Hey guys, it's Mike Chen I am in Taipei, Taiwan. I feel like I've been here a lot this past year anyway I'm just passing through on my way to the Philippines for the first time ever really excited about that But I do have like a 10 hour layover here in Taipei So I figured I go get something to eat outside of the airport and a lot of you guys been messaging me asking me to Kind of explore the the 7-elevens scene in Taiwan because unlike the U.S. Here the 7-11s are like the greatest thing you can buy your train ticket some of them You can do your laundry and a lot of people here actually go to 7-eleven for breakfast lunch and dinner Guess which one of those appeals to me the most? Anyway I didn't want to go all the way into Taipei So I found one of the biggest 7-elevens and Taoyuan city right near the airport So I'm gonna go and let's go eat out of local 7-eleven Yeah All right, there it is! if anybody ever told me that I would specifically leave an airport just to go eat out a 7/11 I would never believe it, but here I am and I'm actually really really excited How was another country with a ton of motorbikes and Again, I think I'm just gonna have to go Just like I mentioned is one of the biggest and supposedly one of the prettiest 7-11s In Taoyuan City. Gorgeous big windows looks very bright inside you get these like individual sort of booths I can already smell something that's fried in there, and it smells good This place ...this is beautiful (The is coffee, and there's added carbonation) (So it doesn't taste as bitter) (So there's some fizzy-ness in it?) Oh really? So this is like slightly carbonated coffee (It's like black coffee...black...dark beer) (Dark beer?!) I never had...she said it should taste like dark beer I never had dark beer before but Carbonated coffee, slightly carbonated...interesting. (Would you like to drink?) Oh...thank you. So nice here. All right, let me show you guys around 7-11 of course is known for their snacks, and they have a ton of it So this is like a bunch of Japanese snacks here and stationary. Look at this, this is like so interesting They got they got Muji stuff here. You can buy computer games here...of course a lot of Hello Kitty stuff, did you know she's not a cat? Oh, I think I need this. This is this is a soup base for hotpot. I might need to take this home. Check it out, vacuum packed rice, you know what's great about this is that look at this you can stack it like books You're so your rice is nice and organized and just looks neater, and this this is one of my all-time favorite aisles Their instant noodle aisle, check it out. Look at this, they're like dozens of types of instant noodles here and this is my favorite one. We are definitely eating this today. I love the drink selection they have here I mean look at this this is all like juice and different types of milk tea, strawberry milk tea, green tea, lemon tea like Asparagus milk tea. I think I'm gonna stay away from this little bit also I don't know what it is, but drinking tea on out of a paper box. It just makes it taste better and Dr. Milker was that like Dr. Peppers Asian cousin besides that salad, fruit salad you can buy mushrooms here, eggs, fruit We got all sorts of bento boxes Taiwan sausage over fried rice. This is ribs over rice, pork belly over rice I mean the selection is just overwhelming and of course, there's the hot food items. We got tea eggs here I must get That fish tofu here being boiled They don't have anything here yet because we're so early But I really hope we can try one of these things out cause this will go great on top of noodles Then you got like a case just for for hot drinks You got hot chocolate, lattes and hot milk teas that's all here. A case for buns, bamboo pork bun Charsiu bun, roast pork bun...okay all this looking at food...you know you know it's making me really hungry, so I'm gonna I'm gonna get a few things. I know it's just breakfast, but I think I'm gonna need one of these Fresh sweet potatoes. The bread it says (freshly baked & delivered) is so so I asked them and apparently every day the bread is Freshly baked and delivered here. They said this is a really popular item. This guy looks pretty good and Chocolate QQ balls (Taro balls). QQ in Taiwan is really bouncy really chewy, so this is gonna Be like like mochi chocolate buns. I'll take a hot drink formosa milk tea oh Yeah, it's really hot in Taiwan drink some milk tea. Pork bun, bamboo bun She's well a roll. You for sure need a tea egg from a 7-eleven. The boil food is still being boiled We'll come back to that we need some bento. I'm going for this. This is a chicken leg I saw earlier that look pretty good and whenever I see beef noodle soup, I can't pass up Soft-boiled eggs Sure, you know what? I'll try this I'm thinking this is really healthy right? and one last thing I got to get my favorite ramen, and I'm gonna go for the spicy version of the beef so yeah This will be breakfast, but I don't think this is all gonna fit into that little tray, also that bubble tea here You can order bubble tea out of Taiwan 7-11. That's what I'm gonna do. Look at this, this is my meal I can't wait to get started. We haven't even got to dessert yet All right breakfast is served This is crazy Aite first thing, I need I need to try this beef noodle soup, the employees here really recommended it also It's cool because it's half lean meat and a half beef tendon. That's like my favorite ratio. Alright, let's go heat this up. What's really convenient about This is that they tell you exactly Which button to push when you put this into the microwave so, here it says push zero this goes in and then there you go It's like zero. You push the