Sometimes you just want a decent bowl of noodles, but without the grungy setting of a night market or a well-worn shop.
Xiao Liu La Mian (小六手工拉麵) fills this niche. Its homemade ramen might lack the character of what you can find at some 50-year old noodle joints, but the food satisfies, the dining area is clean and comfortable, and the prices are generally low.
The ramen, or lamian (拉麵, “pulled noodles”), are made Lanzhou Province-style (蘭州手工拉麵), according to a write-up in Chinese printed on the wallpaper. With monogrammed bowls and stock framed pictures, Xiao Liu’s vibe clearly says “chain restaurant.” But not in a painful way.
The interior is simple, tasteful and practically arranged, with traditional wooden tables and stools for groups, and two long bars for individual diners lining the walls. The well-heeled and the wearers of flip-flops will feel equally at home here, and even when the room is full, it doesn’t feel crowded.
Diners are reminded that the noodles are made from scratch, as the cooks, in full view of the room, pull apart batches of dough spanning the length of both arms and smack them against a table, occasioning jarring, loud thumps.
The lamian with minced meat and mushroom (炸醬拉麵, NT$80) is a more-than-passable version of this noodle shop standby. The savory sauce is garnished with sliced cucumber and goes well with the thick ribbons of ramen. The noodles, which are machine cut and are available in either thick or thin cuts, have a chewy consistency but may seem a little bland to connoisseurs. The dish comes with a side soup made of a rich pork broth.
For a heartier meal, the shop offers several recommendations: lamian with beef in chili oil (紅油牛肉拉麵, NT$120), lamian with deep-fried pork chop (香酥排拉麵, NT$120) and lamian with “health-building” herbal mutton (藥膳羊肉拉麵, NT$140).
The latter is made with a fragrant broth containing what the menu says are “36 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines, pork bone, and fresh vegetables.” The mutton cuts were too fatty and chewy, and though the hint of chili in the soup helped disguise the meat’s strong taste, just the soup and noodles would have tasted better.
Xiao Liu’s menu, which has a reader-friendly layout and good English translations, offers a few novel choices: lamian with lemon-sour deep-fried chicken nuggets (檸檬雞塊拉麵, NT$120) and lamian with shrimp and curry soup (鮮蝦咖哩拉麵, NT$140). There’s also a small dumpling selection, including steamed pork dumplings (小龍湯包, NT$80 for eight) and boiled pork and vegetable dumplings (NT$50 for 10).
The food won’t seduce noodle nuts, but Xiao Liu appears to be hitting its target by offering quick meals in a comfy setting at competitive prices. It may be the right formula for Taipei diners tightening their purse strings.
Xiao Liu La Mian is located on Heping East Road (和平東路), just west of Fuxing South Road (復興南路). The shop also operates a branch at B1, 47, Zhongxiao W Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市忠孝西路一段47號B1).
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