I was out with my wife a little while ago and we stopped to eat at this niu rou mian place. We ordered outside at the cart thing and then proceeded to walk inside to sit and wait for our food. Needless to say, as soon as I stepped inside my immediate reaction was turn around and leave. There was clutter everywhere. The floors, walls, and tables were filthy. There were dirty napkins on the floor. The one saving grace was this adorable looking small white dog (not much bigger than a cat) sitting on top of one of the plastic stools. My wife and I were admiring how cute he was when he jumped down and came over to see us. The dog jumped up and put its two front paws on my legs and I pet its head. Then all of the sudden the laoban (a man) who was sitting at the table next to us started yelling at the dog to get back, which it did, in spite of my “mei guanxi” protests. After it jumped back up on its stool the laoban proceeded to roll up a newspaper and hit it in the head pretty hard twice. I was shocked (in just over a month in Taiwan, this is the second time I’ve seen this…the first time was at a pet store and a rolled up phone book was used). I felt terrible for the dog. It sat there on the stool the rest of the time looking at me with sad eyes that were saying “please rescue me”, which I really wanted to do. I noticed the dog’s water bowl was empty and its food bowl was absolutely filthy with brown stuff crusted in it.
At one point a woman brought over some food and even though there was only one other table with customers at that time, she managed to bring out the wrong food. It wasn’t even the food for the other table, as they already had their food. She had made the completely wrong dish (She was cooking in the back of the restaurant and not the same person who took our order out front). After another few minutes the right food came out and it was absolutely terrible. The niu rou in my niu rou mian was 75% fat/tendon, as opposed to good meat. The “broth” must really have been water with a little bit of brown food coloring in it (it was the first time I really missed having salt shakers at restaurants here) My wife ate about 5 bites of her chicken and rice dish and didn’t want anymore. Apparently, right under the table where people’s feet are is a good place to put a small trash can, as that’s exactly what they did, and which I accidently kicked over during the meal, spilling out dirty napkins and chopsticks wrappers.
Sitting at the table with the laoban was a little girl, about 5 or 6 years old, who was either his daughter or granddaughter. Apparently she was misbehaving as twice during the course of our meal the laoban stood up and picked up one of those tennis racket-looking mosquito zapper things and motioned like he was going to hit her with it. Thank God he never actually did.
Also while we were there (about 15 minutes altogether) we twice saw a cockroach run out from under some clutter and dissapear somewhere else, in full view of the light. It may have been the same cockroach both times, but most likely it was two different ones as the second one appeared from the opposite side of the room from where the first one disappeared. As I’m sure most of you know, seeing cockroaches out in the light is a pretty good indication that there is a serious infestation problem.
Needless to say I won’t be going back to that dive ever again. I’ll never stray from my favorite niu rou mian place just around the corner from my apartment ever again.
Not to cast doubt on your experience, but I thought I should mention that what you thought was fat or tendon was probably in fact cartilage and is usually more expensive than meat. At least at my favorite niuroumian joint, Lin Dongfang, the all-meat version is cheaper than the half-meat, half-cartilage version. Oh, and by the way, my niuroumian place is the best niuroumian place in Taipei, possibly the world. :lick: :moo:
Ah thanks for the clarification. When I said fat/tendon I was just guessing, it could very well have been cartilage. Whatever it was, it was white, and to me doesn’t taste that great. I much prefer the all-real-meat niu rou mian I get at my favorite place around the corner. Big chunks of meat that are so tender you don’t even need teeth to chew it, it just breaks apart in your mouth (how do they do that?!!) Its incredible…mmmm…I know what I’m getting for dinner tomorrow night
Heartily agreed. And Lin Dongfang is right around the corner from my house!! It’s a hole-in-the-wall, but the broth is ambrosia, and the meat, even with gristle, is fall-apart tender. (It’s closed on Sundays.)
But yes, gristle is something the Chinese love, and buy at a premium.
I mention the feces issue because once, years ago, I was eating in a small restaurant in one of hte alleys off Shida Road (it’s gone now, relax, and anyway the kids should be grown up by now) with a friend of mine. We’d ordered and were just beginning to look around (and this was a place we’d been to before) when we noticed that one of the younger kids had, um, well, very visibly indulged in the “large convenience” right there on the floor of the restaurant. Somehow the food never had the same allure after that.
Not to cast doubt on your experience, but I thought I should mention that what you thought was fat or tendon was probably in fact cartilage and is usually more expensive than meat. At least at my favorite niuroumian joint, Lin Dongfang, the all-meat version is cheaper than the half-meat, half-cartilage version. Oh, and by the way, my niuroumian place is the best niuroumian place in Taipei, possibly the world. :lick: :moo:[/quote]
How do you say “cartilage” in Chinese again?
So, the all-meat version would be “quan rou” and the half-meat, half-cartilage would be “ban rou, ban ?”? Is that right? Is that what should be said when ordering?
You’ll find that many of the cheaper eateries are housed in converted garages (hell, sometimes they STILL use them as garages, after hours) and are covered with a thin (hopefully) layer of grime. Resident dogs and / or kids add that extra touch of atmosphere, as do motorscooters.
Once I saw a kid knock over the box of plastic spoons, spilling them onto the floor. Guess what the laoban did? (Hint: the spoons didn’t go to waste.)
Sounds like a rescue operation is in order.[/quote]
Does Taipei have anything like the ASPCA? You’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen Animal Precinct.
Sounds like a rescue operation is in order.[/quote]
Does Taipei have anything like the ASPCA? You’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen Animal Precinct.[/quote]
When I had cable, I loved that show. There’s nothing as satisfying as seeing an animal abuser caught red-handed on camera, run from the police, be easily chased down, beaten with a rod, handcuffed, and carried off to jail. The only thing better is seeing that animal put into police custody and eventually finding a good home. Perhaps Stray Dog or bobepine can tell us how the Taiwanese authorities typically react in these situations?
