On the second day of our Taiwan trip we were on our own for lunch so we decided to try knife cut noodles (in beef noodle soup) for the first time at Shan Xi Knife Cut Noodles (山西刀削麵). As we approached, it was interesting to find the kitchen was actually two food carts outside of the actual storefront. That turned out to be nice for us because it was cool to see the noodles being lopped off a chunk of dough by the chefs cleaver.

After making our way inside we had to figure out how the system worked. We ended up sharing a table with an older lady who pointed us to just mark what we wanted on the forms for our specific table. After that it was just a short wait to discover what we were actually getting. Its times like these that I kick myself for not paying more attention at Chinese school as a kid since I could only read “Beef”.

Fortunately we got what we came for and the noodles had a nice texture. The thickness made for a nice bite and mix of textures created by the quick knife cuts kept things interesting. As for the soup and scallion pancakes, they were pretty standard fare. Tasty but nothing extraordinary. Overall it was a quick and satisfying meal for 220NTD.

Noodles being formed by the chef.

The menu that we could barely read.

Fortunately we got what we wanted. Beef noodle soup…

and a bowl of beef soup with scallion pancakes on the side. This one was just luck of the draw.

A younger chef making noodles fly after we finished our meal.