Days of chewing carefully: two beef noodles

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It's not surprising that whenever we are back in Taiwan, one of Foursheets' favorite things to eat is beef noodle soup. Ever since I first introduced her to Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodles (林東芳牛肉麵) back in 2015, it has been a mainstay on her itinerary. She wanted to explore a couple of other places this week, so I let her pick...

We had tried to check out Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles (老山東牛肉家常麵店) a few months ago, but it was during the holiday season and there was an impossibly long line to get in. This time around, though, we went on a week night and had no trouble getting in. The place was still buzzing on a Monday night.

Pork and chives dumplings (豬肉韭菜水餃) - thick, hand-rolled wrappers with plenty of bite. Very nice.

Half tendon half beef noodle (半筋半肉麵) - I was a little apprehensive about chewing on tendon in my current state, but I ordered this anyway. Turns out I could chew just fine with one side of my mouth... and both the beef and the tendon were tender. The noodles are hand-cut the way Japanese cut their soba, and they had plenty of bite. The broth had less herbal flavors than the broth at Lin Dong Fang, and clearly less intense than the amazing broth at my favorite Beef Father Beef Noodles (牛爸爸牛肉麵), but it was still better than what I had at Noodle Cuisine (天下三絕麵食館). Not bad at all, and the price is at the level where Lin Dong Fang used to be quite a few years ago.

We were taking our visitor to lunch again, and Foursheets picked another place not too far from our apartment. I'm not sure why she picked out Muslim Beef Noodle (清真黃牛肉麵館) over Chang's Beef Noodle Shop (張家清真黃牛肉麵館) next door, but here we are.

We picked out a few small dishes, which included marinated kelp (涼拌海帶), pressed tofu strips (干絲), and pressed tofu with dried silver-striped round herring (丁香魚豆乾).

Beef noodles with clear broth (清燉牛肉麵) - I wanted to have clear broth for a change, as not all beef noodle shops offer this option. The broth was pretty decent, but the noodles themselves were a little too soggy for my liking.

The beef came in pretty big chunks, which made them a little more chewy than I wanted in my current state.

Beef dumplimgs (牛肉水餃) - the wrappers were also hand-rolled, but thicker and softer than the one at Lao Shandong.

I'm glad I got the chance to check out a couple of old shops for a different taste of beef noodles, and happy that they are closer to home with less travel time.