Posing besides xiao long bao, stinky tofu and shaved ice, beef noodle (牛肉麵, read: niú ròu miàn) is popular all-around the globe as Taiwan’s iconic food. What makes this noodle so special?

Taiwanese beef noodle is a traditional cuisine with about decades of history. It has been deeply rooted to Taiwanese culture, but at the same time internationally reputable for its unique taste. There are two varieties of beef noodle found in Taiwan, clear stewed beef noodle and (dark-broth) braised beef noodle. Whilst each is served with different stock type, it is cooked with similar ingredients: beef chunks, Chinese cabbages, scallions, spices and herbs, and of course hand-made noodles.

七十二牛肉麵 (72 Beef Noodle) is one of beef noodle stalls frequently visited by locals as well as tourists. Despite the small area of the shop, a lot of people are still willing to patiently wait outside. Luckily we came pre-lunch-peak-hour, so we didn’t wait for long to be seated. We ordered both clear-broth and dark-broth beef noodles.

Comparing both broths, we unanimously agreed that the dark-broth had more flavour than the clear-broth. Ingredient-wise, I prefer the beef chunks in the dark-broth as well compared to the clear-broth noodle which came with beef slices instead.

Dark-broth Beef Noodle

Clear-broth Beef Noodle

Anyway, I don’t mind coming back to enjoy the light broth taste from 七十二牛肉麵, although maybe we can plan to visit other fames like 老董牛肉麵, 永康牛肉麵 Yong Kang Beef Noodle and 一品山西刀削麵之家 (would totally love to try their knife-cut noodles!).

Note: the name 七十二牛肉麵 actually explains the 72 hours processing time of their beef stock. Ingredients are slowly cooked from cold water to medium heat from day 1 to 2, then afterwards brought up to mild heat to the third day. To make each bowl of broth they claim to use one and a half pounds of bones.