The Regent Taipei’s Champion Beef Noodles: A Fusion of East and West Named Among CNN’s Top 8 in Taipei

▲ The Regent’s Champion Beef Noodles in clear broth flavor won the top prize in the eighth Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival.

Reported and photographed by Huang Shiyuan, Taipei

CNN once said, “A bowl of beef noodles takes you on an authentic Taipei experience!” Beef noodles can be found all over the Greater Taipei area, and some are so delicious they linger in your memory. The Regent Hotel’s beef noodles are regular winners at the Taipei Beef Noodle Festival, with their Champion Beef Noodles in a clear broth flavor even taking the top prize in the eighth Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival. With a broth simmered for 2–3 hours and tender beef shin, these noodles are priced at NT$480 per bowl but still sell over 20 bowls a day, while the braised version sells over 60 bowls daily.

Huang Laifa, Executive Chinese Cuisine Chef of The Regent Hotels Group, explained that the clear broth and beef preparation for the Regent’s Champion Beef Noodles adopt a fusion of Eastern and Western techniques. Beef bones, beef shin chunks, green onions, ginger, and onions are first seared separately to extract their aroma before being simmered together for about 2–3 hours. To prevent the broth from becoming too greasy, the ingredients are rinsed with water after searing. However, Huang noted that the beef bones are first roasted in the oven for 40–50 minutes before simmering to develop a slight char, which enhances the broth’s fragrance.


▲ The beef chunks in the Regent’s clear broth Champion Beef Noodles are made from Australian beef shin.

The beef in the clear broth noodles comes from Australian beef shin, which is simmered separately in another pot before being boiled again in the original broth to ensure full flavor. It is then sliced against the grain to maintain its tender texture after cooking. Huang Laifa said that serving the clear broth beef noodles with beef shin not only adds visual appeal (as the shin can be sliced into large pieces), but its tender texture also pairs perfectly with the clear broth. For garnish, mountain spinach and select mushrooms are added to enhance the noodle dish’s texture and layers.

The braised flavor dish is prepared by first sautéing onions, scallions, ginger, and chili until fragrant, then stir-frying them with blanched American beef ribs (brisket). Soy sauce, rice wine, and oyster sauce are added for color, along with vegetables and mixed spices to boost sweetness and aroma, followed by about 1.5 hours of simmering.

▲ Braised Beef Noodles.

For the braised broth, beef bones are also used for simmering, rather than the clear broth, and additional ingredients such as thyme, rosemary, scallions, ginger, garlic, chili, tomatoes, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon powder, cassia bark, doubanjiang (chili bean paste), spicy doubanjiang, sugar, and white pepper are added. The mixture is then simmered for 8 hours to create a rich and multi-layered braised broth.

Regent Taipei’s azie Chinese Restaurant
Address: No. 3, Lane 39, Section 2, Zhongshan N. Rd., Zhongshan District, Taipei City
Tel: 02-2523-8000