Taipei City - Ramen Hero - XinYi Breeze Center

Value for money: 7/10

Cleanliness: 9/10

Service: 8/10

Quality of food: 6/10

Overall: 7/10

The new Breeze Center in the XinYi district is definitely worth taking a walk around. Whilst a lot of the clothes are top-end designers, there are some reasonably priced clothes shops among them and also there is a Crate and Barrel on B1 (for anyone who doesn't know, its like a slightly better IKEA). 

But I wasn't there for shopping, I was there for eating (of course, nothing less!)

Ramen Hero is a Ramen noodle restaurant that has recently come over from Japan, with it's first (and currently only) store opening in the XinYi Breeze Center.

Here's what we ordered:

1. 鐵板咖哩炒飯 tiě bǎn kā lī chǎo fàn  - Teppanyaki curry fried rice

2. 豚骨醬油拉麵 tún gǔ jiàng yóu lā miàn - House special Tonkotsu Shouyu ramen

3. 餃子 jiǎo zì  - Gyoza

4. 可爾必思 kě ěr bì sī  - Calips

1. 鐵板咖哩炒飯 tiě bǎn kā lī chǎo fàn  - Teppanyaki curry fried rice

It's brought to your table on a hot plate, and then the curry sauce, rice, egg and corn is mixed together by the staff for you. 

Like many, I am a big fan of fried rice. This rice, similar to the Korean Bibimbap, remains scalding hot and begins to get a little crunchy if left a while on the hot plate it's served on.

The taste of the curry sauce is OK, the rice is OK, the egg is OK and the entire dish is just OK. I wouldn't race back to order it, but if someone put it in front of me I would eat it.




2. 豚骨醬油拉麵 tún gǔ jiàng yóu lā miàn - House special Tonkotsu Shouyu ramen

The house special Ramen arrives and immediately I felt disappointed. We got to the Breeze center on a Friday evening at the evening meal rush time, and I accept that. However, if you work in a restaurant anywhere then you still need to pay attention to detail. For example, the green onion on the side of the bowl doesn't give a great first impression. The general marks around the inside of the bowl show that it was rushed, and the green onion within the bowl has already sunk into the broth.

The meat was OK. The flavour was fairly bland, and it was quite a thin piece of meat.

The noodles (for me) were disappointing: they were soft. I want my noodles (in any dish) to be slightly chewy and left a little harder in the center of the noodle. This is probably just a personal thing, though.

The broth was fairly neutral in flavour and wasn't really salty at all. However, it did seem to lack that little something extra to lift it up to a good quality bowl of Ramen.




3. 餃子 jiǎo zì  - Gyoza

Gyoza are pretty much the same as the pot sticker dumplings we are all so used to in 八方. They are fried to give a little crunch on the bottom of the dumpling, whilst the top of the dumpling is steamed.

The filling inside is a basic pork and green onion filling. This was probably the best thing we had at Ramen Hero. The dumpling tasted nice and fresh and they were quite small which made for a great addition to the meal.

4. 可爾必思 kě ěr bì sī  - Calips

A refreshing drink if there ever was one.

Overall, I was disappointed with Ramen Hero. We waited in like around 20-25mins at peak time, but it wasn't particularly worth the wait. If I had to choose, I would much rather go up to NeiHu and eat the Ramen at XiHu Market.

Best dish: 3. 餃子 jiǎo zì  - Gyoza

Dish I wouldn't order again: Probably 1 or 2. They're just ok, nothing special or exciting.



Ramen Hero on Facebook

忠孝東路5段68號

XinYi Breeze Center, No. 68 ZhongXiao East Road, Section 5, XinYi District,Taipei City

Eating in Taipei

Taipei City - Bing Burger

*Invited*

Bing Burger is set among the winding backstreets around Taipei City Hall MRT station. The restaurant has only been there for around 10 months, the owner coming in to open it up specially from San Francisco. It was created as a beer and burger restaurant for people to hang out at in the evenings, with a relaxed feel and a comfortable atmosphere. 

The road outside is a very busy one, however, inside the restaurant there's less of the busy and bustling atmosphere. 

The restaurant is clean and well presented. However, it is a little dark. 

There is a more than ample selection of beers on offer: some amazing Belgian beers, American beers and also some other beers from all around the world. 

