I finally made it here and I am absolutely enthralled with this place. I’ve tried coming here a few times over the last decade or so but for one reason or another it’s just never worked out. (Usually their shitty hours, as Greg mentioned)
The ambiance is like no other - walking in through that entrance you’re positive the restaurant must be abandoned… but yet there it is. Some kind of epic fusion of old school Chinese and American bowling alley. Their bar looks absolutely terrible and you know for a fact that no one has ordered a hard liquor drink from there in years. Budweiser and Coors light are all they have on tap, except there’s no Budweiser. (What a shame this place isn’t BYO).
That meatball is easily the tastiest new thing I’ve never eaten in quite some time, the play of the chewy outside and the gravy is just perfect.
Since it’s a Taiwanese place, I had to try the Niu Rou Mian, aka beef noodle soup. It’s like a national dish of Taiwan, although it’s popular throughout China. If you’ve had the beef noodle soup at Shanghai bun, it’s the same dish.
Unfortunately it wasn’t as good as any of the other versions I’ve had in the area. Their noodles are thin, and appear to be hand cut with varying widths, but it tastes very characterless. Their soup is not as deep or flavorful as the other options. It’s packed with meat but it’s not as tender as it usually is with that melty shank.
For those of you who are fans of this noodle soup, if you want it spicy and bold, Sichuan Cottage does a fantastic one, and if you want it delicate but deep, Shanghai Bun’s is better.
We also got a mala tofu, which the lady told us was the same thing as mapo tofu but with beef. I’m finding that every time I get this at a non-sichuan place now I end up regretting it. This one bummed me out because the beef was the exact same beef as was in the noodle soup. The dish itself had no kick and had a really overwhelming sesame oil flavor. Not a fan. Speaking of sesame, it was really strong in the beef noodle soup as well. I haven’t had enough Taiwanese to know if this is just their thing or a quality of this place.
The last dish we got was their recommendation, Taiwanese rice noodles. I’ve had this a couple times at Shanghai Bun and never really cared for it, as it’s one of those delicate and mild Chinese dishes. The one here was packed with MSG goodness and had a really great balance of flavors and textures. Not my kind of dish but it was really nicely done.
I saw some people eating some kind of intestine dish over a fire which I’m really excited to go back for (I think 54 on the menu), and I’ve gotta try the fried chicken dish that Greg got too. That seems to be another Taiwanese favorite. Plus they have hog maw, which is one of my favorite offal cuts I never see anywhere.
I’m excited to head back to try some different things!
Looks like I only remembered to take 1 pic.
Oh, and I love that they serve kimchi here! I didn’t know kimchi was a thing in Taiwan. I asked the lady and she seemed almost offended! 
