Taiwan Street Food - BEST BEEF NOODLES + 5 Must Eat Foods in Taipei!!

hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day it's Mark Wiens I'm in the food obsessed island of Taiwan [Music] you love to eat this is a paradise and so today I'm gonna take you on an ultimate Taiwanese food tour [Music] where we are going to eat five of the absolute best of the dishes you don't want to you actually can't miss eating when you come to Taipei so it's going to be an ultimate day of Taiwanese some of the most delicious some of the greatest some of the most iconic and tasty Taiwanese foods that you can possibly eat you're not going to want to miss any of this video and it's all coming up for you right now [Music] we are just actually a couple blocks down from Taipei main station which is one of the busiest areas of all of Taipei and you get into this back alley and the name of this place is Leo sandong beef noodles I can already smell the aroma of the first dish that we're gonna eat it's probably one of the most famous of all Taiwanese foods and this is going to be number one on the list to eat it I'm talking about number one Taiwanese beef noodles this is an amazing place down in alley it's packed right now at the lunch rush this place is well known it's a Heritage Restaurant it's a legendary place to eat beef noodles this is what everyone is here for the big pool uncle is just explaining to us about their special beef noodles and they're the only restaurant that serves this homemade noodle that's the thickness of a chopstick and then he was also explaining about the broth where it's all about the bones that boil in that broth for 24 hours to release all the flavors so it's a bone broth and he said that floating on top that yellow oil with more yellow oil the better is that secure beef flavor uncle is truly the king of beef noodles and he's so knowledgeable he's just explained to us some of the secrets of beef noodle and he says he only uses Taiwanese beef because of the texture because of the flavor he knows his Cuts he said he found us the perfect piece of beef which looks like a brisket type of cut like he said it has a perfect ratio of fattiness to meat and when they assemble them they boil their noodles they add in some broth and the slices of Cut Beef go on they add in a little bit of a stock like braising sauce it looks like more of that bone marrow beef broth goes in it's really one of the national dishes of Taiwan something that people just absolutely love and this is an education on it and what an absolute hero of beef noodles wow that looks volcanic this metal canister which is filled with the bones uncle is about to change out the broth also that's just straight bones that's what's been boiling for 24 hours to create that rich broth there's strategic slices in the bone so that all of the flavors Unleashed oh that's impressive the bone just breaks like cardboard it's been boiling for so long that amount of flavor that's what makes the broth the new bones going into the broth and then a bone marrow shower what a technique pokes the beef chunks with a chopstick and if it sticks all the way in then he knows it's perfectly tender but just like Touch by feel that is experience wow that was incredible yeah the time has finally come and what an education on Taiwanese beef noodles before eating it but two different versions one is the braised beef and then one is just that expertise of beef that's just boiled within the bone broth both of them are extremely popular and one thing they serve it with chopped up green onions but then uncle said he wanted me to try that broth first with no green onions just to taste the purity of the broth that b flavor the first bite to begin this tour that is so beefy so pure also boiling hot you can taste all of the flavor that's just been Unleashed from the bones the marrow has seeped out to make it rich and oily let's move into that other broth real fast before we jump into the all the goodies and the noodles that's so good too oh man one of the things I love about food and I love about this place and uncle is just how particular he is about everything uh he has a way he has a method and I so respect him he's really a hero of beef noodles oh those noodles are superb they're chewy and doughy and thick those are interesting those are really tasty and I think it's perfect with the beef noodles because they're thick enough to kind of absorb some of that broth while remaining chewy at the gym time one of the condiments that's on the table that a lot of people use is this pickled preserved greens people add spoons of this to their noodles and then they do have a bunch of condiments as well including garlic and this you peel yourself so it stays nice and clean in its wrapper that pickled orange is really good too that preserved flavor a little bit of saltiness a little bit of that um complexity from the fermentation okay back over to the other Bowl here and this is the different type of beef more of that brisket that's been raised that's been cooked down without the spices I'll add some of the greens again to this one foreign the cinnamon in there wow do you take a bite of noodles nibble on the garlic mix it all together in your mouth full get the full potency of that garlic to cleanse your mouth up boost the aromatics oh I love raw garlic all right so good so what it says on the directions is you're actually not supposed to add this to your noodles but you're supposed to take literally one bean you eat and two or three times one two three and then you get the beef chew another three times one oh and then follow with broth all of that is mixing your mouth at once you've got that burst of umami from the fermented Bean a little bit of chili in there mostly for flavoring with mixes with that beef mixes with that broth all together in your mouth as a Harmony you cannot make a bad choice between the two I mean maybe you should just try them