Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles

This bowl of beef noodle soup delivers a solid and satisfying experience overall. The highlight is undoubtedly the beef—tender, flavorful, and cooked to perfection. Each chunk has just the right amount of fat and tendon, giving it a rich texture that melts in your mouth while still offering a pleasant bite. The seasoning is well-balanced, allowing the natural flavor of the beef to shine without being overly salty or spiced. The noodles are another standout. They’re wide, hand-cut, and slightly wavy, with a chewy and satisfying texture. Unlike thinner noodles that can quickly become soggy, these hold their shape well and absorb just enough of the broth to carry its flavor without becoming overwhelmed. Each bite has a comforting, hearty feel that pairs beautifully with the tender meat. The only shortcoming lies in the broth. While it’s light and easy to drink, it lacks the depth and richness one might expect from a truly memorable beef noodle soup. The flavors could be more concentrated, and a stronger presence of beef bone essence or traditional spices would really elevate the experience. As it stands, the soup feels a bit underwhelming compared to the excellent beef and noodles. Overall, it’s still a commendable bowl. The beef is soft and satisfying, the noodles are exceptionally well made, and the overall balance works for those who prefer a lighter, less greasy broth. With just a bit more intensity in the soup base, this could easily become a top-tier beef noodle dish.

Lao Shao Dong has such an authentic vibe — from the moment you walk in, it feels like a true hidden gem. The place gives you that classic hole-in-the-wall experience, and I mean that in the best way possible. I tried their famous beef noodle soup, and it was incredibly hearty and flavorful. The beef is so tender, and the broth really hits the spot. I just wish there was a bit more braised beef and less tendon, but overall, it was a satisfying bowl. Great spot if you’re after something real, comforting, and full of local character.

We were honestly overwhelmed by the portion size. One small bowl could easily feed two people. That said, we saw a few people finishing one on their own, which was pretty impressive. The dumplings were the highlight, so good. The beef noodle soup was decent. The broth was flavorful, and the beef was tender and cooked just right. The noodles were thick and a bit heavy, so it was hard to finish. We’d definitely come back just for the dumplings.

Michelin rated for years. This place is hidden in a basement. The beef noodles soup was lacking a bit of flavour, tasting rather clean. One might like it but we had to enhance it with condiments. The sesame noodles is packed with flavour and was enjoyed. The dumplings were flavourful but best to eat while it’s warm so the stock doesn’t harden up.

- Michelin rated for several years, this hidden gem was well worth the search. It’s located in the basement of a random store. Use google maps to get you to an alleyway and then you should see signs for the noodle shop and other restaurants below. Follow the stairs down and the entrance will be on your right. We were seated right away thankfully and given an English menu to order from. We got the famous beef noodles and also the cold sesame noodles to try. There’s a small sauce bar to add condiments and try other sauces - there were 3 or 4 at that time. Honestly, I get why they’re rated so highly. This has GOT to be some of the most tender beef I’ve ever had in my life. There were about 4 pieces in a small bowl and we wished we got a large but we wouldn’t have been able to share that and tried the other noodles. The sesame noodles are is underrated! The paste was amazing and I’ve never tried anything like that before. We kept thinking about this place for days and for the value of the food - it was amazing. I think it was around 300 NTD total. Cash only. Wish I had a bib for this though, it did a number on my shirt.

The environment & service were average, as expected from a 50-year old establishment. Ordered the beef noodles and it was great! The meat and tendons were thick-cut, juicy, flavorful and delicious. The noodles were cooked just right. The soup base was on the lighter side, with a distinct herbal flavor that was used in beef noodles broth over 40 years ago. With its soup, I can see this might not be one of the best beef noodles for some. I would recommend to try at least once.

The noodles are a great texture, but it lacks flavor. It is nice the soup is light so you don’t feel sluggish after eating. The beef is soft and delicious and the make your own sauce station makes up for it, but I wouldn’t eat here again.

