You can’t go to Taipei and not eat beef noodle soup. It’s like going to Paris and not eating baguette, Poland and not eating pierogis, Vietnam and not eating pho… okay, you get point.
But as with all things where food is concerned, we refuse to settle for anything but the best. And to seek out the best beef noodle soup in the city, we turned to a couple of locals for suggestions.
We met up with D’s uncle and cousin one night while in Taipei. As we got to know each other and chatted over a spread of colorful Chinese dishes, the question came up: where do we go for the best beef noodle soup?
They spoke in hushed whispers of one Chef Hung’s 888 bowl, named so because it costs eight hundred and eighty eight Taiwanese dollars… or approximately US $29.
Yes, you read that correctly. $29 for one bowl of beef noodle soup.
So what’s so special about this bowl? A few years back, this was the championship bowl in a nation-wide beef noodle soup competition (Taiwan takes their beef noodle very seriously!). $29 is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on one bowl of soup, when a typical bowl costs only $3-4. But championship bowl? Well, color me intrigued.
Now, Chef Hung is not unfamiliar to us. He has numerous awards to his name. His fame has even spread to America and Canada, where he has opened a few restaurants. In fact, there was one just down the street from where D lived. D took me there once and I noted nothing spectacular about the food. Completely unmemorable in fact. But is it better in Taipei?
A couple of days later, we ran into our airbnb host and proposed the same question. He thought about it for a bit, and a few minutes later, came back with a piece of paper written with the words Lin Dong Fang. A very locally famous place that many consider to be the best beef noodle soup in the city, he explained.
After mapping it out, we noticed it was not too far of a walk from Chef Hung’s. Obviously there was only one thing to do: eat them back to back and compare!
So one fine morning, we set off with hungry tummies on a quest to find the city’ best beef noodle soup. And thus, I give you:
Battle of the beef noodle soups: Chef Hung vs. Lin Dong Fang
CONTESTANT NO. 1: CHEF HUNG
What: Chef Hung 888 bowl
Where: corner of Jianguo Expressway & Changchun Road
Cost: NT$888, or US$29
Upon sitting down, we were given a menu and order sheet with a few dozen different noodles dishes to choose from. However, we barely glanced at it as we came for one thing only: the 888 bowl.
After several minutes of giddy anticipation, it was brought out. And… it was HUGE.
The meat includes an entire beef shank (from a baby cow from the looks of it), thin slices of raw beef, large chunks of beef (sorry, I don’t know the cuts), stomach, and tendon. The price of this bowl is all in the meat, so it seems.
But the meat was truly exquisite. The meat from the shank was fall-off-the-bone tender. The thin slices were melt-in-your-mouth buttery and soft. I usually don’t eat stomach but I was not about to let one cent of that bowl go to waste, so I hesitantly had a few bites and it was not bad at all.
The broth was on the light side as opposed to the usual heavy spicy-red soup like what I’m used to. It had a delicate clean flavor. The thick noodles were cooked to perfection, soft and yet with a bite. There were no condiments on the table to adjust the flavor. It was just as well because for this price, it had better be perfection!
So was it twenty-nine dollars good?
In the end, we both left slightly disappointed. There was nothing wrong with this bowl. Each component was undoubtedly good, amazing even, but I guess this is a case of the whole not being as good as the sum of its parts. Or maybe, this is just what happens when you spend that much on a single dish and expect it to be earth-shattering.
*Note: Chef Hung does have a lot of other noodles on their menu at the much more reasonable prices of NT$150-240.
CONTESTANT NO. 2: LIN DONG FANG
What: Lin Dong Fang beef noodle soup
Where: No. 274, Section 2, Bādé Road, Zhongshan District
Hours: Monday to Friday, 11:00 am – 5:00 am
Cost: NT$140, or US$4.59
By contrast, Lin Dong Fang was a tiny hole in the wall. There were literally only a handful of seats inside, mostly at the metal counters along the walls. The cooking station is open to the sidewalk so you can see the huge pots of beef stewing and watch the men make the noodles.
There were a few different options, but as we both can’t read Chinese too well, we just told them “niu rou mian,” or beef noodle soup and hoped that there would be no funny meats. We got a bowl of all thick cut beef shank, which were so soft that they fell apart in your mouth. The round noodles were just the right amount of chewiness.
All of that was fine and dandy, but for me, a truly fantastic beef noodle soup all comes down to the broth. So how did this one measure up?
Aesthetically, the broth is very clear. But it exploded with intense flavor, with major notes of celery and onion. It wasn’t so much beefy as it was herby, which was unexpected. There’s no spice to it at all, but if you wanted to adjust the flavor, there was a variety of condiments on the counter: chili oil and vinegar and a house-made beef butter paste (kind of like that packet you get with instant ramen, but a thousand times better). With a little sprinkling of chili and a dollop of the paste, the broth became even better!
*Note: Later, I read that this place is famous for the half shank & half tendon bowl. Also, that the wait is often over an hour long during lunch & dinner times. We came in the early afternoon and lucked out with no wait!
AND THE WINNER GOES TO:
Lin Dong Fang wins this competition hands down. Maybe I’m just saying that because I derive more satisfaction from eating a lot of good cheap food, than from one great expensive dish. But I would like to think that even in a blind taste test, I would still pick Lin Dong Fang’s broth over Chef Hung’s.
As we were leaving Taipei, we received a message from our host, saying “I hope you found the beef noodle we recommended – it’s just nominated as top 3 beef noodle by a local newspaper.”
Top 3?? It would seem that our quest is uncompleted! Well, this just means that when we’re back in Taipei, our search and this battle will continue!
