紅豆餅 The Making Of Red Bean Cake Footage (Ningxia Road Night Market Taipei)

Previously covered here, but who cannot resist some real footage? Unearthed a clip I took a few years back of the making of this local old school delicacy.

Gotta love those "finger condoms" cut out from a dishwashing rubber glove on the person doing the cooking and flipping (where the flipping action reminds one of takoyaki 章魚燒).

It's quite unbelieveable that lines continue to form at this stall at Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏路夜市in Taipei, and this traditional red bean cake 古早味紅豆餅 is arguably better than other versions. On certain nights, expect to wait at least 20 to 25 mins before you can place your order. These delicacies seem similar to those Japanese style dorayaki's 銅鑼燒, except these are not flat pancakes, but shaped almost like.... a Sausage Egg McMuffin! Egg custard (excellent), red bean (woof woof), and taro (whooo hoooo) are quite kick ass and still taste quite decent if you re-heat in a toaster oven the next day. Haven't been able to try the pickled veg and meat version, but I'm sure it is very decent.

寧夏路夜市 (Ningxia Road Night Market, Taipei)
台北市大同區寧夏路(寧夏夜市中段) (Da Tung District, Ningxia Road, about halfway into the main night market).

[台北] - 饌王精品牛肉麵 Chuan Wang Gourmet Beef Stew Noodles Taipei

Along the busy shopping district of Zhongxiao Fuxing in Taipei, where all the celebs and ladies go to blow their cash on clothing, make-up, fashion accessories etc, a man can only tolerate so much of that, spend so much time inside Sogo, with the random snack shop, or the tempting Ten Ren Tea Station, or Rose Records (pricey CDs by the way).

When the clock strikes 12 noon, the inner cavity gut goes "grrrrrrrooowl" and suddenly you need a fix of something.

You look around this stretch of road.

Hmmm... Mickey D's? Nah.

What are those interesting looking indoors restaurants on the 2nd, 3rd floor of this building? Dunno, but you would have to hike up the steps of them office buildings to take a peek....too time consuming.

Sushi? Could be shady....

Street food? Oh noes...you have to duck into the side streets and alleyways, and even those can be a risk taking adventure.

Then you fixate your eyes on a sign that says beef stew noodles 牛肉麵, and suddenly all common sense goes out the door.

It can't be that bad!

Saw this giant sign, and I figured, hey why not. It's somewhere up on the 2nd or was it 3rd floor of this old office building. When I get to the top, there's a sliding door entrance. It looks like a clean fast food joint, tables everywhere and friendly service. So you go up to the cashier, order what you want, and the food is brought to you on a tray.

Too bad I didn't consider the tomato beef noodles...would have tried that.

So I settled for the half beef flank, half tendon combo.

Looks good doesn't it? Well it better be for US$9 (circa NT$270). This was a large, and man I must have overpaid.

Definitely decent, but not the best I've had in town.

4 years later, I look this place up on the net.
They won one of the annual Taipei Beef Noodle Soup Festival competitions, like the #1 most popular beef noodles restaurant in town.

And then I found out that the owners somehow got people to vote for them online, many many many times, just to push themselves to the #1 spot and win. Ayeee yai yai.

饌王精品牛肉麵 (Chuan Wang Gourmet Beef Stew Noodles)
106大安區忠孝東路4段94號2樓 (2F, #94, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Sec.4, Taipei)
Tel: 2-2711-0388

[台北] - 八王子新懷石料理 Hachioji Japanese Cuisine

This meal was quite a few years ago, when Chen Shui Bian 陳水扁

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Shui_Bian

was president of Taiwan (from 2000 - 2008).

It is said that Taipei's Hachioji restaurant 八王子新懷石料理 was his all-time favorite Japanese restaurant. I'm sure he dreams about it now behind bars.

Don't remember too much about the meal, but it was quite decent. Certainly very different from the mom & pop izakaya types or the high end kappo & sushi dining experiences in town. Very relaxed surroundings and despite the words kaiseki in the restaurant name, seemed more like an upscale yet semi casual mood dining kind of place.

Seemingly Japanese but yet has a Taiwanese influenced slant (with kaiseki touches).

For some reason the restaurant's website is down, but they do have a very extensive menu, covering the basics, as well as elegantly arranged set dinners.

Presentation and quality is certainly no slouch

Combination sashimi platter over a bed of ice. Salmon, hamachi, squid, tuna, julienne mountain yam (yamaimo), and sea urchin (not as sexcellent as Santa Barbara or Mendocino unfortunately), arguably all sourced locally. NT$900 which is roughly US$30...ouch.

