Beef noodles (牛肉麵, also called Taiwanese beef noodles soup) is arguably Taiwan’s most iconic dish.
Which shop serves the best beef noodles in the city is the subject of fierce debate. Everyone has their own favorite spot. Michelin has made their picks, but some locals vehemently disagree.
If you’re on a short visit and will only have the chance to try it once or twice, you may be overwhelmed with choices. In this article, I’ll simplify the matter by giving you a shortlist of the absolute best beef noodle experiences in Taipei, with a quick and easy table to help you choose the right one for you.
Taiwanese Beef Noodles Introduction
Variations of beef noodles exist all over Asia. The one in Taiwan is an adaptation of a version from Sichuan – which like most Sichuanese food was originally very spicy.
At the end of the Chinese Civil War (1949), thousands of Chinese KMT soldiers fled to Taiwan and were settled in military dependents villages (眷村). It was in one such community in Kaohsiung that beef noodles first emerged.
Not long after, it also appeared in veteran communities in Taipei, especially in the old city of Bangka (today’s Wanhua district, including Ximending).
Prior to that, Taiwanese mainly ate pork and viewed cows as a beast of burden. Thus it took some time for the dish to catch on. They also had to tone down the spice level for it to gain broader appeal.
The subsequent Taiwanese version came to be known as red-braised (hong shao) beef noodles soup (紅燒牛肉麵), in which the beef is slow braised with soy sauce for hours, resulting in a brownish-red broth. It’s typically a hint spicy and extremely satisfying.
Another common variety in Taiwan has tomato added for extra umami (番茄牛肉麵). Yet another is stewed (qing dun) beef noodles (清燉牛肉麵), with no soy sauce and a clearer broth.
The soup usually comes with chunks of your choice of beef (牛肉), tendon (牛筋), tripe (牛肚), or a combination of all three, sometimes called “three treasures” (三寶).
The noodles are optional and ideally they should be chewy/springy and not overcooked. Some greens, carrots, and/or white radish chunks are sometimes added.
To finish it off, the dish usually comes topped with (or you can add your own) green onions, pickled mustard greens (酸菜), and spicy beef oil paste (辣牛油).
Your typical bowl of beef noodles soup runs anywhere from TWD 100 in the most local shops to 300+ in touristy or Michelin-rated ones. Expect to pay around 170 to 240 at most of the ones I will recommend below.
Beef noodle shops often offer a variety of small sides to go with the soup, such as dried tofu (豆乾 or dougan) or crushed cucumber (拍黃瓜), usually TWD 30 to 40 each. Some beef noodle shops also offer sesame sauce noodles (麻醬麵), an alternative for vegetarians in Taiwan.
When Michelin published its first Taipei guide in 2018, 8 out of 36 of the entries were beef noodle shops! Most of the beef noodle places I’ll recommend below have made the list on one if not all the years since the guide was first published.
Top 6 Taipei Beef Noodle Shops
Now let’s get down to business – here are the 6 best beef noodle shops in Taipei, which I’ve ranked according to my personal preference. Feel free to disagree in the comments below!
| Beef Noodle Shop | Location | Why Go Here? | Michelin Status |
| Lao Shan Dong | Ximending here | Quintessential Taiwan beef noodle experience | Every year |
| Lin Dong Fang | Near Fuxing S Rd. here | Modern and spacious interior, often considered best in Taipei | Only in 2018 |
| Halal Chinese | Near SYS Memorial Hall here | Option to add Northern Chinese flatbreads and other beef dishes | Every year |
| Liu Shan Dong | Taipei Main here | Cheap, very local, close to Taipei Main Station | Only in 2018 |
| Fu Hong | Ximending here | As local as it gets, few tourists here, open 24 hours | No |
| Yong Kang | Yongkang St. here | Touristy, but the beef slices are extremely tender | Only in 2020 |
Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles
Lao Shan Dong Beef Noodles (老山東牛肉麺) offers what I believe to be the most quintessential, local Taiwanese beef noodle experience in Taipei.
The noodle shop is buried in the corner of a B1 food court in Ximending’s Wannian Building, otherwise known for its youth fashions and otaku products. There’s often a line but it moves fast.
From the outside, the shop looks small and unassuming. It’s hard to imagine that it dates all the way back to 1949, the same year the Chinese Civil War ended!
