招牌拉面 (NT$75) — Taipei signature ramen!
Taipei street ramen — signature 招牌拉面 NT$75. Taiwanese take on Japanese ramen at budget street pricing.
Taipei late-evening dinner with BB — signature ramen (招牌拉面) at NT$75. The Taiwanese take on Japanese ramen at street-stall pricing.
We ordered:
- 招牌拉面 (signature ramen) — NT$75
Taiwanese ramen exists in a different category from Japanese ramen. The Taipei street version takes the format but adjusts the broth to local tastes — usually a lighter pork or chicken broth with sweeter soy notes, less heavy than Japanese tonkotsu, with the regional vegetable toppings that wouldn’t appear at a Tokyo ramen shop.
This bowl was the proper Taipei street version. Clear-to-light-amber broth with a chicken or pork base, soft alkaline noodles, sliced pork belly chashu, a soft-boiled egg, blanched bok choy, chopped scallion, a piece of nori. Standard ramen architecture but with the Taiwanese flavour calibration.
The broth profile leaned the sweet-soy side rather than the rich pork-bone side. Soy sauce providing the salt, slight sweetness from rock sugar or mirin, with the long-simmer chicken or pork bone providing the umami base. Lighter than tonkotsu, easier to finish.
Noodles were the soft alkaline kind, cooked to firmness with proper QQ chew. Slightly thinner than the medium-thick Japanese ramen noodles, more in line with the Taiwanese noodle tradition.
The chashu was sliced thin — couple of pieces only, not the substantial spread you’d get at premium Japanese chains. The slight curl on the edges suggested fresh sliced from a chilled block.
The soft-boiled egg had the proper runny yolk. Bok choy added the green-leafy component. Scallion and nori provided the fresh-herbaceous and umami garnish.
NT$75 (~SGD $3.40) for the bowl is honest Taipei street pricing. Singapore Japanese ramen at this calibration would cost three times as much.
Taipei street ramen is its own category — comparable to the Japanese original but distinctly local, at one-third the price.
Overall: 4 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Solid Taipei street ramen — would re-order.
