切麥狐狸 中山店
Foodholic Noko @ Taipei
"Cut Wheat Fox" is a soba noodle specialty shop. According to online descriptions, it is a style of Kyoto soba, but I don’t often eat soba noodles and don’t have much knowledge about them, let alone specific styles.
The shop I visited today is located around Zhongshan Station, on the strip street in Zhongshan. I often hang out around here and suddenly discovered this new shop that opened. The exterior is very eye-catching, and the decor is quite fancy, with a counter that surrounds the meal preparation area, resembling a trendy Japanese Kanto-style restaurant.
There’s a strong Japanese atmosphere here, and even the paper menus are in Japanese, which piqued my curiosity, so I decided to check it out.
P.S. However, ordering is done by scanning the QR code on the table for online ordering, which includes a Chinese menu, so there’s no need to worry about not understanding.
By the way, the meals here are not very suitable for those who do not eat beef or seafood, as most dishes center around these two main ingredients, with no pork options available. If you don’t eat beef or seafood, your choices might be limited to kelp sprouts or fried tofu skin, which can feel a bit empty for meat lovers.
Large Bowl of Fox Soba (Large $200)
You can choose between a small bowl and a large bowl of soba. Given my appetite, the large bowl was just right, but if you're a small eater, I suggest ordering the small bowl.
The soba looks quite simple, consisting of noodles, kelp sprouts, bonito flakes, green onions, and a large piece of fried tofu skin.
The tofu skin is delicious and well-seasoned. The soba noodles are quite unique; they aren’t the common round tubular shape, but are slightly flatter, with a nice chewy texture that doesn't miss the right balance of softness and firmness. The broth tastes very sweet, reminiscent of Kanto-style hot pot broth, and is quite enjoyable; I almost drank the entire bowl.
It’s worth mentioning that during the opening promotion period, until December 8, 2024, any order of soba noodles comes with three seasonal small dishes, which normally would cost $110 if ordered separately.
Today, the small dishes I received were mashed potatoes, kelp strips, and Korean cheese. I initially thought the complimentary small dishes wouldn’t be anything special, but I was completely wrong; you can feel the chef's careful preparation, and all three were delicious!!!
The mashed potatoes were creamy and included sliced pickles. The pickles themselves were quite salty, but paired well with the lightly seasoned mashed potatoes.
The kelp strips were soaked in a sauce similar to vinegar, and the flavor was very strong—not as mild as it looks, and it was super appetizing.
The Korean cheese looked like tofu at first, but upon tasting, I realized it was cheese, which paired perfectly with the Korean spicy sauce. This was the first time I encountered someone combining the two, and there was something underneath that resembled octopus slices; it was familiar but I can’t quite remember what it was—some kind of seafood. This small dish was the most surprising one for me!