both the bridged one and the fresh one but I'm I'm kind of really loving that fresh one because it focuses more on the purity of the beef and then we also got some of the side dishes this is some of the tofu I'll introduce you you have a varieties of tofu some of the kelp different side dishes you can eat along with your beef noodles kind of in between budget maybe cleanse the palate and another very condiment side is their pickled cabbage oh that's really good not salty just a bit sour and very crisp that is very refreshing [Music] [Music] oh one of the greatest beef noodle experiences you can have I mean it's like a tiny little shop but you really feel the energy and the action and the friendliness here of beef noodles foreign we've had an amazing delicious bowl of Taiwanese beef noodles which is one of the most popular well-known Taiwanese dishes across the world but right here in Taiwan for Taiwanese people there's another dish that might even be more popular I'd say it's the number one comfort food of Taiwan and we're gonna eat it next and I am talking about a dish called Lu profan which is braised pork belly in an incredible sauce over rice with a bunch of different side dishes we are at one of the best places in all of Taipei this place is called I am so excited this is gonna be so good some serious Taiwanese food action all of the bubbling pots of the braised pork belly that's the star of the show why everyone is here the Aromas smells so good you smell the stariness you smell the cinnamon the clove the bay leaves in there all those different herbs and spices that go into the cooking it's just hot soupy thick this dish luro fan it also has a unique story of how it was developed and why it's so common in Taiwanese food but let's order first let's see how they make it and we'll talk more about that as we're eating and everything is already cooked everything's ready to go ready to be eaten everything's been braising in its own juices for hours maybe even overnight so it goes really fast they just scoop it over your rice we got a table right here in the front amidst all of the action and again the main thing that you have to come here for is the lure of fun but then we also got some beautiful side dishes you got to have some of the hyping hot soups one with bitter melon one with mushroom and then we also got a fish we got a milk fish head and then some of the common side vegetables like cabbage bamboo shoots but let's just start with that star of the show oh you didn't even look at that egg it's sweating look at the meaty chunks just covering that Rice you could just tell how tender how gooey and melt in your mouth they will be I've never been so excited to eat real fun in my whole life that completely dissolves in your mouth it's so soft it's actually like melted butter oh man and the flavor the braising spices the star onions the cinnamon in there it's not overpowering but it's just so soothing but I think it's that texture and like I was mentioning before one of the great things about lugaral fun is Taiwan and Taiwanese have always been so Innovative and so creative and making use of every single part of an animal that they cook and eat and Ludo fun is such a great example of a dish that takes just a little bit of meat and they braise it down with spices until literally it melts into this sauce which can then be scooped over rice and flavor an entire bowl of rice with just one scoop oh it's so stunningly tasty and just the dripping of the lard and the the pig juices just go all the way down to the bottom of your bowl my favorite partner not even the little lumps of pork but the dripping the sauce the melted pig fat and oil at the bottom of your eye that just coats every single grain of your rice that is so tasty one of the classic sides is bamboo shoots and this looks like there's a little bit of the Pickled or preserved Greens in there as well um I love the texture of bamboo shoots this one has a little bit of Greens in there which give it a salty and acidic flavor to it additionally they have some soups here this one is pork ribs oh there's even some clams in here and then bitter melon let me try that broth especially oh wow I love the bitter melon some of the flavor has absorbed has just been released into that broth it's clean it's clear and then you've got that bitter finish another side here that's famous is the milk Fish Head milkfish is a fish that you can find pretty much in this region of the world in the Philippines in Taiwan milk fish it's a delicious fish I'm not totally sure how it's been cooked but there's kind of an oily looks like it's braised also you do have to be careful of the bones with the milkfish yeah you always got to be careful with the feathery bones of a milkfish but I love milk here it has this really lean texture to it and kind of Milky when you eat it and then that sauce is just kind of very light actually you can really just taste the flavor of the milkish it's really good okay let's break into this egg you can see it actually in that pot it's bridged within that same Park you can feel how kind of like leathery that egg has become it's totally changed textures wow I think I might just have to bite the whole egg oh yeah so much flavor and the yolk on the inside remains so crumbly and Rich and with every bite you just got to keep on going in for that Rice it's so addictive it really is like taking the simple humble bowl of rice and just like giving enough flavor overdose of melted Pig sauce the next soup we have ribs plus shiitake mushrooms wow that shiitake mushroom just overwhelms your mouth that's so good especially if you love mushrooms and we got the Cabbage the braised cabbage just a simple flavor but again yeah just so juicy oily melts in your mouth and then we got another fish here a little tilapia which again looks like it's steamed simple preparation not a lot of seasoning or spice but that's really the attraction of