Lao Dong Beef Noodles first opened in Taiwan in 1950. It might have taken 67 years to finally open up in Sydney, but it's been a happy wait. They've got far more trophies than the NSW State of Origin side in recent years, and proudly display their wins on the counter.
The soups mostly hover around the $12 mark. It seems to be getting a standard price in the food courts, getting something for ten bucks or less is harder to find as costs go up in Sydney.
The ordering system is simple order at the counter but pick up with a buzzer. The picture on the buzzer just made us want cheesecake and coffee.
Stewed beef noodles in supreme soup (award winning!), with extra braised tofu ($2). The soup was quite plain, not sure what was supreme about it. The beef really was supreme though, very tender slices of braised beef. Added in was the braised tofu option, an extra $2 that added more texture and made the soup far more filling. The noodles, submerged under all that supreme broth, were excellent with a good bite and spring.
On the condiment counter is a pot of 'spicy butter'. Don't miss getting a spoonful and adding it to the more plain soups, it adds a hit of warm chilli flavour. We like mixing it in a little at a time so you get different soup flavours as you make your way down the bowl. There's also a help-yourself bowl of chopped pickle mustard greens, also essential to add to your bowl.
Braised beef noodles in Taiwanese curry soup ($11.80) with extra soy egg ($2). This broth was a corker, quite similar to a Japanese curry flavour. It's not like an Indian curry, it's a little gentler and not very chilli heated. The addition of a soy egg almost pitched this toward looking like a ramen. Again, excellent wheat noodles hiding underneath the yellow sea of curry.
An elaborate (for a foodcourt) airline like cutlery set comes with your meal, chopsticks, plastic spoon and napkin inside.
Vegetarian noodle soup $8.80. This soup came out with a far different broth to the one expected, compared to the photo menu. They were pretty busy, so perhaps they substituted one for another. Best of all the soup comes with both egg and braised tofu (we added chopped pickled greens). You can only just see the noodles under the dark, soy broth but we don't know if it is meat or vegetarian based. This was a fine soup for under ten bucks.
Pork mince on rice, small size $6. The under $10 lunch winner. The small size was perfect for a lunch, the pork mince is rich and small pieces of fatty pork are tucked into the mix giving it some extra porky goodness. We piled on extra pickled mustard greens from the counter, it helps cut the fattiness. A large would be great to share and at $8 still hits under a fine $10 lunch deal. You can also get this served on noodles.
This dish comes in a waxed cardboard takeaway container, unlike the other soups which all came in plastic bowls. We'd love to see them convert to reusable bowls and cutlery.
Lao Dong Beef Noodle is at Level 1, Shop R1. 36 Market City, Chinatown.
I agree with you on the use of cardboard and plastic packaging, especially for the hot soup. It is bad for health and environmental reasons. However, their beef noodle soup and pork minced rice are really good, even the best you can find in Sydney and they have tough competitors in the area like the Cho's outlets, Taiwan Ganbei and Bao Dao. I hope they can open a proper restaurant in Sydney so that they can serve customers in better way and with more expanded menu items like Taiwan Ganbei or Bao Dao.
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