Yanshui Noodle Shop

Review

Yanshui Noodle Shop is on Zhongxing Street in Taichung's West District, near the CMP Block green corridor, on the corner beside the skewer bar Wu Liu Shou. It is an old-style noodle shop built around yi mian. The menu covers dry noodles, noodle soups, side dishes and assorted braised cuts, and you can choose yi mian, thin noodles or thick noodles, dry or in soup, so there's a fair amount of choice.

The order on almost every table is the dry yi mian, NT$40 for a small bowl, dressed in the shop's own braising sauce. Once tossed, it gives off a clear garlic aroma and a savory braised flavor, and the noodles are springy. Grandma's braised duck egg is NT$20, chewier than a chicken egg and well seasoned, the standard partner for the dry noodles. The highlight is the four house-made chili condiments on each table: dried small fish chili, spicy preserved radish, spicy dried shrimp chili and spicy dried cabbage. They are free to add, and you can also buy jars to take home.

Write-ups are mostly positive, praising the appetizing garlic, honest prices and the chili sauces that bring people back; the reviewer also felt the noodles taste better with chili. However, few detailed reviews exist, the main source dates from 2020, and other prices are not listed, so it is hard to tell from the sources whether the flavor has stayed consistent. At peak times the shop is nearly full, so anyone in a hurry should be ready to wait for a seat.

It is usually full at lunch and still has customers at 3 or 4 p.m., often with a line at the door. Seating is split between indoors and the arcade outside, clean and bright; find a seat first, then order. Opening hours differ between sources (one lists separate lunch and dinner sessions with a break), and it is closed Mondays, so check before you go. Drivers can use the parking lot at Xiangshang Road Section 1 and Meicun Road Section 1; by bus, get off at the National Museum of Natural Science stop and walk about ten minutes. Payment methods aren't stated, so bring cash.

It suits anyone shopping around CMP Block, Calligraphy Greenway or Fantasy Story who wants a cheap bowl of noodles for under NT$100. Order a small dry yi mian with a braised duck egg, then try a little of each of the four chili sauces to get the full picture of this shop.