it very simple just like straight steamed but just a little bit of a oily sauce the last thing that we have is the British tofu and another classic of Taiwanese Cuisine look at that texture it's jiggly foreign hardened soy milk it's just so milky and spongy and soft this whole combo one of the great lunches of Taiwan and I mean just the amount of people here every single day throughout the afternoon is just the reason why it's one of the greatest places and one of the top dishes of Taiwanese food so we've eaten two Foods we've got three more to go foreign next dish is one of my favorite and also I think one of the most popular and beloved salty Savory snacks that you can eat and number three the Taiwanese scallion pancake in Mandarin it's song and this is one of the greatest dolls to eat it from we are here we're gonna see the process it smells so good and they've just taken the scallion pancake to the next level so the process of the scallion pancake begins with a dough loaded studded with scallions they make all the dough by hand at home before they come here they wrap it into individual sized portions when they get here to the stall then they have a press they press it out into a little round flatbread shape like a roti almost shape then that goes on to the hot griddle and they just slow cook it until it turns gooey on the inside but it gets really crispy and brown golden on the outside it's just flying on that hot griddle clinking and the clanking one of the things that makes it so good is I mean the whole process but when he really like slaps it together with those trowels the double trowel system to flake it up to get the textures going from there you have a couple of choices you could just get the standard version or you could get it with an egg or you could get the fully loaded deluxe version we're gonna get one of each let's try that signature the normal one first oh hold that texture oh it's so hot and fresh actually we should just pull it all out the texture is just almost like a roti oh and they put a little bit of chili sauce in here and a little bit of that soy sauce paste mixture all wrapped within a perfect handheld slightly oily crispy doughy pancake oh that's hot um no it's so tasty oh man that is the perfect dough of gooeyness flakinish and crispiness all at the same time with the richness of the egg on the center the saltiness of the soy sauce paste and a little bit of chili in there that's so good this is something you have to try in Taiwan it's pretty thick too it's hearty I mean this is a snack I mean especially if you get the fully loaded one that's a light meal right there no it's a fully loaded one it might be a dangerous move to take it fully out of the paper bag because it's so fully loaded we don't want to lose anything but I think they actually engineered it quite well in that everything is kind of stuck together oh there's corn in it too everything's kind of stuck together wait for this opening the reveal oh look at that oh it's just steaming and piping hot though it's a literal omelette there's ham there's bacon there's cheese singles cheese it's just melted in plus honey mustard plus this soy sauce paste all wrapped within that same scallion pancake not quite sure whether I think the best way is to go in Taco Style foreign pancake warming me all the way to my stomach with happiness and flavor this particular stall is called shongji for their scallion pancakes it was featured in The Michelin guide one of the top quality and it really lives up to its name it really is outstanding and they're so nice we're gonna continue with this top five Taiwanese Foods tour we have two more to go [Music] oh and it's arrived and I love the name of this shop it's called guys house of unique stink and we are here to eat none other than the legendary Taiwanese stinky tofu it's a huge part of Taiwanese culture so you'll find it all over I mean it's one of the national pastimes of food when it comes to Taiwan but this place right here they really specialize in high quality stinky tofu and they have a lot of unique dishes and just you'll see all these posters around the walls dedicated to stinky tofu the health benefits the greatness you cannot leave Taiwan without trying it wow so the first one we got is raw stinky tofu oh that's gonna be the full flavor option I think there's a number of different ways that you can ferment tofu this one is vegetarian based so it's a brine of fermenting vegetables that makes the firm head into tofu oh you can see it turned into a Cheesy kind of stickiness almost [Music] oh wow yeah that definitely has a an aroma to it wow that's screw it up blue cheese creamy whoa with this aftertaste oh that is a pro level stinky tofu right there oh man that is so complex wow the next version these are like full fried little bricks of stinky tofu maybe a little dip as opposed to other versions of thinkitofu that I've had so far this is like the most dense so creamy so thick and hearty [Music] um okay that's much less intense and it is more spongy that one just kind of melts in your mouth crispy on the outside the raw one is definitely a pro level stinky tofu eater this one is a much milder really good hmm fried one is spectacular and it does kind of have that kind of cottage cheesy texture to it by far this is the most creamy version of shinky tofu that I've had as well and then finally we have one more dish to try but first try with a little piece of the pickled cabbage oh it's kind of sweet that kind of cleanses the palette wow this is a stinky tofu paste that's been fermented for two years and typically it's almost like a sauce you can eat it with rice you can eat it as a side dish but for two years fermented wow that's unlike anything I put in my mouth you can definitely taste some decay in that flavor you can feel like fumes coming out of your mouth and going up your nose with that a little bit and then on top of that it has this