27 March 2017
The best beef noodles in Taipei?
Eating CNN approved beef noodle soup
Praise the inventor of the city wide subway system, it makes getting to places much easier and faster.
Because of the excellent and super cheap subway system in Taipei, I headed to the edge of the city in search of the best beef noodles. But I couldnt find the place, maybe its gone.
Not to worry, I googled again and found somewhere else claiming to be the best beef noodles. To get there I decided to walk back through parts of the city I had not been through before.
Eventually, I got to a mall I had been to before, many years ago, the mall with the giant sphere inside it that has... wait for it.... 7 basement levels.
This place has seen better times, I remember even last time I was here the upper levels were largely empty, now they are all wedding halls, which is a polite way of saying, boarded up.
Anyway, I walked on and on until I ended up in the high rise ultra clean and modern part of the city called XinYi (new one?), and ate at the best beef noodle shop in Taipei as voted by CNN in 2015. Yes, CNN, apparently they handed out a beef noodle soup award. Or maybe thats fake news.
It was then time to jump back on the subway and head back to my hotel, which is smack bang in the middle of the busiest part of the city, busy even for a Monday.
On this subway journey, there was a small baby, holding a plastic bag with a live fish swimming around in it. However to my untrained eyes it did not look like a gold fish, or any other kind of fish you might want as a pet, it looked like dinner. The baby looked hungry, the fish looked worried. That baby held onto the plastic bag with the fish in it for the entire journey.
The streets of Taipei on the eastern edge of the city at dusk.
Here is the giant sphere mall. It is a very quiet place.
I went inside anyway, to admire the sphere, which is impressive. They have a food court, but it looked a bit crappy, plus I wanted the best beef noodle, so I pushed on.
I bought a gun just in case.
A big building that is not Taipei 101, the top part is nice.
However, Taipei 101 is looming large behind it.
This is a really busy intersection, the Taipei mini version of the Shibuya crossing. Except it takes much longer to get across. I think I stood here for 20 minutes.
Once you get to the other side, its all high end shopping.
And it was here I found my beef noodle soup, CNN approved. It was pretty good, but I wouldnt say it was the best, they did not provide the proper chilli sauce for a start.
However the addition of an egg was appreciated. Beef was also really nice. The thing sticking up at the back is a deep fried crunchy doughnut.
This place has a nice roof garden, by garden I mean plastic creatures to take selfies with. I stubbed my toe on the stairs, and took my shoes off to do an inspection.
At this moment the security guard came outside and shone a torch on me, just as I was trying to shine my phone torch light thing on my big toe. I dont know what he thought was going on.
Toe inspection over, I joined my 2 best friends for a group photo.
Back in Ximending now, and trucks drive by advertising popstars and movies, just like Japan, except these screens are 3d, like at the Chimei museum.
Giant 3d screens for which you dont need to wear glasses to experience the 3d effect. I dont know how they work.
These guys had very dramatic music and the prime spot. I stopped to watch for at least 5 minutes. They did synchronized stretching to music, and then their performance ended.
Ximending was very busy for a Monday night. I was surprised.
I wonder if it will be noisy in my hotel room from all the people? Time will tell.
As promised, no photo of my watch.