snapshot/taiwanese: i strongly recommend CHUN SHUI TANG's beef noodle soup

Hungry in Taoyuan? Does it have the same ring to it? First time noticing the beef noodle soup (NT$150) on the menu at Chun Shui Tang, while looking for a place to eat at Taimall in Taoyuan.

At Chun Shui Tang, I usually ask for the English menu, even though it doesn't actually list everything that's available on the real, check off menu. So if you're looking for something more than dim sum and drinks, the most filling dish is probably the beef noodle soup. I was pleasantly surprised by the chewy, chubby noodles, the slightly spiciness of the broth and the abundance of tender beef in the bowl. Add the provided pickled vegetables into the dish for a sweet/savory taste and texture to complete the experience.

Loved it. Devoured it.

Also get the fried radish cakes and pearl milk tea, and enjoy the old school tea house ambiance. There's also a Chun Shui Tang at the Taoyuan airport, and at Taimall there's also Starbucks, Movenpick Cafe, Coldstones, Dunkin Donuts, KFC, McDonalds, Sushi Express, 3 Baboons, Casa de Pasta, Karen Teppanyaki, Mr. Onion, Ponderosa and of course, lots of Chinese food and a food court.

What else is good to eat in Taoyuan by the way? (Couldn't find much info in English...)

CHUN SHUI TANG 春水堂
at Taimall, 1F
No. 112, Nankan Rd, Sec. 1,
Taoyuan, Taiwan
台茂購物中心一樓 桃園縣蘆竹鄉南崁路一段112號
(03) 212-9186

For Taipei locations: see previous posts

taiwanese/event: TAIPEI INTERNATIONAL BEEF NOODLE FESTIVAL 2011

2011 TAIPEI INTERNATIONAL BEEF NOODLE SOUP FESTIVAL 
EXPO DOME, EXPO PARK
No. 1, Yumen Street
台北市玉門街1號

MRT: Yuanshan

website: tbnf.tw (official site has English but hasn't been updated since 2005)

A bowl of beef noodle soup is like the chicken noodle soup of Taiwan- a bowl of comfort, one of the must eats if you visit Taiwan, and one of the top things missed once you leave.

It's almost that time of year again, so I thought I'd pull out my photos from last year's 7th Annual Taipei Beef Noodle Festival and post them up to prep us for this year. If it isn't on your calendar, then save the date now, as it usually happens every fall (and hopefully the details will pop up soon!). A few years ago, I caught the festival in front of Taipei City Hall, but last year they moved it to the Expo Dome near the Yuanshan MRT. The Expo park might look familiar to those of you who caught the Flora Expo there.

Follow the golden signed road.

If I could offer a few friendly pieces of advices to the organizers, it would be (1) If you are going to romanize the Chinese for the event, then please use "niu rou mian" and not "new row mian." I know that it's probably too late ("new row" is now even in Wikipedia for beef noodle soup), but when I saw it last year, I was confused. Heck, if you are going to try to make foreigners try to pronounce it correctly, it would be closer to "neo" than "new." Or at least capitalize the "r" in Row if you are going to separate the words. Anyways, probably not going to happen, but I had to get that off my chest. 

But maybe they can hear me out about my next point. (2) All the pamphlets and information at the event are in Chinese. There's a handy booklet with all the beef noodle shops at the event, and their addresses to visit after the event, but it's ALL in Chinese, and no separate English information whatsoever. If Taipei wants to become a top international foodie city, or have tourists flocking from around the world to come sample bowls of beef noodles, then they are going to have to do the homework and help us out by printing up some English. I (of all people) know that it's a tedious task, but it would make a world of difference. And the demand is there-- I know because the readership for the blog has grown so much and that's because of the lack of information in English out there about Taipei destinations, and not the lack of love for Taiwanese food. If you need an English consultant, let me know!

At the entrance, there's a small entrance fee and the inside is split into two sections- one is various vendors selling foods to eat or take home, like Taiwanese sausages and the other (more crowded) side is where all the beefy, soupy goodness is.

Be prepared to wait in line and to take some time to find seating. If you've ever been to an Asian food court on a busy weekend day, you know what I mean. Even though the seating was more than in previous years, it still wasn't enough. Bring some friends and tag team. Have one save seats and switch off browsing for beef noodles.

Over 30 vendors bring their best to create a one stop shop for beef noodles lovers and sell small bowls for NT$50 each to sample and slurp. Besides being a food carnival for the past seven years, there's also a competition for the official title of Taipei's Best Beef Noodle Soup. There's different categories to compete for- best traditional spicy braised, best clear broth, and most creative. Last year's winner for best hong sou or red brothed niu rou mian ended up being first time participant Chef Hou Chun-sheng whose bowl can be tasted at Room 18 beat out 200 competitors. I didn't get to try it last year, but maybe I'll look for it this year.

I was a bit impatient, so I opted for booths with the shortest lines. I figured that I could always try the champions on another date and I didn't want to wait in long long lines for lunch. Others might have a different approach, only wanting to wait for the best.

I didn't do a great job remembering which noodles were from which booth since everything was in Chinese, but I'll try to take notes this year.

Lots of food being prepped on the fly, like tripe and tendon to eat as a side dish or in the noodle soup.

I waited in line for some beef rolls, but I probably would skip it next year. There was barely any beef in the roll, filled with mostly lettuce, and I've had better at the food courts.

Working as fast as possible for the hungry people in line.

Where's the beef? Hehe.

A good bowl of beef noodle soup should have equally delicious sum of its parts- the broth, the noodles, the beef and the flavors all play a role. If you've never had knife shaved noodles, where the chef sends slivers of dough flying into the boiling pot, you must give it a try. This was probably my favorite bowl of the bunch I tried that day.

