[WEBISODE] Andrew Zimmern's Journy to Taiwan

there's nowhere I would rather be on earth right now then right here I'm Andrew Zimmern and I'm back in Taiwan one of my favorite places in the world to eat and drink I just had to find out for myself everything that's happening now so where do I like to go at 3:00 in the morning I like to go to fish markets and yes it's pouring rain but I really don't care the action the hustle look at how beautiful the fish are I love it this is one of my go-to hey it's the clam pasta ask him if I can borrow is nice as professional chefs the one thing you should never do is open up a jumbo clam with a Russian in the pouring rain at 3:00 in the morning don't ever do that super sweet super delicious Wow what is it about the seafood I mean it's it's so underrated here it's not talked about enough it's always been great yeah it's just no one talks about it it's an island it's an island for gosh sakes this is the world-famous Din Tai Fung and the lines often stretch down the block everyone is waiting to get a taste of the perfect soup dumpling the precision and the consistency is what everyone comes here for every single nugget of dough that's rolled out into the two and a half inch circle weighs precisely five grams they put exactly 21 grams of filling inside them and every single dumpling is then pleated of exactly 18 pleats thank you very much mmm to watch what they're doing yeah clockwork it's it's incredible and there's working I mean ferociously you can't come to Taipei and not eat it didn't iPhone well that's true a lot of people will put it on their spoon young their bite the edge up and suck the soup out or poke it and suck the soup out I just go for it I do the same thing you do I just thrive like the explosion Taiwan isn't just about humble dumplings though you've also got to get to the islands first and only three michelin-starred restaurant lapel a [Music] this town has changed so much in the three years since I've been three and a half years since I've been here last it's shocking in terms of the food moves in dog years it's at one year in the states is seven years here well Taiwan is a food geek culture yeah in the last couple years what's the biggest change that you've seen where as it used to be known as this place for street food and that's all the people ever talked about with street food street food street food now it's you know we've got sort of a more hot cuisine thing going on here what like eight nine months ago Michelin shows up here that represents such an amazing leap forward over this dining community because it gives it gives them gravitas and certainly we're in one of the best oh my [Music] forehead tended in XO sauce the frog stomach tastes like fireflies squid the chefs here have beaten chicken fat then putting the abalone on top so that humble little shoe my right there represents hours of work which is probably why they have three Michelin stars yeah yes the food here is both high and low you don't have to get fancy to eat really really well take for instance the beloved national dish Taiwanese beef noodle soup first the local neighborhood version oh my gosh it's beautiful absolutely gorgeous so they've taken one of the most traditional and humblest ingredients in Taiwanese cookery a noodle soup and just elevated it enough exactly it's the local food but in a refi place much more you like every every week you can go they make their own noodles everything here is from scratch from scratch it's a duck block duck blood yes duck blood cake oh my gosh [Music] how's that gorgeous Wow that's gorgeous I'm stunned it has tremendous mouthfeel curvy it's chewy it's perfectly cooked but at the same time it's not too heavy Taiwanese beef noodle soup is the national dish what everyone had personal pick and every mom have personal recipe Veniero's how did that come about Taiwan because we use to use cow in the field they work in the field so when they get me Oh dispatches yes so we just have a this size of beef we can have a big ball of the soup maybe the whole family even for one or two days only soup next the fine-dining chef steak it's wonderful scene this noodle kind of come up into the global noodle appreciation because it's not just Italy it's not just ramen in Japan you know this is this is one of the great noodle dishes of the world my chefs when they are doing noodles from me here they're just trying to do in a French way you know like and then the blanche to be the shuffle shuffle and then the presentation and all the vegetables that do is like so exquisitely oh my god the the braised Wagyu Shin was extraordinary that texture is insane and every element is so perfect I'm glad you took your time thank you next we're heading up into the mountains even though Taiwan is just one eleventh the size of California its variety of microclimates make it the perfect environment for producing meat vegetables and yes even caviar sturgeon are just incredible animals prehistoric armor plating delicious de grow to immense size purest water you can find depending on the species some you can harvest caviar some they use a pursue she me when they're ready they only have about three days a three-day window to harvest at the pink yeah gotta get it when it's right right