Worth It: Taiwan Marathon

hey everybody hi andrew hello it's been a minute it has been a minute we're here and we are going to be sharing the worth it taiwan marathon with you all it covers our trip back in 2019 so 20 years ago uh we were there in taiwan eating lots of good food and we want to share those three episodes with you yeah and so between each episode we're going to be sharing some behind the scenes commentaries what maybe you didn't see on camera that was happening as well this is my first time on ate oh yeah welcome welcome stephen i'm i'm a huge fan of this channel i'm subscriber number i think like 45 i think i was there in the beginning oh wow i'll probably like i'll put like a hundred and something i don't know it's been cool to see y'all cooking up some stuff a lot of stuff you're cooking a lot of stuff yeah a lot of stuff we hope to do more travel in the future some of it with you but yeah in the meantime there's a lot of cooking and also in the meantime what what's going on with you over at watcher so people have been wondering where i went uh you can actually subscribe to my new channel i i actually teamed up with brian and shane from buzzfeed and solved and we started a channel called watcher you can check that out on youtube i have a food show there it's called dish granted and it's where i make the most extravagant meals for my guests and i take all the learnings i've had traveling the world with andrew and adam on worth it and applying it to a crazy food game show we had andrew on yeah you could even see me on there it's been awesome to watch i i'm an avid watcher whoa okay okay so we're gonna now tee up the very first episode here which is worth it dumplings and this one's very fun this was the first episode of the three-part series and you can see uh i was excited about the food about learning mandarin please enjoy we're in taiwan we're back with a three-part mini-series joining us on all of our episodes our friend translator fellow buzzfeed producer and glam we're seeing some great modes of transportation some fun games some tricks some treats and some delights you know how you know we're in taiwan the beautiful 101 tower and because it's steamy which is perfect for the first food that we're doing in our trip dumplings a food that's often cooked with steam great transition today i'm worth it we're gonna be trying three dumplings at three drastically different price points to find out which one is the most worth it at its price i am so excited to do dumplings so excited i feel like we've been talking about this episode since season one one of my goals this trip is to brush up on my mandarin because i have the mandarin skills of a four-year-old my goal is to get it to a five-year-old by the end of this trip that's a very good goal thank you dumpling number one we're going to see miss liu in her restaurant lil josh rajenbao how's that good good we're gonna get some 50 cent pan fried dumplings and we've never had a price so low and worth it no we haven't that is a drastic price point you've been making dumplings for 30 years i'm just curious what you think makes a perfect dumpling it is cute and that's it [Laughter] we've heard that the dough of your buns is very delicious what makes it so special [Music] you know how you're actually in taiwan how dumplings and motor scooter sounds it's a beautiful noise so not only are we having dumplings but we're also having soy milk so we notice you're actually making your own soy milk here and tell us about how you guys make that change [Music] oh geez i didn't know that's what soy milk is supposed to taste like kind of like a peanut butter drink like that's how nutty it tastes to me okay how's the soy milk like almost done oh my goodness i really like the soy milk this is really good it's like the first time i had full fat milk oh yeah you know adam try some soy milk yeah let's get to the buns let's get to the buns pork cabbage chive look at the bottom crust it's like a little hi i'm crispy the dough is so good what was the term for chewie is that an actual term yeah this is so cute i don't know how to describe the weight of it but it's pleasantly plump pleasantly plump okay the pork bun oh whoa that's my favorite adam you want to take a minute you know my problem with burgers you're playing a game of like jenga tetris as you're biting into it with a bun you're not losing anything lastly the cabbage i love the shape of this one it looks like a clam this is 50 cents we just ate three dollars of food by the way okay this one might actually be my favorite damn it i don't live in taiwan 50 cents i don't even have to be hungry it's just it would be foolish not to the pleasure you get out of chewing really good bro yeah oh my gosh qq too cute i think you need to open this in america i can give you my dress just open up shop next to me because i need to eat this on my way to work please englan that was a dumpling it was actually a bao but bell is a dumpling uq is my new favorite food terminology it's uh quite warm here in taiwan so i think before we have our next dumpling we need a refreshing treat we're in taiwan what kind of treats should we have shaved ice we're going to showa ice the chinese name is bingsu this looks awesome this is one of your favorite desserts right not this specifically but shaved icing guys generally so there's two types of shaved ice here classic mango chunks on top of milk shaved ice and then chocolate shaved ice with whiskey it's really good but it tastes really different i'm going full mango oh wow this texture is very surprising oh the mango inka get in here and try this mango this is like garden of eden mango right here um of course it tastes good you drink whiskey with ice yeah and chocolate chocolate works we're eating a food that's cooked with steam and now we're eating ice so we're just exploring all the meals they call that states of matter how many chemicals oh excuse me all right give me a fact dumpling fact it's not a dumpling bag huh it's related to dumplings though definitely related fast dumpling in fact because most foods humans eat are soft the body and brain have learned to like the novelty of an opposing texture like crunch even after all that effort to make a perfectly huge dough it's still worth it to add the crunch on the bottom back to the perfect food man all right we're off to our next dumpling