Xiao Lu Niu Fandian

I'm not sure why they're a "fandian" when that means hotel, but whatever. They're good.

This place does beef noodles and some other stuff, but forget the other stuff and just get the beef noodles. I'm not in the habit of recommending beef noodle joints (although this is the second time I've done so) because they're all over the city and they're all so, so wonderful.

But this place deserves a mention because their beef noodles approach what for me is perfection. The meat is not as good as Zhang Mama but the big sell here is that the noodles are homemade. They're barely noodles at all - they're the floppy, doughy kind that are almost like long gnocci. I love those!

The broth is also deep and thick, resounding with flavory and iron-y goodness.

A great place to grab a warming bowl on a cold day.

It largely goes unnoticed because it looks just like every other beef noodle joint - woman out front in an apron, card tables and plastic chairs inside, menus on clipboards, a fat little chihuahua named "Lucky" (I call him "Xiao Pangzi" or "Little Fattie"). It's also right next to the famous Jingmei Night Market, so most people who come and aren't from the neighborhood would rather eat in the market.

That's fine - more homemade noodles for me!

Xiao Lu Niu Fandian is located in Wenshan District, Jingzhong Street #21. Basically take the MRT to Jingmei, get off at Exit 2 and walk straight ahead past the Family Mart, Come Buy and string of small shops and it's right in front of the bus stop for #74 and #284 on the lefthand side of the street.

Zhang Mama Beef Noodles

Cold. Wet. Breezy. Gray.

The weather in Taipei is unseasonable - it usually doesn't get like this until December. I wore a coat for the first time in months and braved the drizzly wind to walk up Heping Road, from Guting to Technology Building. Why? Thanks to an afternoon class I don't have time to go to the gym this month so I have to get my fitness where I can. (I only have one day off all month, so I'm not joking when I say I don't have time).

I was hungry and resolved to stop at the first Taiwanese joint serving either breakfast or standard noodle/rice dishes. That first stop happened to be Zhang Mama Beef Noodles, on the southern side of Heping E. Road, just before the car park and inlet to Guting Market.

The restaurant was sparse, with a few dark tables, stool chairs and counter. Their selection of Hakka-style xiaochi was unimpressive, but I was only hungry enough for noodles and didn't want any, regardless.

I ordered the tomato beef noodles after considering the hongshao beef and mountain chicken noodles. At 150-190 kuai a bowl, Zhang Mama is not cheap as far as beef noodles go.

But boy, are they good. The noodles aren't homemade, which is a shame, but the soup and meat are delectable. It comes in a heavy ceramic bowl with a ponderous matching spoon, making it all the more fun to slurp up. The broth was very tomato-ey and full of bursting, citrusy flavor (besides the tomato acids I think there was a hint of lemon juice thrown in), not too oily but with a slightly buttery finish. It was almost an Asian minestrone, but better. Much better.

The meat was delicious - tender to the point of falling apart, fatty in a good way without being too fatty. I did have to peel off a few chunks of lard - I just don't like lard - but they came off easily.

The flavors were intense, and for once I didn't feel the need to add chili pepper. They had already added a hint of spice; just enough to make itself known and frame the other flavors, but not enough to blunt your tastebuds.

Obviously, beef noodles in Taiwan are ubiquitous. It's hard to wax poetic about something that's on every streetcorner (ah, 7-11, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. I love thy Tai-ke doritos, I love thy CC Lemon...), but this place does good enough beef noodles that it's worth it's own blog post.

There's another amazing place in Jingmei that does good beef noodles; I'll get their address and post about them next.

What a perfect way to warm up your insides against a nasty, gray Taipei day.

Zhang Mama Beef Noodles - Heping E. Road Section 1 #18 / Tianmu West Road Inside Lane 41 / Minsheng E Road Section 5 Lane 138 #13

When It Rains

Sometimes, when the weather in Taipei is just unremittingly crap - when it drizzles for days on end and the sky has been bleak for as long as you can remember - I wonder what the hell I'm doing here.

The feeling rarely lasts long because I genuinely love this country, but it does come. I really don't like overcast skies. Rain is fine, as long as it's good and heavy, or a relief from humidity...and thunderstorms are, of course, awesome. But a gray sky and a light drizzle? Ick. It's unfortunate that this seems to be Taipei's dominant weather pattern.

After chugging a CC Lemon (I need my C) I usually cheer up, but yesterday that wasn't doing it for me.

Then, after our workout, Brendan and I met my sister at Zhongshan to get something to eat. We took the bus to Jilin-Nanjing, planning to go to Ali Baba or Silverfish Thai (such an unfortunate name). Both were closed before the dinner rush.

We ended up in an alley on the north side of the road, by a 7-11...I realize that doesn't help much direction-wise. We had beef noodles under an umbrella, sitting on damp stools.

Those noodles were delicious. They weren't overloaded with MSG, weren't too thin or cheap but not gummy or fat either. I'll take gummy and fat over thin noodles anyday, though. The soup was hearty and the beef chunks were high-quality without being too fatty.

And that - a typical Taiwanese dish that you can find on any streetcorner for 50-90 kuai - cheered me up immeasurably.

You can find the beef noodle guy near the Nanjing-Jilin intersection, north side of Nanjing, by turning right at a 7-11. I realize "turn at the 7-11" is not very clear as there are usually 5 or 6 of them to choose from, but it's not hard to find. Facing Nanjing at Silverfish Thai, it's to the right.