The beef noodles lacked in flavor and required additional condiments to enhance the taste. It would be helpful if the staff informed customers especially foreigners (in English), ensuring no one is surprise with bland taste. This store is located on the underground level of a large mall. There's a queue, but it moves quickly.

This little spot is tucked away in the basement and has excellent food! My favorite is the beef noodle soup with tendons and beef. The broth is so nice and not overwhelming with too many herbs and spices. I describe it as a nice clean broth if that makes sense. They have different sauces and chili oil so I like to have my soup as is for the first half and make a spicy broth for the second half. Noodles are the perfect texture and the tendons are very tender. Dumplings are a good addition and they have little side dishes too. Don't forget it is cash only! There are signs posted outside as well along with their Michelin signs.

Located in the basement off an alley, this Michelin Bib Gourmand beef noodle soup spot was still packed at 9 pm on a Friday. I wasn't as big a fan of their homemade thicker ribbon noodles in soup form, I prefer thinner noodles in soup. The broth is also a lighter style that lacked depth for me. The beef cubes were mostly tender, though I got a dry piece. Still an enjoyable bowl of beef noodle soup, and my friends loved it. The bowls come in small or large, and large is only NT$20 more. We split a large bowl with beef, tendon, and tripe among three people as a late snack, and added an extra side of beef. Don't miss the make your own sauce bar. The pickled cabbage side was also great!

HARD TO FIND THIS PLACE!!! Is hidden in the basement of the building. But for Hot Summer day in Taipei this place offer nice refreshing AIR CONDITION!!!!!!! Décor is the usual Chinese restaurant and the staff are all from Vietnam. They were super nice!! Of course order the usual Beef Noodle soup! The noodle is the wide one so is my favorite! Taste is perfect but you do have to add extra spicy if you like spicy. The fridge have small condiment you can grab. Will definitely be back!!!

We recently visited Lao Shan Dong for lunch, and it has a charming old-school Chinese restaurant vibe. Be prepared to wait in line, especially during peak hours, but the service is impressively fast once you're seated. The food is great, and the beef broth is absolutely amazing--definitely a standout. Just keep in mind that it's a cash-only establishment.

Even though it is Bibendum recommended, I think the beef noodles are overrated. It's not bad, but you won't miss anything if you miss it.

Delicious handmade noodles in a rich broth. Can't beat the price either at just around $20-40 NTD.

Did you know that this place is a one star affordable Michelin restaurant? If you're looking for some legit beef noodle soup from a whole in the wall, well you found it! I would get all the little side dishes because all of them were delicious then pick any good old flavor beef noodle soup for some delicious satisfying beef noodle. Hard to find now in Cali but this little place in Taiwan is not only affordable but delicious!

One of the best beef noodle restaurants in Taiwan! We were in search of our favorite and ate at quite a few. This small, simple, neighborhood noodle shop had the most flavorful beef soups we've had in Taiwan. We saw quite a few reviews and this one was highly rated, so we had to see for ourselves! It did not disappoint! They had the wide and thin noodle options, and both were awesome. They offered pickled choy, and house hot sauces, all a must! We have marked it maps for this place and will definitely come back on our next trip!