spot we're gonna go see mr chen his steam dumpling restaurant inca what's the name of it [Music] you're learning nice [Music] how many dumplings do you think your restaurant makes per day a day 5 000 a day [Music] when customers come here are they only eating dumplings or are they ordering other things as well that's right we've built out our meal with some extra stuff here we have let's dumpling it up they make 5 000 of these a literal army of dumplings in one day feels like i'm fighting an army of dumplings with my mouth home dip [Music] that's incredible oh wow dumplings i've had in the past once it's steamed it becomes loose around the filling yeah but these are tight and dense and still juicy inside so juicy let's do a side dish break i vote century egg tofu madness [Music] right wow that's not what i was gonna do wow okay oh okay wow you know what i realized yeah egg nature's dumpling wow cheers cheers to 100 years oh yeah hold that up hold that up yeah this is an egg and you can see through it it's very jelly all right so here we have the vegetable dumpling watching them make these dumplings was like magic they closed their hands and when they open it there's a dumpling it's really like someone's doing a card trick in front of your eyes fun fact this is actually inca's grandmother's suggestion really yeah my grandma was the one who recommended this place to me good recommendation it's so cute think about the amount of work that's put into these dumplings and how cheap it is that is the ultimate magic trick that pork dumpling like a korean spa like a dry cleaned shirt steamed to perfection our next dumpling is also going to be steamed we're having the soup dumpling the shalom bao that's right but before we do that we're going to have another taiwanese dessert treat pineapple cake it's one of my oh my god it's one of my favorite places [Music] so every time you come here even if you don't buy anything they will give this to you like a pineapple cake with oolong tea that's confidence that's like we know how good it is because you're definitely gonna get it yes and you will cheers cheers pineapple cakes are really good buttery and flaky on the outside and then you get that really fresh pineapple sweetness and tartness iconic iconic new york and cheesecakes taiwan and pineapple cake yes yes something like that smell it right [Music] okay i see i got it yeah i've never had pineapple jammified like this should just pop the rest well you might want to save to enjoy it while you listen to this dumpling fact i'm sorry what is fact in mandarin oh could you say dumpling fact doesn't andrew do the language better yeah [Music] in 2013 and 2014 chef turned writer christopher st cavish created a soup dumpling index measuring the thickness of the dough the soup volume and the total weight of each individual xiaolong bao at 52 different restaurants this data was then calculated with the formula filling plus soup divided by thickness of skin times a hundred to assign a score representing the quality of structural engineering in gel and now look quadratic formula was already hard enough all right next up we're going to a superstar a soup dumpling spot we're going to meet the boss man mr young it originated here in taiwan they right now at this very moment have 164 locations worldwide that's at this moment that's wild by tomorrow then it may be 180. we don't know we're gonna go eat their truffle soup dumpling truffle have you had it before not truffle i'm not bougie i'm just gonna walk away from that comment [Music] so when it's steamed it becomes liquidy what's important about that pleading process how do you maintain such high quality around the world y'all called it's locally brewed and it has a really strong flavor of fruits oh the logo is great it's a tiger cheers stephen cheers mmm that's that's quite good almost cider so then for the pork chalon bao the most important part is the soup inside it's sort of like the soul of the shaolin val so we lift it up from the top we place it at the back sorry the bottom just sagged down at a very satisfying way a little hole inside to let the broth come out okay and then please take a sip been away from me or just eat alone okay great i'm following instructions stephen mmm nice yes nice and we can add a little bit of ginger with the sauce on top and then you can enjoy the challenge together all right for you to drink your yeah i'm not good at how did you poke that so well would you need some help cheers [Music] oh yeah yeah that's really good it's almost cloth like the bottom fabric the broth has like a sweetness to it it's so good do people ever eat it in one bite yes they do but please be careful because it's really hot okay sometimes you just gotta fly too close to the sun though so i feel like i want to feel it burst in my mouth it was hot we mentioned it so much in this video but i really have to bring you back to the qq even though the dough is so thin it still is very satisfying how do you attain that kind of texture in like a film sheet adam can you try this please that's good yeah it's really good this is our truffle and pork xiao long bao why do a truffle soup dumpling cleanse my palate before we get into the eating i do have to point out the pleating on each dumpling they're beautiful oh yes [Music] oh what bougie cheers these are awesome okay last season we ate soup that had truffle in it we learned that has to be activated by heat and fat right so the truffle in a soup dumpling totally makes sense it really says something about this dough that even though it's still thin you still get that qq it's impossibly thin a common complaint about our show is that we always just put truffle on stuff to make it more expensive and we see you comment section we see you but these are about three us dollars per dumpling which is expensive but for the taste of truffle how nice this is i'd say that's worth it show title watch out doing truffle right yeah they're not doing it wrong adam you want to see if they're doing it right [Laughter] so we're here at rauha night market because inka suggested that we come and eat their stinky tofu the smell around the stall is quite stinky but once it's fried it is much more subdued cheers steven cheers mmm so juicy holy crap speaking of soup dumpling that's a soup tofu try stinky tofu okay so before we get to our worth it winners what was