ZHANG JI GUO TIE NIU ROU MIEN or
ZHANG JI FRIED DUMPLING BEEF NOODLE SOUP
Lane 101, Yang Ping S Road
$
Kid friendliness: crowded and no high chairs spotted.
Visit reviewed: 4/16/2009
Simple is hard to do. If basic "tsui jiao" or boiled dumplings were easy to make, then you'd find a lot better tasting dumpling houses all over LA.
Just by looking at the picture, it's hard to taste the perfect combination of chopped cabbage, pork, sesame oil and handmade dumpling skin that made a really good dumpling. But it was really good.
My friend JL insisted that we find this place that he had randomly found when he last visited Taipei about five years ago. I had my doubts, but I'm glad I trusted him.
Basically, you find the entrance of Zhongshan Hall and main courtyard, turn around and look for this alley- Lane 101.
Then look for this sign (since there are several shops in this lane, but this was definitely the most packed!)
And decide what you want. We only had the dumplings (10 for NT$45) because we were saving room for Ah Chung Noodle Soup inside Ximending and ice cream across the street. We ended up getting it to go since we couldn't get a seat, but saw plenty of people slurping down bowls of noodles and eating "guo tie" or fried dumplings. With nothing over NT$100 (US$3), you could feast on a little of everything for a bargain.
You'll definitely spot beef noodle dumpling houses all over the city (with Chinese only menus)- probably can't pass by a block without seeing one. But if you haven't yet found what you're looking for, give this place a try.
And then afterwards, go to the famous ice cream place Xue Wang or Snow King with 73 flavors of freshly made ice cream across the street! With your basic chocolate and vanilla or fruit flavors like peach or guava to more unusual flavors like curry, beer or pig's foot. (Review coming later this week!)
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9 comments:
I agree on your simple comment! We get so many variations on a simple food item, but not all of them are good. Those dumplings though certainly look good. Definitely looks handmade and delicious!
Pigs foot ice cream? I can't wait to hear about that!
pork knuckle ice cream hmm... i do love ping dong's Wuan Luan pork knuckle, i wonder if it taste similar only icey :P
Taiwan food are full of pork-to sustain the pig industry?
I think I was a little dismayed that what we always refered to as "pot stickers" in the U.S. was merely a direct translation of "guo tie".
But then perhaps the expression "good eats" came from Chinese laborers building railroads who told their non-Chinese companions what "hao chi" meant.
ARG my stomach growled when you brought up Ah Chung. My brother and I stuffed ourselves silly there once. Great stuff.
We just tried the potstickers and beef noodle soup at Zhang Ji. The potstickers are definitely the best I've ever had anywhere either in the US or Taiwan - crispy on the bottom, with great pork and chive flavor. Definitely better than the potsticker chain we've gone to in the past. The beef noodle soup wasn't anything to write home about. We got there around noon on a Monday and we were lucky enough to get the last table due to all the business folks having lunch. Next time we're in town we'll try the dumplings. Great find!
EatTravelEat: thanks for your comment! i have yet to try the pig's feet ice cream- i'm not daring enough!
dennis: hehe! you should try it! i think it does taste icy.
foodbin: maybe they are easier to raise locally?
keauxgeigh: thanks for commenting! haha. that's probably true.
Roger: the bowl is huge for the price!
Rick: thanks for commenting! i'm glad you found it and liked it! i've been back several times with out of town friends and they all love the crispy skin of the guo tie
Hi, i'm gg over to tw next week and was wondering if this place is still opened so tt i could drop by! thanks! :)
-sue
I hope so! Haven't been in awhile, but pretty sure it's still open
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