Those look good!!! We just had the most expensive Thai food ever! $100 for 4 dishes. The place was on Jonathan Gold’s top 101 list and is apparently frequented by celebrities including Matt Groening (there were hand drawn pictures of Simpsons characters signed by him all over the walls)
Whoa! That is really expensive for Thai food!! Was it amazing? I think I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s really hard to justify paying so much for Asian food because cheap Asian food is often times just as good!
Actually we were disappointed. Out of the 4 dishes only 1 was worth ordering again and even then it felt like it was too expensive for what we got.
Exactly! I feel like expensive Asian food is just not worth it most of the time! We went to an expensive Thai restaurant in Bangkok once and it sucked.
Omg, that’s a lot for a bowl of food! Is it bad if I say I’m glad the cheaper one was better!? I always think like the locals fav places are best.
I think the local hole-in-the-walls are the best too! I would rather eat 6 bowls of that than one bowl of the expensive one!
$29????? I’m almost offended!! haha.
I knoooow! Sooo much for just one bowl of beef noodle soup, even though it did feed both of us! We feel a little regretful that we spent that much, but we had to try it though!
I think the sheer amount of food with that 888 bowl ruined it. It might have been better if they served their noodles in human portions at a cheaper price. This way your expectations would not be over-inflated too!
I think you’re right! We always have higher expectations when something is so unnaturally pricey. I would have preferred less meat and a smaller bowl!
Both of those look delicious to me!
It is kinda hard to go wrong with a good bowl of noodle soup. :) Though I don’t think I’ll be paying $29 for one again anytime soon!
I love doing this kind of thing…it’s like a scavenger hunt with food. Is there anything better?
I need to do this more often. Most of the time, we find a place we like, and then just end up going there over and over!
Haha, omg! I guess you have to go back and taste the one left :) $29 is a lot of money, I don’t care if the cow ate gold really. But I have to agree, both of the dishes look exquisite!
Lol! We both definitely felt a little bad spending that much on one dish, but we had to try it! We already have plans to go back to Taipei later this year, and I will definitely be seeking out the other ones on the top 3 list!
That’s hilarious. I do enjoy beef noodles though I’m not sure I’m fond enough to spend that much on it. I will spend ridiculous amounts of money on coffee though…
You’re like D. He’ll spend a lot on good coffee too (and tea). It’s hard to justify spending a lot of money on Asian food!
I LOVE this post. I think for most Asians the desire for noodle soup is a desire for home-cooking, comfort, filling, tasty and cheap. I particuarly loved your remark, “I was not about to let one cent of that bowl go to waste.” Hahahaha. Well-done detectives! ;)
Thanks Lani! Hehe normally I refuse to eat stomach, but I guess I found out that I will eat it if I’m paying that much for a dish that has stomach in it!
Tempted to try the 888 bowl. Too bad I didn’t know about the place when I was in Taiwan last fall.
Hi John! If you don’t mind the price tag, then I think it’s worth a try. :) Chef Hung has some locations in the US, though they don’t have the 888 bowl there.
Hi! Found you through Crumbs in the bed! I love your blog! And that is quite a price for beef noodle soup! But it looks like it was well worth it!!
Thanks so much for stopping by Stephanie!! I love seeing new faces here! I think the amount of meat in there was worth it, but it still hurts to think that we paid that much for beef noodle soup!
First of all these look amazing! Both of them! But I have to admit I love when the cheaper food wins. Price doesn’t necessarily mean quality!!
Also funny that you just asked that question. A friend and I were recently in Porto, Portugal where we were told we must try the francesinha. We went to the ‘most famous’ restaurant for it and ended up splitting one for $20. Our tour guide the next day was horrified and told us that is the most expensive francesinha he’s ever heard of and that there are much better local places where you can get them for around $5. Oops…
Haha! I had to look up what a francesinha is, and it’s like some sort of a wet sandwich? That’s a lot of money for a sandwich!! Only these ‘famous’ places can get away with charging outrageous prices and people still pay for that! But the local cheap ones are often so much better. I hope it was good still!
Oh my gosh! I’m starving after reading this post. Your photos are truly tantalizing, and now I’m craving a *cheap* bowl of beef noodle soup. Check out my blog where I write similar posts about what to eat and where at sinfultastings.com. I’ll definitely be shooting you a follow… your stories and life are amazing, thanks Anna!
Thanks so much for coming and leaving a comment, Rachael! Your blog looks awesome and your food photography is so drool-worthy! I’m following along on Instagram now and looking forward to following your food adventures in NY!
I’m glad I finally had a chance to read the story behind the picture of you and that humongous bowl of soup. Sadly, I have not had good Chinese beef noodle soup since returning to Texas. There was one place with good broth but with inedible beef and another with good noodles but ho hum everything else. This is now really making me want to visit Taipei and explore the THREE best bowls of soup.
I still need to go back and find what the other 2 in that newspaper article were. I never knew how hard it is to make a good bowl of beef noodle soup. Before, I thought you just throw some meat and noodles into a bowl, but it’s really practically an art form. I don’t think anywhere can do it as good as taipei! I think it’s time for your next overseas trip. ;)
I agree Lin Dong Fang is better overall but the Chef Hung special is overkill and not worth the price. Chef Hung actually came to Vancouver a few years ago to cook the beef noodle live, and I actually went up the stage to try that special version. I’d rather buy their regular choices though. They have a few branches in Vancouver and Richmond; a bit expensive but in my opinion still one of the best Beef Noodles in this area.
What I like about Chef Hung is that it is a red-roast beef noodle soup that still has the beef bone flavour, not saturated with soy sauce like some other places (which may be why you think it’s light). Lindongfang is Chinese herb taste, which is great, but they don’t offer sour cabbage (suan cai) as a result. Also if the place is really packed I don’t think it’s particularly sanitary. Just read somewhere that Lindongfang is moving soon due to a Taiwan Railway development project.