It is the end of January, otherwise known as the beginning of extravagant food and wine festivals in Vancouver, until spring (at least). Between Dineout Vancouver, Hot Chocolate Festival, and Street Food City III, it is sometimes difficult to remember that there is a whole food scene outside of these festivities. This statement is especially true when it comes to tons of restaurants that are not part of the celebration. Most of them already offer every day cheap eats, such as Taiwan Beef Noodle King.
Taiwan Beef Noodle King, as the name suggests, offers different types of beef noodles and side dishes, such as dumplings, Chinese pancake, or on the more exotic side, marinated pork intestines. The restaurant does not have much decoration and if you have ever travelled to Taiwan, you would know that they resemble a typical Taiwanese old-fashioned restaurant. It is small with only a handful of tables, but has friendly service.
After all, Taiwanese beef noodle is nothing fancy and is considered more like a daily staple. Beef noodle restaurants in Taiwan are a lot like sushi restaurants in Vancouver, they are on every other block, if not more. A Taiwanese friend has introduced me to this place as his favourite Taiwanese beef noodle spot in Vancouver. The classic noodle would be Stewed Beef Noodle in Soup, as shown in the picture below.
The broth was the highlight of this dish. It was flavourful, with a distinctive sweetness to it. Each restaurant has their very own secret recipe to the broth making with one thing in common: they are all time consuming. A delicious broth could take hours and even days to prepare and cook. I have to admit that I prefer Tony’s Beef Noodle Soup over Taiwan Beef Noodle King’s. It was a personal preference because they were both nicely done. Nonetheless, Taiwan Beef Noodle King was more generous with their portion of beef briskets, which were extremely tender and flavourful. We enjoyed the thick, chewy texture of the handmade noodle. There were other choices of thinner, non-handmade noodles for your preference.
Their signature dish, however, was Noodle with Beef Sauce. There were no choices of noodle for this particular dish. The noodle was thinner and softer in texture, which went perfectly well with the warm, moist, saucy minced beef on top. It was not spicy at all despite being marked as “spicy” on the menu. In addition to that, we got to enjoy the refreshing marinated beef slices. This was not a typical Taiwanese Beef Noodle, yet a very interesting try.
So far I have only been to two restaurants to try Taiwanese Beef Noodle dishes. This cultural food might not be as exquisite as food you might find in high end restaurants, whether in presentation or in taste, but it is something else. It is comforting, unique, and full of flavours! At the same time, it is ordinary, affordable and most importantly, indispensable to the making of a vibrant food scene in Vancouver.
Taiwan Beef Noodle King
8335 Oak Street
Vancouver BC
(604) 4266-8718
Atmosphere：4
Food：4
Service：3
Value：4
Recommendation：4
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