Master Hung’s Noodle Shop (洪師傅麵食棧), a small restaurant chain with three locations in Taipei and one in Keelung, boasts a handful of top accolades from past Taipei International Beef Noodle festivals, and prices to match. The four prize-winning bowls run between NT$180 and NT$260.
The “five flower” brisket beef noodles (五花牛腩牛肉麵) is worth the NT$260. The dish, which won the top prize in the Taipei International Beef Noodle’s clear broth (清燉) category in 2007, comes with two cuts of beef: delicately thin brisket slices and short rib cuts with marbled fat. Every bite was juicy, tender and flavorful.
According to Master Hung’s Web site, the brisket is slow-stewed with onions, carrots, white radish, sugar cane and papaya, while the short rib is roasted medium rare.
The beef portions are generous enough, but there’s plenty else to please the taste buds. The broth was a pitch-perfect balance of tangy-sweet and savory and had a subtle garlic aftertaste. The “home-style” noodles, slightly thinner than the typical “knife-cut” noodles (刀削麵), tasted freshly made and had a nice al dente texture.
Other prize-winning bowls include the “take charge” noodles (獨當一麵, NT$180), the 2007 champion in the beef noodle festival’s braised category, and the “three treasures” beef noodles (牛三寶麵, NT$230), which comes with a trio of beef chunks, tendon and tripe.
Master Hung, whose full name is Hung Chin-lung (洪金龍), says he uses USDA prime beef for the prize-winning bowls, but in a nod to the recent anti-US beef fracas a small sign on the wall shows a picture of a crossed-out cow wearing an American flag and reads, “Refuse to eat cows’ internal organs, ground beef and beef marrow from the United States.”
For something on the healthier side, try the beef noodles with red yeast powder and tomato soup (紅麴蕃茄牛肉麵, NT$260), the winner of the creativity prize at last year’s beef noodle festival. Red yeast powder is among several ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicine, although there are no overpowering herbal flavors in this broth, which has a hearty tomato flavor.
If only Master Hung’s would put the same effort into the decor, which dampens the enjoyment of those prize-winning (and pricey) noodles. Both the Jianguo North Road (建國北路) and East Metro Mall (東區地下街) branches are just a step up from the hole-in-the-wall noodle joint with budget-grade furniture and plain-Jane interiors.
For those who don’t want to splurge, Master Hung’s also offers an extensive menu of noodle dishes ranging from NT$70 to NT$140. Leek and cabbage dumplings are NT$50 for a set of 10. The Jianguo branch also offers fist-sized steamed buns with either beef (黑胡椒牛肉包), green onion and pork (真功夫蔥燒包) or cabbage and pork (高麗菜鮮肉包) for NT$30.
Master Hung’s Jianguo branch is located near Changchun Road (長春路), and the East Metro Mall branch is store No. 35 (東區地下街35店鋪), near Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT Station (忠孝敦化捷運站).
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