Taiwan Beef Noodle Soup Tour Stop #1: Unnamed Beef Noodle Soup Shop On Hen Yang Road - 台灣牛肉麵導遊之一: 衡陽路的無名牛肉麵館 (Taipei, Taiwan)

Beef Noodle Soup - Niu Rou Mian (牛肉麵)

So here it goes, the start of my beef noodle soup (or as some refer to it as NRM) tour of Taiwan. Although this will only cover some of my favorites in Taipei, I'll hopefully be traveling to a few other cities in Taiwan over time and document those bowls as well.

Beef Noodle Soup on Hen Yang Road (衡陽路的無名牛肉麵館)

The first bowl of beef noodle soup is a classic, and one of my personal favorites, though it'll be a common phrase I'll be using in the coming weeks. This beef noodle soup shop lacks a signage, a name, and yet, it's always packed. Us locals often refer to this shop as the beef noodle shop on Hen Yang Road. Hen Yang Road is an area of town cluttered with bookstores, and jewelry stores. This is an area my family and I often visit to exchange US currency into the New Taiwan Dollar(NTD).

A little travel tip from me: the banks in Taiwan are truly awful in terms of exchanging US currency to NTD, and often require a 7 day hold on the funds. The airport currency exchange fronts often screw you in terms of fees and rates, thus going to a few selected jewelry shops is always the way to go! For those that are used to carrying American Express' Traveler's Cheques, a word of caution, there's only ONE place in Taipei that would do the exchange, which is at the AE's headquarters. So I digress....

Exterior of the Noodle Shop

This is the exterior of the shop. It's probably the best clue I can give you in terms of its location. Outside from its dilapidated shack in appearance, the beef noodle soup here is legit. Although the price for a bowl of beef noodle soup is a bit steep (160NTD, ~$5), it's well worth the price. What to order you may ask? You really only need to order two things here:

Rice Steamed Pork Ribs - feng zhen pai gu (粉蒸排骨)

I'm not sure what's the exact English translation for 粉蒸排骨 (feng zhen pai gu), but I'll call it rice steamed pork ribs. This small bamboo steamer contains sweet potatoes, pork ribs which were covered in this seasoned rice mix that's used for steaming. The end result was this perfectly cooked pork ribs with a delicious Chinese five spice flavor. It's quite tasty and a must order item here.

Beef Noodle Soup - Hong Shao Niu Rou Mian (紅燒牛肉麵)

Now for the main event, the stewed beef noodle soup (紅燒牛肉麵). Even though a clear beef noodle soup was offered, don't bother with it, stick with the stewed beef noodle soup. It's their best thing there. I'll admit, the soup itself was quite oily, loaded full of beef's delicious oil and flavor, it could be a bit too much for some. For me, it's perfect. The flavors of the broth was intense, flavorful, and all around fantastic. The beef was cooked tender, and just the perfect amount reside in the bowl. The noodles themselves weren't my favorites, but worked well with this broth. And of course, no Taiwanese beef noodle soup is the same without some mustard greens on top. I usually add the mustard greens quite liberally as I enjoy the sour flavors added to the beef noodle soup. For me, no trip back home to Taipei is the same without stopping by here for a bowl of stewed beef noodle soup. There has to be a reason why this shop is older than I am, it's really quite good!

Rating: 4 out of 5

這家衡陽路的無名牛肉麵館是我從小吃到大的麵館。在滿街上的書店和珠寶店之下﹐
藏著大家都認識的衡陽路牛肉麵館。我每次都必需點一碗紅燒牛肉麵和一籠粉蒸排
骨。他們的粉蒸排骨又香又嫩﹐真的太好吃了﹗雖然我媽認為他們的牛肉麵太油了﹐
我就是喜歡牛油的味道。牛油的香度實在是太贊了。雖然店裡常是人擠人﹐我每次
回台灣一定要吃一碗衡陽路的牛肉麵﹗你也應該吃一碗吧﹖