紅燒牛肉面 (Braised Beef Noodles Soup)

Dinner @ "Noodle Bull" (狠牛).

 

The star. But aside from the brilliant colours, the taste was quite disappointing. Yes, it did smell nice - a faint tallowy beef aroma intertwined with Chinese herbs (Angelica being most prominent) but the taste was quite dominated by Chinese herbs. The beefy taste, quite important I think, has been suppressed.

 

The soup has a sourish finish which I did not enjoy. Yes, in cheaper places, the chef would have added MSG to boost up the umaminess but in such a chic place, the chef should be preparing stock, brewed over several hours to draw this umaminess out of the stock ingredients. As an Asian, I find the soup too 'westernised". You just don't deliver sourish beef soups. Plus, I always find the beef pieces to be a tad too stingy? Yes, they were tender and had a faint whiff of tallow but come on, for the price paid, I received more beef pieces at another joint that I adore.

 

My verdict: Suitable for westerners seeking kinda, sorta, Chinese-style beef noodles.

 

Done