Taipei - Braised Beef Noodle Soup at Lin Dong Fang

Braised beef noodle soup (niú ròu miàn) is definitely a contender for national dish of Taiwan, and Lin Dong Fang is one of the most well regarded shops that serves it.



Recently remodeled, the place may have traded some of its charm for a more sleek, modern look, but this is more than made up for by expanded seating. There was still a bit a of a line when we arrived a little after 1:00pm, but we were seated within about 15 minutes.

Ordering is fairly straightforward, as they have a picture menu with English:



There is a refrigerator with prepared dishes of cold vegetables that you can serve yourself. We had some mustard greens and pickled cucumber. Both were quite mild in flavor, but tasty - particularly the cucumber.



They have small and large bowls - we ordered small bowls and found them to be plenty large. We got a beef-only bowl:



and a bowl with a combo of beef and tendon:



The broth was less strong than I expected, but deliciously beefy. The meat was super tender, and the tendon was perfectly cooked. The noodles are large, and have just the right amount of chew.

There are bowls of seasoned beef fat on the table that you can add to make your soup richer. We tried a little bit of it, but found the soup flavorful enough without it.



Overall, a tasty bowl of noodles in a nice spot with friendly and helpful staff.