 Marbled beef slices with some sort of garlic butter mixture on top, white stem of large scallions, resting on a lotus leaf, on top of a square bowl of very very very hot stones (with hot water). The heat from the stones cooks the meat, melts the butter, you roll that sucka up like a joint with the scallion, then dip in the seasoned side of sauce. Good stuff. Light elegant, and good use of butter that didn't make you shameful of being a gluttonous bastard (unlike at Ruth Chris steak house).

Combination vegetable tempura (local interpretation, not the traditional kind), The round thingies are veggie rolls deep fried with cooked salmon inside.

A nice change of pace indeed.

http://www.hachioji.com.tw/

八王子新懷石料理 Hachioji Japanese Cuisine
台北市復興北路276號

Tel: 02-25079900

[台北] - 長白小館 - Chang Bai Xiao Guan - a taste of the North East

For those who cannot eat or even look at pork due to personal beliefs, religious reasons, or whatever, please avert your eyes to the following photograph (warning: may cause temporary blindness, foaming at the mouth worse than a rabid dog, impulsive uncontrollable desire for lust, decadence, debauchery, you might rip off your clothes for this.....then again maybe not)

If Las Vegas is sin city for gambling and uhm...riding horses at the Mustang Ranch, then Taiwan is the sin city for fine and not so fine dining. Even the orniest meanest looking street vendor or hole in the wall restaurant is sooooooooooo good it's not even funny.

Almost 5 years ago on a very cold night before leaving the fine city on a plane ride back home, we came here for dinner.  Located somewhere near the shopping district (not too far away from Sogo) was 長白小館 (Chang Bai Xiao Guan).

長白, or "long white" literal translation, is named after the Baekdu Mountains bordering between China and North Korea, where you probably don't want to take a vacation during winter. Perhaps long white, refers to the snow capped mountains and land, for long periods of time during the winter months...

But there is something special about NorthEastern cuisine....sour (fermented) cabbage, a main staple preserved veggie of the diet, and of course, copious pork belly slices to keep one's body temp optimal, and ensure that a dude's testes does not integrate or assimilate into his body entirely from the frigid temperatures (they're supposed to hang for a reason).

Oh yes, 酸菜白肉鍋 (sour cabbage pork belly slice hot pot) It's Chang Bai restaurant's signature dish. Some of you might be wondering, where's the sour cabbage?

It's underneath the mondo layer of pork belly slices. They are very rich in flavor, but you don't get that filling or disgusted feeling afterwards. Why? The secret is in the sour fermented cabbage that numbs the fattiness, and makes your stomach feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The fermented cabbage must taste like ass, you will think. Actually no...it's a very mild and refreshing taste, unlike other versions where it's heavier than sauerkraut or as pungent as stinky tofu (or kimchi). This is unlike any other sour cabbage you will have abroad.

Similar to Lin Tung Fong in Taipei, there is a shelf filled with small plates of mostly cold/room temp appetizers. All self help, and to be charged to your tab. A few of these will kick off the bacon hot pot goodness palooza.

Chang Bai (restaurant, in Taipei) is a fine example of specialized regional Chinese cuisine, multiple versions and wide varieties all over the island. A shop over 30 years old and still kicking ass, and keeping people's bellies warm and happy during the colder months of the year.

長白小館 Chang Bai Xiao Guan 　
台北市大安區光復南路240巷53號 (Taipei City, Da An District, Guang Fu S Road, Alley 240, #53)
Tel: 02-2751-3525

[台北市] - 西門町 - 老山東牛肉家常麵店 - Lao Shan Dong Beef Noodles (Xiemending, Taipei City)

While stumbling and fumbling around the busy fun district of Xiemending some moons ago (somewhere between 2005 to 2007), this place was discovered completely by accident, tucked away into an unassuming commercial/office building that had some shops on the ground level, but if you dived further in, you would find escalators going up and down. This building was actually like a multi story shopping arcade (or mall if you will).

The basement was a bit uninteresting at first. Very few shops, a lot of vacant business spaces and literally a dearth of restaurants save about 3 or 4 places. I recall there being a restaurant that specialized in Taiwanse style fried pork chops that smelled absolutely baconlicious and sorry for the Japanese pun, oink-shii. But the thought of overgrease was a bit daunting for a lunch. The other option was a small counter shop of noodles, northern style won tons (huan duan) in chili oil whose name I forgot. We were thinking of trying this place but decided to hit the restrooms first. However on our way there, just feet away from the entrance to the ladies and mens room, was a table with two employees of that food stall, making and prepping fresh huan duans on the spot. Uhm no thanks, as fresh as your wontons might be....it's all about location, location, location!