your favorite thing in this episode that was not a dumpling my favorite thing was the fire hydrant soy milk at the lyoja shuejan bao place the visuals of that are just astounding my favorite thing was getting dressed like a scientist at din tai fung central kitchen we went through this airlock that blew all the dust and hair off of us and we got to see some really cool behind the scenes stuff so stephen which dumpling was the most worth it to you at its given price my worth at winner today goes to the pan fried dumplings at leo joshua bao the value was incredible there the dumplings were amazing the cabbage bun at that location was very nearly my worth at winter but i have to give it to the steamed pork dumplings at location too like my fantasy of a dumpling is that dumpling inca who's your with a winner i don't know it's so hard i want to say two because it's my grandma's favorite but i think it's honestly one annie adam says his winners din tai fung next week soup that's right soup again so soon you say trust us taiwan may be the perfect place to have soup yes so excited there's so many soups we have so many soups it's gonna be great so many soups what an episode i was just gonna say i feel like every time people ask me what was my favorite moment from this trip i always talk about your reaction andrew when you first have that sip of soy milk geez i didn't know that's what soy milk supposed to taste like that to me is like the highlight of my entire taiwan trip where your face was literally like what just happened what is this it was shocking i i had no idea that that's what soy milk tasted like yeah it's so good i mean i loved it so much i made a video about trying to make it also everybody in this whole episode was the nicest person i've ever met in my entire life like the owner of the first place owner of the second place the head of din tai fung were all the nicest people he even like led us into his into like a board meeting that he was doing oh yeah every din tai fung that was in taiwan they were doing like their weekly check-in or something like that we were just like sitting there flies on the wall it was like going into like the nasa space station remember how we were so jet-lagged we literally got off the plane the same day to hike up a mountain and then got bitten by mosquitoes right wasn't there also a typhoon that day or was it the next it was right after the typhoon in the middle of the afternoon it was like pouring rain like literally a typhoon was coming down we were like all right i guess that's a wrap but then it cleared up so we went up elephant mountain so that we would have a view of the city at sunset you know at like magic hour when the light is perfect but we actually got there a little bit too early so we were in this sort of post-rain humid situation we were hiking up this mountain all the bugs are coming out because of the moisture and like the rain has stopped but then adam made us wait there to like actually get the right light adam is the reason why we were suffering so much basically huh oh and also you remember when we got the shot and then like five minutes later we were walking down he's like ah actually that's always how it is it's also where i discovered one of my favorite iphone settings which is you can make a live photo loop but then it also fades out and i didn't know that this was a thing and i accidentally did it so then i had this picture of the skyline but in it stephen you cross my frame but then you like fade out as you're walking up the stairs i remember like you're talking about the first day we landed there's nothing that's more surreal and enjoyable and just like inspiring than getting off of playing a new country that's just so much fun and we i haven't done that in like a year and a year and a half it's such a magical feeling remember how we wear sunny hills i love how they were like can like make your orders right now and we'll ship ship it to your hotel right and then everybody ordered so much pro tip when you do travel overseas pack your bag to like 60 maybe even less maybe even more because you're gonna buy clothing there you're gonna bring home five boxes of pineapple cakes and you're not gonna wanna buy another i actually bought another bag because i did i was gonna say or buy a suitcase or a bag so next we have the soup episode i just wanna shout out this intro where we visited this salt producing facility which is also one of my favorite intros and i think one of the best parts about making this show as a travel show is you get to incorporate all these super unique and interesting places super fun though super super fun we're back for part two of our worth of taiwan series today we're doing soup taiwan style it's amazing because it's so hot in taiwan and yet they love their soup here it's eating for breakfast lunch and dinner so many great dishes to try but before we get there steven where are we we are here at the jinzhai zhao tail paved salt fields is that right inga historically one of the earliest salt producing areas of taiwan ocean water comes in the sun evaporates it and you're left with salt speaking of salty liquids sweat no oh we're doing soup today i'm worth it we're going to be trying three taiwanese soups at three drastically different price points to find out which one is the most worth it at its price it's so windy the typhoon just passed so we're heading a little bit north of the city of tainan to where inca we're going to jai to have some fish soup at lean tomi ruitang ling is my last name and chongming is smart so we're just going to like the smart version of me this place that'll be an extra special treat taiwan is very hot yes soup is a very hot food why do taiwanese people love soup so much time what why is the fish fried and then added [Music] [Music] what's the plate for for the fish form oh is this your beer yes my fish here cheers steven look at that logo fish soup beer i'm blown away cheers in mandarin is gambei is that right [Music] okay that was very unexpected wow again wow a thousand times very refreshing it is give me one word wow so this is the marquee piece right here i'm just gonna bite into this this is like a dish that dares you to want something else you want vegetables boom we got it you want tofu forget about it you want pork we got it right here you want fish boom fry it we can do it yeah when she was