Quest for the Golden Horns Archive

  • Forget the pears. Sanwan (三灣) is all about the beef noodles

    Forget the pears. Sanwan (三灣) is all about the beef noodles

    Anytime I take a break from a spot of frenetic one-handed Internet surfing these days, to see what’s afoot on the Taiwan blogosphere it seems I come across some bozo muscling in on my territory. If it’s not old Turton gliding through the serenity of Liyutan and holding forth on the wind-turbine protests at Yuanli, […]

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  • Xiao Liu Shougong Lamian (小六手工拉麵)

    Xiao Liu Shougong Lamian (小六手工拉麵)

    One of the things that makes me laugh about the various accusations of restaurant roachery (OK, some of these incidents are pretty gross) that surface from time to time in Taiwan is the fact that, in my years here, I’ve seen the hardy pests in dozens of eateries of all levels. From wet market shacks, […]

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  • Turf War on Taoyuan Street

    Turf War on Taoyuan Street

      Furtive as a street-corner stool-pigeon, Mr. Sun peers from behind a pillar and beckons with that palms-down flap that baffled me when I first saw students use it to signal for assistance, fresh off the plane, a decade ago. I cross over.  “You know why they don’t want you taking pictures?” he asks. There’s no need […]

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  • And throw away the key!

    And throw away the key!

    NB, it has come to light that the story I mention in this post was mistranslated. Ms Liu did not receive a custodial sentence but a fine and a suspended sentence. There is also evidence to suggest a personal vendetta on her part. Let’s start with some home truths. Anyone who doesn’t eat beef noodles at a […]

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  • 川味麵典

    川味麵典

    Far from paltry  Had Jason, following his epic voyage, and having finally landed on the Black Sea shore at Colchis, staggered determinedly onward, Argonauts faithfully following, disposed of the Hydra, and Harryhausen’s funky stop-motion skellingtons; I say, had he gone through all these trials and tribulations, to discover, on entering the oak grove to lay claim to his bounty, that, far from being […]

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  • Lao Deng’s Dan Dan Noodles (老鄧担担麵)

    Lao Deng’s Dan Dan Noodles (老鄧担担麵)

     Vote-rigging, embezzlement and murder: Taiwan’s beef noodle trade is a microcosm of organized crime. Lao Deng boss Andy actually looks like he could have been a heavy on Taiwan Pili Fire (台灣霹靂火). At the incomparable Lao Zhang (老張) off Yongkang St (永康街), the proprietor Madame Eyebrow has something of the gangster moll about her and her other half, like […]

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