Once I entered, I found myself in a buzzing seating area, filled with the sounds of slurping noodles and a steaming open-air kitchen to my right. I was seated at a large, wooden table shared with several locals.
The menu here (English available) gave me all the choices of beef noodles I could hope for. They range from TWD 190 to 250, with small or large bowls – small was the perfect size for me.
There are also options like dumplings, hot and sour soup, and help-yourself sides (just look around for them). After ordering my beef noodles, I grabbed my utensils and soup toppings from the condiment table on the side.
The hong shao broth was spot-on, while the noodles were wide and perfectly chewy. It’s no wonder this shop has clinched a Michelin Bib Gourmand award (see entry) every year since the guide was first published!
Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle
Juxtaposing the previous entry, Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle (林東芳牛肉麵) is the “nicest” beef noodle shop on my list, and is another Michelin awardee (2018 only).
This means the restaurant has a modern, spacious interior, comfortable seating (you even get your own table!), serving staff who will give you all the time you need with the menu, tasteful decorations, washrooms, cold drinks available – you get the idea.
But don’t judge by the new look (renovated in 2019) – Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle used to be a simple hole-in-the-wall shop just like all the others, first opened some 45 years ago under a different name.
Whether you consider the modern look and more comfortable dining experience to be a plus or somehow less authentic than the usual crusty old shops is a matter of personal preference.
But if we’re just talking about the noodles, Lin Dong Fang’s are often heralded as the number one best in the city. After the first time I smelled and then tasted the highly aromatic broth, I found it hard to disagree. Noodle chewiness is also perfect.
My wife and I especially enjoyed some of the small sides here, including the dougan, which had a smokiness to it. Prices range from 190 (small bowl) to 300 (large bowl with beef tendons).
To get here, walk north from Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT (Brown or Blue Line) or south from Nanjing Fuxing MRT (Brown or Green line).
There can be a long line down the street, but if you avoid peak meal times you can walk right in like we did. It’s even open till 3 AM every night.
There’s even a small branch of Lin Dong Fang here at Taoyuan International Airport.
Halal Chinese Beef Noodles
Whether you are Muslim or not, Halal Chinese Beef Noodles (清真中國牛肉麵食館 (大安)) is my third most recommended beef noodle shop in Taipei.
Unsurprisingly for any Michelin-rated place, there was a line when I arrived, but it didn’t take too long. Like Lao Shandong, Halal Chinese Beef Noodles has made the Michelin list every year since it was first published in 2018 (see entry) and goes back to 1957.
While waiting, I enjoyed watching one of the chefs through the window as he prepared the shop’s signature Dongbei flatbreads (東北斤餅), a northeastern China touch you won’t find at other beef noodle shops in Taipei. The English menu calls them “East North Flap Jacks”.
I ordered one of these breads to go with my beef noodles, just to try it, but they’re actually meant to be eaten with other dishes.
The staff most recommends to order the flatbread with their tortoise shell hat (合菜戴帽, a dish with glass noodles, bean sprouts, and tofu topped with egg) or Beijing sauce beef strips (京醬肉絲). If I went back again, I’d come with a group of friends so I could try and share several dishes with others.
Besides the fun option for flatbread and various other non-soup dishes, the main reason this shop ranks highly for me is the beef noodles itself. I went for my favorite – red-braised.
I had the choice of spicy or not spicy, and their spicy was just right for me. The thin beef slices that came on mine included a few meatier ones and a few fattier ones.
But reading the reviews later, I found that many customers claim the stewed (清燉) beef noodles here are the best (see Instagram post below). So consider to try that!
I suggest going for the signature (招牌) bowls on the menu (TWD 240), which are bigger and better than the regular ones (TWD 175). The owner here supposedly insists on using only the freshest and non-frozen ingredients.
The shop is on a side street near Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall MRT.
Liu Shan Dong Beef Noodles
Liu Shan Dong Beef Noodles (劉山東牛肉麵) is another time-honored beef noodle shop in the old city center. It is just a few minutes’ walk south of Taipei Main Station (exit Z6) and 10 minutes’ walk east of Ximending.
This small beef noodle shop is hidden in a narrow alleyway, with only the long queue outside hinting at its fame.
