 Woo, that's a hot pussy. No way, huh? Taiwan Buwei. Wow, it's really good. Hey, I'm in the bravo bear. I'm trying to fly away, asking the captain, can you take us to Taipei? When we heard Taiwan was open back up to visitors and travel with no restrictions, it made us think of all the great times that we had in Taipei. To prep for our next trip, we had to try all the best Taiwanese restaurants in New York City. So if you're excited, hit the like button and let's go to Taipei. All right, everybody, I'm here at Wenwen and the food just arrived. This is probably the most hip Taiwanese restaurant in America right now. There's two owners, Eric and Andy. One's from Taipei, one's from Kaohsiung. And to be honest, the food is Taiwanese. It's very traditional in a sense, but it also has a slight twist, but it's twisted with other Taiwanese ingredients. For example, here we have the Yen Suji, aka the popcorn chicken. Everybody's had this, but this is smothered in sacha sauce. And man, this is fire. Popcorn chicken is probably the most famous and popular Taiwanese dish in the world right now, especially obviously it's something that you can get at both shops too. Here you have the Lobo Bang, and Lobo Bang is the Taiwanese dialect version of saying Lourofan. And you can see here, they're doing things a little bit differently. They have the duck egg on top, not a chicken egg. Oh my gosh, I'm excited. This looks so delicious. It's plated like a Japanese curry, but tastes like an elevated Lourofan. And I think the sunny side up duck egg is actually a nice touch because the duck egg, it almost feels a little bit more heavier than a regular chicken egg. I've actually never really had a sunny side up duck egg before in my life. One of my favorite things about Taiwanese breakfast is the Dojang, aka the soy milk. And this one's coming savory. It has chili oil, it has the yo-tiao in there. Let's taste it. That's delicious. It almost tastes a little bit more like milky, but that's why also I really like it. So next time I go to Taipei, I'm eating this every morning. Here we got the crispy tofu. Now, oftentimes you would see this and it would be stinky, but you know, you gotta go to Taipei for the real stinky version. Instead of stink, that has a little bit of mala numbing buzz. This dish really shows that fun, American fusion creativeness here. This is a tater tat dan bing. Okay, it does look like a shojwa bing or a neurogen bing, but they put tater tats inside instead of meat. A little bit of that sauce on top. That's probably their most American flavored dish right here, but that's delicious. That tastes like a dan bing breakfast sandwich. All right, guys, this is their signature chicken sandwich. It's called the BDSM. It's brined, deboned, and marinated in soy milk. This is like the Taiwanese buttermilk fried chicken sandwich. In case you didn't know, Taipei is world famous for the jeepai, which is the big chicken steak, so you know their fried chicken sandwiches are delicious. All right, here we have the fly's head. This is probably one of the more traditional dishes they have on the menu. Maybe the untraditional aspect is putting it on a fresh lettuce wrap. I am so glad we went to Wenwen, and I will say it just wet my palate for going to Taipei. All right, you guys, next up, we are at something that tries to recreate Taipei City in New York City. Look, they even got the hats that say Taiwan Dengang. So for anybody who's been to Taiwan or grew up there, this is like, almost like what? Like street side, you grow up with it, right? You can eat it as a meal or as a snack. It's kind of like street food. We got it ready, man. Oh my goodness, guys. We have our personalized customized lui. This is the prince noodle, the wangzi mian. This is of course the beef slices. We're in America, beef is big, thick glass noodle, tons of chopped garlic, their own special hot sauce on top. I'm telling you, I love Sichuan flavors, but sometimes it's a little heavy, especially for lunchtime. I remember playing at the outdoor courts at Tai Da, which is almost like their NYU or Columbia of Taipei City. And man, I just remember looping. And then afterwards on a slightly rainy drizzle, you just get the lui on a side street at the night market. All right, our next stop on this Taipei crawl is actually not a restaurant. It's actually like a festival, but either ways, I'll show you in a sec. I'm at the La Guardia Airport and I'm headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Let's go. Just landed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Time to go see something from Taipei. Guys, I am in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the annual hot air balloon fiesta. We're out here with Undiscover Taipei with the Bravo Bear. And I'm about to fly in this. I'm pretty excited. The whole hot air balloon team is from Taipei. They came here to let you know quarantine's done and you can come to Taipei. Let's go. So Captain, can we steer the balloon? You see this right line? If you want to go down, you want quickly, you put here and this opens it. All right everybody, I'm in a hot air balloon for the first time in my life. Big shout out to Undiscover Taipei and Bravo Bear because this experience is unlike anything I've had before. You're like floating in the air. You're just like suspended mid air and you're just floating. And it's just, it's a really cool thing. And I would recommend everybody to check it out if they get the chance. Gotta thank God we've been blessed with a nice day. High in the air when we're close to see these light rays. Man, I'm in the Bravo Bear. I'm trying to fly away asking the captain, can you take us to Taipei? Yo, that was such a dope experience to ride the Bravo Bear 6,000 feet in the air. You can actually ride this balloon in Taiwan. So man, I think that would be so cool to do it in Taipei as well. And don't forget Taiwan is super famous for its lantern festivals. And for the first time in 23 years, the Taiwan Lantern Festival is returning to Taipei and is taking over the Shinyi District for two weeks starting in February 2023. I mean celebrating the end of the new year in the heart of the city, what's cooler than that is definitely something I'm going back for. All right, so you just saw us on the Bravo Bear Hot Air Balloon and here, now we're at Taiwan Bear House which is serving Taiwanese bento boxes. They specialize in this. This is my favorite dish here. They have the fried chicken leg, you know, and then they sprinkle on some five spice at the end. Listen to this crisp. Man, who knew those Taiwanese railroad workers were eating so good? This is a juicy chicken leg, super crispy too. At any 7-Eleven in Taipei, you can get a whole bunch of different braised foods. Now, I know that it doesn't look as flavorful, but trust me, there's a lot of tea, a lot of soy sauce, a lot of ginger in there, and honestly, their selection out in Taipei itself is actually really crazy. Mm. And here we are with the authentic Taiwanese sausage which totally reminds me of the sausages you can get when you go shrimping in Taipei. What he's gonna do, he's gonna grill it, he's gonna warm it up, he's gonna slice it down the middle. And he's gonna put a bunch of garnishes in there. All right, so when you're here, you can actually learn about the history of the Taiwanese bento boxes. Obviously, there is a lot of influence from the Japanese bento boxes, but you know, it's just for your everyday worker here. And you know, I can't really read Chinese, but I know that this says cheese shirnan, which is 70 years. So maybe they're talking about how the bento boxes have been around that long. But you know what is a recent Taiwanese invention is the Instant Pot. This was invented by a Taiwanese guy and man, it might be one of the big Taiwanese-American success stories. So shout out. Taiwan Bear House, a little bit of Taipei in New York. All right, we're here at 4-4 South Village in East Village. And 4-4 South actually means it's referring to Taiwan's first military village. So it actually has influences from all over China. And this is the biggest sleeper dish here. This is the Mayou Ji Mishan. And that just means sesame noodles right here, the sesame chicken noodles. And they have the Mishan right here, but it's actually really soup. So get the soup, please. If you come here, sesame, oil, chicken soup, it's amazing. And one of the best things they do here is the beef noodle soup, AKA the Nyeroumen, and it has a lot of different elements here. And I will tell you this guys, as good as the beef noodle soup is here, obviously I don't know. It's not as good as the ones you can get in Taipei, but I can tell you this, it gets kinda close as a delicious bowl of Nyeroumen. Literally meaning cow meat noodles. Dude, getting beef noodle soup in Taipei is almost like getting pizza in New York or Philly cheesesteaks