Updated: 17th Feb 2011: This restaurant is now called Wang’s Beef Noodle House.
I am not sure about you but we know of only two places that are opened 24 hours. The first was the the #9 Restaurant in Richmond. The other one is the Taiwan Beef Noodle House which is located on the south end of Granville St in Vancouver. I don’t know exactly where it is but if you travel south along Granville St at around the 70th St thereabouts, you’ll see it on the east side of the road. You won’t miss it, especially at night — they have a very bright yellow wrap around sign.
Since we had promised ourselves we will not go to #9 again (service was not only atrocious, but they were somewhat rude), Suanne and I decided to drive across the Oak St bridge for a late night supper. Suanne did not have dinner that night and since it’s a Friday night and there’s no work the next day, we could go out later. Just the two of us, without the boys who were already fast asleep.
The Taiwan Beef Noodle House is very much like a teenage hangout — lots of young people. I have never figured out the lifestyle of these young people and do wonder if our boys will go hangout late at night in these places when they grow up.
I was not particularly hungry and am here more for Suanne. We told ourselves that having two orders will be too much and decided instead to get a snack and for Suanne to get a bowl of noodles.
We like those marinated snacks that we often find in Taiwanese restaurants. They are basically made of animal parts that you don’t normally eat. But let me tell you, they are delicious. We ordered a combination of three choices which costs $7 and gotten ourselves the marinated large intestines ($3.50), marinated sliced beef tripe ($3.50) and spicy pork ear ($2.50). The spicy pork ear is a taste we had recently acquired — from recommendation from WB who swears that they are great … they certainly were.
Suanne ordered a large Spicy Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup but it came small. They got the order wrong but instead of getting them to exchange it for a large one (better value), she decided that she might just as well take this one since it’s supper and we normally do not have a big meal before bedtime.
We like this place. Their food is good, the prices OK and service is polite (not like you-know-who).
Do you know of any other 24 hour restaurant around the Lower Mainland?
I love this place! Tried it for the first time only earlier this year. Their pork chop is so delicious.
I *must* eat here!!!
Oh yeah. Yes, your boys will end up going to places like this for late night snacks. I started when I was 16 and haven’t stopped. Maybe in my 30s…
On the flip side, it’ll be much better for them than fast food.
I remember when I went to BC last summer. There was a restaurant that open for 24 hours. It sells many kinds of pho. At that time, I was craving of bakso (Indonesian meatballs soup) then I ended up with meatballs pho. I’m not sure it is in Vancouver or Richmond, coz we drove around those two.
As for a 24hour restaurant this is place you would go. But as for Taiwanese Food, this is a place you would not want to go!! China people cooking Taiwanese Food is like Canadians cooking Chinese Food!!! Their food are not traditional Taiwanese, and very very extremely oily!!
i thought this place closed down?? or maybe it was an extended vacation…anyways, glad to see that it’s open now. i love the noodles and innards here 🙂
Well I don’t want to sound like a sour grape, but TBN used to be much better. They changed ownership about 2-3 years ago and quality & quantity have gone down. Service is slow and inconsistent. There are a number of very good beef noodle restaurants in town, starting with one only about 4 blocks north of TBN (around 63 Ave), on the same side of the street, called “The Old Place” or something (direct translation of their Chinese name). Everyone I know who has been there swear it’s one of the best they’ve ever had.
Another conveyor of venerable beef noodles is Laoshandong on Kingsway at Nelson in Burnaby. Not quite the Taiwanese style although one would be hardpressed to taste the difference. Price for a large bowl is maybe a $1 more than TBN but well worth it.
I actually try my best to keep track of local beef noodle restaurants as it’s one of my obsessive foods, and I’m even in a group in Facebook called “I Love Beef Noodles” 😀
Believe you’re referring to me? 🙂 Glad you like pork ears…I miss them so, so much. It looks soooo…delicious. I now know where to go to for pork ears! My next immediate task is to pester KC to take me there!
This place closed down for a while. It’s now called Wang’s Noodle House or some such thing (in English), but the Chinese name is still the same. (Tricky, tricky, haha.)
Ken, where else is a good place to go for Taiwanese Beef Noodles? (Burnaby may be a little “far”, hehe.)
(I thought The Old Place on Granville & 64th was more Northern Chinese food with dumplings and such.)
The restaurant prior to The Old Place served very good Taiwan beef noodle.
I tried their version a couple of years ago, a few months before they closed down and became The Old Place.
Too bad. I was hoping that they might be resurrected someplace else.
I’ve been going to this restaurant for several years and it had been very good, but last year it seem to have changed chefs and probably the owner as well. The last couple of times I went may have been after october hence the difference in experience. When I first tasted the beef noodle soup I can tell the soup wasn’t done right, there was no flavour. The beef wasn’t stew long enough to be tender or flavorful. What’s worst was the noodle was overcooked. The other thing I always order was the marinated tofu which wasn’t done right as well. Anyways I thought it could have been a fluke, so I decided to try again after 1 month and it was exactly the same experience. So I stop going. If anybody had been there recently and can confirm that their beef noodle soup is good again, I will check it out. it’s so hard to find a good beef noodle place in Vancouver/Richmond.
Although it is not in Vancouver/Richmond, I will second LotusRapper’s opinion on Lao Shan Dong. I drop by every other week to satisfy my noodle cravings! A friend of mine tried a new Taiwanese noodle stand in Yaohan Centre food court. She said it was quite decent (she is Taiwanese). I guess I will have to drop by one of these days and try it myself!
Deepgroove, I agree with you about TBNH. In fact I’ve stopped going there altogether for the past 18 months now.
GOOD NEWS: a new restaurant opened up in the past year up Granville, also on east side, around 63 Ave called “The Old Place” (Chinese name is same literal translation). It’s between the Starbucks and the Shanghai Palace Restaurant. Very good, authentic Shanghai fare. I brought my parents there recently and my mom, who grew up in Shanghai and Szechuan areas, was very impressed with the quality of their foods. Humble but honest interior and prices are more than reasonable.
A must try 😀
(I’m getting hungry …..)
Correction: the restaurant English name is “THE PLACE”, not “The Old Place” (Chinese version)
Addendum to my post above:
(see 1st reply):
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/437868
http://www.vanmag.com/restaurants/reviews/Southvancouver.shtml
i been here eating since 15 years old, now i’m still there eating beef noodle, im 30 now, good and rely place to have a health meal , the noodle and the beef , good carb and good protein , for 6$ , (small bowl) well what can i say else , keep it up wang plz, for the shit
Just walked by Cambie/16 where Shanghai Village recently closed down. Surprise …… it’s a new Wang’s Taiwan Beef Noodle ! Inside looks kinda modern/minimalist but also seemed cold in ambiance (I noticed bare fluorescent tubes on ceiling). Maybe renovations not 100% done ?
Anyway, despite the loss of SV, it’s great to have some TBN in my ‘hood 😀