Liu Shandong Beef Noodles 劉山東牛肉麵
The beef noodles at Liu Shandong Beef Noodles 劉山東牛肉麵 is one of the best we’ve eaten in our lives.
This shop is located in a hidden alley close to the Taipei Main Station and was awarded a Bib Gourmand in the inaugural Taipei Michelin Guide in 2018.
Operating since 1951, we had our first meal (and the best beef noodles) here at Liu Shandong Beef Noodles for our recent Taipei trip.
Liu Shandong Beef Noodles near Taipei Main Station
As the name implies, this restaurant specializes in Shandong-style beef noodles, which are known for their braised beef and thick chewy handmade noodles.
The founder of Liu Shandong Beef Noodles 劉山東牛肉麵 first opened this stall in 1950 and started serving these special noodles that originated in his hometown.
As such, the beef noodles here differ from the typical Taiwanese-style beef noodles, as the latter usually serve thinner noodles that are easier to slurp. In fact, this Liu Shandong is probably the only establishment in Taipei that serves this thick noodles.
The 70-year-old restaurant is now run by the second generation.
Come early for breakfast
After our red-eye flight into Taipei, we immediately left our bag at our hotel nearby and made our way to Liu Shandong Beef Noodles 劉山東牛肉麵 for breakfast.
At 10 am, there was a small queue of both locals and tourists at the restaurant on a public holiday.
We got our table after a 5-minute wait and promptly made our order.
Beef noodles are served in two ways
Liu Shandong’s beef broth is made by boiling beef bones for 24 hours with the addition of fat and tendon for that extra umami.
The restaurant also uses only pure Taiwanese beef – which has a sweet flavour profile that is not gamey, with a beautiful texture.
Liu Shandong serves two types of beef here: one that’s just cooked in beef broth and beef that’s braised in a soy sauce.
Beautiful sweet beef broth
The first sip of the beef broth is everything – and this was so good.
The broth has a beautiful sweetness and a natural beef flavour thanks to all the bone marrow and fat that’s been rendered for 24 hours.
We really liked that there is no lingering strong beefy taste at the end of the sip – which is likely due to the Taiwanese beef used.
The sweet broth is complemented by a healthy dose of chopped scallions which add freshness to the soup.
Add black bean chilli and mustard greens
While the broth was already very tasty on its own, the addition of fried black beans, chillies, and fermented mustard greens elevated the taste further.
The black beans provide some nice pungent punch while the mustard greens give a nice hint of sourness for a truly multi-dimensional flavour profile.
Noodles are thick and chewy
We also enjoyed the thick and chewy noodles served here – which are very similar to udon.
The noodles are cooked al-dente for a satisfying bite that really go well with the broth.
Tender Taiwanese beef
We got both the beef cooked in just the broth (清燉牛肉麵 Pure Braised Beef Noodles – TWD160 or US5) and the one that’s braised in a spiced soy sauce (紅燒牛肉麵 Braised Beef Noodles – TWD160 or US5).
Honestly, both were delicious. We’d recommend that you’ll order both to see which you prefer.
The former is a cut that’s very similar to brisket but thicker. It was tender as it also had some lines of fat in between the meat.
Although the beef was unseasoned – it was very flavourful as it had absorbed all the umami of the broth.
The latter was equally tender with a darker colour due to marination in spices such as cinnamon and star anise.
We enjoyed both beefs – so you can’t really go wrong with either.
Pork chop and other side dishes
Besides beef noodles, the restaurant also serves side dishes such as Pork Chop (TWD90 or US3) and veggies (bean curd, peanuts, and dried tofu for TWD20 each).
We thought the pork chop was well-seasoned and very tender.
However, the portion of beef noodles was quite huge – so, we reckon that you can skip this if you’re not a big eater.
Summary
This was probably one of the best beef noodles we’ve eaten in our lives – and it’s certainly the best on this trip.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
We’re already missing this and will definitely come back here for our next Taiwan trip.
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