📌 This is NOT a sponsored post—just an honest review from my experience!
My wife and I recently went on a date night in Itaewon and decided to try a Taiwanese restaurant specializing in beef noodle soup (우육면, Wuniu Mian).
Since I’ve had beef noodle soup before in places like Hong Kong, I wasn’t expecting much—it’s usually a simple meal, like how Koreans casually eat gukbap. But since I’ve never been to Taiwan, I was curious to try an authentic Taiwanese-style version.
⭐ Overall Rating: 4/5 for the Food, 1/5 for the Space
The taste was not bad—it deserves a solid 4 stars. However, the dining space was way too tight and uncomfortable, which makes me hesitant to return, especially in winter. I’ll explain why at the end.
First Impressions: A Hard-to-Find Entrance
🔹 The restaurant is located in a unique building, and honestly, finding the entrance was confusing (maybe it was just me?).
🔹 The kitchen is on the first floor, while the dining area is upstairs. If you have difficulty with stairs, I wouldn’t recommend this place.
🔹 The space is very tight—about six small two-person tables on each side and a few more behind a partition. They also have only one four-person table, which is strictly for four people. Even if the restaurant is full, they won’t seat extra customers there.
What We Ordered
Since the set menu options didn’t have what we wanted, we ordered three individual dishes:
🍜 Taiwanese Black Bean Noodles (짜장면)
🥩 Beef Noodle Soup (우육미엔)
🥢 Sweet and Sour Pork (꿔바로우) (portion was disappointingly small—definitely better at a mala tang place!)
Dish Reviews
🍜 Taiwanese Black Bean Noodles (짜장면)
I was curious how Taiwanese jjajangmyeon would differ from the Korean version. The biggest difference?
- It had shrimp in it.
- The noodles were the same as the beef noodle soup noodles.
- The sauce was slightly sweet, likely because they added a lot of onions.
- This dish was sugar-free, which I found interesting! I didn’t realize sugar was commonly added to jjajangmyeon.
Tasting the sauce made me want to mix it with rice and eat it as jjajangbap.
🥩 Beef Noodle Soup (우육미엔)
Honestly, there was nothing particularly special about it. The best part? The beef was incredibly tender.
The menu stated it included three different cuts:
✔️ Brisket (아롱사태)
✔️ Chuck flap tail (차돌양지)
✔️ Beef tendon (도가니)
From what I could tell, there was one piece of each in the soup. I counted three pieces before eating, then gave one to my wife, leaving me with only one for myself. 😅
There were no options to add extra beef, which was a bit disappointing.
🥢 Sweet and Sour Pork (꿔바로우)
- The portion was too small for the price.
- The sauce was bright red, but the taste was similar to mala tang restaurant sauces—a little spicy, but not drastically different.
- If you’re a big eater, this might not be satisfying.
❄️ Why I Wouldn’t Go Back in Winter – The Space Was Way Too Tight
The food was good, but the dining experience was extremely uncomfortable, mainly because of how cramped the restaurant is.
💡 The biggest issue? The lack of space between tables.
- The seats were so close together that I struggled to sit down.
- When I got up to leave, both side tables were full, and I was worried I’d knock everything over.
- There was no space to hang or store winter coats, so we ended up mixing our jackets with the people next to us.
- Conversations felt too personal, and I even overheard the next table’s flirting session. 😂
💀 For bigger-bodied people, this restaurant is NOT a good choice. It’s too cramped, and the table size barely fits three dishes. One wrong move, and everything could spill.
Would I return? Maybe, but definitely not in winter.