One thing that really excited me was the Tea Beer combining two of my favourite things, however by the time I noticed it we had already ordered the Pizza Port, and I was driving :-(, Next time! 

Here's the menu, and here's what we ordered:

1. Nacho beer cheese burger 

2. Beef tongue burger (a special, which can be seen on the picture above)

3. Ox-tail gravy cheese fries

4. Pizza Port beer

1. Nacho beer cheese burger 

 The burger is presented well, with a brioche bun, jalapeno's, nacho cheese, burger patty, tomato salsa and tortilla chips, rounded off in the brioche bun. It was certainly new for me, having never had nachos in burger before. But it was pretty good, actually! The spicy salsa and jalapenos give it a nice kick, with the crunchy tortilla chips adding texture. Nacho cheese isn't my favourite thing in the world, however, nothing mattered when this patty got involved! The beef was fantastic: it was juicy, it was cooked medium rare being crisp on the outside. It was seasoned well and it had a great depth of flavour.

2. Beef tongue burger 

Again, it is well presented and almost a carbon copy of the previous plate. 

The burger is built wonderfully with brioche bun, tongue, patty, tomato, lettuce and onion. The tongue lifts the burger to the next level. Just as the salsa and tortilla chips elevated the previous burger, this was the rich and irony taste of tongue. Anyone who hasn't had tongue before, may be put off for the simple fact that it doesn't often occur on western menus, or in fact, eastern. I feel like tongue is very close to liver in both flavour and texture. It has a rich, creamy texture to it, but where it differs from liver is that it has a slight chewiness that liver often doesn't have. Tongue is high in iron, vitamin B, potassium and sodium! So it's a great alternative if you do want to switch up your meats. However, don't go too crazy, it is high in fat! The tongue in this burger compliments the wonderfully cooked patty and makes the whole dish that little bit more rich. Half of the burger is, in fact, rich enough. So we split the burger and had half of each. 

3. Ox-tail gravy cheese fries

A generous helping of fries, secreting away a chunk of oxtail, topped with nacho cheese, a fried egg and fine shavings of smoked and dried red chili peppers. It's a lot in one dish! Oh, and some red onions for good measure, too. There is no doubt that this is a dish to share, however, you already get fries with the burger, so I guess only order this if you're really really hungry. The best bit about this dish was the dried and smoked chili peppers: they were short-lived bites of spice that were delights to compliment the thick cheese and the nice fries. The fries were cut with some of the skin left on, which for me, is exactly how I like them. They retain some earthiness and they work well with the light, sweet taste of the red onion.

4. Pizza Port beer

(No image, sorry, you can see it in some of the other food images)

The Pizza Port beer is from a craft brewery in California well-known in that area for its great beers. It's a light golden colour and it looks fairly weak. Taste wise it is quite bitter; it seems to start a little sweeter and it finishes with a big bitter bite. It's not to my taste, as I prefer a slightly sweeter beer. 

There's not doubt about the fact that Bing Burger can really challenge any other burger joint in Taipei for its Beef quality and it's flavour. They are all skilfully cooked and very well executed. However, my main gripe with Bing Burger is the price: it's a lot. I understand that with great quality, comes great cost, however, this comes with a very great cost. For two of us it cost over $1,000. This is more than I even pay at DingTaiFeng having a greater variety of foods on offer. Whilst I do not begrudge paying for great food, I do not think that this food warrants the hefty price-tag. There was no given price for the Beef tongue burger, which we only found out costed $439 when coming to pay...

The bottom line is: If you are looking for a really good burger and you're wanting a good beer to wash it down with, then this could be the place for you. However, if you are on a stricter budget and want a good burger for a reasonable price, then you may be better suited to Burger Fix . I certainly feel like the quality is very good at Bing, but the prices at Burger Fix are much more reasonable and the burgers are still pretty good. 

Best dish: 2. Beef tongue burger - It was without a doubt the best dish. However, I do not feel it warrants the price tag set on it of $439.

Dish I wouldn't order again: 3. Ox-tail gravy cheese fries - They tasted great, the ingredients were great and I really liked them. It is totally not about the flavour, in any way. I just question why I would order extra fries when I already get fries with my burger. If I order a salad next time, then I would without a doubt order these. 

台北市信義區基隆路1段147巷5弄9號

No.9, alley 5, lane 147, KeeLung road, section 1, XinYi District, Taipei City

Bing on Facebook

Happy Eating!