Finding Taipei's Beef Noodle King

Cash Box, now Partyworld, is undoubtedly the best KTV in the whole wide world. I could go as far as saying that its one of the best things to come out of Taiwan (on top of the back alley cafes and books), for reasons below:

1. They are huge (often occupying a whole building with something like 10 floors);
2. All rooms are clean (with no cigarette smoke smell unlike the ones in Hong Kong) and most come with an en suite toilet;
3. All staff are friendly and efficient;
4. Songs are super new and aplenty (very often they have every single song from a hit singer’s new album) while all MVs are all beautifully filmed (though they all conform to a certain Taiwan-esque style); and
5. Most important of all, the food here is great!

The beef noodles here are so yummy a friend admitted to opening a room at Partyworld solely for the purposes of eating its beef noodles! Thing is, no matter how hard I tried I was not able to remember who said this to me, so in order to make sure I was not dreaming this whole thing up I decided to put its noodles to the test despite having to sport a big stomach after homemade dumplings from dinner.

The noodles here truly give a lot of proper beef noodle restaurants in Taipei a run for their money. The noodles were cooked al dente, the soup base was flavoursome with preserved veggies served on the side. The only thing that was slightly disappointing was the beef. Beef is the true art of beef noodles. You master the texture of the beef and you become the true beef noodle king.

This award I will for now, at least until I have found the next beef noodle king, give to Lao Wang Ji Beef Noodle King on Tao Yuan Street. Lao Wang uses authentic Taiwanese yellow cow imported fresh every day to create a broth that is thick yet not greasy, fragrant yet not salty. The beef, though cut up in big pieces, is slow-cooked so that it maintains the natural sweetness of yellow beef while being soft at the same time. Lao Wang even custom makes your noodles for you according to your preferences on the heaviness of the soup and texture of the noodles. Just make sure you don’t come here during peak lunch or dinner hours or you will have to be ready for a long queue.

Cash Box Partyworld 钱柜
Try its flagship store on台北市林森北路139號 (臨六條通) (tel: +886 2 23702277)

Lao Wang Ji Beef Noodle King 老王记牛肉面大王
台北市桃源街15号 (tel: +886 937 860 050)