As strange as it may seem but Lao Shan Dong is one of my fav eating spots but had never ever gotten to blogging about it. This is despite also the fact that it is located within a 3 minutes walk from my office.
Lao Shan Dong is located at the busy intersection of Kingsway and Nelson in Burnaby. The location is less than desired, I reckon. You see, the restaurant is tucked into a recessed area of a principally an office building.
The looks of this place is just like any ordinary Taiwanese noodle house. It is small with tables all packed that makes it sometimes impossible to navigate through. But despite that Lao Shan Dong is steeped in history. Apparently this Lao Shan Dong is a branch of the legendary Taipei restaurant which dates all the way back 60 years. The original Lao Shan Dong was opened in 1949.
I finally brought the whole family to eat here. It is a long drive from Richmond which we do not normally do anymore. OK, I work around here but driving that distance to work and driving to eat is a different thing altogether.
This restaurant is always busy but I had never had to wait for long even at the busiest of times. They turn the tables very fast. Frankly, this place seems very much like a fast food joint. People come in, order, eat and go.
For starters, we had the House Special Cold Meat Combination. They have it in two servings … large for $8.95 and small for $6.95. We had the large one. It consists mainly of Pig Ear and Beef (?) slices. It was good except that we find the sauce a little too thick and salty. If they had diluted it a bit, it would be just perfect.
Their star dish is the one above … called the Braised Beef Flank with Noodle in Soup/Spicy (Small $6.95 and Large $8.75). Be forewarned, even their small is more than enough for a large person.
They have perfected this dish. The meat is simply tender and the soup utterly delicious. I think they specially hand make the noodles too because it sure does not taste like mass produced ones.
I had the same as the Beef Flank Noodle Soup but opted for the version with Beef Tendons instead. Instead of getting a small one ($7.95), I ordered the large one ($10.25).
The dish is ridiculously large. It has more than enough food for two people.
Look at the above for size!
All of these looked the same right? The one above is Beef Flank with Bean Thread. Bean Thread is not a good idea because it has a tendency to soak up most of the soup rendering it almost like dry noodles very quickly.
Nanzaro bucked the trend by ordering the Dry Noodle with Special Beef Sauce (Spicy).
Total bill was $44.52 before tips and taxes. I do think they have the best Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup in Vancouver.
I agree, LSD’s beef noodle is among the best in town. Its funny, I have a friend coming in and he suggested Taiwanese for lunch, and this is where I am taking him while he is here.
This is a great restaurant, I find that they have pretty good service for this type of restaurant.
Ha, you finally made it to LSD, Ben (and family). I mentioned them a long time ago, didn’t I ? Well good on ya, cuz they really are the best if not one of the top 5 in Greater Vancouver (Shanghai River is right up there too, but they’re not Taiwanese cuisine).
As you know my office too am minutes from LSD. A very good friend and I go there about once a month for lunch, usually ordering the same beef flank or beef tendon noodles, sometimes with dumplings and other times not. Regardless, LSD is consistently good and has never disappointed. However I’ll stick my neck out and say their service quality is dependent on the servers. Barring that, I’m there only for the GREAT FOOD 🙂
Wow on cold days like these, beef noodle soup is even more desirable than ever. I think I may go back there next week when I’m back at work 😀
Bon appetit.
Hey LotusRapper:
Yup. I still remember you raving about LSD before. LOL! I walk past LSD everyday to where I park my car … and I almost went in today before heading home. Sanity prevailed because Suanne would not be too pleased if I went home and not eat the dinner she prepared!
Ben
They used to be 5 bucks for the famous beef noodle soup. Then it went up to $6.50… Now $6.95 not quite a deal anymore.
The hot soup looks so appetising, the colour makes it look quite spicy (as in chilli) but it’s not, from what I gather? Great review!
Thanks Ben. Though i am from the Philippines (no LSD resto here), i’d love to try the tendon noodles. Looking at the pictures just makes me hungry. :))
Went there the other day, not sure why but the noodle doesn’t taste freshly made, overall the taste is pretty ok. Still prefer the noodle shop at the traffic junction close to Wellingdon Church.
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Thanks for all these posts on beef noodle. I agree with your other post in that there aren’t really many good beef noodle places in Richmond, and therefore was on the search of other ones outside of Richmond. I recently tried LSD beef noodles, the soup was great, but the flank is much too dry. I’m sure a lot of chinese people would agree, as they prefer to eat beef with the tendons attached, known as shank? Hopefully next time I’ll order half flank/tendon to counter the dryness.
If you would like to try other places, I think Cabin 5555 and Corner 23 are worth a shot.
Hi Jacob:
We had visited/blogged about Corner 23 before. They were good and we enjoyed it. I particularly remembered the oyster omelette we had there. I have heard of Cabin 5555 before but did not go because I thought I read somewhere they were just so-so. Maybe I should I give them a try too.
Cabin 5555 in Kerrisdale is NOT the greatest for food, to any extent. I know because I lived in the neighbourhood for seventeen years. I was there before it even had its grand opening (It used to be an Indian restaurant and a HKSC before that). One thing you might like though… Their spicy is SPICY, especially if you let them know that you love spice…! Last time I got the medium and my mouth was on FIRE, I felt like each sweat droplet was trying to force its way out of my scalp. Did I mention it was spicy? I can usually handle spice but whoooo. HOT. Anyway, as I was saying… Cabin 5555 is not the way to go for delectable and incredibly tasty cuisine.
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LSD is one of the best Taiwanese noodle places I’ve been to. The prices are reasonable, the food is great most of the time (though sometimes their soup is oilier on some days). I really like that the menu is quite extensive although it would be nice to have fried pork chop noodles included. It’s hard to find a restaurant that is good all around in terms of food, service, price, and short wait time for your food. Another plus is the fact that you can order small or large sizes and spicy or non-spicy soup. Highly recommended!
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Hi Ben,
I guess BR and I will have to go check out LSD. I was going to vote for Dinesty, but only based on value. Sometimes they pair their Beef Noodle soup with a full order of Pan fried dumplings for $6.95 good deal in my books.
Dinesty’s noodle soup is certainly not the best in my opinion….so I won’t vote for them….don’t want to mess up your stats!
We are not cheap….but we like value 🙂
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