Taurus Steaks 金牛座平價牛排

Profile

Address: 台北市羅斯福路三段316巷8弄8號
                 No. 8, Alley 8, Lane 316, Section 3, LuóSīFú Rd, Jhongjheng District
Phone #: 02-2368-0873
Business Hours: 11:30-15:00, 5:00-22:00
Website: N/A

Price Range:   $$

Accepts Credit Cards: no

Attire: casual

Good for kids: yes

Take out: yes
Waiter Service: yes
Outdoor seating:  no
Alcohol: no

Rating

Food Quality: 3 out of 5
Decor:  3 out of 5
Service: 3 out of 5
Overall: 3 out of 5
Recommendation: Mystery Steak Set for 5 Dollars US

Review

"Bargain Steaks" are a unique part of the Taiwanese food scene. From "My Home Steak" to the dirty nightmarket stalls that offer it, teppan steaks are popular in the lower end food category. Taurus Steaks offers the similar 150 NT "steak" set meal that comes in either black pepper or mushroom sauce. You get unlimited red tea and a bowl of soup with each set meal you get. This is a locally loved dish and part of the collective memory of all Taiwanese childhoods. I recommend that you give these one of thse Taiwanese particle steak places a try, and if you are in the area, try Taurus Steaks.

 Since this is the only place in the area that serves these cheap steaks, it is usually pretty packed around eating hours. Everybody likes a deal, and you get a good amount of food for a little price. Don't expect good decor, but they do have pretty swift service that takes your order, brings your food, and busts tables very efficiently. You might think these cheap steak meals are disgusting, but they are part of what makes Taiwan special. 150 NT can get you very far at a place like this.

 Part of every meal is this bowl of corn soup. The top of the bowl is layered with a flakey and buttery pastry crust that pairs very well with the soup inside. I like taking my spoon and bashing the crush into the soup and then devouring the mixture. The soup itself is not good, but it has that nostalgic taste for me so it's very comforting. There are only little bits of corns, carrots, and ham within.

 The main attraction to this restaurant is this sizzling hot plate of meat, noodles, and egg. I drenched this set today with a mixture of their black pepper sauce and mushroom sauce. The sauce dominates the flavors for the noodles, the steak, and if you mix it with the egg, then the egg too. The sauce is this very viscous, gooey, peppery, and yet semi sweet and salty. It is a very hard gravy-esque glob to describe, but it has a very disctinct flavor that you remember when you taste it. The noodles are very yummy and lop up a whole bunch of the sauce. Egg is pretty much egg, and you can't complain about it. Steak goes well swith some egg. However, the 150 NT steak itself is a mystery, because it really isn't a legit cut. It seems like to be some particle beef and not a direct part of a cow. However, when they drizzle this Taiwanese steak sauce on this wierd tasting meat, it works together well. There is a wierd aftertaste to the meat that I can not really describe, but it is unlike another other "beef" i've eaten before. The texture of the meat is not tough either, its cook throughouly, but still very tender. I think they may have pulverized the meat to a point where it lost its rigour, and then marinated it till the cow-ness is replaced by the concoction.

 From the side view of a cut of this beef, you can hardly see the sinews of the beef. There isn't a noticable muscle strand from top to the bottom, but its like a compressed plane of meat. I still like this stuff though. This place deserves only a 3 not because I don't like it, but objectively as a steak it really isn't that good. But if you think of this as a childhood food that is uniquely Taiwanese, then I am compelled to recommend this as a cultural experience. Also you get to see wacky knock off versions of western sauces like:

The "A1" they offers comes out really dark like black bean sauce. It does not have the complex sweetness, sourness, and saltiness of the original A1. Don't think that they are the same thing, this sauce is made in Taiwan. Don't be fooled by the name. If it looks suspicious, don't eat it. The bottle on the left is the worst worcestershire sauce i've ever had. It's more like soy sauce mixed with some sugar. In the end, the sauce they provide is enough to get you through the all the items.

If you still haven't tried Taiwanese Steak then you gotta give it a go. Nothing is better than mystery meat drenched in this asian peppery sauce paired with noodles and a cup of soup. Also, a "bargain steak" with a price tag of 150 NT is undeniably enticing. If you are in the Gong Guan area, why not give it a try?