listing ingredients it was just like the nba all-star game and here we have the tofu next up you all ready for this turkey rice i love how this soup with all of this stuff they were like nah you still need some turkey rice that's right it was one thing we've learned here in taiwan you cannot leave a restaurant hungry they will assault you with food in the most lovingly way possible yeah um it's just turkey meat and fat on a bowl of rice it's great if you weren't an adventurous eater this would seem like a scary bowl of food but it all just kind of blends into this big soft hug i don't know it tastes nice dude it's a kind taste that's exactly how you say it in mandarin though really good eat right good taste yeah healthy means good eat good taste yeah let's spread the kindness once i finish this meal it will be so long until i get to eat this again and that makes me sad i know this whole trip is actually just it's sad the worst [Applause] that soup was incredible in the rainbow of soup to stew this was somewhere in the middle and like the stoop stoop yeah so before we get to our next soup we decided to get some treats at the garden night market in tainan is my favorite treats at the night market it is a peanut roll with ice cream and cilantro what cilantro and a dessert i guess it makes sense we put mint in desserts and that's just oh another green leaf think of that cheers cheers huh oh i like dessert cilantro so our next soup is actually going to be hot pot hop out back archaeologists have found pots from 2 000 years ago that may have been used to make an early iteration of hotpot these were found in the anhu province of china wow old hot pot dude hotpot for me everybody thanksgiving in the limb family we always always always eat hot pot it would make sense that soup was one of the oldest things humans ate yeah just uh water throw some stuff in there and eat it tomorrow hot pot inga where are we going we are going to ayuro sausage to eat some beef soup that's what i'm talking about beef soup get that hot pot throw some beef in there throw some soup in there throw some veggies in there whatever you want we're gonna eat it excuse me choke on the peanut why do you love hot pot so much [Music] we saw that it arrived by taxi is it always come by taxi that's so cool the meat takes a cab to every meal [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] we've eaten a lot of beef on this show but this is some of the prettiest beef i've ever seen the color is ridiculous cold brewed oolong this is one of the coolest things it's like tea snow glow and it's got the net no way cheers wanna start with this one let's do it the shoulder cat cheers stephen one two wow going in one two oh no this smells incredible cheers oh that's nice bean we're just getting to eat really nice steak yeah with soup and you get to eat it the second it's done cooking i'm gonna try the same piece of meat this time but now dip it shaboo that rocks can i get in there yeah yeah absolutely one like you're baptizing the meat the dip is awesome okay that's doing it right there's two great ways to enjoy beef you either cook it very briefly or you cook it a really long time this is the best of both worlds the quick cooked beef and also the super long cooked beef because the soup is a 10 to 12 hour steeped in beef bone soup but enough about beef pork bread pork break at first this did not make sense to me but it's because the beef is so precious it breaks up the flow so i don't just crush my plate of beef all in one bite like i want to well and also this bowl of rice is bringing me more comfort than my body pillow what i've had the same one for over 10 years it's hard to sleep without it [Applause] wow no i wash it that explains a lot about you it's like a teddy bear we all have that like item yeah but now mine is in my parents attic because they stopped sleeping with it after the age of eight why wouldn't you give up something that's so comfortable all right we're gonna have the broth now we've finally reached the soup part of the meal the smell though cheers oh that is nice it's not so beefy actually it's got like fruity flavor yeah apples or something this is the best way to close out this meal yeah it's a nice gentle landing it's like when you have a delicious sauce and you want a piece of bread to mop it up to get all the sauce here you just drink the sauce hot pot that hot pot was so good okay so we've come to taichung for our final soup but before we have that we're gonna have some cold drinks that's right we're going to tienran one of my favorite places in the states so i'm glad to be having here in taiwan where it's actually from so we've got oolong tea and a black tea boba confession time i'm not the biggest fan of boba that's fine i just eating while drinking i don't isn't that what soup is soup is drinking while eating it's completely different don't get it twisted cheers mmm that's what i like unsweetened nice iced tea that's all i want instead of another soup fact we're actually going to have a boba fett fact boba tea was invented in the 1980s in taichung oh some genius out here putting boba and milky together they're controversies around who actually invented boba milk tea there's multiple reports of different people so interesting we're now on our way to gubami where we're going to see chef chen to try her beef noodle soup the iconic dish of taiwan we've had it a few times off camera so far just for our crew meals and such and it's usually a very inexpensive dish five or six us dollars equivalent but today's is going to be a little bit more deluxe it's going to cost around 30 us dollars which is a lot for beef noodles but it's gonna be really good mubami is beef noodles in taiwanese dialect why do you think taiwan loves their beef noodle soup so much it's fast and also it's luxury you have a big bowl of noodles soup and meat i never really see restaurants can do all three good i want to do things the best so when i do noodles i want to find out the best formula we test with different flowers for almost six months i would say we want the noodles to be authentic in the middle but also the outside can absorb a little bit the soup we use the japanese wagyu beef shank and also we have a condiment of smoked bone marrow and on top of it we have some shabu shabu of the beef shank to give two different textures of the meat what is your