My friend saw this place on IG? tiktok? anyways and of course we had to come, since I am always in search of good, affordable Taiwanese food around NYC.We got there around 6:30 ish and it was surprisingly busy! There just a handful of seats available for us. But people eat quickly and within 10-20 minutes most seats were empty (所以來得早不如來得巧).Since it was rather bustling when we arrived, we were a bit confused on how to order etc since all the staff were handling other customers for short while, but eventually they came over and brought menus to us. (And later they came to our table to take our order, after I walked up to the counter to try to order lol)My friend and I both ordered the beef noodle soup. It came out pretty quickly and I was so excited ! It smelled so authentic and fragrant, and there were SO many pieces of tender, juicy beef. The noodles were like the knife-cut ones (刀削麵), which was nice albeit a tad unorthodox. Instead of the usual veggies like Chinese broccoli, gaoli cabbage, or bok choy, the noodles came with some broccoli on top. Have I seen it before in beef noodle soup? Yeah I guess, but is it common? Not really. Also, I don't like broccoli so there's that. Anyways.We also had some pot stickers too; originally we tried to order 10 of the pork fillings to share, but the nice boss lady 老闆娘 suggested we get 5 of the pork and 5 of the kimchi beef for some variety.Unfortunately the pork dumplings were way better than the beef ones so note to self: take advice from well-meaning grandmas with a grain of salt in the future. They were all very tasty, for sure, but the pork ones had juicier fillings and a more balanced flavour overall, while I didn't really feel like the beef and kimchi complemented each other well here.Cash only, expectedly, and they have one of those no-name (probably crazy surcharge) ATMs in the corner for if you really forgot to bring cash I guess. And it only came out to $30+tip for the both of us! What a steal.It really did feel like a very casual and intimate environment - a lot of the decor feels like sitting in your (well, at least in my) grandparents house, and there's a huge TV on the wall playing karaoke videos for some questionable Chinese songs from the last half-century. Also, the owner was so sweet, coming over regularly to check on us/our food and making some small talk with us.Probably the most authentic part, though, was at the end. After paying, I was just chilling at the table waiting for my friend in the washroom, when the boss lady walked over, looked me up and down a few times, and gave me some advice on facial skincare. I was like, yeah this is exactly what happens to me in Taiwan ... Can't wait to come back! Huge selection of cheap biandangs to try in the future
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