Noodle Bull 狠牛, Shanghai (Closed)
Noodle Bull is a trendy and popular noodle restaurant in the heart of bustling area near Donghu road in Xuhui district. This area is full of restaurants, bars, lounges, and nightclubs – basically full of expats.
Owned by Taiwanese, Noodle Bull features the popular Taiwanese dish – Beef Noodle Soup. You can order with varying degrees of spiciness and with three different types of noodles. Taiwanese beef noodle soup, which can be ordered almost on every corner in Taiwan, features a hearty flavorful broth, made from the essence of spices, beef meat, and beef tendon. The tendons, provides a silky taste in the soup, that would otherwise be overpoweringly salty. More on the tendons, later. Additionally, Noodle Bull also features a bunch small sides that you’d typically find in a typical noodle shop.
We started off with some small sides like the Marinated Quail Egg, Braised Sliced Seaweed, Small order of Braised Pork Rice. Usually you get a hard bolded chicken egg, but Noodle Bulls added a twist to include soy tea marinated quail eggs. Its a nice twist, with virtual the same flavor. Plus, they can charge a little more. The seaweed and pork rice were fine, yet, nothing more. You might ask, why did I order rice, if I knew I was getting noodles. I guess the small order of rice, was just something I usually rode anyways… Braised Pork Rice, is like mac’n cheese for me. It is typical Taiwanese comfort food. Anyways…
Then our entrees arrived, the Tomato Egg Drop Soup, Roasted Beef Noodle, Spicy & Sour Noodle. I had the Roasted Beef Noodles, and my friend Miss K had the Spicy & Sour Noodles and the Tomato Egg Drop Soup. The Spicy & Sour Noodle didn’t include soup, so she got an side of the soup. The Roasted Beef Noodles came with the soup, which was not bad. I like the texture of the noodles that I selected, the hand knife cut noodles – which were chewy, but not too chewy. The beef was tender as expected, along with the tendons. When I started eating Beef Noodle soup, I, at first, didn’t like the tendons with my beef noodle soup, but nowadays, I am used to it. The bright red pepper, which would scare most people, offered a nice presentation. Heck I even tried to eat it. Luckily it wasn’t spicy. Yet, at the end of the day, I liked the noodles and soup, but it wasn’t the best that I had. Also, make sure you add in the sour pickled vegetables to the soup noodles. This adds another flavor dimension. Unfortunately, the Spicy and Sour noodles didn’t pass the mark. The sour aspect, which is unusual, was a bit off settling. When Miss K asked to trade noodles with me, I politely refused…Yes, I should have been nicer to switch.
Anyways. . .would I return again? Yes. But it would be for the spicy and sour noodles. I like Noodle Bull and would like to try the 1933 location. I like this particular location, since it is close to some of the places I enjoy.
What to Order: Roasted Beef Noodle Soup, What not to Order: Spicy & Sour Beef Noodle Soup
Rating 2 Pigs Price Range 1 $/¥/NT
Links Shanghai Foodie, Shanghaiist, eChina Cities, Zagat, Guidepal, Eat in Shanghai, Shanghai Foodist, He Ate, She Ate, Home Stay Global, Frenzied Palate, Time Out Shanghai,Foursquare Listing, She Eats Here, Asia-City, Privy Listing, Smart Shanghai, City Weekend