So we chanced upon this no brainer called Old Shan Dong or Lao Shan Dong Family (specializing in Beef) Noodle House - 山東牛肉家常麵店, that looked super bright and inviting. This restaurant is over 50 years old and has remained in the same location ever since!

Hand made, rolled, and prepped dumplings in house, de-facto standard. It's the equivalent of watching a sushi chef make nigiri, except this is cheap stuff.

Their specialties? Knife shaved hand made fresh noodles, pork based boiled dumplings (jiaozi), and beef in beef broth with xifen (bean thread vermicelli noodles). This is not a place where you mess around.

27 things on the menu. The signature knife shaved beef noodles ran about US$4.70 for a large, and about $1 less for a small bowl. This is perhaps mid end expensive for Taipei but not as expensive as Lin Tung Fong beef noodles in Taipei.

The appetizers were excellent, particularly the marinated pig's ear slices (that tasted like a cross between bacon and tendon) as well as the strings of seaweed that were crunchy with good vinegar marination and also very heavy in garlic which gave it the needed boost. At $1 per plate, it's a no brainer to kick start the appetite.

As for the signature bowl: the beef was very tender and delicious, and the broth was quite good. I'm hardly a fan of knife shaved noodles but I have to say it was executed very very well. At the time, there were no thinner noodles available, and bean thread version would have been uber soggy.

Dumplings were excellent. Primariliy pork but I believe had cabbage in it. And you know what, they were as excellent as San Tung (on Irving Street in San Francisco), if not better.

A taste of the past, stuck in time. There are arguably a lot better places around town, but for a place that has been around 50+ years, you have to respect that.

老山東牛肉家常麵店 - Lao Shandong Beef Noodles
台北市西寧南路70號 Taipei City, Xi Ning South Rd #70
地下室15 (萬年商業大樓地下室) Mahn Lien building, basement level #15
Tel：02-2389-1216

[台北市] - 寧夏路夜市 - 古早味紅豆餅 traditional red bean cake (Ningxia Road Night Market)

Ningxia Road Night Market Taipei's best dessert snack shop "Traditional Red Bean Cake". 寧夏路夜市 - 古早味紅豆餅

You won't find any fancy froyo or cupcakes in this night market (thank gawd). But there is one sweet munchie that is on the top of everyone's list and a must try should any of you make it to Ningxia Road Night Market in Taipei City sometime.

"Gu Tsoh Wei Hung Doh Bing" 古早味紅豆餅 - or Old School Flavor Red Bean Cake.

There are at most 2 people inside the stall. Very simple but slightly time consuming operation:

1) Vendor pours secret receipe egg batter into two rows of the cake cast iron grill.

2) When the first row is about halfway done, toppings are placed on top.

3) When the 2nd row is done cooking, vendor takes a metal pick and loosens the contents of each cast. This is the top portion.

4) When the first row is done, vendor loosens it with a pick to get it out

5) Place top "lid" and sandwiches the topping and the bottom half.

Well what can I say. A toasty crispy exterior made of a light egg batter, similar to that of Cantonese eggette snacks or waffles with an ample thick layer of goodness in the middle (whether it's taro, egg custard or red bean paste which are both excellent, or some wacky savory salty preserved veg or a new offering of black sesame paste which I didn't see before), for only US$1.50. Take it home, reheat and it's a quickie snack or breakfast the next morning!
Try not to squeeze to hard, the fillings would burst out.

Egg custard is nice and thick, and surprisingly doesn't taste like butter even though that's the Chinese translation of it. Red bean is sweet, firm, and rich, not like some of the watered down crap at some Asian dessert places in the San Francisco Bay Area.

寧夏路夜市 (Ningxia Road Night Market, Taipei)
台北市大同區寧夏路(寧夏夜市中段) (Da Tung District, Ningxia Road, about halfway into the main night market).

[台北] - 寧夏夜市 - Ningxia Road Night Market Taipei

I've covered a few very delicious destination vendor stops at Taipei's Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏夜市, but feel that this place warrants its own writeup. Do not treat this as a comprehensive guide, as the compilation of photos cover the last 2 to 3 years. Vendors come and go, so what you see might not even be there now.

Unless it is some earth shattering event (like a typhoon, or ground splitting earthquake), the night market opens even when it is pouring. When it does rain, the night market association provides cover.

On rainless nights, it's open air time.

Sorry for not blurring ya, missy.

One of the reasons why I love this night market so much is that it is way less touristy than Shihlin. Sure that place is great, but it is overrun by visitors bused (and flown) in from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea (Hong Kongers in particular). The offerings are rather commercialized, and frankly after 3 to 4 visits, it loses its glamor.