background in cooking like where did you come from i learned in paris i traveled to states a little bit and then i come back i started my french restaurant 10 years ago very fine dining it was my dream restaurant but it's in taichung it's very weird i think taiwan people they like something casual i want to do something smaller and now i have a bar i have noodle shop i was just trying to do something i like it looks like very refined but i didn't do it on purpose i just try to make it good and then it becomes this way [Music] look at this that's not soup we have tofu skin cooked in some of the beef stock this is the radish with lemon and olive oil zucchini confit and goose fat some kind of green bean and beef mushroom deliciousness i know that a lot of delicious stuff in front of us i cannot wait for the soup right now but i will be patient whoa whoa hold on the soup that is damn good [Music] oh i did not think that was going to taste like that what it's a smoky porky green bean tofu skin that looks super juicy and meaty cheers that's the best one no this is the best one no no no no no no zucchini confetti and goose fat [Music] every time i eat something green i expect it to taste like a crisp vegetable instead it tastes like a fatty animal this is awesome wow finally the beef [Music] oh i'm ready to eat some vegan soup right now oh thank you smell this thing i can't believe this i can't believe this yeah i can't believe this this is a 30 bold suit broth cheers okay i didn't think a beef taste could be refreshing yeah yeah let's do the choice cut meat on top wow very flavorful beef okay jeez that is good i literally just ate a pastrami sandwich in one bite yeah and the juices of the soup just bursting out inca have some come come come [Music] this is so good those are great noodles springy chewy look at that beef wow holy crap i didn't think it was gonna be that soft what it's like softer than taffy softer than it's somewhere you've got to be kidding me okay let's add the bone marrow this is like buttering already buttered bread [Music] including all the steaks we've eaten this beef best beef taste i've ever tasted the best part you get to eat noodles the whole time it's like usually a steak you're just eating steak pretty fun but okay noodles the whole time yeah i've had a lot of beef noodle soup before and it's never bad it's always satisfying and comforting but this one is like boy was born in akron ohio pardon the chosen one and he used to play magazines when he was 14. i don't be a great basketball player where is this lebron james oh god damn it every time gubami one of the best soup dishes i've ever had one of the best noodle dishes i've ever had one of the best beef dishes i've ever had i like what we did there before we get to our worth it winners andrew what was your favorite thing that was not a soup in this episode the craft beer at smart fish wow i never thought i'd see a beer with a fish soup logo what was your favorite non-soup thing beef taxi there's not even a escort just beef in the taxi beef out the taxi okay stephen which soup was most worth it to you i thought smart fishy was gonna be a winner when we ate there i thought the beef hop how was gonna be my winner when we ate there but goodbye is my worth of winner today so beefy just so much thought put into it my worth at winter goes to smart fish that fish soup was crazy truly one of the most unique dishes i've ever eaten thinking annie [Music] what adam who's your worth and winner what i've never been so uh this is awesome i win today that's it for worth it taiwan's soup we have one more episode in this mini series coming up next stephen what is it chicken that was great a lot of soup and it also won't be the last soup of the marathon but we'll get to that in a moment so another kind of funny thing that happens with this show that is sometimes on purpose sometimes coincidental is that there will be like a b narrative of food and for this one it was the side rice dishes at the first location there was that turkey rice and then at the second location there was also the complimentary braised pork over rice which i thought was just amazing and like could have been its own subject for a show it was also a self-service version you could go up and fill up on as much as you wanted but then you still had this incredible hot pot of soup in front of you just want to stay for that brace because braised pork over rice is such like a common food in taiwan like i know that for that location we were filming we had to rush off to our next location but i was like i need to eat this rice so i literally like they gave me a bowl and i finished it in like 10 seconds because i was like this is so good and i have to finish all of it i also want to point out because i feel like this is something that viewers would appreciate knowing when steven takes the bite of soup and stands up that is like real involuntary reaction from him that is good like it was that surprisingly delicious we were both just kind of like stunned in that moment yeah in the very introduction of this episode we are out in this salt field and in the back of the salt field you see in this shot there's actually a platform and adam actually took the time to walk all the way over there and grab a super wide shot of us doing the same scene from a different angle so that's just the dedication that goes into making this show okay i'm gonna wait for steven to finish his his little sip there that's right i'll start i want to give some livelihood to the to the frame here next up and the last one of this marathon would be our worsted chicken episode which actually features one of my favorite locations i'm very excited but the first location is another soup worth of taiwan is back worth it chicken is that a chicken yeah i know it's a rooster which is a chicken is that a chicken no it's a pigeon we're here at tainan's garden night market we've just picked up our chicken treats tomorrow the journey begins we're going to three cities for three acts of chicken ending in a chicken finale like you've never seen before bok bok bish lego mmm it's like a pancake today i'm worth it we're going to be trying three chicken dishes at three drastically different price points to find out which one is the most worth it at its price so we're eating chicken but our first chicken is actually a soup i know we just finished