My last bowl was also chosen because there was no wait, but definitely not a traditional bowl. It had udon noodles and kimchi and thin slices of beef. Probably most like something I could make at home, but maybe this year I'll have to wait in line for some of the previous winners.

chinese: i strongly recommend MA SHAN TANG

MA SHAN TANG
No. 24, Lane 280, Guangfu S. Rd
(02) 2773-5559

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall

hours: 11AM - 2:30PM; 5PM-10PM

$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted

Visit reviewed: 10/3/2011

I had passed by Ma Shan Tang a number of times, on the way to Wendel's and on the way to Lane 280 to Osteria by Angie, Ari or Fifteen Pizza, but never really thought about what was inside. I can't believe I kept passing it by for over a year.

Thankfully, Sugared and Spiced picked Ma Shan Tang as a place to meet because it really hit the spot as a noodle and potsticker place for hole-in-the-wall prices, but not a hole-in-the-wall space.

We luckily got there before the lunch crowd peaked and office lunch crowd started to line up outside (and in the rain as there isn't much space to wait inside). 

Unfortunately, it's one of the only in Chinese check off the box of what you want places as well. So bring a Chinese speaking friend or some pictures of what you want to eat. The main attraction are the bowls of insanely chewy noodles- mala spicy, clear broth or sesame- and their steamed or pan fried dumplings. Other popular menu items include shrimp fried rice or shrimp wontons in chili oil. The small plate cold dishes are self serve in the small fridge in the back of the restaurant which we didn't notice until the meal was over.

Probably one of the most popular dishes at Ma Shan Tang is the bowl of mala beef noodle soup (NT$140), complete with sliced beef, blood cubes, chewy noodles and chili red spicy broth. The bowl is a good option for those who craving mala hotpot without the fuss of calling up a bunch of friends to get a reservation at Ding Wang. Portions are generous and can easily be shared.

The beef slices were slightly overcooked and a little dry. I don't know if the other meats would be more tender. It's also kick-your-butt spicy, so I kept taking bites of the other things we ordered to ward off the burning sensation.

When the sesame noodles came to our table, we kept asking the waiter if we got the right order. It looked  way too spicy with the orange red tinge...

But once it was mixed up, the familiar looking sesame paste color coated the QQ noodles. The sesame noodles (NT$60) were sweet with only a faint tinge of heat and I could not stop eating it. Maybe the favorite of all the sesame noodles I've had yet.

And the perfectly crispy potstickers (NT$60 for ten).

I probably could have devoured the whole plate myself, but I was trying to be polite. 

You would think that it's easy for restaurants to serve crispy bottomed potstickers, but more often than not, they are soggy and greasy. Ma Shan Tang's potstickers were bite sized, perfectly crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. SO good!

hotpot/taiwanese: i strongly recommend DING WANG MALA GUO

DING WANG MALA GUO
No. 251, Da An Road, Sec. 1
(02) 2704-4172

MRT: DaAn

hours: 12PM-2PM; 5PM-10PM

$-$$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted; non spicy hotpot and noodle soups available too

Visit reviewed: 11/30/2009 & 4/15/2010 & 5/2010



Recently, I found out that one of my friends who had moved here last year had never had spicy mala hotpot before. EVER! So I quickly rounded up some friends and we decided on this Ding Wang for her first time.



Not as frou frou or hard-to-get-reservations-for as that other Ding Wang (AKA Tripod King), but equally good, Ding Wang also offers noodles by the bowl in case you are dining alone or don't want to do a whole hotpot of mouth-numbing broth. The space is cozy and clean with maroon walls, dark wood tables and modern lighting, unlike some local places which can feel a little bit grimy.

Unfortunately all their menus are in Chinese only with no pictures, so you'll probably need a native reader to order.



The menu has all the basics, but definitely get the freshly made squid balls, which you scoop into the boiling broth to cook. The end result is fragrant and chewy, but not starchy like the premade kinds. We had to order two rounds of these- they always get devoured quickly.




I also love to dip the you tiao and instant ramen into the spicy mala broth to soak up the soup and eat it while it's still a little bit crunchy.




At an Indian restaurant, you might drink some mango lassi to cool off the tongue, but here it's coke and plum juice. I don't usually drink soda, but here, the bubbly sweet Coca-cola is a relief to the heat (temperature and spiciness wise)!



One of their specialties is their chicken feet- which I've yet to try. I just can't do it! It grosses me out. But my friends order it every single time, and gnaw on the little bones of the claw and wrinkly skin with contented smiles. So if you're a chicken feet lover, you should give it a try.



Those familiar with shabu-shabu might be looking around for sesame sauce or other sauces, but Ding Wang keeps it straightforward with only these two sauces- vinegar and sesame oil. Pour into your bowl and toss in a spoonful of green onion.



For the times I went, we ordered a bit of everything and it ended up being about NT$500-600 a person for lunch.



If you are a party of one and can't do a whole mala hot pot assortment, Ding Wang offers quick and cheap mala noodle soups by the bowl!



You can indicate how spicy you'd like it and a large or small bowl of mala noodle soup (NT$110) full of gelatinous duck's blood.




If you can't handle the spicy, they also have tasty beef noodle soup (NT$150) although the broth was more salty on my recent visit a few weeks ago than I recalled past visits being. I like it with ban zhou ban jing, or half beef, half tendons. I was thirsty all afternoon.



Don't forget to choose a few side dishes, like the tofu skin or cucumber.



You can walk in on a weekday for lunch, but if you have a big group, you should definitely call ahead for reservations.