Liwei Noodles

Review

Liwei Noodles began as a noodle stall in the Second Market that has been running for more than thirty years; this branch on Section 3 of Taiyuan Road is run by the founder's daughter, who keeps the old flavours while adding ideas of her own, and bloggers describe it as the only branch besides the original. It is near the Qingdao Road intersection under a yellow sign, but the road is narrow and easy to drive past. Inside it is air-conditioned, clean and bright, with about twenty seats.

The signature noodles three ways (small, NT$45) top dry noodles with minced pork sauce, peanut butter and sesame paste, and mixing them creates yet another flavour; the sesame paste is smooth and rich without being salty, and dine-in guests can add more themselves. Radish cake, taro cake and rice sausage with an egg cost about NT$55–60, pan-fried to order so they are crisp outside and soft inside, and you can choose how the egg is cooked or swap in extra taro cake. The mixed thick soup (NT$60) has shrimp, squid and cuttlefish with well-judged thickening; the NT$40 mixed soup, simmered from pork bones and radish, is clean and sweet with white pepper; and the intestine and pig blood soup comes in a clear or sha cha broth. The house chili oil, found only at the Taiyuan branch, is gently numbing rather than harsh.

Praise centres on the fragrant sesame paste, honest portions, coin-level prices and air conditioning, and the shop states that it uses Taiwanese pork. The drawbacks are the limited seating, often full with a wait at peak times; some recommendation articles are also sponsored or promotional, so read them with that in mind.

Bloggers mostly record hours of 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. with no afternoon break and Sundays off, but this does not fully match other listings, so check before you go. Dine-in noodles are thinner, while takeaway uses thicker noodles to hold their texture; delivery must be ordered an hour ahead. There is a paid car park across the street, and the shop also sells jars of sesame paste and peanut sauce plus frozen goods.

It suits fans of sesame-sauce noodles looking for an inexpensive meal: a bowl of noodles three ways, a plate of radish cake with rice sausage and egg, and a mixed soup come to about NT$150 per person.