One of the dishes I love to eat in any season, and any time of the day is beef noodle soup. I grew up on and only know of the ones available at bubble tea houses. So today was willing to travel all the way to Richmond to try AYA’s take. And there is no better company to take this journey with than @monkeyeatsworld Joyce, who is the “noodle queen” and is from Taiwan so knows her beef noodle.
It is quite the drive out, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them unless you were in the area. Even though we have concluded that they do some delicious and authentic Taiwanese dishes.
They are still fairly new, having only opened in March of this year. An average sized shop located in a fairly visible outdoor mall, with plenty of free parking out front and a good amount of seatings within.
I only wish that you could watch them prepare their in-house made noodles, which includes pulling and knife cutting. But unfortunately they don’t have an open kitchen, so you can’t see this one of a kind show. One that I find the highlight of eating such noodles from such restaurants.
We went back-and-forth on the menu. There were a lot of delicious options to read through. We were deciding between childhood classics: the dishes we know in love, or truly unique and traditional Taiwanese plates. In the end, we decided to do a combination of both.
This included a couple of bubble teas to start. Joyce is allergic to dairy, so it is nice that all their milk teas are made with powder and she is able to enjoy them. She had the classic milk tea with pearls. I ordered a fresh taro with a mix of coconut jelly and pearls. Like most of the dishes to come, she found her drink exactly as expected, and therefore satisfying.
I was expecting a thicker beverage, considering the mashed consistency of taro. But what I got was more milk than starchy yam. It also had very little yam flavour or color. Most of the sweetness came from the chunks of coconut jelly.
For appetizers we went for the classic Taiwanese popcorn chicken. Juicy breaded chicken bites seasoned salty and zesty with cumin and five spice. Flavourful as is, but I still found myself wanting a sauce to go with it. Eventually, I would dip these into our fish noodle broth below to get what I was looking for.
We also got the classic pork and chive dumplings. A generous portion of 12 perfectly boiled pieces. I thoroughly enjoyed their thicker and starchy exterior, each hiding a tight round of fragrant filling. This came with a dish of soy for dipping. However, I preferred their house chilli as its companion. This was another dish that we knew what it would taste like coming in, and they delivered.
Considering the name of the restaurant we had to get the original beef noodle. They also have a deluxe version that includes dumplings and half of an egg as toppings. However, this felt like a mock up of ramen and wonton noodles combined so we kept it classic.
Here, you can choose your desired type of noodles. We went with the thin, however, I thought it a little stringy in the mouth, so would have preferred a thicker gauge. Especially as the broth was rich and warming and a thick noodle would have held its flavour better. I also would have liked more soup, as the noodles were absorbing it quicker than we were slurping them. There is a good amount of beef brisket chunks, but I can always use more. Overall this was still a delicious bowl and I guess we should have each ordered our own.
Between the two noodle dishes we had, the Spanish mackerel was my favourite due to its thicker gravy-like broth and our pairing of thick and wide noodles with it. The two together had the most satisfying chew, fun to slurp and gather in-mouth. I also liked the strings of enoki mushroom, but could’ve done without the bits of soggy cabbage, for my own personal preference in texture.
The deep fried nuggets of fish started out strong when they were still crispy, but as the broth soaked in, they got soggy and were far less enjoyable. Worth mentioning is that if you order this dish, you have the option of changing out the protein. If fish is not for you, they also have lamb and shrimp as an option. In the future, I will probably go for either instead, and would not have to worry about it going soggy.
The Chinese Ginger Intestine had a similar flavour profile to the noodles above. A traditional Taiwanese dish with Pickled Mustard, Chilli, Green Onions, Intestine, and Ginger. Chewy and stringy chunks with some bounce back. As pungent as it was fragrant, really an acquired taste that is comparable to nothing else.
Overall, a delicious and authentic Taiwanese meal. If they were closer to my home in Burnaby, I could definitely see myself ordering from them more frequently. I bet they do a lot of delivery orders for their neighbourhood.
AYA Beef Noodle House
9020 Capstan Wy #160, Richmond, BC V6X 1R4
(604) 200-9993
ayabeefnoodlehouse.zomi.menu
