chinese: DA AN RD/ XIN YI RD STREET VENDORS

DA AN ROAD & XIN YI ROAD STREET VENDORS

Jimmy Ice Tea
(02) 2754-5192

Lao Zhou Dao Xiao Mien
Jien Bao (dumplings)

at intersection of Da An Road and Xin Yi Road

11:30 AM - 11:30 PM
$

Visit reviewed: 4/7/2008

At one corner of the bustling intersection of Da An Road and Xin Yi Road, there is a busy alley of street vendors of knife cut noodles (or dao xiao mien), dumplings, beef noodle soup, boba milk tea and lots of other small eats.



Spotting a small cart on the main corner, my friend tells me about how "yo ming" or famous Jimmy is. There are few people waiting before us and only two workers who put together the tea and place it on the metal shaking machines. You can also adjust the level of sweetness and ice. The boba or tapioca pearls are fat and the tea is sweet, but overall, I still prefer the QQ mini boba and taste of boba milk tea (NT$35) of 50 Lan.



They have lots of other options on their to-go menu in Chinese and apparently they deliver with a certain minimum order.



There are people sitting at tables along the sidewalk, slurping their bowls of noodles and soup, while the vendors are busy making their food.



Spotting a man making fresh noodles, I decide to try the dao xiao mien- opting for the ja jiang mien (or shredded pork noodles) (NT$75 for small bowl) to go.



When I get home, the cucumber has become a bit soggy while the noodles have retained their chewiness. However, the sauce of the ja jien noodles is a bit bland and doesn't have enough thickness and saltiness to go with the density and volume of the noodles. I wonder if the beef noodle soup would have been better.



A few weeks later, while driving by the intersection, I see a long line of men at another dao xiao mien vendor a few doors down (past Lao Zhou) and make a mental note to try that place the next time instead. Or go back to the Shan Xi Dao Xiao Mien with the really great broth and noodles.

Walking back towards the corner, I spot freshly made dumplings and get 5 jien bao for NT$7 each of the meat and vegetable ones, pan fried though they also have steamed. These taste better than the noodles, though they are not as crispy at the bottom as I would have liked.





Overall, a neat street corner to explore though, but I didn't taste anything memorable that I'd crave on another day.