Jizhou Tofu Pot (濟州豆腐鍋之家)
55 Tunhwa S. Rd., Sec. 1, Lane 190 (敦化南路一段190巷55號) tel: 2731-6622. Open: 11am to 10pm. Average meal: NT$120. Delivery available. No Enlgish menu. No credit cards accepted.
Taipei residents who are willing spend a few NT dollars more for their fast food should feel lucky with the arrival of Jizhou Tofu Pot. It offers fast table service in the same dog-free and spotless tile environment, with the bonus of providing an entirely original menu. The new direction in Jizhou Tofu Pot's case is spicy Korean cellophane noodles.
Jizhou does not rely on selection to draw in customers with only three choices on the menu. But they are all good. The philosophy seems to be: who eats more than two different kinds of value meals at the other fast food joints anyway? The three dining options are seafood, kimchi and pork. Servings come in individual sized hot pot bowls made of aluminum with a projecting disc on the outside that is used to support the vessel during the cooking process. Since the bowls tend to arrive at the table red-hot, they also bear a slight resemblance to cauldrons.
Aside from each dish's meat, the flavors of the three dishes are dominated by the heaping tablespoons of demonic orange spice mix that the cooks stir into each bowl. As the kitchen is separated from the dining area by only a counter and a glass partition, you can be sure that they do this to each and every bowl.
If you don't enjoy spicy food, they say they can tone it down for you, but perhaps more appropriately, you shouldn't be here. As in most Korean cooking, the spice is extremely flavorful and one of the best ways to eat cellophane noodles. Moreover, the spiciness will put some color back on your cheeks on a drizzling winter day.
Beiping You Yi Tsuen Knife Cut Noodles (北平又一村刀削麵)
37 Lungchuan St. (龍泉街37號) 11am to 2pm and 5pm to 9pm. Average meal: NT$70. No English menu. No credit cards accepted.
Beiping You Yi Tsuen Knife Cut Noodles is indistinguishable from other wok-in-the-wall noodle shops that cover Taipei like the dots on a Dalmatian. As such, it's one of those secret finds, because it probably sells the best tasting noodles in the Shihda area.
The main attraction at Beiping You Yi Tsuen is the noodles themselves. As you walk into the restaurant, you will pass the cook, who is constantly tossing up puffs of flour as he kneads fresh slabs of dough. For each order, he will fold a dough slab into a block, then use a small curved metal sheet to cut/fling the noodles across the kitchen and into a pot, where they will boil for a few minutes before coming out as some of the freshest flour noodles you've ever tasted.
On Beiping You Yi Tsuen's menu, which is written in magic marker on a poster board taped to the wall, there are only six noodle dishes, with beef noodles and zhajiang mian (炸醬麵) as specialties. The beef noodles are what most would call above average, and the zhajiang noodles are some of the best around. The sauce for the zhajiang noodles, which consists of mincemeat and dougan (豆乾) fried with malt extract and other ingredients, is not the same soupy morass that one finds at most other noodles stands. Except for the oil that is imbued with flavor and coats the entire bowl, the contents are tasty and discrete, just like the fresh bean sprouts and spring onions sprinkled on top.
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