 What's going on everybody? Welcome to a Taiwanese episode of Fung Rose Food right now. We are outside of Joy in Highland Park, kind of a hipster area. This spot symbolizes like this new generation of Taiwanese comfort food restaurants that are sweeping the nation, particularly in Los Angeles and New York. So I'm very, very excited. You know, we can't eat Taiwanese food without an authentically Taiwan-born stand-up comedian friend, Jason Cheney. Oh, whatever! So sorry, sir, my wife, she's not here today. What's up, man? In the flesh, that's me. I was born and raised in Taiwan, I was so happy. Dude, why are you the guy's boy? Am I from Blues Clues? That's me. Born in Taipei City, and I'm really excited today to be with Andrew Feng himself in the flesh. We're going to eat some delicious Taiwanese food. We're going to talk about Taiwanese identity, especially Taiwanese Americans. And I got another friend coming by, a special guest. You ready for this? Let's do it. Let's go. Can you correct my pronunciation? No, that was good. My pronunciation. I know Taiwanese people, they're Chinese, it's impeccable. It's impeccable, dude. We're at a Taiwanese restaurant. People here are speaking, it's like they're not... I'll order how I think most people here order. Minced pork on rice. One ton of noodles. Yeah, let's get that. One ton of... It is a comedian, I'm telling you. You got it? I got it. Let me grab some beers here. I'm about to get a messed up, I won't say. Alright everybody, I'm sitting down to my right, Taiwan born comedian, Jason Cheny. And to my left, I got half Taiwanese, a proud Chinese person, dancer. Entertainer. Sheila. Sheila, you do a live stream for a Chinese clothing company. Yeah, but I do a lot of videos in Chinese, yeah. Can you let them know that you can speak Chinese real quick? Hi everyone, my name is Sheila. I'm half Taiwanese, half German. Hi Sheila. Before we get into the food, I want to establish one thing. Taiwanese people are very good at Mandarin, but the particular accent and the tone, I feel like it's a little bit more like this, this, this, this, like a little bit... It's cool. It's cool. No, like you're... Why right here? Guys, we have some delicious Taiwanese food here. I was in the kitchen, it looked really interesting. It's not like your typical Taiwanese kitchen. There was like very few Chinese people back there cooking, but I think that's kind of cool now it is. I feel like it's taking the cleanliness and the minimalisticness of Japanese restaurants but then serving Taiwanese food. You have to break people in more. Hi. Liz, you are the manager here at Joy. Yeah. Could you tell them about your background? Well, I'm Taiwanese. My dad's Kajia. The Hakka people are like a separate ethnic group within China and Taiwan. My mom is interesting because she's white, but she lived in Taiwan for over 12 years. So we grew up in like a Mandarin-only cut-out, like primarily... What are you guys trying first? Let's do Xiao Cai first, because I always feel like Xiao Cai is like a tease. Here, they kind of serve the side dishes kind of like how Koreans do with the panchon. Get in the ear mushrooms. I'm gonna go with the lotus root. Xiao Tai means what? Small dishes. Small dishes. Xiao Tai. This is great. It's like a little bit of food that makes you want to eat like the main thing. Let's go. What do we got here, man? It's all good described because I don't think... I'm so driving. So driving. So driving. But that's it. Andrew knows better. What's going on with you? Jason. When was the last time you went to the Sheila Night Market, man? Come on. Sheila, what do we have here though? Pork belly inside a little mantou with some peanuts and cilantro. And then we have the spicy wonton. This is Hongyou Chaosou. Shout out to my mom. It's her favorite dish. I'm eating half of this shodrabing first because I love shodrabing. This is one of my favorite Chinese snacks to get off the street. It has basil in it. Look at that. Look at everything that it has. So dropping. Whoa. So dropping. Yeah. You said it. You said it. You said so dropping. So dropping. I'm gonna like... Oh. I like how it has the hua jiao, the Sichuan pepper. You don't like the... I don't like Sichuan pepper, yeah. But