Restaurant review: Universal Noodle

Ramen has been a hot topic of discussion amongst TAS peeps lately. Three new ramen places have opened just in Tienmu in the past month or so...which is fantastic because now I get to sample all of them!

Universal Noodle is the newest of the 3 to have arrived - it opened its doors only a week ago! This is the place that many of my friends have been raving about and trekking down to Ximen to slurp down. I had not yet made the journey, so I was pretty pumped when I heard the new location was only a 5 minute walk from TAS!

Location: it's right behind Mitsukoshi on the corner between Spice Shop and JB's Diner - Alley 19 off of Tienmu East Road. 

Jordan and I arrived early (5:30 pm) for dinner and got seated straight away, but there are queue lines set up for (what I expect are) long lines, and when we left at 6 pm there were already people lined up. Clearly lots of people were hungry for ramen, too!

When we walked in, we were handed a menu and an order sheet (in English - yay!). There are 4 different broth options, and then the best part is that you get to totally customize your bowl! You can choose the broth thickness, spicy level, noodle thickness and firmness, pork belly or shoulder, and then extra toppings (oh yeahhhhh soft boiled eggs). 

The entry way of Universal Noodle - and where you pay at the end of your meal.

Filling out the order menus - one per person.

Once we turned in our sheets, we were ushered upstairs to a nice open space where we could see behind the busy kitchen counter. The decorations are super cute - lots of vibrantly colored posters of what appeared to be a Universal Noodle superhero! At each table was a nice array of interesting condiments. They asked us to sit on only one side of the table in case another group needed to use the other side, but there was plenty of room so it wasn't a big deal.

Condiments and a jug of ice water in the middle of each table.

And then our ramen arrived only minutes after we sat down! (I've become quite spoiled at how fast food comes out at most restaurants in Taiwan). I ordered the traditional broth while Jordan got the "Red King" - spicy! Our extra toppings came on the side, which was a new experience for me but kind of fun! We got seaweed, soft-boiled eggs, and extra tree fungus (sounds gross, but is absolutely delicious).

My bowl: regular broth, pork shoulder, green onions, seaweed and tree fungus...happy!

Jordan's bowl: spicy broth, pork belly, green onions and tree fungus...also a happy eating experience.

Extra toppings on the side!

We both gave our bowls big thumbs up! Jordan loved the pork belly in his, and when I took a bite I was also impressed - perfectly cooked and super thick. Yum! I got the pork shoulder which was tasty, but the pork belly beat it in overall awesomeness. We will definitely be back to try the more unique broth flavors - squid ink and basil...but we will be prepared to wait in line if it's after 6 pm!

Here is one happy noodle slurper!

First attempt at food blogging!

For about a year now I have contemplated the idea of turning my blog into a food blog...so here is my first ever attempt at posting about my dining out experiences in Taipei! I don't think I'm ready to fully commit to solely food blogging, but I do want to keep track of some of the yummy restaurants I frequent and the meals I consume. If you're reading this and you're IN Taipei, feel free to contact me for any additional info regarding the places I post about. I'm not good with addresses, so I'll try to give details of the surrounding area. Here we go!

Restaurant #1: New Ramen Place in Tienmu (no name in English that I could see)

This place literally opened like 4 days ago and is at the intersection of Keqiang and Chung Shan on the east side of the street. 

Sign in front of the restaurant

There is a big red sign with lanterns underneath (see above). It's not a huge space inside, but there is a counter to sit at where you can watch them cook and some tables along the side that seem to fit between 2-4 people. There's no English menu, but it didn't matter as there are pictures on the menu for the majority of the food. And the owner speaks English!

View of the inside from the outside

First page of the menu - no English but lots of pics!

Jordan and I both ordered ramen, though there is other stuff on the menu like soba noodles and grilled fish. We chose two different ramens that ended up having slightly different broths, but were both quite tasty. The real centerpiece of both bowls was the PORK! It was nice and tender with crispy edges and they put big chunks in the broth. Totally fantastic if you're into pork. 

The $170NT ramen at the top of the first page...I blame the iPhone 4 for the slightly blurry pic.

Check out that crispy pork! Drool worthy for sure.

I can definitely see this becoming a staple in our Tienmu restaurant rotation, especially when it starts getting cooler (I will admit that I started sweating during dinner, but I'm used to that going into year 3 of this humidity!). Solid menu options, great broth, and once again, totally yummy pork.

Voila! First food post done. Now to contemplate the next meal...