Restaurant Review: Noodle Flat

Now that winter weather (well...kind of winter-ish) has descended upon Taipei, it's time to tuck into some beef noodle, one of my favorite Taiwanese dishes. Luckily there's a great spot in Tianmu that's delicious, trendy, and absolutely affordable. Called "Noodle Flat," it opened a few months ago and has an easy to figure out English menu.

Easy-to-read English menu

Location: Just north of the intersection of Zhongshan N. Road and Dexing Road, Section 6 on the east side of the road. The outside is easy to spot as there is a plot of grass (strange I know) outside the front door. 

Modern looking exterior plus grass that is looking a little worse for the wear...

The dishes are simple and the menu isn't overwhelming. Jordan and I usually start with the mixed appetizer, which has a variety of traditional "small dishes" like tea eggs, seaweed, and pig ears. They also offer a bunch of different single dishes.

Mixed appetizer dish

I would definitely recommend their beef noodle soup as the meat is very tender and flavorful. It isn't a spicy broth like some places, but they have all of the traditional condiments so you can add additional spice if that's your jam. 

Yum...just looking at the beef makes me want to eat it NOW!

They have two different dumpling offerings: traditional and xiao long bao. The regular dumplings are yummy but nothing super special. The xiao long bao, on the other hand, are really good. They don't beat out Din Tai Fung's (let's be honest, what place could??) but for half the price and no waiting in line, they're a great deal. I don't have a pic, but I promise they're worth it. 

Traditional dumplings (a bit unceremoniously displayed on the plate)

If you're not in the mood for beef noodle soup, but still want to try Noodle Flat, they have different types of noodle dishes as well. Plenty of choice for everyone! Therefore if you're in the 'Mu and feeling the need for something new, this is a perfect spot to fill your craving!

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!

Beitou Squid Snack Review

I'm definitely on a roll...2 reviews in 2 days! Now that I have the Blogger app on my phone, it's so much easier to snap food pics and instantly upload them. Ahh the power of the SmartPhone!

Tonight's restaurant review is of Beitou Squid Snack next to the Zhishan MRT (exit 2). This is a chain and there is another one in Tienmu [on Dexing East Road between Zhongshan & Zhongcheng], but the one we always go to is across the street from where the taxis line up at Zhishan. It's hard to miss!

View from the MRT side of the street looking across.

Easy to see sign that's hard to miss!

This is a great place to grab lunch or dinner as it's super efficient, it's tasty, and it's cheap! The trifecta of success in a Taiwanese restaurant. You can tell that it's popular as it is pretty crowded during lunch and at peak dinner time. One issue: no English menu, but I have a photo of the translated menu (and would be happy to send you the translated menu if you want it). 

English version of the menu. Message me if you want the original!

Now on to the food...like I said, it's quite yummy! It is a pretty standard Taiwanese noodle shop with lots of noodle dishes, soups, and wontons. They also have grilled squid (I'm assuming that's where the restaurant's name came from) and other grilled dishes. And for the adventurous, there's always the spicy duck blood! (Jordan recommends it). One of my favorite parts is the fact that they have choose-your-own side dishes. You can just walk over to the shelf and grab whatever looks tasty! I usually go for the Japanese eggplant, the green beans, or the cucumbers. 

Food wall of choose-your-own side dishes. Love it!

Tofu on the left. Super delicious green beans and eggplant on the right.

Close up: Yummy side dish that I don't know the name of but I think it's tofu (fingers crossed).

Close up: These green beans are fantastic! Crunchy with the perfect amount of garlic. 

I'm also a huge fan of these cucumbers because they are served cold - perfect on a hot summer day!

Dry noodles with pork & shrimp wontons. I always get the small size which is plenty to fill me up, but Jordan gets the big one.

And, in the end, if you really need to you can just point at the pictures on the wall :)

This is definitely on the weekly rotation of restaurants that Jordan and I run through on a regular basis. For the two of us to eat dinner usually costs under $300NT - gotta love Taiwan prices!

Food post #2: Tianmu Kushiyaki Place

The first food post from last week garnered some interest, so here's a go at a second one!

Tonight's restaurant is another new one in Tianmu - a yummy Kushiyaki (or Yakitori) place! Again, the name of the restaurant isn't in English, so I don't know what it's called but it's pretty easy to find. It's down the alley that is next to Subber across from Carrefour on Dexing West Road. You will see the restaurant on the right immediately after turning down the alley. 

Front of the restaurant. Look for the large hanging lantern!

The interior is nice and new with a variety of tables and bar stools. There are even two tables out front, but no one was sitting at them when we were there. Best of all: there is an English menu! Ordering was not a problem as we just marked what we wanted on the order sheet. 

Bar stools over looking the grill area.

Another view of the bar from the other side.

The menu that has both Chinese and English - easy!

The food was quite good, although it did take awhile to get all of it. It's pretty standard for food to come out in waves at a Kushiyaki place, so it wasn't a huge deal...but probably not the best place to eat if you're in a hurry! We left feeling satisfied for about $840NT for 2 people. 

Kimchi at the beginning of the meal. Not a huge serving, but enough to feel happy about it.

Pork belly with leek on the left. Lamb rib (we think) on the right.

Japanese eggplant on the left. Green pepper (or capsicum) on the right.

Chicken thigh with leek. Really tasty!

Beef rib that was quite juicy but a little on the chewy side.

A great end to the meal - an entire grilled squid! Beautiful presentation, but we did have to ask for them to cut it up for us otherwise we couldn't figure out how to eat it.

We will definitely be back, especially since its literally a 4 minute walk from my apartment. It's nice to add a little variety to the weekly dining menu, and I don't know of any other Kushiyaki places in Tianmu! And hopefully they'll get a bit faster in the kitchen with a little bit of practice :)

Last thought: the only weird thing we encountered was the fact that they were playing Adele's "Someone Like You" on repeat...hmm. Maybe they'll have a better DJ next time!

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...