I love Hongyou food. Here's what I love about Taiwanese food. It's that it is kind of a mix of Chinese flavors. Yeah. So many Chinese people came over there. This I just think adds another layer to the shodrabing. That nice little Sichuan kick. Little tingle. Uh-huh. Everybody likes a little tingle. It's kind of spicy, isn't it? Yeah, it's a little bit. Really? It's good. It's fluffy. It's crispy. It's chewy. Gua bao. Oh, we're not gonna choose it? I just want to touch your gua bao with my gua bao. I don't want to cross gua bao. That's a little... I've already put my gua bao in my mouth, so... Mmm. That is a food coma waiting to happen, man. It's like melting in my mouth. The pork belly is a really good one. The pork belly is delicious here. All that fat and juices is dripping off my finger right now. It looks a little... It picks the light that out, but... It's literally just dripping off my hand. That's incredible. That is... All right. I've had gua bao's on the streets of Taiwan. That is way better. You have nothing to say. This is some of these versions of food. This is some of the best versions of that so far. Next round, we have... This is pork belly. Mapo tofu. Dandan noodles. Speaking like an empress from like the Qing dynasty. So this is minced pork over rice. You got the Mapo tofu. Dandan noodles. That's like a spicy sesame oil sauce. And then you got the spicy wontons. You know, I was going to get at Jason and Jack. I'm going to get at him about his chopstick skills. I feel like his chopstick form, you saw that? Yes, I saw that. Jason, you know, I hold time when these people go very high standard. They're very educated. They're well to do. They're smart. Very productive. I noticed your chopstick skills. Your chopstick forms was a little questionable. What you do? It's a little... I don't know. Get a close up on this dude. How come you cross in your fingers? Hey man, that's for support. But look a little... Look at mine right now and then look at hers right now. What the... That's a death of a heart attack. Shilas are terrible. That's it. Actually, I take that back. Shila has the worst form. It's not even about the form. My form looks the best. My form absolutely looks the best. I stand by my chopstick skills. Well, you're half, so you get a pass. Shila confused. Shila confused. I got it, guys. Who's that? It's my favorite, y'all. It's so tedious to make like really good noodles. Because my grandma, I remember growing up, my grandma would just be... Dude, they got 39 grandmas in there. My grandma's in there to just con... Just con... Is that really the speed she would cut at? Yeah, like... Dude, she's like, you guys want to eat noodle fun two months later? Noodle fun. They're chopping that a little faster there. Yeah. On beat, though. So good. Dude, we could fall asleep right after this. It's pretty good. It's pretty up there. It's pretty good, but I gotta say, it's a little drier than most noodle funs I've had. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to compare it to the Taiwan ones, but like in Taiwan, you know, they come in like the Styrofoam little plates and that shit, and it's always like broken with like that sauce. You just went with the plate and then the sauce and the... This is the... Maw poh. Maw poh. Oh, no. Maw poh. That's what I mean. Maw poh. But less aggression. What's the meaning between Maw poh tofu? It's like chicken poc. Honestly, right? Yeah. It's a funny name anyways. Maw poh tofu. Let's try it. Okay. Kind of light on the spice. Tofu is soft. I like the rice, y'all. Mmm. It was one of my favorite dishes. It goes so good with the rice. Yeah. This is the Dan Dan Mian. The Dan Dan Mian. Pulled by green sauce. Sesame. Look at my mouth. I love the cucumber. The cucumber is so... They serve that everywhere though. They have it in Japan. They spell it with the tea. Tan tan noodles. That is a one tongue right there. That's what I like to see. Oh. Mmm. Wow. I love how thin the skin is though. The meat just bursts. Amazing. When did we first first meet? The first meet five, six years ago? Going back to Taiwan at LAX. And I was like, are you guys a phone bro? And then I remember Andrew was like this. Yeah. I was like, oh my god. He just