button and you forget about it That's it look at this this smells incredible. Look at this broth The noodles look very nice not at all soggy look at this giant piece of beef here oh You can see the tendon running through it like a delicious roadmap. For like a premade noodle dish this looks fantastic I didn't expect this much broth, look at this gorgeous beef soup. I can smell the soy sauce flavor I'm telling you guys right now But if you put this in a regular bowl and served it to me at a restaurant I would never even guess that this was microwaved, the soup itself It got such a rich beefy flavor. It's a bit oily, a bit spicy. It's just incredibly hmm Incredibly beefy and look at these noodles. They're not too wide. They're moderately thick and they don't feel like they're they're soggy at all Couple of things This broth itself, it's not really penetrating the noodles because the noodles are a bit thick but like I mentioned before I would never in a million years, after tasting these noodles would ever think that I'd microwaved it. I mean these tastes like good quality noodles, they're chewy, they're elasticy and I think if you eat it with the soup That is pretty darn good. All right the ultimate test the beef itself I'm just really impressed by this The beef is not ridiculously tender, but it tastes like a good cut of beef with nice tendon piece and look at this big piece right here Oh that beef feels tender. You guys see this right now? The thicker cut of beef ridiculously tender, superbly beefy Oh there's a piece of tender here I'm shocked that a 250 microwave bowl of noodles soup can taste as good. I know what this needs. This thing needs a tea egg Look at that delicious pattern right there Oh look at that, all that flavors soaked into the yolk already. Tea eggs and beef noodle soup They just belong together, they do! I like to put my yolk in the soup kind of mix a little bit Scoop up some beef broth in that egg. Oh Guys you need to come here and try this beef noodle soup, and you know what I'm talking about, unbelievable. Oh just out of something This broth is way too good to not have a bun dipped into it I think this is the regular pork bun, the bun to filling ratio is not bad Wow Wow, this is awesome. Oh this pork bun is delicious! You can tell by my surprise. I didn't think it's gonna be that good But this is excellent! You guys see the chilies in here, this thing is spicy its meaty. I thought maybe like like the dough will be a little too much, and this would be as flavorful. Oh, man. I was wrong (Om nom nom) They're just fantastic! Taste after it goes beef dipping. I could eat, no kidding ten more of these and be so happy with my life the happiness to life guys It's done inside a pork bun. I'm so blown away by how good this is oh my goodness Mmm. I'm just like being blown away left and right. I was blown away by the beef noodle soup I've blown away by dish. Oh good Let's ask somebody else, here jasmiyah try this How good is that? It's better than most the place I had in America. It's not just the most awesome thing Man, let's try the other bun. This is the bamboo bun mmm a little bit of crunch on the bamboo I don't think is as good as the other one because it lacks a little spice but flavor-wise This is on par. Again, dip it in the broth Wow We really get that nice bamboo flavor in this bun...so good oh Is this why pandas love bamboo so much are we are we missing out? Next is one of their freshly baked breads and this one Look kind looks like what you find in a Chinese bakery, and you see some ham scallions sesame That's good, but after like two incredible bunch these pales a bit in comparison A little sweet, a little scalliony, a little hammy, nice and soft but those buns were incredible. Alright next let's change the pace a little bit and Let's go heat up our bento box 9 Can't wait, so this is marinated chicken leg with pork belly that oh that chicken leg That's really marinated look at this and this is the pork belly right here big ol' slice of pork all right? I gotta try this marinated chicken leg I just took a big ol' bite Not dry at all. It is incredibly flavorful. It's a soy sauce based marinade, the chicken itself is tender It's not really juicy but the flavor has penetrated all of this and the pork belly... a little sweet, really garlicky. I thought this was carrots and radish, it's not it's actually carrots and bamboo This is nice because the veggies little crunchy. I think all the items here individually are really flavorful. My problem with this dish is that there's not enough sauce to kind of help you eat the rice because look At this you get you get a lot of rice right the veggie is not very saucy so in Chinese terms It's not it's not very (δΈι₯?) or it doesn't pair well with a lot of rice I think if they give this a lot more sauce this would be a great bento box I mean, it's a good bento box, but the sauce and meat to rice ratio is a bit off next up my favorite instant noodles You can't really find these instant noodles in the U.S. because they actually have real big chunks of beef in here But I really wish they sell this in the U.S. because this this is like one of the best instant noodles out there. For instant noodles, check this out. They have they have something that pulls out And then on this, you can cook your instant noodles This is what I love about these noodles. This is a pouch full of just gravy and chunks of beef I mean you can feel big chunks of beef just just sitting in here, so you add the seasoning, the oil and then this This actually kind of freaked me out when I first did it because look at it It kind of looks a little off because the fat kind of solidified a little