Er Niu Beef Soup

Review

Er Niu Beef Soup sits on Anping Road right beside the Anping Canal and is one of the most popular fresh-beef soup shops in the area. It uses beef slaughtered in the early hours of the same day at the Shanhua cattle market, and its eye-catching white-and-red sign and walls covered with celebrity signatures have put it on many travelers' and food lovers' lists.

The broth is simmered for hours from onions, vegetables, fruit, brisket and beef bones, giving it a natural sweetness. A bowl of beef soup costs NT$120 with tender slices you can eat first or dip in thick soy sauce with ginger. Beef with Chinese kale is NT$150 and stir-fried beef offal with scallion and ginger NT$160, both great with rice; the NT$30 minced beef rice, plus the sorghum beef sausage and beef roll at NT$100 each, are common add-ons.

Diners generally say the beef has no gamey smell and even children enjoy it, the stir-fries such as beef with kale and beef tongue are considered safe bets, and staff stay patient even when busy. On the downside, some feel there is too little meat in the soup or that the broth is ordinary compared with other famous shops, and at mealtimes the room is crowded, warm and noisy.

Hours are long, roughly from 7:30 a.m. until after midnight on weekdays and opening earlier on weekends, though sources vary slightly, so check before going. After sitting down you scan a code on the table to order, and utensils and condiments are mostly self-service. There is a paid parking lot next to the shop, which makes driving fairly easy.

It suits anyone wanting a beef soup breakfast in Anping or a late-night bowl after a canal-side stroll. One bowl of beef soup plus minced beef rice fills one person; groups can add beef with kale, offal stir-fry and sorghum sausage to share.