No. 1 Beef Noodle House Taiwanese Cuisine in Burnaby

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

No1 Beef Noodle House has been around for a while. The first location opened on Imperial Drive around the year 2000. Over the years they expand to have multiple locations on Willingdon Avenue, and Main Street. In the year 2019, the Willingdon Avenue location seems to be the only No1 Beef Noodle House left.

Strength: Authentic Taiwanese flavour
Weakness: Extremely limited parking

Other Taiwanese Establishments

Storefront is in an alcove

No 1 Beef Noodle in Burnaby Front — No 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby Front

No1 Beef Noodle House is located in a plaza on Willingdon Avenue and Moscrop Street. Both streets have high traffic and the parking lot is a bit of a disaster. The storefront of No 1 Beef Noodle House is recessed, luckily their bright red and orange signage catches passerby attention.

Interior decoration looks fun

No 1 Beef Noodle in Burnaby Interior — No 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby Interior

I was surprised to see the store decorated with video game elements. It looks like the owner wants to avoid blank walls but is too cheap to hire a designer. Personally, I’d prefer the sleek look of a black wall with subtle surface reflection changes as the design.

Simple tableware

No 1 Beef Noodle in Burnaby Tableware — No 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby Tableware

These tablewares are typical in any Asian restaurant. Black plastic mug for tea, white bowl, steel spoon, chopstick and 1 piece of napkin.

House Special Mini Lamb Hotpot for $17.95

One of the unique items from No1 Beef Noodle House for a long time is their lamb hotpot. This dates all the way back to when they had a location on Main Street. Even today, we think about No1 Beef Noodle House when the weather gets cold.

Lamb Hotpot

The hotpot itself doesn’t look like much, but you can start to see chunks of lambs. This hot pot comes with a special dipping sauce that is made of preserved tofu. The sauce has a brownish yellow color and it provides a sweet and salty flavour that’s perfect for the lamb.

Edamame Side Dish

Mini Lamb hotpot comes with 2 sides and the edamame is one of them. The edamame is stir-fried with carrots and some chili, but they are not spicy. I like the combination of colors here.

Glass Noodle Side Dish

The glass noodle is the other side dish. There is not much taste for this side, and the glass noodles seem to be stuck together. I was eating chunks of glass noodles.

Bone-in Lamb

No 1 Beef Noodle in Burnaby Mini Lamb Hotpot Lamb with bone — No 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby Mini Lamb Hotpot Lamb with bone

As you can see this piece of lamb is the same size as my spoon. The bone-in cut is the best part of the lamb. You get to enjoy the texture of chewy skin, the little fat underneath it, and some of the lean part of the meat. The meat around the bone usually have a smooth texture to give you that crunch. This is the part of the lamb that I get excited about.

Large pieces of lamb

No 1 Beef Noodle in Burnaby Mini Lamb Hotpot Large Lamb piece with skin — No 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby Mini Lamb Hotpot Large Lamb piece with skin

I found this piece of lamb that is 3 times my spoon’s width. this piece of lamb focuses on the thick skin with limited meat. There are lots of fascia tissue on this piece of meat so it may not be for everyone.

House Traditional Railway Bento

Railway bento is one of the Taiwanese old traditions. Of course, the original railway bento box won’t be as luxurious as this. This bento box contains 3 types of meat in large quantities. It also includes a fried egg and two preserved veggie for flavour.

Pork Chop

I’m not sure if this pork chop is grilled or fried because of the glazed exterior. The fat spews out to gives that satisfying feeling when I bite into it. It is very rich and absolutely perfect to go with white rice. If the fat gets too rich, take a bite at the pickles to cut through the grease.

Grilled Chicken

The grilled chicken has a decent thickness. I like the flavour bestowed by the grilling process. It seems like the chicken has been marinated with alcohol to give it the Taiwanese kick.

604 Food Critic Assessment

We arrived at No1 Beef Noodle House and realized their new menu looks very similar to Myst Asian Fusion on Kingsway. Then I found out the owners of these two restaurants are brothers. I am very troubled by how they added the Northern Chinese dumplings and cold flat noodles on their menu. Seriously, what is Northern Chinese food items doing in an authentic Taiwanese restaurant’s menu? I’m not sure if this is the first step of No1 Beef Noodle House turning into a do-it-all Taiwanese Cafe.

In terms of food, the items we ordered still has good Taiwanese flavour. The mini lamb hotpot still tastes as good as before. I hope they continue to strive in the things they are good at, and not sway too far from their origin.