Yatai #01: Sichuan Noodle Stall 四川特色滷味麵攤, Taipei

Yatai (屋台) is a Japanese word meaning “a stall”. We, in Sapporo, enjoy eating in Ramen stalls at Susukino or ice cream stalls at Odori Park. Here in Taipei, many types of food/snack stalls do business and those are quite successful; they sometimes make much more money than the regular store/restaurants. Near my house, there are so many food stalls, but I found a quite popular noodle stall for Taipei native, called “Sichuan Noodle Stall” 四川特色滷味麵攤 (actually this noodle stall does not have a name, but I named it in English!)

This is one of popular restaurant/stall in this area. Every time I go there, there is a long line waiting for the food. I cannot recommend you if you hate waiting, but it only takes 15 min max to get a ball of noodle. Their menu is quite various. Besides about sixteen noodle/soup menus (they may have some secret menu), they also offer variety of 滷味 (luwei). 滷味, lu-wei, is a Taiwanese-style stewed food; different kinds of food and vegetables are stewed in soy sauce with Chinese medicine and seasoning, including Chinese’ favorite, Star anise (八角). 八角 (Hakkaku in Japanese) has a strong special taste, and some Japanese people cannot eat this. I think it is just because we do not use Hakkaku in our food and don’t get used to it. In the beginning, I couldn’t eat Hakkaku at all, but now I can eat it no problem!

Three workers constantly cook and serve the dishes. One cooks noodles, one takes care of order and serve Luwei, and the other one takes care of others, such as serving the food and bills. NEVER STOP! They are always busy, which is great for their business. I heard that a lady who takes care of Luwei came from Sichuan area of China. According to her, they use good and expensive ingredients, so that the taste of their sauce is fresh. I agree. When I ordered some luwei, I told her not to put any sauce because it might be sweet. She told me that their sauce is not sweet at all because they use good ingredients, but many restaurants use sugar to make this type of sauce, that is why I feel it is sweet… I believed her and tried their sauce. Wow… She was right. It was not sweet and was actually fresh.

You can eat besides this noodle stall, but there are only 2, 3 tables available, therefore I usually bring noodles back and eat in my house.

Tan Tan Noodle

Their specialty is Sichuan style, so I ordered 川味担担麺 (Tan Tan Mian) (NT$ 45). It was SOOO SPICY! I like spicy food, but it was different spiciness than Korean or Thailand’s. I like it, though. Thin noodle was used, and the soup was made of 麻醤 (Majiang), 辣油 (La-yu), and their original Sichuan pepper sauce. Crushed peanuts, fresh green onion added more delicious flavor. The smell of the sauce spread immediately after I opened the container. I think the quantity of noodle and sauce was appropriate. I also liked the thin noodle.

Yang Chun Noodle

陽春麺 (YangChun Mian) (NT$ 30) is the simplest noodle of their menu; it contains only thin noodle and green vegetable. The soup is simple but solid flavor, so this item is good for quick dinner or night snack. If you are a big eater, then I definitely recommend you to order some Luwei on the side.

Chao Shou Noodle

炒手麺 (Chao Shou Mian) (NT$ 60) is so far my favorite. You can choose spicy or non spicy. Chao Shou is a Sichuan style wonton, and it is delicious! They have Chao Shou only (紅油炒手) (NT$ 40), but the quantity is less for me, so I like it with noodle. This Chao Shou Mian contains six pieces of wonton over Majiang noodle. You can enjoy the taste of both popular menus!

Well, they serve more items, so I will update some info when I try new items. You go there and try some. I am sure you would fine some of your favorite!

Thank you for reading.

四川特色滷味麵攤: Sichuan Noodle Stall
Lane 30, Yong Ji Rd. Xinyi Dist.
(Intersection of Yong Ji Rd. and Song Long Rd)
Taipei, TAIWAN
0926-765-661
18:00-01:00 (close: wed & thu)

Restaurant #31: Ramen Sanpachi ラーメンさんぱち, Taipei

I went to New York New York, the popular mall in Xinyi district, to have Dim sum. Unfortunately, the dim sum restaurant was used for two weddings and was not available for dinner that day. Oh well… I needed to change our plan. My friend and I went to downstairs to find some restaurants, and oh my… I found one ramen restaurant there… from… Hokkaido!