a soup video but that's just how many soups there are here you can't escape the soup we're off to see the chen family at walking sioux where we're going to be trying their sesame oil chicken what is that in mandarin inka mayo my own okay i'm excited to eat some chicken let's do it [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] sesame oil chicken is that dish a [Music] this looks incredible we've got a couple additional accoutrements here the thai basil sauce the spicy fermented bean paste and sticky rice all right let's taste the broth sesame oil chicken delightful nuttiness of this sesame oil yeah super nutty super got this hearty feel to it oh yeah this is hardiest how's that oh it's so incredibly juicy and tender and ah i'm gonna smell the thai basil because that's our specialty here [Music] whoa smells like pesto yeah what that is awesome that is like a salad dressing to dip your soup into adam you gotta try the chicken in the thai basil wanna try some rice oh yes chicken steven the thing i keep getting blown away by in taiwan i go to a meal expecting one thing and then there's always all this bonus stuff that just blows my expectations out of the water yeah i mean even when they first started this restaurant this was a bonus dish right that's crazy thing so there's a lot of herbs added to this soup it tastes like an elixir it just washes away all the pain on your body achy back i got a soup for that tired eyes soup for that my foot hurts throw some poop on there it's all the same soup it's very convenient adam you want to get some of this soup i'm pretending like adam's over here even though he's over there all right so our next chicken location is in taipei but first we're going to take a countryside detour yeah that's right we're going to a scallion farm in ilan and we're going to be making our own scallion pancakes not just cooking them we're going to pick them ourselves scallions yeah it's a chicken episode it's a soup episode and now it's a pancake episode [Music] what you see in front of you here is a scallion pancake but rewind three hours what did we do we're in this unique valley where you get different temperature winds at different times of day which create a nice perfect humidity for growing scallions so today we've picked a bunch of scallions cleaned them up chopped them cried a little bit and then learned how to make scallion pancakes and here we have it the spoils of our toils cheers cheers oh yeah no okay this is one of the best things i've eaten so far you know what time it is now time for a taiwan food fact the concept of xiaochu meaning little eats is popular in taiwan basically meaning snacking throughout the day often on street food between meals of course yeah in taiwan if you only eat three meals in one day you're just doing it wrong but we're actually on our way to a snack shop next inko where are we going uh chujacho city we're gonna see reebok and julia and try their fried chicken what makes a perfect fried chicken to you guys so what makes your taiwanese fried chicken unique [Music] foreign what this is not what i was expecting you ready stephen i'm ready this is called dining al fresco so we've ordered the recommended sparkling wine apparently you only order by the bottle here i like that let's go high speed cheers how awesome is this this is some riviera we gotta eat this while it's hot so let's go oh oh it's so fragrant the garlic the onion this basil the meat inside is so soft it was very pleasing very pleasing like bruleed marshmallow seriously oh man that's wild i thought curfew was only for dumplings it's so soft it's almost like chicken nugget-esque you know what's crazy about this we've eaten fried chicken in minneapolis where the restaurant thought you know what's actually the best drink to have with fried chicken sparkling wine and here we are in taiwan and this restaurant i had the same idea i see if there's a restaurant on either side of the world that is doing the same thing it must be great pork knuckle and radish cake wow oh oh man watch out they're gonna push me off my stool radish shake is a plastic dim sum dish i've eaten this like every time i go out you know they bring around the carton like they're all steamed right it's still hot but it doesn't have that like break through the crunch texture that this has you can maybe liken it to a potato pancake that's so good that's crazy how should we eat the pork knuckle by hand by hand just like an apple mm-hmm okay kinda looks like a donut oh yours does mine does cheers [Music] oh oh my god this is like a pork donut wow so this is actually cartilage but it feels like fat with how loosey-goosey it is the gelatin oh the jelly of this pork donut right and to wash it down sparkling wine oh thank goodness for this how awesome is this thank you this is really good we are at the regent hotel where they serve a boba croissant yes you heard me write boba croissant we got the matcha tiramisu and the milk tea which one do you want my gut is going toward matcha but i'm going against my gut and go for the tiramisu i actually knew that you were gonna pick that one because it has gold flake on it all right i'll go milk tea very satisfying to pick up cheers cheers are you gonna bite into it yeah or open it up i'm gonna bite into it [Music] this is just all of the textures it's nice it's like satisfyingly squishy i think that's a word for that qq ready for a taiwan food pack stephen saw one food fact taiwan food fact up until the 1960s the most common taiwanese breakfast was rice or congee buns emerged as a popular taiwanese food in the 1960s when u.s trade introduced wheat into the taiwanese diet shouldn't that fat go in the dumpling episode that we did well it's more about breakfast i just wanted an excuse to talk about congee because it's just a nice savory thing to have for breakfast this is a very good croissant yeah i got a cake oh my this boba croissant is part of a boba festival bubbling here as a region and inca's got the crown jewel of the festival and now it's time to take a little train ride qq you wanna hear my boba wrap yeah how do you like your boba yeah eat it like a cobra yeah my name is yoda yeah and i like yoga now dab never this is a train water bottle that they sell on the tray so once we get done with this guy we'll be in taichung and we'll be eating at our final chicken location we're going