in Philly. The best beef noodle soup I ever had in my life was in Taipei. Another thing that I really miss about my last trip to Taipei is the Gua Bao's. Now you can find these on the street. There was one in the neighborhood that we were staying in next to our Airbnb. You got the crushed peanuts, the preserved veggies, a real fat slice of pork belly right there. This is just like a perfect sandwich. Now I'm not gonna lie, I don't know how many I would eat for breakfast, but for lunch, I think it is a go-to meal for sure. Over the past 10, 15 years, there have been so many fusion Asian boughs at so many different restaurants, but nothing beats the original man. This is the king. This is the one that it came from. All right, for the last dish, you are looking at some Luro flavored Koro style. I mean, this is like, basically they take the most famous Taiwanese dish, the Luro Fond. I think that is the national dish and they're just giving you the fatty pieces of pork belly right here. Let's check it out. Wow. When it comes to braises, you go to Taipei and the bar gets raised is. Listen, this is a chain from Taipei. So really what you're seeing on the menu is just a glimpse. It's just a tip of the iceberg of what they got, even in just Taipei alone. So you just kind of go there and find out for yourself. All right, one of the most iconic things about going to Taipei is of course the night markets. It's such a big part of the culture. And here at VV Bubble Tea in Chinatown, you can actually find a lot of the night market foods, such as the Yen Su Ji, which is the classic popcorn chicken. Mm. Only get it fresh. Next iconic food is the Taiwanese sausage, aka the Shang Chang, freshly fried. That's a hot glizzy. What do you mean by that? And of course, due to the Japanese influence, you can find takoyaki's everywhere around Taipei. This is super hot and freshly fried. Oh my gosh. Let me just cut one open for you real quick. Oh, you see the little octopus inside? Yeah. Look at that little tentacle right there, man. Definitely one of the best snacks. It's like a sweet pancake wrapped around some seafood. Even though VV Bubble Tea is actually a chain from Taiwan, they also still carry some American classic snacks like the American corn dog. But to get the real thing, you might have to go to Taipei for the link shirt. All right, our next Taiwanese staple in New York City is actually Maywa Fast Food. It was started by Taiwanese people and it is still one of the best bargains in Chinatown. Seven dollars for each of these. This is the chicken leg. This is what they specialize in. They were frying these up fresh next door. This is only seven dollars for the chi-twe. And then here you have the paikou-fan, which is the big juicy pork chop right here. But you know what? Let me get it with the chicken leg first. It has a little bit of tomato sauce. It's kind of nice. It tastes like it's straight out of the side stall in Ximending, man. It's making me miss Taiwan right now. Who would've known that the meal that the railroad workers in Taipei were eating 70 years ago would still hold up to this day? Here I got some chilled doujang, aka soy milk. Everybody knows that in Japan, they take their ramen super, super seriously. Almost like samurai serious. But in Taiwan, they also have a ramen and it's the beef noodle soup, aka the Nero man. And here we're here at Ho-Fu's in the East Village. It is one of the only few artisanal beef noodle soup spots in America. And this is what you're looking at with the extra rich broth and the nice chunks of beef shank. And this is the spicy version. Woo! Spicy and rich guys. I have so many memories eating beef noodle soup late at night or for lunch in Taipei. It just kind of takes me back to all those videos that we made. Right now we are in Taipei Taiwan and we are gonna be dedicating this episode to one of Taiwan's most popular dishes, beef noodle soup. You can get beef noodle soup at a lot of spots around America, but only at spots like this at Ho-Fu's. Are they gonna treat it like you're in Taipei where you can get all these add-ons? Like here I have pea shoots. I can put them in my broth like that. Pickle radish, boom. Look at that. That is an authentic bowl of Taiwanese beef noodle soup in New York City. It's 10 p.m. right now and I have some of Taiwan's most famous breakfast items. And actually you can do that in Taipei too because there's a lot of late night spots. So