Chen Ji Intestine & Big Oyster Mee Sua near Longshan Temple 陳記腸蚵專業麵線 ☏ +886 22 304 1979

陳記腸蚵專業麵線 Chen Ji Intestine & Oyster Mee Sua | No. 166, Section 3 Heping West Road, Wanhua District, Taipei ☏ +886 22 304 1979 🚅 Longshan Temple station Exit 2 ⏰ 6:30am - 7:30pm

First time back in Taipei since Covid 19, we are rediscovering our love for the Taiwanese icon, oyster mee sua. 陳記腸蚵專業麵線 near Longshan Temple is our favourite for this trip (we visited three: Ay Chung, Ou Zai and this Chen Ji).

Taipei still has a lot of side streets and backstreets with gritty little food shops where customers eat along the five foot ways. I like to seek out such hyperlocal experiences.

One big, one small. The first thing that caught my eye were the huge oysters, the size of my thumb. (There's also pork big intestine, coriander, fried garlic but no pork slices.)

I like it that the mee sua were served in proper bowls instead of single use throwaway paper cups.

The mee sua infused with the umami savoury flavours of the gooey soup was itself subtly salty. Altogether, a delightfully layered savoury taste in the soft, velvetly wheat noodles.

The pork intestine was the braised type which infused the stock's savoury flavours and softened a bit by stewing. I like this.

The oysters were whoppers. Size of my fat thumb, succulent, soft, fresh, tasted umami savoury briny. Swee (nice).

Chen Ji's mee sua doesn't have sliced pork (which is fine by me).

Taiwanese chili sauce are often heavily laced with fermented bean paste, so they are usually more salty than spicy hot. Here, the chili sauce is spicy hot and not that salty. I love it with my mee sua.

Add black vinegar, if you like some tanginess in your mee sua.