Ningxia Road Night Market can be almost defined as the heart of where Taipei city started and evolved some 50+ years ago. True traditional old school flavors, with many receipes preserved for the ages. While it is true that you can enjoy even better food in Tainan (where they say street food is way way better), for Taipei I believe Ningxia is the place to be. At the same time, you can get the old school, along with new school, and of course the tried and true, adding variety to the spice.

You can even find Tainanese staples here, like the Tu Tuoh fish soup.

"Smile Skewers" - grilled seafood and meat on a stick. Pike mackeral, squid etc.

 American Corndogs?! WTF? Sooooo out of place.

"Fortune Fried Chicken" - so bold....note the "if it don't taste good, it's on us". Too bad I didn't try.

Teppanyaki.

Saltwater Chicken

Corn on a stick

Sashimi vendor, all fish from Pingtung harbor 東港. Squid, local snapper of some sort, swordfish, tuna

local "hamachi", more local white fish, something that looks like escolar and colored fish eggs.

Pre-made low tech cheap nigiri on the go (from another stall)

Grilled Middle-Eastern/Indian/Pakinstani style skewers

Master Yu's Xiao Long Bao (they have shrimp XLB too, supposedly great)

Fresh lemons and kumquats for honey lemon/honey lemon kumquat juice

Shandong style grilled duck heads. Strange but nothing new really.

Korean style spicy nian gao

Fresh sugar cane juice

Another famous 30+ yr old local oyster omlette shop on Ningxia Road, not part of the night market vendor strip, but a permanent fixture.

Local versions of takoyaki.

Guava

Fresh seafood all over. Cooked anyway you want.

Red bean pancake sandwiches

So many things to eat, so little time...


Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏夜市
台北市大同區寧夏路 (Taipei City, Datung District, Ningxia Road)

[台北] 一心日本料理 Ishin Nihon Ryori Taipei

Ishin 一心, or in kanji "one heart", is a fine example of a Japanese restaurant in Taipei where Japanese people would go eat, versus Taiwanese Japanese places that caters primarily to most of the locals and their tastebuds. This was a pretty popular place a few years ago, but with so many other places like it in the area, I'm not sure how they are faring these days.

But this is not to say that Ishin is enitrely hardcore, far from it, it is actually a mom and pop type operation, run by a chef husband who spends most of his time between the kitchen and the counter area where he does all the sashimi slicing, and the wife or okamisan who interacts with customers, assists them with ordering and anything else in between.

Ishin is also one of multiple restaurants in the immediate area that services local Japanese, expatriates, and those who are on business, travel, or working for the goverment/diplomats, in addition to those with like minded tastes, who need to relax, unwind after work, social with fellow employees or important clients, or even just hang out with friends. I suppose you can say it has an izakaya feel to it, but absolutely nothing like the trendy fusiony places in the Silicon Valley (Northern California)
Ishin like most other intimate small humble restaurants, require advanced reservations in order to be guaranteed spots at this 24 seater place. Similar to virtually all Japanese food businesses in Taipei (including food retail places), photography is prohibited of the food and generally of the premises, but the okamisan was gracious enough to allow me to photograph the exterior and interior as no other customers were present at the time. (I looked this place up in google.com.tw search....lots of bloggers took quick snapshots with their smaller cameras and smartphones! Guess it's not easy to stealth with a giant SLR)

Once you go past the sliding entrance door, you need to remove your shoes and place them on the shelf adjacent to the shelf that contains numerous bottles of sake (now isn't that a weird juxaposition of alcohol and smelly stinky feet!)

The menu in memory, breaks down into the following categories (in no particular order)

Appetizers

nabemono 鍋物 - hot pot

agemono 揚物 - deep fried items

yakimono 焼物 - grilled items

tempura (anago and kisu tempura I believe were available)

and one or two more categories I cannot remember.

Be sure to check the specials menu, which is a fine sheet of paper listing the items entirely in Chinese (kanji) which you read from top to bottom. Of note, but was not ordered, were grilled tuna chin (lower section) at NT$690, aji no nambanzuke 南蛮漬.

The Okamisan was one of the most friendliest, patient, and gracious
hosts I've ever encountered. She is very fluent in Mandarin (for obvious reasons) and her husband speaks a little bit. I'm told he drives frequently 30 to 60 minutes north into the port of Keelung (north coast of Taipei) to hand pick the freshest fish for cooking as well as sashimi (why raise costs by importing similar fish from Japan?)