Liu Shan Dong was included in the inaugural Michelin guide (2018) but hasn’t managed to make it back on the list again since. Still, the initial inclusion has put it on the radar of the foodie masses to till now.
Liu Shan Dong is super local, with metal stools and fold-up tables tables packed into the tiny dining room. Visiting on a roasting hot day, we were happy to find they do have AC once you get inside.
The owner of Liu Shan Dong was a KMT veteran from Shandong province. He founded the shop in 1951, dishing up beef noodles in Shandong-style, with its signature thick and round noodles. You won’t find the exact same noodles at any other beef noodles shop in Taipei.
The prices here have gone up over the years, but still remain lower than other “famous” beef noodle shops. I paid TWD 170 for a heaping bowl of stewed or red-braised beef noodles. My kids shared a huge bowl of noodle soup with no beef chunks for only TWD 80.
There’s an English menu and condiments on the table. It doesn’t get any easier to partake in this local experience!
Fuhong Beef Noodles
Fuhong Beef Noodles (富宏牛肉麵) is one of a handful of old-school beef noodle shops on the same street just north of Ximending Pedestrian Shopping District and within walking distance of Taipei Main Station.
Most of these, including Fuhong, are open 24-hours, so you can gorge of delicious beef noodles anytime of day or night (see my guide to the best 24-hour restaurants in Taipei).
Of the main beef noodle shops there (Caihong, Fuhong, Jianhong, and Xiao Wu), Jianhong is the only one which has snagged a Michelin award, but Fuhong is actually the most popular and highly rated one among locals. You can’t go wrong with any of them, though.
Come here for super authentic, no-frills, exactly-how-the-locals-do-it beef noodles. Looking past the cracks in the walls and rickety tables on an uneven sidewalk out front, I found the beef noodles just here really damn good.
They are also the cheapest on my list, starting from only TWD 100 for a small bowl. Legit Taiwanese prices!
There’s an English menu available if you need it. When I went, I just told the cook I wanted beef noodles. He asked me what size: small (小), medium (中), or large (大), and whether I wanted thin (細) or wide (寬) noodles (my favorite is always the wide or thick noodles!)
There are also dumplings and vegetarian sesame sauce noodles on the menu.
In my opinion, this is as local as it gets.
Yong Kang Beef Noodles
Yong Kang Beef Noodles (永康牛肉麵) is another Taipei beef noodle shops which is often cited as the best in the city. As the name suggests, it is just off Yongkang Street, a popular street known for its many local restaurants and traditional teahouses.
This beef noodle shop does get more mixed reviews from locals. Some call it overrated, while others just feel annoyed with the long lines of tourists. Still others say the service is unfriendly, but this is not uncommon when shops become too popular.
The touristy nature is reflected in the prices – 280 to 320 for a bowl.
Still, I feel Yong Kang deserves its reputation as one of the best beef noodle restaurants in Taipei. The beef chunks are particularly tender, literally falling apart in your mouth. The noodles are thin, round, and springy.
Besides beef noodles, the menu includes steamed intestines, noodles with minced pork sauce, dumplings, and sesame noodles with peanut powder.
Yong Kang Beef Noodles made the Michelin list once year only, in 2020. The shop dates back to 1963.
Others Worth Mentioning
- Yong Kang Sliced Noodles (永康刀削麵): Just a few blocks away from Yong Kang Beef Noodles but with no line and delicious knife-cut noodles. Besides regular beef noodles, they have tomato beef noodles and particularly good sesame sauce noodles.
- Ban Dao Beef Noodle Restaurant (半島牛肉麵) Beef noodle shop near Taipei City Hall MRT which consistently gets rave reviews for its beef noodles with huge chunks of beef.
- Chef Hung Beef Noodles (洪師父冠軍牛肉麵) Relatively new on the Taipei beef noodles scene (1992), it has grown into an international chain. The menu features a long list of awards which the chef has won for his beef noodles.
- Niu Dian Beef Noodles (牛店精燉牛肉麵) Yet another Michelin-rated (2018-2020) place in Ximending. Now has branch in Singapore. It also has black sesame noodles.
Hey, the link for “SYS Memorial Hall here” is incorrect;)
Or it’s “Fuxing N Rd. here” both are the same one:)
thank you, I will fix it!