to go meet sri alban mo to have beggar's chicken [Music] what kind of cuisine is the food here that i which one of us gets to do it i'll do the hammering you do hammer time what you just automatically assume that you get the hammer you can both do it yeah okay i can't do hammers yeah okay [Music] thank you [Music] cheers to our final meal in taiwan oh no no cheers since this is our last meal in taiwan we're blowing it out let's do it i saw a little sneak peek of what's coming upstairs it's going to blow you away so this is winter melon whoa wow wow [Music] what look at it coming out pouring on the fish's head these look too real look at the scales on these guys honestly every time i've seen a koi fish i've thought they look like a tasty fish cheers steven fish kiss this isn't the dumpling oh super good this looks like in hook when robin williams is imagining the food have you seen this movie it's all like vibrant colors do yourself a favor go watch hook you'll have a delightful time you'll be reminded of this moment i'm going pink for my hair we might as well have just shot all three episodes here much like the origin myth first we're eating like an emperor and then we're taking a journey to discover the chicken food is all about storytelling and taste but also storytelling what you guys can go up now summer time okay all right stephen i'm nervous i am scared too one two three wow nice looks like chocolate smells like dirt we just hatched our chicken dinner it is very dino egg like [Music] wow chicken cheers chicken cheers that's good what that is so soft some people say chickens are boring me i would say those people haven't had it deep fried bacon clay stuffed with pork and aromatics there's pork in the chicken yeah so now she's just adding like a sauce i think it's like an oyster sauce slurry oh that tastes like my mom's fried rice whoa that's weird mom you know what this chicken is it's a time capsule uh-huh for flavor buried under dirt much like a regular time capsule but it's also a dish from the main dynasty is there a letter written in there like dear diary do i very soft at its core this dish is just a plate of really nice chicken so simple so perfect we're gonna take it back into artistry land now if that's okay with you let's do it what is going on yeah right now yeah dude looks like a scene from nightmare before christmas this is too beautiful not to share i think we should get everybody in here and we all take a bite who wants a swan who wants a pumpkin cheers everybody cheers what oh my god it's red bean why wow why not why why not worth it beggars chicken you know they say beggars can't be choosers but beggars can be chicken that was quite an experience steven before we get to our worth at winners what was your favorite thing that wasn't one of the highlight foods in this worth it episode the pork knuckle at choo-choo chow chow dan knuckle it was so good i contemplated eating my own knuckles was your favorite thing honestly the hard ass rain while we were filming location two we had a typhoon barely graze us but we still got some awesome hard rain which i love which chicken was the most worth it to you my worth at winter walking soo sesame oil chicken if that chicken had been in the soup episode it would have won that episode too wow comforting exciting inexpensive it was wonderful who's your worthy winner okay walking sioux totally new experience yeah if you could eat with your eyes that place would have won but because that pork knuckle was so effing good my worth it winner must go to suja inga where the winner [Music] chuseon [Music] the fried chicken very good choice all right that's a wrap on worth of taiwan very special thank you to the taiwan tourism bureau that helped us out tremendously with this trip couldn't have been here without them all right let's get out of here bye all right that was chicken gosh i just also want to say that for the second location we all went back there on the last day that's how much we loved it we were all craving it oh it was so good the standout for me was the pork knuckle uh this was also a location during which a typhoon blew through or some heavy thunderstorm typhoon was featured heavily in in these couple episodes i feel like wait that shot of us running in the frames that shot of steven so that shot of andrew and steven running in the rain it was so funny because it was funny for me because i didn't have to do it but like adam made them run back and forth so much with that tiny umbrella oh my gosh but it was right outside the hotel cab stand so all of these hotel patrons were standing there waiting for their taxis and we're just like we're running in the rain running in the rain we are at the regent hotel it was good though that that kind of stuff makes runs out the episodes very nicely note to future self bring rain gear but not just any rain gear has to be like light yeah breathable rain gear so adam wants me to point out that we had a little mix up and the second location is technically per dish less expensive than the first place and like we just got our arithmetic wrong perhaps i would say that you know still in the spirit of the location i stand by the mistake i didn't even notice i didn't i never knew about this actually that this was a thing for the taiwan episode nobody told me about this i just i just i'm looking at this photo of the price tag shot for the fried chicken and i can taste it and i know wait i was just going to talk about how like what stephen said earlier about like what you don't see of like how amazing the people are there at our first location when we first got there i just want to say remember how they made us that like pork belly that we could eat with rice yes because the mom used to cook for banquets so she made that for us and then she also had dessert yeah and then they facetimed their other daughter to tell them what was going on like when we were there like it was just so so cute and just so beautiful like i think those moments are the moments that i wish we could share with with people because it was just so genuine you know yeah how was it being the translator by the way you were like constantly doing so much like having to be the translator not just for the shoot but like for all the coordination as well i really enjoyed the entire process you know i think it always means so much to me to to see how much