Do you want delicious beef noodles? Well, if you visit Ximen shopping district, make sure sure to drop by Lao Shan Dong Noodles, where you will be able to take in be in for a treat. Lap Shan Dong has been a fairly long mainstay noodle house in Taiwan, though, they have not always been in the same location all this time. The current location for Lap Shan Dong is in the lower floor of a building that is close to one of the entrance/exits to the epicenter of the Ximen shopping area. When you get there from the escalator, just turn left, and at the next intersection in the walkway, make a right, and they will be wedged in on the left side. Fairly large enough area that if you need to bring a large party with you, you will be accommodated. Let's first talk about the appetizers. The appetizers here are serve yourself style, and drinks too. They have a couple of clear sliding door fridges out for you to look at the wares, and when you've decided , you can take them out to the table. Lots of pretty good options here if you like to try out a variety of Taiwan flavored small dishes. They also have some great dumplings here, so if you're interested in expanding your options, this will be another dish to add to you tasting. The beef noodles come with a variety of cuts. This is where you will find the most variability in regards to the different soup options. Some will be just meat, some will be specific parts of the meat, some will be just tendon, some will be tendon and meat, and other options as well. Though, they are really all very good, from texture to taste. The beef is soft, and breaks down quickly as soon as you take a bite. The tendon is soft, but not mushy, so you can still get a nice texture out of it while you snack on it. And lastly, the noodles are just perfectly QQ, and works well with the tasty broth. One recommendation for the broth. If you want to get a fuller experience to the flavor profiles of the soup, and just bring out the flavors even more, I'd recommend for the non-spicy eaters to at least try a Dan of the chili oil they have at this spot. Even if you're not a spicy eater, just a dab of the oil itself just really changes the flavor profile of the soup drastically, but in a good way. For spicy eaters, put in to your heart's content, but be forewarned that it is indeed quite spicy, so you may either be in for a treat, or forced to retreat. All in all, if you're in Taipei, and specially in the Ximen area, and looking for a fine place for your beef noodle craving spot, this is the place for you.

Very tender beef and love the thick noodle. Side dishes are flavorful love the cabbage one. Old restaurant in ximan district building for quick casual lunch!

Lao Shandong Beef Noodle, Michelin Star Restaurant definitely not worth the hype.. it is the original place 4 Taiwanese Beef Noodles but other than the noodles n beef being perfectly cooked, it just didn't have any flavor 4 me.. it is 1 of those situations where quote-on-quote " " u have 2 doctor it up n still.. that didn't work place is on the basement of a building that does nothing but food on each floor; thus, a food mall.. yes I created that term haha

Ah...Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup - a staple, a classic, a must-have street-food. It's EVERYWHERE in Taiwan. A quick Google or Yelp search will return a paralyzing number of establishments with supposedly the best & most authentic Beef Noodle Soup. I ultimately made my decision to stop by this place, Lao Shan Dong, because I love knife-cut noodles. Didn't hurt that this place also made it on Michelin's Taipei Bib Gourmand 2018 list! But, back to the noods (hah) - I love the extra QQness, which is a Taiwanese word for chewiness. I would use QQ to describe my favorite mini tapioca pearls as the word also has a connotation of tastiness. For something a bit more relatable - think pappardelle but with varying thickness because it's knife-cut, so you have a wonderful al dente chewiness. For a good noodle, you also have to have a good broth to match. Like pho, the beef noodle soup's broth is stewed for hours and hours with spices and love. The key though is to ensure it has depth of flavor but isn't oily to boot. Lao Shan Dong's was PERFECT. While my fiancé didn't appreciate the artistry of the noodles as much I did, he definitely appreciated the delicious broth. Because I'm greedy and I know that when there are great noodles like this, they also make great dumplings with handmade wrappers. Store bought dumpling wrappers can't even compared to the QQ goodness of hand rolled dumpling noodles. The size of these were almost wonton-like (makes sense as you can get just dumplings in the beef noodle broth or hot and sour soup broth), but they were perfect. I also wanted ALL the small dishes in the fridge (self-serve). But, I went for the pickled cabbage. While it leaned a little sweeter than I'm used to, I like the tang the hint of heat. Note: there's a self-serve station against the wall if you want pickled cabbage (the green stuff that goes in your beef noodle soup), hot sauce or vinegar! For two beef noodle soup orders (we really should've shared), a small order of dumplings and a small pickled cabbage, it ran us around ~$12 USD. Such a fantastic value for a fantastic meal. 145/365

A bit hard to find. This is located on the basement of a shopping center in the corner of the food court. Surprisingly quite busy on a Friday night. The noodles are chewy and fresh. The meat was a little tough for me. The servers speak a little bit of English and the menu has English so we were able to order food easily.

