No. 1 Beef Noodle House: Perfect for a Cold Autumn Day

No. 1 Beef Noodle House

4741 Willingdon Ave., Burnaby

Nothing hits the spot on cold Vancouver days more than a steaming hot bowl of noodles with beef brisket and rich broth. You can get delicious beef brisket noodle soup at No. 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby, they do take out too. Tucked in the corner of a plaza across the street from BCIT, this little noodle house also serves bubble tea and other Taiwanese treats.

We ordered the strawberry black tea and the sesame milk tea, both with pearls. Both drinks were delicious, the tapioca pearls were at just the right consistency, chewy and bouncy. The deep red strawberry black tea wasn’t too sweet, I could definitely taste the slight bitterness from the black tea. It was balanced out by the sweet and tart fruity flavours of the strawberry.

The sesame milk tea was sweet with some grittiness from the ground sesame seeds. The drink was rich and creamy with a nice layer of foam on top.

Slurping on cold drinks definitely was not helpful on a cold day though. So thankfully, the service was pretty fast and our beef brisket noodles arrived shortly after our order.

I love the big round and deep wooden spoon that comes with the bowl of noodles. It’s very handy for slurping up the warm and tasty broth. Also, wooden spoons always make me think about fairy tales and I’m a sucker for fairy tales.

The noodles in this dish are nice and thick, absorbing all the incredible flavours from the beef brisket and the broth. The noodles are also cooked perfectly and even after soaking in the broth, the noodles are still chewy and al dente. The fresh green onions also add a great crunch to the dish.

I didn’t know what to expect from the beef brisket, after all, I only thought this place was a tea house doubling as a noodle house. But lo and behold, the brisket was actually amazingly tender and fell apart in my spoon. I barely had to chew it, the meat was that soft. The beef was also well seasoned and tasted wonderful.

We also ordered two appetizers that were served at the same time as our noodles. The first was my favourite order at Taiwanese tea houses, crispy salty peppery chicken. Basically, the Taiwanese version of chicken nuggets. They came to the table piping hot. Although not as salty as the nuggets from Well Tea, these nuggets still had that lip smacking, salty quality that is addictive and delicious. It’s hard not to devour the entire plate all at once.

The deep fried squid tentacles were also finger licking good. The chewy texture of the squid contrasted with the crispy coating. The coating was similar to that of the chicken nuggets, salty with a hint of pepper and spices.

The service is pretty good at No. 1 Beef Noodle House so I will definitely return. I have to remember to bring cash or debit next time though as like most Asian establishments, they don’t take credit card.