During a recent trip to LA, I met up with some friends at Bull Demon King Cafe, a small Taiwanese restaurant specializing in beef noodle soup. They even have a contest for a super spicy “hell” version, where you get your picture up on the wall and a tshirt if you can finish under an allotted time. I tried hard to convince someone to take on the challenge, but alas, there were no takers.
This short week has me all out of sorts. Does anyone else feel this way? I’m happy it’s already Thursday, but it has also caught me by surprise. I’ve been meaning to post about this visit for quite a while, but I kept forgetting. After quite a few reminders, here it is.
Beef and Beef Tendon Noodle Soup
Since they are known for their beef noodle soup, most of us stuck to ordering some variation of that. You have a choice of thick or thin noodles and a choice of beef, beef tendon, and tripe. Two of my friends chose a half/half combination of beef and tendons. They liked how tender and flavorful the marinated beef tendon was.
Beef and Beef Tripe Noodle Soup
Mr. K and I both got a half/half combination with beef and tripe. I enjoyed the bouncy, thick, homemade noodles.
I was also happy to see tripe on the menu. It’s quite common in Taiwan to offer tripe in beef noodle soup, but much harder to find here. The flavor of the soup wasn’t quite as concentrated as I prefer, but the rest of the noodle soup dish was really enjoyable. Oftentimes the beef chunks come out dry and bland after so many hours of cooking the broth, but these were pre-marinated so they stayed moist and flavorful.
My favorite place for beef noodle soup, Dai Ho, is just a few blocks away. I would have loved to combine the beef broth of Dai Ho with the noodles and marinated beef and tripe from Bull Demon King.
Pork Chop Rice
One of my friends tried the pork chop rice, another Taiwanese classic. This then launched a discussion of Taiwanese eats, which is how we ended up having a second dinner at Bebe Fusion!
Overall, we enjoyed the noodles and the tender marinated beef from the signature beef noodle soup. The broth could have been a little stronger though. And if you really like super spicy food, you may want to consider taking on the hell beef noodle soup challenge.
Bull Demon King Cafe
5953 Temple City Blvd
Temple City, CA 91780
I heard that the beef noodle challenge here was to eat a HUGE bowl of BNS in a short period? Is there another challenge where it’s just consuming super spicy BNS? I’m on board with Jinxi for that one!
The BNS noodles here look so yummy. I was going to try Yes Pingo the other week as I was craving Taiwanese food but opted out 🙁
It’s a fairly big bowl, but I believe the main challenge is the spice level more than the quantity. it’s supposed to be ridiculously spicy.
Oooh I am totally down for the spicy hell challenge 😛
do it do it!