Taiwan, Part XI - Happy Noodle House

After walking around National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, I headed over to Happy Noodle House. It's a ramen restaurant that's recommended by both Taiwanese bloggers and my friend A. It was opened by a Japanese company that owns dozens of restaurants in Japan. The chef was brought in from Japan as well. Even the menus are in both Chinese and Japanese. There is no question about its authenticity.

Happy Noodle House is known for its ramen. Supposedly, Japanese like their ramen saltier and more al dente. To accommodate the Chinese taste without losing the Japanese flavor, Happy Noodle came up with an order form where the customers can choose how saturated the soup is and how cooked the noodles are. My friend told me that Happy Noodle's ramen is as good as what you get in Japan. They also offer tsukemen (dipping noodles) and maze-soba (mixed noodles). I decided on tomato tsukemen (NT$230) since I read an interesting article on it before going to Taipei. With ramen, diners can reserve some soup and ask for more noodles (free of charge) when they are done with their bowl. Tsukemen uses noodles that's ice-cooled, so the portion has to be predetermined. (The price is the same for all sizes.) Knowing that I will be eating more later, I ordered the least amount of noodles. I also got a side of gyoza (NT$60 for 6) that came highly recommended.

They call the gyoza "Tokyo One-Bite Dumplings" which is completely appropriate. These little pockets were so small that you really can eat it in one bite. The wrapper was very thin. The filling was so finely ground that it was almost a paste. The bottoms were perfectly seared. As I was told, they were very Japanese!

The tsukemen came with a plate of cold noodles and a bowl of hot tomato broth. The noodles were accompanied by one slice of chia siu pork, half a runny yolk egg, a few slices of toasted seaweed, and some sprouts, bamboo shoots, and toasted garlic slices. To eat it, you dip the food in the hot soup. Frankly speaking, it was very underwhelming. Other than that the soup was very salty, I don't even have much to say about the whole thing. After finishing the noodles, you can ask for some clear broth and rice to mix with the left over tomato broth and make a porridge. I skipped that part, of course. So you could say I didn't have a complete tsukemen experience. Regardless, it was a total misstep. Next time, I'm sticking to ramen.

Happy Noodle House (樂麵屋)
Address: 7 Lane 10, Yong Kong Street, Taipei
地址：台北市永康街10巷7號
Telephone: 02-2395-1787
電話：02-2395-1787
Hours: 11:30 am - 10 pm
營業時間: 11:30~22:00