Taiwanese Beef Noodle

I’m a big fan of noodles as people say we Asian do love eating noodles.

It may sound ironic but it is true that the total number of all noodle shops in Hong Kong may be just a bit less than in Japan. Of course Japan is well known for its ramen culture and history (partly also due to Chinese cuisine of noodles, aka 中華料理). That is to say the noodle business in Hong Kong has been always a highly competitive one.

Among all kinds of noodles, Taiwanese beef noodle is many eaters’ favorite. “Iron Cow” (鐵牛) got my attention last year when it began to expand aggressively across Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It’s a chain restaurant and claims to have several branches in Taiwan but my Taiwanese friends said they didn’t notice so. Well, to be fair, there are just too many good places to go and eat in Taiwan. For example, the most famous and award-winning beef noodle in Taipei is the “Champion Beef Noodles” of the Regent Taipei Hotel.

In terms of pricing, Iron Cow seems reasonable. You can get a huge bowl of spicy beef noodle for less than HK$70 (about US$9). That’s quite good, considering Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities for living in the world. A cup of latte at Starbucks can easily cost you half of that price for the beef noodle. In fact, I saw at least twice some young couples went to Iron Cow and ordered just one bowl to share given the portion was big enough for two persons.

If you are a bit hungry, you can also try some small dishes (小菜), including steamed vegetables and bovine offals (牛雜). My favorite is bovine tripe, even better if you eat spicy.

According to local media reports, there are some romantic stories behind the development of the chain restaurant: The boss for Iron Cow was actually originally from Hong Kong and he migrated to Taiwan many years ago because he fell in love with a Taiwanese girl. The boss learned everything about Taiwanese beef noodle from scratch and eventually opened his own shop in Taiwan. About three years ago, he decided to return to Hong Kong and open the first branch. Bravo!

I’m just curious why the official English name for the chain restaurant is called Iron Cow instead of Iron Bull. Cow might be good for bubble tea (which you can also order at the restaurant and it usually goes with your noodle set) rather than for noodle. Anyway, the name doesn’t really matter as long as the noodles taste very good.