Level up your midweek sushi lunch at a hole-in-the-wall onigiri shop in the CBD
Move over sushi: O nigiri is the hand-held lunch of choice in Japan, bought from convenience stores in cleverly wrapped parcels. While our 7-Elevens aren't up to Tokyo standards, this Onigiri Kitchen location is Melbourne's hole-in-the-wall pitstop for Japanese rice balls filled with kimchi, honey and soy pork, and karaage chicken. There are also bentos, shokupan toasties and airy tofu doughnuts.

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Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
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This nation's perfect noodle soup is a labour of love
The dish Taiwanese beef noodle soup Plate up Beef noodle soup can mean many things to many people, from pho in Vietnam to Lanzhou noodles in China. If you mention beef noodle soup in Taiwan, however, it can only mean one thing: a large bowl of intense, heady flavours, a perfect balance of umami, salty and sweet, and a local favourite that in just 50 or so years has worked its way to the status of national dish. The creation of Taiwanese beef noodle soup is laborious: first, a base stock is made with bones and root vegetables. That broth is then spiked with fermented bean paste, caramelised onions, sugar, soy, rice wine, tomatoes, and ginger and green onions fried in oil. Beef shank, and sometimes cheek or ribs, are added and simmered for hours until they have a perfectly tender bite. To assemble, begin with thin wheat noodles similar to Japanese ramen, then add hunks of simmered beef, some tripe, a ladle of powerful stock and finally, chopped green onions and pickled mustard greens. First serve The idea for Taiwanese beef noodle soup is thought to have come across from the Sichuan province of China with fleeing Kuomintang veterans in the 1950s. Back then, beef wasn't traditionally eaten in Taiwan – cattle were beasts of burden, not food – and even into the 1970s beef noodle soup wasn't popular, and was mostly confined to military dependents' villages (housing for soldiers and their families). Over time, however, an appetite for beef evolved, as did the soup recipe, with less spice and more balanced sweetness than the Sichuan version. Order there Loading This is considered Taiwan's national dish, so you will find it served everywhere. One of the best, however, is at Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles in Taipei. Order here In Sydney, give this hearty dish a whirl at Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet (147 Broadway). In Melbourne, try Taiwan Cafe in West Melbourne ( And in Brisbane head to Yuan Bao in Sunnybank Hills. One more thing Taiwanese beef noodle soup is also popular in mainland China, where it is distinct from its predecessor in Sichuan – though here, it's sometimes known as 'red-braised beef noodle soup', or occasionally as 'California beef noodle soup'.