I know I already ate Ramen yesterday, but I couldn’t stop myself. I entered the restaurant unconsciously! This is called さんぱちラーメン (八八八拉麵), Ramen Sanpachi. The last time I ate at Ramen Sanpachi in Sapporo was about 15 years ago, therefore I could not compare the taste between original and Taiwanese-style. According to the menu at the store, all the sauces and ingredients were imported from Hokkaido. It sounded good! We ordered Shoyu Ramen and Shio Ramen (NT$ 160 each).

Workers were friendly and well trained, but they chatted loudly when they don’t have enough customers. I hope they talk a little quietly. The décor was organized and spacious.

Shio Ramen

Our item was served quickly. The soup looked good so far. They used curly, middle-size noodle (中太ちぢれ麺), and contained sprout (もやし), nappa (白菜), seaweed (わかめ), bamboo shoots (メンマ), a slice of Japanese fishcake (かまぼこ), Chashu (チャーシュー) and green onion. I sipped the soup. Hmmm not bad! Sesame seeds were floating happily in the soup. Chashu was also tasty! The only thing I want them to improve was the quality of seaweed. It was dry, and was not fresh at all. I hope they use better seaweed…

Shoyu Ramen

Shoyu Ramen came with same ingredients, except seaweed. Unfortunately, the soup was too salty to finish up. I don’t remember the original taste of the soup, but I thought this soup was too much. After we finished the dinner, we were very thirsty. Was that because of MSG or just soup was too salty? Also, both noodles of Shio and Shoyu were, in my opinion, overcooked. Most of my Taiwanese friends like well-cooked noodle, but I prefer less cooked noodle. I believe I can ask them to cook less…

Overall, I enjoyed the dinner with my friend. However, the soup was salty for me. (Report: Jan. 24, 2010)

Total: NT$ 320 (for 2 people)

八八八拉麵: Ramen Sanpachi
New York New York Department Store Restaurant Place
B1, No. 12, Song Sou Road, Xinyi Dist.,
Taipei, TAIWAN
02-2723-3152

Restaurant #30: Kurume Ramen 魁龍拉麵, Taipei

I often see Japanese Ramen restaurants in Taipei, but most of the restaurants look different than the actual Japanese style. I am not looking for a real Japanese ramen, because I don’t think Taiwan people like Japanese ramen, especially Hokkaido style. Hokkaido ramen use seafood, Miso and the soup is oily, rich flavor. I heard from my Taiwanese friends who went to Japan, especially Hokkaido, that they felt the Ramen soup in Hokkaido was very salty. So, here in Taipei, many Japanese-style Ramen restaurants use light, Tonkotsu soup, like Kyushu style.

魁龍拉麵, located in the basement of Caesar Park Hotel in Taipei Station area. Easy to access, and there are some other restaurants in the basement. I accidentally found this new Kyushu-style Ramen restaurant. My friend and I already ate dinner, but I really wanted to try… So I asked them if it was okay to order one dish and shared… They usually set a minimum charge, but this time they allowed us to order one dish. So I ordered simple Tonkotsu Ramen (NT$ 160).

Tonkotsu Ramen

Tonkotsu Ramen contained thin noodle, sprout, corn, Chashu, egg, seaweed, bamboo and green onion. Ingredients were all fresh, and I liked it especially chashu. It was so tender… You may want to add more slices of Chashu as an extra topping. The soup was white, pork based soup called Tonkotsu. To be honest, I am not a huge fun of white Tokotsu soup because the taste is too light. However, this soup was appropriate. I guess I got used to Taiwan flavor, or I eat too oily stuff everyday… The noodle was served with pretty noodle ball. I liked it!

I might come back here again to try some other items. I hope I would find an authentic Hokkaido Ramen restaurant in Taipei soon.

