Taiwan's signature bowl: braised beef and wheat noodles in a dark, spiced broth, with an annual competition in Taipei to crown the best.
A post-war creation
Taiwanese beef noodle soup is generally traced to the years after 1949, when large numbers of mainland Chinese arrived in Taiwan. The red-braised style is widely associated with military dependants' villages in the south, where Sichuanese cooking traditions met local ingredients.
Beef was historically eaten sparingly in Taiwan, where cattle were valued as farm animals, so a dish built around braised beef represented a genuine shift in eating habits.
It has since become a defining national dish. Taipei has hosted an annual beef noodle festival and competition, and arguments about the best bowl in the city are conducted with real seriousness.
Two schools of broth
The dominant style is hongshao, red-braised: soy sauce, rock sugar, doubanjiang — fermented broad bean and chilli paste — ginger, garlic, star anise and other whole spices, simmered into a dark, richly spiced broth.
The other is qingdun, a clear broth, which relies on long-simmered bones and restrained seasoning to produce something cleaner and more delicate. It has fewer adherents but passionate ones.
Beef shin and tendon are the preferred cuts, braised for hours until the connective tissue turns gelatinous. Tendon in particular is prized for its texture and is a common upgrade on a menu.
Assembling the bowl
Wheat noodles are cooked separately and added to the bowl, thickness being a matter of preference — some shops offer several. Broth is ladled over, beef arranged on top.
The standard garnishes are chopped spring onion, blanched leafy greens such as baby bok choy, and a spoonful of suan cai, pickled mustard greens, whose sourness cuts the richness of the braise.
Chilli oil and more pickles sit on the table. The soup is eaten at any hour, and the best-regarded shops are small, specialised, and often have queues down the street at lunchtime.
