Beefy Beef Noodle

I came home from work absolutely starving and feeling very carnivorous on Thursday.  We didn’t really have anything in the fridge and so I proposed going out for Taiwanese beef noodle soup.  Chris had never had this kind of food before, so we headed off to Beefy Beef Noodle on Main Street for a big dinner.

I like how straightforward the name is!

Chris ordered himself a Beef Brisket & Wonton Noodle soup which was just delicious.  The dark beef broth was very flavourful without being overly salty or oily.  The pork wontons were juicy and nicely packed with a thicker noodle “skin” than typical Cantonese wontons.  The beef brisket came in thick-cut slices and despite a bit of heavy marbling, it was very very tender.  The wheat-based noodles had a nice chewiness to them, and the few sprigs of green veggies (bok choi) and preserved vegetables (radish greens) added some colour and textural contrast to the dish.

Beef Brisket & Wonton Noodle Soup ($7.95)

I basically had the same thing, but with only beef brisket.  There were at least 4 big slices of brisket in this bowl.  Excellent value.

Beef Brisket Noodle Soup ($6.95)

Because we were so hungry, we had ordered a few side items too.  The first was this fried rice with chicken and salted fish.  The rice itself was good with long fine grains of rice (note how they’re unbroken – which is nice and a challenge given the wok frying), but the fish wasn’t soaked enough when rehydrated.  Some pieces of fish were very mild while others were incredibly salty.  We took home most of the rice as leftovers.

Diced chicken and salty fish fried rice ($8.50)

The rice came with two little bonus dishes which we barely touched – I didn’t really care much for either of these as the cabbage  was somewhere between crunchy and soft, and the corn/tofu was glazed in a chicken-broth sauce – I think.

Salted Cabbage and Corn/Tofu sides (came with the fried rice)

Our last dish, which I’ve never had before (but drooled over every time a fellow food blogger would post about it), was the beef rolled pancake.  The green onion (pan)cake was crispy on the outside, but a bit doughy in the centre.  The addition of extra green onion and oh-so-yummy hoisin sauce added a touch of heat, crunch and sweetness to the dish.  The beef, was beefy and very good.  I loved this dish.

Five spice beef wrapped in Chinese pancake ($5.50)

A note should be made about the interior of the restaurant.  It was far more modern and well decorated than we would have thought from the outside.  Dark wood tables and modern light fixtures made this restaurant quite hip looking.  I particularly liked the big chalkboard which listed specials.

Beautiful handwriting!

So, I very much liked Beefy Beef Noodle – you got great (beefy) portions of (beefy) food for good (unbeefy?) prices (our total came to about $35 with tax & tip).