Jinan Beef Noodle Restaurant — Restaurant in Zhongzheng District

The OG Beef Noodle House: A Tight Squeeze Worth Every Noodle

This place is the granddaddy of beef noodles. I’m here so often, I’m practically on a first-name basis with the noodles. But don’t even think about showing up between 12-2pm unless you enjoy standing in line, contemplating life, as this place seats fewer people than my last Zoom meeting.

Pro tip: Order the small bowl of beef noodles with half beef, half tendon, and wide noodles—don’t forget to request al dente. The broth? Pure liquid gold. Toss in a squirt of white vinegar and enough pickled mustard greens to make your heart skip a beat, and you’re off to the races.

As for the small side dishes? Let’s just say they seem to have a very casual relationship with refrigeration, and I’m not about to play food poisoning roulette.

But hey, once you’re done slurping, you can refill that magical broth as much as you want. Because who needs an all-you-can-eat buffet when you have an all-you-can-drink soup?

No...

As u can see, we had to line up for 15mins before we could be seated around 3 pm on a weekday. We had to come here and tried KOL chien-chien's recommendation and put the thousand-year egg in the noodles. That definitely spiced up the noodles to another level.

It was a small shop with no more than 12 seats. And when there's a line up, you have to write down your order in advance. Once you're seated, your order will be ready right away. It was a sunny day with 25 degrees Celsius, but for some reason, the floor was wet when we walked in....

We ordered a small bowl and some side dishes to share. I had to say their small bowl was not THAT small, and it came with quite a few pieces of beef. (Though one of them was quite chewy, while the rest was tender)

All in all, i wouldn't...

so glad this place is as good as it was when i visited over half a decade ago. it’s one of the best beef noodle spots i’ve been to in taiwan, and it will continue to be so as long as that old master is still there working his magic.

get spicy half tendon half beef with thin noodles, and when it arrives make sure to heap a couple generous spoonfuls of pickled cabbage into your bowl. admittedly the beef can be tough sometimes but honestly i like it that way because it goes so well with the chewy noodles and rich broth. you could even just get the noodle soup without meat because the noodles and soup are the real stars here, and just order some cold plates instead.

i hope Michelin never finds out about this place or else i’ll never be able to get a seat again with how busy...