people enjoy something that is part of my culture like like that moment with andrew when you try the soy milk or like looking at your reactions when you try something for the first time you know like the peanut ice cream i think it's moments like that this is the kind of stuff i want to keep doing you know because i think there's just so much good food that the world should know about so i don't know i i thought it was great but i also do want to say like gidi was such an important part of this journey too i think she was one who really coordinated everything and put it together so thank you again to edie this is actually her in the background of the taste test sitting there with the back to camera you know when we're making this show can't just have like a stranger in the background of the shot the whole time so in this shot she's even serving as an extra to just add that sort of like framing and fill out the the seam there my gosh i love how you can see the clock in the background you can like actually know how much time passed yeah so huge shout out to the whole crew actually in taiwan that helped us make the amazing show that it was uh we had annie we got katie and then edie so we were kind of teasing that front a little bit but if there's one thing from this trip that i think about the most i think about how incredibly delicious the scallions were in taiwan in this particular field that we went to in a valley all the winds from the different sides of taiwan were coming in and so it was actually capturing the flavor from the different that terroir yeah when when something has the flavor of the place in which it's grown it's just the most fun to just drive out to this place and just spend a few hours walking around a farm and that was all we did that day and it was great in the video you only see like maybe two minutes of footage when in reality we spent an entire day there adam shot so much stuff that you don't get to see i don't know maybe adam will put in a video but so we really did every step of the process we went out into this one area of the fields extracted the scallions [Music] wow wasn't there even like a special tool or like a metal poking steak and then we washed the scallions in these big pools they pranked annie by luring her clothes and then flicking the water you know slicing it was amazing these aren't these aren't like scallions yeah they're not prop doubles here these are the actual scallions that we used oh my gosh the photo of the three of us with our scallion pancakes you can tell this level of skill each of us have at this particular task it looks like stock footage i love it it's so funny yeah oh hey there kitty i love that they like fried it up immediately like right there and then andrea remember you really liking the chili sauce that they had there too oh my gosh so good so fragrant being in this scallion field eating a fresh scallion pancake like there was just something so it's like almost surreal that moment you know okay i don't know it just felt like such an out of out of world experience for me yeah i mean my one of my most top five memorable moments on work is at large is when we went to australia and had the wine at in the field where the grapes were picked being able to experience food in that way is something that like we just take for granted because in america everything's so processed or like packaged i think in general whenever possible it's a top tip to go seek out things to try in the place that they're actually produced even if it's just some scallions you know uh a humble allium it could still be the most memorable experience if you get it in that location agreed this truly me and one of like my happiest moments of my life like i was just so happy being out there i think i should just one day retire to be a farmer i think that's just that's my dream gosh can i talk about the hat can i go get my hat that's the only thing i have yeah i also have tons of cat hair what just happened i tried to go get my hat i got too excited i my battery pack fell and then i tripped and then i swatted my coffee mug there's now no more coffee left because i've spilled it twice during the shooting um but i have my hat so at least there's that there we go nice yay i remember we were talking that when we were there like how often are you gonna wear this hat it's been two years since you bought that hat was the purchase worth it oh i love this question this is the best to answer this question um i have only worn it twice since so fair but you didn't what was it was it worth the purchase it was worth it it was you know what it was worth it just for that moment in the video i do not regret it this was great thanks for bringing me on ate thanks for stopping by thanks for hanging out discussing our fun memories of this trip and if you want to see more of steven check him out over on watcher thank you yeah i can't wait to make more worth it and you know is that going on this channel that will yeah nice oh i never got to talk about hotel breakfast in taiwan was my favorite food i've ever eaten ever oh my gosh the hotel breakfasts in taiwan were so good just like anything you wanted i mean you want like savory noodle soup at 8 a.m you got it also the fruit unbelievable and it's like all you can eat at hotel breakfast it's funny that you say that because in america you think hotel you're like oh no i don't want that breakfast yeah but no in asia hotel breakfasts are like cream of the crop also if you want more behind-the-scenes content you can check out this video that i made while we were on the trip there were a lot of really fun moments and a lot of really good memories let's cut all around cool [Music]

Channel: About To Eat

Views: 347,000

Rating: 4.9571476 out of 5

Keywords: $$$, about to eat, adventure, andrew, beef noodle, chicken, dumplings, hot pot, inga, marathon, scallion, shaved ice, soup, steven, taiwan, travel. food, vs, worth it, Tasty, tasty recipes, buzzfeed, buzzfeed tasty, how to cook, how to, how to bake, easy cooking, cooking, food, food porn, breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, breakfast recipes, lunch recipes, dinner recipes, quarantine, baking, eating, kid-friendly, kid-friendly recipes, fun recipes, easy recipes, easy breakfast recipes

Id: uJa584PPm-E

Length: 72min 24sec (4344 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 23 2021