There's a new beef noodle shop in town, and not just any beef noodle, but Michelin Bib Gourmand Taiwanese beef noodles hailing from Ximending, Taipei called Niu Dian! I'm so happy every time a famous overseas restaurant decides to come to Singapore and invest in opening up a branch because it brings us closer to the world without having to travel. Having just come back from a holiday in Taipei, I was missing their awesome food so this was just timely (in fact, I received the invite for this tasting as I was IN Ximending having dinner!). The fact that it Show Luo is their ambassador is also a bonus, since he's very much the variety show host and entertainer of our generation.
The place is situated in the VIIO building beside Zhongshan Park mall and nicely decorated, with a bubble tea shop out front because it is Taiwanese, and you must have some bubble tea.
Really comfortable, modern chic interior with no strong food smell nor was it noisy. That's great!
Here's the simple 2-page menu. The premium braised beef noodles comes up to as much as $28.90, but it's served in 3 ways with more varied and premium ingredients. You could otherwise have it the normal version, in either plain broth or braised sauce soup.
There is also specialty dry noodles using the same magic beef ingredients, but this time in spicy pepper or sesame sauce. If its your first time here, I'll suggest going for the braised soup version!
There's also a Palace Tea menu, which had a good variety of bubble teas. I went with an osmanthus oolong jelly tea (S$5.70), which came with real osmanthus bits!
I also tried the Cold Century Egg Tofu (S$5.90) side, which was such a generous portion with a FULL century egg sandwiching a cube of tofu. It was delish IF you are able to mix it properly before, otherwise there will be bits of really salty bites. The generous amount of garlic though made it really
Here's the Premium Braised Trio Beef Noodles (S$28.90) with boneless rib cut, tendon and Golden Coin because I am not a fan of tripe that is in the Combination version.
There are 3 ways of eating it: plain without braised sauce in the soup, braised sauce into the soup, and dry with just a bit of the braised sauce.
The beef was definitely the star of the show though the silky smooth tsuru-tsuru noodles were a close second.
The meat literally falls apart in your mouth, much like when I look at prices of groceries...
I think I actually prefer amongst all 3 methods, the dry style with the pickled vegetables because the flavour of the braised sauce is the most concentrated, but also because I've had the soup versions. The broth was really hearty and perfect for a rainy day, so I would have the 3-way style IF i am feeling indulgent or do the braised soup version normally.
Overall I'd say the quality and authenticity of the beef noodles from Niu Dian is really one of the best in SG, probably on par or above LeNu which for the longest time is our go-to Taiwanese beef noodle places. I'll recommend for y'all to go try especially if you are around the area of Balestier!
Niu Dian
520 Balestier Road, #01-01/02, VIIO @ Balestier, Singapore 329853
Daily 11am to 3pm, 5 to 9.30pm (10pm on Fri/Sat)
Thanks to Protegie and Niu Dian for the invite!
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