looked at me. And then we skipped the line. You know why we skipped the line? Because we were doing a video with the Taiwanese Tourism Bureau in LA. I remember really vivid because you cut right in front of me. I was like this dude. Head of the Taiwanese Tourism Bureau. Yeah. He looked at us and said, phone brothers. Yeah. Do this for Taiwan. And then he goes, I mean he shoves us on our way and we're just like... Lion King? I'm like, are we Taiwanese now? Kanpei. Kanpei. Kanpei, Kanpei. Taiwanese food. What's the brand? Taiwan Egypt. What are some Taiwanese Yugi names? So the most common one is the Ushisu. So basically just like a math game, so Asian, but... So basically you play rock, paper, scissors. Whoever wins, go first. And the goal is to add up to whatever the number you call out. Rock, paper, scissors. And I win. And I win. So I go first, right? Okay. So I will call out a number from anywhere from 5. Because there's what, 20 fingers between you guys? Yeah, there's 20 total. With eye-to-eye contact, I would just call out whatever the number that I think it would add up between all two of us. If I say 5, then I'm wrong. She has 10 fingers out. I got her wrong. So now it's her turn. So what do you want me to go? Just to... 5. Okay. And if I open 5, but you say it at the time that she says the number, right? Because you don't... If you hear the number and then you throw it out, it's weird. Yeah, so it's like a connection like quick on your feed when you're drinking game. And then you go... And then I'll say 10. And then if I open both of my hands, or if she opens one of them out of the 10, then I have to win. 5. 5. Win like a win. You won. See, I got one right there. 10. No, 5. 10. It was 20. No. 10. Now. 10. Now. 10. That was 5. Alright. We'll just do 1. Alright. The total is going to be 15. 15. Okay. You start. I'll start. No. Increments of 5. Oh, that's why it's easier. You have to know that game and know how funny that one is. Okay. Oh my god, I knew it. I'm messing with you guys. See? See how I mess with you guys. I threw you off. I threw you off. 10. Oh, dude, he's got it, dude. Oh! Mayo. Wait, so why do you, did you just open the final? So I said Mayo, but she opened it too late. You slow, though. Chinese people be slow. Okay, so it's my turn. Y'all ready? Yeah. Oh! No! We both opened. So what does that mean? I have to drink? Yeah. Yeah, so it's not. So he was late? Yeah, I was late. Oh, Mayo is zero. Mayo is zero. Okay, so we'll do it again. I'll go first. Oh! Oh! Alright, change. Dude, I'm so excited for this. Do you know how mochi, do you know how this is made, though? They smack it. Yeah, it's sticky rice. Yeah. And then imagine like a wooden, like a big wooden bowl. And then take like a huge, like a mallet. Mallet? I was gonna say pillar. There was like 39 grandmas back there doing that. With the grandmas. They're a team. And then on top is sesame and peanut. Yeah, black sesame and peanut. Man. And then how finely ground it is. That's interesting. Oh, we got one more too. Wow! Oh my God! Chobeng. On this side is Hongzhou Yutou and then Zhenzou. And then this side is fruit and xiancao and then yuyan. And we make the yuyan. Like we make everything in house. It's made in house. You just said the yuyan only. Yeah. It's like the orange, the orange thing here right there. This is not sweet potato. Sweet potato. Oh, this is sweet potato. I just want to say boba is an invention of Taiwanese people. Hey man. Y'all, you guys get credit for boba for sure. Especially the pearls. This is all house made. Chobeng. Wow. Really refreshing. There's always a line at like most places in Taiwan in the summer. Like for Chobeng. This. Oh my God. The yuyan is so good, dude. Beeston. I love how it's kind of tropical. Taiwan is an island. Yeah. It has a lot of tropical influence. I didn't know that until the first time I went there. They have a lot of papaya milk. They have a lot of durian. The Native Americans and the Islanders. You see in the world their origin is from Taiwan. Yeah. Yeah, you heard that. I don't know how factually true it is but I hear it all the time. I've actually visited one. You know what's interesting? I went to an aboriginal village in Taiwan. I visited the tourist