Thank you for reading! (Report: Jan. 23, 2010)

Total: NT$ 176 ($160 + 10% service charge)

魁龍拉麵: Kurume Ramen
Caesar Park Hotel B1
Jhongsiao W. Rd., Jhongjheng Dist.
Taipei, TAIWAN

Restaurant #29: Jin Din Lou 京鼎樓, Taipei

I heard about Jin Din Lou Ebisu branch @ Tokyo with good review, but never heard about Taipei’s headquarter, so I went there to try. Jin Din Lou is a small chain Chinese restaurant, emphasizing steamed dumplings. The owners (brothers) were actually trained at Din Tai Fung before, and then they opened their own dumpling restaurant. So, their signature menu is, of course, steamed dumplings, and other items are similar to Din Tai Fung’s.

京鼎樓 that I went was located near Zhongshan MRT station. I asked my Taiwanese friend to join me. When we arrived at the restaurant, we saw some workers making dumplings lazily. One worker was reading the newspaper on the corner, and a few others were talking over dumplings without a mask. Their hygiene has some problems and it didn’t look great. Inside of the restaurant was alright, but it was not blight enough…

Once I entered the restaurant, a waitress guided us to the basement. The staircase was too steep and very dangerous. Awww… basement didn’t have any windows, and the air was not fresh. There are less than 10 big tables, and ALL customers were Japanese that night. Two waitresses smiled and welcomed us in Japanese. However, once my friend started speaking Chinese, their face literary changed annoyingly, and they took us to the smallest table in the corner.

Their unfriendly service made me uncomfortable, and I was upset to see all the Japanese customers that why they needed to go there and ruin their dinner with such an expensive price. Most of their faces were not happy… I felt that they were trying to enjoy the atmosphere. Oh well, I was one of them, so I can’t complain that much. We ordered 小籠包 (steamed dumpling) (10 pcs) (NT$170), 元盅土雞湯 (chicken soup) (NT$170), and雞肉蛋炒飯 (pork fried rice) (NT$110).

Chicken Soup

Now, foods were served. We got chicken soup first. Plates, menus, I mean everything reminded me of Din Tai Fung. Do they want us to compare with them? Or they try to beat them with their taste? I tried one, two sip of the soup. For me, it was oily. Chicken was kind of dry and not tender enough, and I didn’t feel it was fresh at all.

Pork Fried Rice

Pork friend rice was served next. It was… too shiny; they might be using animal oil. Egg was a bit overcooked, even though it was tasty. The only thing I didn’t like is that the rice was not tasty. Are they using California rice or what? If they use fresh, Taiwanese rice, I would have liked this item much more.

Steamed Dumpling

Their signature item was served, finally, at the end, but it seemed the chef forgot to serve in the beginning. After we complained to the waitress (because we waited for more than 30 minutes!!!) the chef himself served the item, and started arguing with two waitresses in Taiwanese. Oh Geez… I am not sure how many people understood what they were arguing about, but definitely my friend was embarrassed. Dumpling was actually pretty good. I liked it better than Din Tai Fung. Yet the fact that we have been waited for so long and caused the argument, I was not happy.

I brought a Japanese guidebook with 5% discount. I was so embarrassed to do so only for 5% discount. My friend was already unhappy, and he even felled down at the dangerous staircase. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

I really hope that they will improve their service and hygiene, if they charge such a high price. So far, I’d rather go to small local restaurants which offer same items with a half price, or go to Din Tai Fung, similar price but better service.

Total: NT$ 428 (for 2 people, with 5% discount)

京鼎樓: Jin Din Lou
No.47, Changchun Rd. Zhongshan Dist.
Taipei City, TAIWAN
02-25236636

Restaurant #28: Quan An Viet Nam

It was a first time for five years that I ate Vietnamese food. I barely eat it, because they use a lot of MSG for the soup and I easily got headache back in the States. But since I saw many Vietnamese restaurants in Taipei, I wanted to try!

This small family restaurant is located near HOLA and B&Q (like Home Depot). You need to take a bus to get there. The décor is simple but organized. I think the hygiene is okay. There is a menu on the table, so you choose some items and give those to the chef/owner at the counter. My friend and I ordered猪排烤肉飯 (Com Suong Nuong: Grilled Pork Chop Rice) (NT$60) and 猪肉河粉 (Hu Tieu: Pork Noodle) (NT$65).