bit, but don't be afraid This is delicious. Then go here They have the water and make sure you give this enough water because this broth is awesome. This is great This is all sorts of corn radish different types of tofu mushrooms soaked in broth And I'm gonna add this inside my instant noodles This is oil tofu one of my favorites and a piece of radish, fishcake Mushroom, more fish cake, some fish ball. There we go I could smell the spice look at all the chilies that's in here. Every strand of noodles It's just covered in the chili look at this Big ol' chunks of beef I mean this way you can obviously tell it's instant noodles But I mean what have you ever seen instant noodles with like this, and this is some of the extras I got Let's jazz this noodle up This is instant noodles accessorized. I'm just gonna add like the broth in here because that's good broth. First of all... (drink the broth!) That's good broth for instant noodles I love oil tofu It's got such a nice chewy texture on the outside and then just tender Tofu on the inside you take that dip it in some broth Fish ball Those fish balls are nice and bouncy. Big ol' fishcake There's something inside there's like some rice noodles, and I think maybe a little pork inside of this. Dip it in some broth This is crazy, this is like a fishcake dumpling Let's say...oh, seems it's like a seafood cake or some caviar inside it gives it a nice little crunch You guys see little white spots, those are fish eggs. Radish is good, big ol' mushroom Favorite instant noodles in Taiwan, no joke Usually when you buy instant noodles out from a store you have to go back home or go back to the market, you can't top it with all this great stuff Something I forgot Soft-boiled eggs I am actually a little little terrified of this. What is this juice?! And I'm gonna. I'm gonna open this up and see oh wow Did not expect that - now look at this tell me that aint pretty! I'm telling you guys. That's a pretty good soft-boiled egg That's not bad I mean just to be able to jazz up your instant noodles like this... They're so awesome and convenient you know and this is a really good meal and all this for less than five bucks and trust me You're gonna be full afterwards unless you're like me because I still need dessert after this. These are supposed to like you don't as that Means they're chewy and bouncy? They look cool. Well. What's great about 7-Elevens in Taiwan? Check this out Is to have soft-serve ice cream and they have periodically to have different flavors? But I think the only flavor they have here for now It's just fresh milk, and then I'm gonna add some strawberry glaze in mine if this could fit on my wrist I was just wear this around and eat when I'm hungry. Oh wow! Okay That's really elasticy Huh, all right this is very QQ; It tastes literally like a mochi doughnut. these will go great with my soft-serve icecream Take the donut, dip it in some ice cream... I've been to Taiwan many times and I been here for the drink I been here for the ice cream but I never thought getting here will be so much fun and that the food would actually be pretty darn good. Oh, I forgot something the Asparagus....hang on a sec! Jas come here, trust me. It doesn't smell like asparagus This just smells like sweet It smells like soup! Hang on, let me try this It tastes a little sweet, little sour it's kind of funky right? it's not bad It's like a milky asparagus And it's kind of veggie. What was your favorite thing here by the way that we had today? Um, well I really loved the tea eggs. I loved the beef noodle soup, oh and the buns! Yeah, I think my favorite is the first beef noodle soup and the bun. I think if I just come here and get the beef noodle soup and a couple buns and a tea egg I'd be a happy man Anyway guys if you're ever in time well check out 7-Eleven for yourself. Let us know what you think about it All right, thank you all so much for watching We are on our way to the Philippines, so until we eat again real, real soon. See you later
Is that Mikey Chen?
Ah, missing the good ol' Double Chen days
I need to go back to Taiwan soon! Absolutely love it there.
Having lived in US and Taiwan, from my limited experience I can say Taiwan's 7-11 > US's 7-11
Back when I was a kid, the US ones near my school were run by Pakistanis. Or maybe Indians, I don't know, i never understood their accent. And the place was run like a club. Every time I went there, they would tell everyone to take off their back packs. So there was this whole pile of back packs every single time. LOL. They even got this guy there that pats everyone down every single time we walk in. The guy behind the cashier has a shotgun ready under the counter just in case someone's packing an automatic and trying to rob money. Not a single adult wants to go there because they treat everyone like a criminal. LOL. Oh, those were the times. And that store closed very early too, at like 8pm. So much for convenience. Inside lights were still on but the outside had a metal gate that was closed.
As a kid I thought this was normal. Then I came to Taiwan and I realized, dammit... that 7-11 sucked! And every I go in a Taiwan 7-11 and sit down and eat something, I think back and chuckle. Sometimes I would accidently blurt out, man that place sucks! Maybe that 7-11 is the exception cause it was in a bad neighborhood. But at least all the 7-11s I've been to in Taiwan don't treat us all like criminals. Oh fun times.
A thread about a YouTube personality getting upvotes? Not in my /r/Taiwan!
Man Han Da Can is amazing
The 7-11 in the video is ι·ζ₯ιεΈ in Zhongli δΈε£’
7-11 where you can do your laundry???
Itβs crazy how he blew up after the Great Wall channel