here's the Don Bing aka The Egg Pancake. Here we got Phan Thuan aka The Sticky Rice Roll. This is one of my favorite breakfast items. Although kind of controversial, a lot of people think it's too carby, but guess what? I'ma dip it in the Nero Man because there are no rules. Freshly fried radish cake aka Luo Bu Gao. What I'm really trying to say is that in Taiwan they treat beef noodle soup, not just like the ramen, but maybe like the sushi because you can get a bowl in Taipei for like maybe five or $6 US and they also have one that they sell for 300 US. So there are different levels to this. I'm into Taiwan beer too. One of the most underrated aspects about eating in Taipei has got to be the Japanese food. It's got some of the best Japanese food at some of the best prices. We're at Raku right now eating two Japanese things I've never had before. And guess what? A lot of the ownership actually of this spot is Taiwanese. This is a Tatsu Tage, not a Karaage because it's spicy and it's marinated. Over here, we've got a Kani Salada. Kani means crab. We've got snow crab on top. I'm telling you guys, I never had a salad like this before. If you guys are used to your typical cheap sort of teriyaki salad, which I still enjoy, this got a bunch of snow crab in it. This is on a whole nother level. Let's see how juicy and spicy this Tatsu Tage is. If you guys like Nashville hot chicken, but you like Japanese food and Karaage, you're gonna wanna try this because this is spicy as far as Japanese food goes. To cool it off, I've got the Kani Salada. Obviously snow crab in there. Honestly guys, sometimes I think about going to Taipei just to eat really high-polling cheap Japanese food too. This is what Raku is known for. This is a Kani Ankake. Kani is this snow crab right here. You've got nori, you've got spinach, you've got spring onions. And of course, last but not least, you've got fresh, handmade udon noodles. I gotta be honest guys, I have tried so many new Japanese dishes in Taiwanese-owned spots or in Taipei before, so I think that that is an overlooked aspect of the food culture in Taipei. And we are standing in front of a stall for Sammy Wago. This is one of the most famous Guote spots from Taipei. It has now made its way over to New York City's Chinatown. Now a lot of people are probably wondering what makes the Taiwanese Guote, the pot sticker different than other styles of pot stickers. Well, we're gonna go take a look. Aren't you guys, we got the house special pot stickers in Shrediao from Sammy Wago. In Taiwan, it has a different name. It's Shunhai Youlong. Taiwanese Guote, they take a lot of care in making it and they're actually almost like long rectangles. Yeah, they're folded a little bit differently. The ends are usually open to let the steam in so that it actually reduces the cooking time. Although I feel like there may be some other deep historical symbolism involved in why they fold them differently than other dumplings, but maybe you gotta go to Taiwan to figure that out. And are you more with the Guote or more with the Shrediao? The Guote is a 10 out of 10. It's super good. I gotta say the skin is thinner, almost like more of the Gyoza style. It's not the thickest dumpling skin, but it's fried nicely. It doesn't cook too long. Like I said, the steam goes into it. So honestly, it is a great dumpling. And I know in Taipei, Andrew, sometimes they put that extra crust on the bottom to meld them all together. We're here at the alley and you know that they probably make the most aesthetically focused boba drinks. It's a chain from Taiwan, guys. It's super legit. Here I have the strawberry crunch slush and then here I have the purple rice yogurt with matcha on top. Look at it, it's crazy. Okay, you got the little crunches on top. I'm just gonna eat it first. Just as the other one had strawberry crunches on top, something that you've never seen on boba, you've never seen a matcha smoothie on top of purple rice and yogurt, guys. It's like a trend on top of a trend. You guys know you need to check out the alley. Just as these flavors are really pushing the envelope as far as boba goes, I mean, you could go to Taipei and even see more different stuff. You guys heard it here first. Taipei, Taiwan is open to visitors with no quarantine and no restrictions. I know that after filming this video, I'm even more excited to go. So type it in your browser and check on those airplane tickets right now.