Grilled Pork Chop Rice

This was my friend’s choice. This was very good. The pork was marinated with a bit sweet sauce, but I could eat it. Slices of cucumber made the dish colorful. It came out with a cup of soup and sour and sweet sauce. Quantity was appropriate for one person.

Pork Noodle

I chose this, even though I know that I would get headache again. I really like all kinds of noodle. Their noodle was simple; rice noodle, pork, sprout, and garlic. The soup had a great taste, but a bit sweet and unfortunately MSG taste. After I finished a half of the bawl, I became thirsty… This item came with a cup of soup, but I rather have noodle only with NT$60. Am I too stingy?(^^;;;)

Since I barely eat Vietnamese food, I cannot tell their food was good or not. At least I enjoyed their decent hospitality and their food. I would like to go back there, and want to try their fresh spring rolls next time.

Total: NT$ 125 (for 2 people)

Quan An Viet Nam
No.693, Jingping Road
Zhonghe City, TAIWAN
02-22431372

Restaurant #27: World Soymilk King

世界豆漿大王 is a 24-hour-open Chinese restaurant located in my area. It seems that there are some branches. They offer breakfast items and lunch items. It seems that recently they remodeled their restaurant and now have more space for seating. Of course you can eat dinner, but you may want to eat more… It would be great place for night snacks.

I went there in lunch time, because I saw steam coming out from the dumpling containers outside. I ordered the lunch set, which came with 8 pieces of 小籠包 (steamed dumpling), 蔥餅 (Chinese Bread with Green Onion), 蔥花蛋 (Scrambled Egg with Green Onion), and 冰豆漿 (Iced Soymilk).


Please don’t expect for the décor. It is a stereo type Chinese restaurant, so the inside was simple; just some tables and chairs. Hygiene was alright. Self service corner for extra plates, shredded ginger and some sauces.

Scrambled Egg with Green Onion

Scrambled egg was with green onion. Nothing special but this is popular menu as Taiwanese breakfast menu. I didn’t like the sweet (!?) sauce, so next time I would tell them no sauce. Soymilk was homemade. Usually in Taipei, the milk is sweet, unless you tell them not to put the sugar. So if you like non-sweet soymilk, be careful!

Chinese Bread with Green Onion

I liked Chinese bread, again with green onion. They heated up for me, so it was pretty hot. I already tried this bread several times, but most of times I like it. I should try other breads next time…

Steamed Dumpling

I LOVE steamed dumplings. When I was in the States, I sometimes went to the famous dumpling restaurant, 鼎泰豐Din Tai Fung, which was originally from Taiwan. Please do not expect too much for their steamed dumplings at世界豆漿大王. Their specialty is not a dumpling. However, their dumplings were pretty good with this reasonable price. Their steamed dumpling (8 pcs) was only TWD 70! Good price! Yes, almost an half price of Din Tai Fung. I really enjoyed their dumpling.

I already tried some other items at this restaurant. Most of items are pretty good in reasonable prices. Yet, so far my favorite is steamed dumpling. I would like to try their breakfast menu next time!

Total: 80 TWD

世界豆漿大王
http://www.soymilk.com.tw/

Dessert #02: Tsumugi

I don’t eat dessert that much, because I prefer salty stuff than a sweet one. However, once in a while I am craving desserts. When I came to Taipei, I stopped by at some souvenir stores to buy some Hokkaido cookies, and I found this Baumkuchen. This is Ishiyaseika’s new item. Ishiyaseika’s signature item, 白い恋人 (Shiroi Koibito: it means “a white lover”), is still a huge hit as a popular souvenir of Hokkaido. Yet, I would like to recommend this baumkuchen, so called Tsumugi.


The package is professional. The color of the box is calm and sophisticated, and the font is not that bad. This box is also strong, so it is useful. Baumkuchen was in appropriate size (as a souvenir) and the taste pretty good. It was not that sweet, so it was my favorite taste. I also liked the fact that I can bring it back without an ice. Sometimes these souvenir need to be in cool place, but this one is easy to carry without an ice.

If you come to Hokkaido, please try this Tsumugi and see if you like it.

Tsumugi @ Ishiyaseika
http://www.yawarakoi.com/