    
    
Qie-a Noodle with original
taste
Hsiao, owner of Temple Front Qie-a Noodle, Luchou Qie-a Noodle became popular since Hsiao’s uncle. There
were a Qie-a Noodle every three steps at present, but each one’ flavor was
quite different. Mr. Hsiao’ master was the origin of Luchou Qie-a Noodle, which
was passed on to the fourth generation now, whose relationship was master and
apprentice instead of father and son. Currently, Temple Front Qie-a Noodle ran their business
in brotherhood partnership. They were all by themselves without hiring anyone,
but generous as they were, they were willing to teach others unconditionally
only if they wanted to learn.
Having retired from
army, Mr. Hsiao had been selling Temple Front Qie-a Noodle for
more than 20 years. The biggest feature of his noodle was that he never added
MSG, and both the soup and chili sauce were made by old methods traditionally,
never changed ever. The soup was stewed by 3 sheets of meat, which made the
soup taste sweet. In another way, only enough quantity of meat could make it
sweet.” Bones have flavor, but not sweetness.” He said. The majority of his
customers were old men, who were weak and sick, given which he never used big
bones to stew, cause “they were fairly bitter” in western medicine, unless
added some MSG.
The 3 sheets of meat had fixed supply and he selected all the meat personally,
persisting in best meat. He preferred local pig to feed pigs,
because the first one’s meat was good and sweet because of drinking spoiled
water. In order to ensure a good original taste, he had liver sold, with a good
texture, on which he had had a painstaking research without any chemical
treatment. |
Hsiao sold Temple Front Qie-a Noodle at Temple Front in 1980 or so, but didn’t go on to do it for 6
months, due to Yung Lien Temple’s
rebuild. Quite a few different Temple Front Qie-a Noodle came
out in 6 months, after which he rented a room to begin with this business on Sanmin Road. A lot
of patrons inquired that why he did not do it for such a long time, that they
missed the special taste. Shortage of patrons, he didn’t do it for 6 years, but
switched to do hardware business with his brother, afterwards.
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All patrons were
acquaintances, old people mainly, passers-by seldom. The patrons were coming
far from Tianmu, Banchiao, Wanhua and Sanchung. One of then, who lived in
Japan, would came to dine every time he came to Taiwan or returned to Japan,
where he could no more find it. There had once been an old man, taking his
grandson, who insisted on eating a bowl of noodle or refused to leave. There
had even been a pre-education class of Qiao University, whose students missed
the flavor so much that they looked for everywhere for a long time until they
got it, when they came back to Taiwan overseas.(He changed the location because
of Yung Lien Temple’s reconstruction.) Many patrons would come back to dine,
talking about eating noodle at Temple Front, which made him
very happy and warm.
Mr. Hsiao had to get up at 3 a.m., adding goods and doing
preparations, and then he started to sell at 6 or so and closed at 4 p.m. He
never kept overnight soup, so he had to get up to make soup. The
key to his management was “to make customers eat healthy”, who would come continuously, as a result.Remember Temple Front Qie-a Noodle stall is closed on
the 3rd and 17th
of each month of the lunar calendar. Pay attention to the date if you want to
go to.
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