If you can do one menu item damn well, why bother expanding? I’m assuming that’s the logic they went with at Master Spicy Noodle. They have pretty much one set menu. You have a couple options for broth (dark or light), two options for beef (meat or tendon) and can swap out a side or do a little add on, but essentially if you’re coming here, you’re lining up for beef soup, noodles, and accessories.
Let’s break it down though. The noodles: perfectly chewy. Tossed in chili oil, topped with a beautifully jammy egg and garnished with fresh scallions. The beef soup: thinly sliced beef tenderly cooked in a layered broth with not-so-subtle notes of Chinese medicine herbs and spices. Whether the dark soy spicy soup or the light yet deeply flavorful clear soup, it’s the perfect complement to the noodles. On the side: ya xue (aka duck blood sorry, really no way to sugar coat that 🤷🏻♀️Taiwanese black pudding? blood pudding? how do the brits say it?), dou fu pi aka tofu skin, and perhaps some deep golden crunchy double-fried you tiao aka deep fried dough, perfect for dipping into the soup.
It’s a modular selection, carefully curated to be the perfect meal. They give you menus while you wait in line (as if it would take a long time to get through their 2 options lol), you order and pay, and then wait to be seated. The food comes out on a tray. You eat. You finish. You leave. Not the kind of place to linger, but you’ll be so full and satisfied, it’s probably best to stand up and take a lap. It’s a simple concept, really. But why change simple if it’s delicious? Get in line.
the details
| Address | Zhong Shan: No. 36號, Lane 42, Section 2, Zhongshan North Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City Da An: No. 6-1號, Lane 137, Yanji Street, Da’an District, Taipei City Xin Yi: B2 Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place A11 No. 11號, Songshou Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City |
| Website | https://www.masterspicy.com/ |
| Yelp | https://www.yelp.com/biz/大師兄銷魂麵舖-中山區 |
| Hours | 11:30 – 14:30, 17:30-21:00 on weekdays; 11:30-21:30 on weekends |
| Price | $$ – tendon and meat sets are 280NT (~$9.50), and meat only sets are 230NT (~ $7.50) |
| Aesthetic | simple, Japanese-inspired, MUJI-esque – lots of wood and white |
good to know
Go here for: noodles, obviously
Order this: noodles, obviously (actually, you don’t have much of a choice, you really can only choose between versions of the same thing) – I prefer the light broth meat only, and to sub the duck blood for tofu skin, and to get a side of youtiao
Amount of time to spend: ~30 min, plus another 30 to wait in line (environment doesn’t lend itself to lengthy meals)
When to come: right when they open for lunch, or right when they open for dinner, or about 30 min before they close, after dinner rush is over. Or on weekends, some random time in the afternoon between lunch and dinner rushes (although, any time is meal time in Taiwan)
Getting here:
- Zhongshan: take the red or green line to Zhongshan station, use exit
- Da An: take the blue line to SYS Memorial Hall station, and take exit 1. It’ll be about a 2 minute walk down Guangfu street.
- Xinyi: take the red line to Taipei 101 or the blue line to Taipei City Hall, then make your way over to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi A11 (there are quite a few different ways to do this, but the easiest would be to take the sky bridges (level 2, connecting from A4 through Taipei 101) or to go at the ground level. Master Spicy Noodle is in the food court of A11, which is located on B2.
Other things to note:
- Every person must order 1 set
- Soup refills are free
- They have a 50 minute dine-in limit (but again, you really don’t need much time anyways, their service is pretty fast)
Last visited: August 2021
Last updated: September 2021