Congratulations to 老山東牛肉家常麵店 for making 2018 Taipei Michelin Bib Gourmand! While stumbling and fumbling around the busy fun district of Xiemending some moons ago (somewhere between 2005 to 2007), this place was discovered completely by accident, tucked away into an unassuming commercial/office building that had some shops on the ground level, but if you dived further in, you would find escalators going up and down. This building was actually like a multi story shopping arcade (or mall if you will). The basement was a bit uninteresting at first. Very few shops, a lot of vacant business spaces and literally a dearth of restaurants save about 3 or 4 places. I recall there being a restaurant that specialized in Taiwanse style fried pork chops that smelled absolutely baconlicious and sorry for the Japanese pun, oink-shii. But the thought of overgrease was a bit daunting for a lunch. The other option was a small counter shop of noodles, northern style won tons (huan duan) in chili oil whose name I forgot. We were thinking of trying this place but decided to hit the restrooms first. However on our way there, just feet away from the entrance to the ladies and mens room, was a table with two employees of that food stall, making and prepping fresh huan duans on the spot. Uhm no thanks, as fresh as your wontons might be....it's all about location, location, location! So we chanced upon this no brainer called Old Shan Dong or Lao Shan Dong Family (specializing in Beef) Noodle House - 山東牛肉家常麵店, that looked super bright and inviting. This restaurant is over 50 years old and has remained in the same location ever since! Hand made, rolled, and prepped dumplings in house, de-facto standard. It's the equivalent of watching a sushi chef make nigiri, except this is cheap stuff. Their specialties? Knife shaved hand made fresh noodles, pork based boiled dumplings (jiaozi), and beef in beef broth with xifen (bean thread vermicelli noodles). This is not a place where you mess around. 27 things on the menu. The signature knife shaved beef noodles ran about US$4.70 for a large, and about $1 less for a small bowl. This is perhaps mid end expensive for Taipei but not as expensive as Lin Tung Fong beef noodles in Taipei. The appetizers were excellent, particularly the marinated pig's ear slices (that tasted like a cross between bacon and tendon) as well as the strings of seaweed that were crunchy with good vinegar marination and also very heavy in garlic which gave it the needed boost. At ~$1 to $2 per plate, it's a no brainer to kick start the appetite. As for the signature bowl: the beef was very tender and delicious, and the broth was quite good. I'm hardly a fan of knife shaved noodles but I have to say it was executed very very well. At the time, there were no thinner noodles available, and bean thread version would have been uber soggy. Dumplings were excellent. Primarily pork but I believe had cabbage in it. A taste of the past, stuck in time. There are arguably a lot better places around town, but for a place that has been around 50+ or more years, you have to respect that.

Michelin Guide Taipei 2018 Bib Gourmand. Located in the ground floor food court of an old shopping mall. Wasn't a fan of beef noodle 牛肉麵 before, but man...I am now. Their half meat & tendon combo is delicious and their hand made noodles have a great bite to them. Perfectly firm and chewy like al dente pasta, but with a thicker artisan noodle. You're getting a lot of that satisfying texture in one scrumptious bowl. The staff was very friendly and welcoming, felt like I was visiting a favorite aunt for lunch. Just another reason Lao Shan Dong will be my go to place.

Lao Shandong Beef Noodle is a pretty decent beef noodle soup place, but definitely not the best. The broth is okay, the beef is not as soft, but the noodles were good. I did enjoy the dumplings as well.

We travel to eat. This was our first food stop in Taiwan, and ooh, baby. I ordered the braised beef and noodles, my wife the tendon-and-beef noodles. Both came with thick, hand-pulled noodles cooked to perfect texture; tender beef; and a deep, rich broth which was the real star of the show. I can't speak to the tendon, but I am assured it was fabulous as well. The leek dumplings were also good but couldn't hold a candle to the noodles. Be aware this is not a fine restaurant, but an "unpretentious canteen," as one review kindly puts it. Worth it. Three weeks of overeating behind me, and I still wolfed down the whole bowl. The "small" bowls are substantial. Don't order a "large" unless you've got an appetite to match.

This place was a bit difficult to find. It's on the underground level of a mall with other restaurants, but I'm glad I found it. The noodles were thick and delicious. The beef was tender and juicy. The broth had all the right spices making everything the perfect combo!