bitterness that's so incredibly complex that is unique oh man wow that is absolutely a flavor I'll never forget three different versions of Shinji tofu all of them are totally different in flavor and just like complexity but definitely give stinky tofu a try it's something with living bacteria it's a huge part of Taiwanese culture so that completes Taiwanese food stinky tofu is number four we have one more place to go to for dinner tonight we're on our way there next [Music] this brings us to our final destination on this ultimate Taiwanese street food tour it's been an incredible journey this place is extremely popular again there's a line going out the door waiting to order and we came here to eat another Taiwanese food that you can't leave Taiwan without eating let me see if I can pronounce the name of this restaurant this is a hugely popular place and actually this is a bonus because we're doing top five dishes we're doing two main dishes and two things that are extremely popular and I think everybody that comes here gets both of them both the dumplings and a mess of different Breeze things all the way from pork to beef to organs to eggs to potatoes and kelp and bean curd is all in this pile and the Taiwanese name for it is luway one of the main attractions is all the Taiwanese braised pork carts and eggs and tofu skin and he has literal motor hands she just non-stop chops oh that is some insane chopping skills she just slices through puts it onto a plate and adds on some squeezes on some sauces and some oils oh man that looks so good and she's so incredibly fast smells like some oils and some sauces we'll start with this as the dumplings are still on their way everything on this plate and he had recommended to they're all like the Specialties green onions on top there's tripe in here this will just kind of dig in for whatever you get and you're pretty happy there's beef and pork in here as well this is one of the coolest looking plates ever just so much going on it's just messy and yet organized all at the same time [Music] oh that is just so good hmm all the dumplings oh cheers here or the hot fresh dumplings that's so good though oh that's some of the best Taiwanese Breeze flavors I've had you taste the sesame oil I think on top and the soy sauce the star anise the hint of like cinnamon in the back of your throat but it's not overpowering that's so good all they're getting ready to put in a fresh batch of dumplings he drops in a whole tray of fresh dumplings they go into the boiling water they're gonna boil for about five minutes they'll come out piping hot and directly to orders to your table to your mallet for the dumplings let's prepare some chili oil oh yes maybe a bit of vinegar in there a little bit of soy sauce hot fresh Taiwanese dumplings dip in that chili oil oh wallet there are a few things in life that are as satisfying as a dumpling that just explodes with meat juices in your mouth and at first you think the wrapper is kind of thick but it's so smooth and so delicate and so silky and it just goes down so easily for all the dumpling is delicious then we got that pickled and cucumbers with chili too excellent smashed cucumber really crisp really refreshing the chili oil so good what a combination I gotta have one more dumpling while they're really hot and fresh before moving back into the magical pork Parts one more thing we should take a half bite just kind of see what's on the inside but they're so soupy and so juicy minced pork on the inside a little bit of green onions or scallions in there and then that's just a good ratio of meat to Fat giving them so juicy one of their signature braised items is that that tofu bean curd as well that's something I really like as well oh there's bamboo shoots down here too this is the Bean Curd skin oh I love the texture the layers of it is really soft everything is just infused with all those braising spices and sauce and soy sauce way over here Auntie recommended the bamboo shoots as well so should we diced them up and what's amazing is I think all of it is served cold it's almost like a salad the way they serve this braised plate we've got that steamy hot piping hot dumplings and they've got all the braised dishes truly magical we still have more I think over here not only is there pork there's beef on the plate this looks like it's perfect for dipping in the chili oil [Music] so tender and their texture of it it's like a mushroom has broken down and the fat has just completely rendered into the meat itself oh my goodness I don't know Uzi with a really nice texture I think we've tried most of the selection they're all really good they all have that same braised flavor and everything is just tender what a satisfying way to wrap up this ultimate Taiwanese street food tour I want to say a huge thank you also to my friend Tina from Taipei eats for helping me arrange this whole tour and put this together I want to say a big thank you to you also for watching this video please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it leave a comment below I'd love to hear from you and if you're not already subscribed make sure you subscribe now for lots more food and travel videos and stay tuned and keep watching this entire series from Taiwan where we're eating there's going to be more food videos that you're not going to want to miss so thanks again for watching and I will see you on the next video good night from Taipei I'll see you on the next video

Channel: Mark Wiens

Views: 1,997,125

Keywords: Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwanese food, Taiwan street food, Taiwanese street food, best Taiwanese food, Taiwan eats, street food Taiwan, Night Market Taiwan, Taipei street food, Taipei food, Taipei food tour, Taiwan food tour, things to do in Taiwan, Mark Wiens Taiwan, Mark Wiens Taipei

Id: ScnAiHZRcL8

Length: 28min 13sec (1693 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 01 2023