Restaurant: Yi Fan Ting (熱烈一番亭)

By Max Woodworth
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Aug 13, 2004, Page 19

PHOTO: MAX WOODWORTH, TAIPEI TIMES

Yi Fan Ting is a hip little ramen joint with three branches around town -- on Yongkang Street, Guangfu Road and Qingdao Road -- and at each you should consider yourself lucky if the wait for a table is under 20 minutes. Popularity, of course, isn't necessarily a sign of good food, but in this case, it certainly is.

The menu offers a large range of foods, but the specialization in ramen is clear, in particular the chef's signature spicy ramen. When diners sit down, they're handed a plastic fan and at first I thought this was a cheap excuse for not turning the air-conditioning up a couple of notches. It turns out that the fan comes in handy if you have the gusto take on the spicy ramen, which has cautionary flames next to it on the menu and is served with a deep ochre-tinted layer of searing spicy oil. Those who bravely (or foolishly, it's hard to tell) take on the spicy ramen challenge are identifiable by their frantic fan flapping and sweaty, beet-red faces.

But I've seen Tampopo enough times to know that superior ramen is achieved through subtlety, which could hardly describe Yi Pan Ting's spicy noodle specialty. So, if heart-stopping spice is not the experience you want for lunch or you forgot to bring a change of shirts, there are tamer offerings. The fatty pork ramen is a good place to start, with its rich broth, delicate slices of pork and a fistful of mushrooms and bamboo shoots, or the zesty

miso-based ramen. This being the dog days of summer, there are two cold noodle dishes, one with hearty soba noodles under heaps of fresh garden vegetables and another that takes its cue from Taiwan's own ground pork dan-zi noodles.

One of the more interesting dishes on offer is the Osaka fried noodles, which is actually mixed with fried rice and topped with a fried egg, making it a hefty and flavorful main course that would be perfect if it weren't a tad overly salty.

Most of the ramens and the fried noodle dishes can be part of a set meal which run between NT$210 and NT$260 and come with either a salad or chunks of fried chicken, self-serve ice cream and either coffee or tea. The set meal should satisfy most appetites, but larger hungers may seek out the fried dumplings, which are also too salty for their own good, or the Mr. Cola fried rice and beef patty. Whatever you choose, it's worth the wait, and makes the J-Pop pretty enjoyable too.