and the larger the fish the better than caviar yeah now I'm getting hungry oh good I got a lot of food for you very herbal front it's it's not salty at all then it it finishes with a lot of sweetness the caviar is extraordinary I'm also extremely impressed with the quality of the fish it's so buttery it's such a buttery fish you know we met three four years right the restaurant scene was not half as evolved then as it is now it is exploded since my last visit here thirty years ago I don't think I would imagine this eating caviar locally grown harvested absolutely not and part of the reason is that you have you know access to ingredients like this they're sort of changing the landscape that that inventive chefs want to play with one of those creative chefs leading the pack is Richie Lynn of mume I'm stepping into his Test Kitchen to learn how to make one of his signature dishes I'm gonna just poach it for a couple seconds after we cook the cuttlefish we have a lot of leftover liquid and here I'm just gonna thicken it up with a little bit of cream and butter a bullet road the jam target from tawa yeah and the seaweed cracker Wow the flavor of the ocean that's beautiful that's it gorgeous you really could have done a restaurant anywhere for us al concept was very simple we try to elevate all the Taiwanese ingredients in a showcase to the diners what we have what what is so amazing about the Taiwanese ingredients I get it 100% I mean everything here is just spectacular it's a serious foot town in here it's a very serious food town I'm ready for dinner with my friends Susan and Leyte they're the founders of journey the travel plane service that set this whole trip up for me when I found out there's actually people farming sturgeon in here it's very exciting absolutely absolutely so you're using journey in Taiwan I've been surprising for you a wild ride so far I've eaten now at three restaurants that I would not have picked for myself and I would have missed if it weren't for you guys even though you're actually one of the world's biggest travel experts and you say well I don't know at all and we are your best friend on the ground there nobody can know it all or keep up with it all unless that's their job I want to crowdsource expertise you know and you guys you guys are expert [Music] Taiwan is famous for its 24/7 Street food but it can get overwhelming unless you know which bite to get where and using journey is like having local experts by your side showing you how to do it right everybody thinks it's a bunch of junky street food right the level of precision with a lava cookery is really awesome I don't care how much you've eaten all day long if you don't get hungry walking down this alley something is wrong with you and I don't want to be your friend so this is the place that I like as if new roof on wasn't here I'm twist and rich and just insanely appetizing enough throw a duck egg on top of it oh my god unbelievable this was actually the first dish that kind of turned me on to be like a foodie I would use the hot places down just for this yeah yeah thank you oh there we go [Music] oh my god it's perfect no I think one of the one of the great takeaways about where Taiwan is at today is that the super traditional places like this can sort of fit hand-in-hand with new style places like yours absolutely but I think that's because the people who are creating these new style like you are really turned on by the traditions of their parents eating is a social sport here Taiwanese food is as much about the flavors and textures as it is about the people you gather around the table on my last night here I got together with journey and their crew of local experts who helped make this whole trip possible well this place is one of the many many things you wouldn't even consider as local sequel you to reach here quite a bit of a few wild catches around Taiwan it's an island and the seafood is unbelievable here give you one you can probably pick a fish that's ability yeah when in doubt always pick a fish with good teeth yeah because it needs it's eating other fish so they usually taste a little better okay do you know how you hold a crab very carefully yeah [Music] everyone should eat it while it's hot the symmetric taipei city is a hide engine being asia yeah there's so much fun here and not many people hear it seriously isn't is the best-kept secret now so much has happened in the last three four years it's crazy crazy you know most most people who come here they'll see the sights and they'll eat in a street food meal and then they'll have a hotel wheeled it won't come to a street like this and see what's going on the reason that they're not going is not because they don't want to it's because they don't know it's there and that's why cheers to you guys journey is what connects their people to the rest of the world so no trip is complete without a big group dinner and a night out on the town if you're going to Taiwan or anywhere else in the world for that matter you've got to have my friends at journey plan the trip for you [Music]

Channel: Journy

Views: 408,957

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Id: STMGKH5-VKo

Length: 14min 9sec (849 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 18 2018