We had:

1) Combination sashimi - local maguro, salmon, tako, hamachi with an additional order of scallops and uni, which 3 small lobes of it averaged US$8, not cheap. But it was all very great quality and fresh. Kudos to the chef using as much local seafood as possible, even if limited compared to other parts of the world.

2) Stewed potato with pork, carrots, and cabbage. The sauce/broth soaked into the potato, very nice. Could this be a version of niku jaga?

3) Hokkaido style nabe (hot pot) with salmon, cabbage, carrot, and bean thread vermicelli noodle in white and red miso base mix. Very hearty and warming in cold weather.

4) Julienne Japanese Mountain Yam (yamaimo) appetizer. This was supposed to be yamaimo and okura, but I only saw yamaimo. Served with wasabi on the side. Excellent.

5) Chicken karaage - mind blowingly good. Crispy sexy crunchy toasty flavorful skin, with really juicy chicken meat on the inside.

6) Charcoal grilled saba shio (saba shioyaki) - a little bit fishy, but was very nicely done.

7) Okinawa style Goya Champuru - arguably using Taiwanese local mountain bitter melon (not bitter at all compared to the stuff in the US). Stir fried with pork (belly?), tofu, eggs, soy sauce. Super homey and delicious dish, no surprise it appealed to Chinese tastebuds as well. Went well with rice, one of the highlights of the meal.

This was a very high quality, simple yet homey food, pretty low key, and definitely intimate, warming, and great vibe kind of place (as a result of the warmth of our okami-san). Service was a tad bit spotty when it got really busy, but that's understandable. Great use of local and imported ingredients to make something that I would guess is not that far off from Japan.

一心日本料理 (Ishin Nihon Ryori)
台北市中正區中山北路1段121巷36-1號 (Zhongzhen District, Zhongshan North Rd, 1st portion, 121 Alley #36-1).

Tel: (02)- 2560-5801
6 pm to 12 pm (Closed Sundays)

[台北] - 西門町 老天祿 Lao Tien Lu (Xiemending) - soy sauce simmered snack heaven

Located in the trendy and always fun Xiementing District 西門町 of Taipei City is one of the most famous soy sauce marinated snack shops called Lao Tien Lu 老天祿.

This is a must visit and if you are willing, a must try. They have quite an interesting background, as the company was originally located in Shanghai. The establishment of the Taipei location was the doing of then 12 year old Mr Chai, who apprenticed with his elder siblings when LTL was based in Shanghai and at the time offered tea cakes and snacks, as well as their signature product line of marinated eats (lou wei 滷味‎), where all items are first marinated in soy sauce and herbs of upwards of 14+ kinds then steamed/simmered, and served hot or in the case of LTL, cold). Around the time of WWII (1949) he fled to Taiwan and built the business there from scratch, with the knowledge of his apprenticeship. The business moved a few times, and Mr Chai's most devasting loss was the great fire of 1966 that burnt down literally all of Xiementing, destroying everything he built. Fortunately with the help of investors the business returned 5 years later and has settled down ever since.

While you can find packaged snacks and Chinese style sweets, everyone comes here for the marinated animal parts. Everything is marinated to sell the same day, so you won't get yesterday's today.

14 spices and Chinese herbs, soy sauce goes into the marination, then simmered, and refrigerated to seal in the juices.

Choose from

-duck tongue (best seller)

-duck wing

-duck feet

-duck gizzard

-duck heart

-intestines

-chicken wing

-chicken feet

-chicken gizzard

-chicken neck

-chicken thigh

-chicken liver

-pork trotter tendon

-several tofu variants

-a vegan (tofu) version of chicken gizzard

-marinated duck egg

-rice cake with blood (of either pork or bird, not sure)

Probably not as many Japanese tourists at this place, but an overwhelming number of Hong Kong visitors flock here.

It turns out that LTL's soy sauce marinated small bites are the darlings of mondo Hong Kong pop and movie stars, including megastar Andy Lau (who in the legendary Infernal Affairs movie dranks quite a few Hong Kong Milk Teas) Caveat, the pictures of Andy Lau inside LTL (posted around the store) were arguably taken during the 1980s or early 1990s.

Gotta give LTL credit for still using the imagery of pop stars via old photos as endorsement.

When it rains, it pours inside

Chicken feet

Pig trotter tendons

Dried marinated tofu

Duck tongues (including the connector parts!) signature bestseller

Website: http://www.laotienlu.com.tw/

老天祿滷味‎ (Lao Tien Lu Marinated Eats)
台北市萬華區武昌街二段55號‎ (Taipei City, Wanhua District, Muchang St 2nd portion, #55)
02-2361-5588‎