thing. Yeah. I think I did the same thing. And is it crazy that they have totem poles there? They look very similar and they're in Taiwan. So I was like wondering. I was like, I see totem poles that I would see in the northwest of America. So is there some link? And I was just like, yo, this is kind of wild. It's crazy. How could there be totem poles in both ends across the Pacific? The originals in the Indian pair here, they all have a leaf thing and they all have like little paint things that they put on their face. And we're talking about Taiwanese aboriginals and Native Americans. Yeah. They share similarities. Yeah, they share a lot of similarities. When you went on that tourist thing, did you go tea leaf picking? I did. I think it was the same tour. I went tea leaf picking the Assam tea farms. Yeah. And then did you go to Jofan to eat the yuans? Jofan, yeah. The one, the walkable. Yeah. It's the same tour. Sun Moon Lake. Sun Moon Lake. Sun Moon Lake. Sun Moon Lake. Where you ride the bikes? Yeah. Every Taiwanese person did the same tour. You have to do it. We all did it. We all did it as a good. I did the same tours as a Taiwanese person. I got it. I got the experience. Do you love boat? I forget. How do you forget if you did love boat? Love boat is... Oh, you don't know? I don't know either. Oh, it's a Taiwanese American thing. That's why. You guys are technically actually not Taiwanese American. You weren't born. There's this thing called love boat that a lot of Taiwanese people do. You apply and then you can go back to Taiwan to see your roots. It's literally like a cruise where you get a bunch of like 18 and 19 year olds together that are Taiwanese and then they all hang out together. Obviously, you know, they start relationships. Maybe they learn about their culture and they go back and visit Taiwan together. The spectrum, you got poppers that grew up in Asia. You grew up in Shanghai. When you were growing up in Shanghai and you knew you were half Taiwanese, obviously. Did you go to Taiwan a lot and was there like a push and pull? Because you're like, I like Taiwan or Shanghai more. I was there every year already anyway and I spent months in Taiwan. Months at a time in Taiwan. So it was cool. My home base was Shanghai. So like my friends, school, the house, everything was in Shanghai. Taiwan has never technically been your home? No, except for all my family members and just going there every year. Right, okay. Hey. Bottom's up. Yay. Kanpe. Kanpe. Final takeaways from the meal. I think it's really cool how this restaurant appeals to everybody. It's in Highland Park and it's really appealing to the Highland Park crowd. There's not that many Asians here. And I think that's really cool because these dishes are palpable to non-Asians. Like, I think people can either, who's going to hate on literal fun? It's minced pork over rice. Who can hate? Don Don Man. It's like sesame noodles. I mean, one ton, you can't hate it. So I think that it's really cool that this spot is feeding all different types of people. Some people might say, oh, it's not the traditional, traditional Taiwanese food. But I feel like if I have friends who've never had Taiwanese food, I'll bring them here. Definitely nostalgic eating all of this good food, especially the Xiao Cai. I think that's the most traditional in terms of eating locally in Taiwan. Alright everybody, thank you so much for watching that video. Man, definitely check out Jason Cheny's information down below. Check out Sheila's information down below. Make sure you hit the like button. Make sure you hit subscribe and make sure you turn on your notifications in the comments below. I will be giving away a $100 Amazon gift card. I'll be emailing it to you. You've got to leave a comment about your cultural identity. And go as deep as you can. Leave that comment because we kind of talked about it here. If you guys have it, leave it down below. We will be selecting one winner that will message. So definitely leave your Instagram handle down below too so we can message you for your email. And we'll be sending a winner a $100 Amazon gift card. Thank you so much. Shout out to Joy and Hyland Park. Alright everybody, and until next time, we out. Peace.