 You know how they say you eat with your eyes? Mmm. Eyes are feasting. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hot Pop. Boys, we got David, Nell, Andrew from the Fung Bros. As you guys know, we like trying all different ranges of Chinese food from traditional to contemporary. And that's what brings us here today. Bro, we came all the way to Irvine. Woo! Hell of a farm, where were we at, man? When you think of Irvine, I think of what is nationally consistently ranked as one of the best suburbs on planet Earth. When I think of Irvine, I actually think of a upper-middle class blend between East and Western culture. When I think of Irvine, I think of all the hot chicks at UCI. Today, we came all the way to Irvine to try what is potentially the most contemporary dumpling chain on planet Earth. Jajalza. Hop hop boys, let's go. All right, everybody, we have just got the Jajalzas. And if you guys don't know, Jajalza in Chinese means dumpling. And this is what we got in front of us right now. We got different colored Jajalzas. Yo, you know how they say you eat with your eyes? Exactly. My eyes are feasting. Color of these Jajalzas, aka dumplings, is based off the natural ingredients that are different in each dumpling. This is not artificial. Yeah, yeah. No, you remember which one is which? I do, absolutely. Vegetable, chicken, all right, this one's pork, this one's shrimp, and fish. They have a house sauce that's a pre-mixed. Let me try the pre-mixed, man, because I already know where I'm at. But I am the food mixologist. I'm going to do one part soy sauce, two parts vinegar, chicken with pumpkin skin. Initial thoughts? Light and healthy. But I would say I've had chicken dumplings before, and I thought that this one was one of the better ones I've had. It's like an XLB effort, as you know, with the juice. The skin is a little bit thicker and a little bit more chewy, but it has flavor in itself. You know, these are zhenjial. Zhenjial means steamed. I think a lot of people do think, oh, either pan-fried or boiled. Actually, there's a third option that is the best option. Steamed. Steamed, yep. Here we have the red cabbage skin, but this is a pork filling. Really tastes the beat. Wow. Yeah, dripping the red sauce. The red cabbage, bro, with the sauce. I felt like the sauce really accentuated the red cabbage. It did, it did. Even more. It came out strong. I actually liked that one a lot more than the chicken one. Veggie dumpling with spinach skin. Super veggie. Oh, great. Got some tofu in there. Look at that. Super light, man. I thought you could probably eat, like, 50 of these. Yeah. I've had veggie dumplings before. I thought the quality in this is good. I think it could have been packed a little bit more. No, I was just going to say, to compensate the amount of skin, it could have been packed a lot more vegetables in there. This is a fish dumpling with cuttlefish skin. Like, dumpling before. Wow. Hold on, bro. Yo. Y'all got that on camera. Y'all, you got the ocean dripping out of your mouth. Made it squirt. I'm going to turn this. Watch it, watch it, watch it. Oh! I'm dipping it. That's actually one of my favorites so far. Here we have the traditional shrimp jiaozi. No flavored skin. Mm. I'm going to start with, like, a hot cow. Yeah, I don't know. So for me, you taste the sauce the most because that's more of, like, a plain slate. Favorite of the colored ones? The red cabbage. I actually really like the cuttlefish one. The black one. Oh. I was going to say that. But since this is a close second, I'll roll with this one, the chicken one. I always tell you about these Hangzhou jiaozi I had. Oh, yo, you reminisce about that. They're like hybrid xiaolongbao jiaozi. And this was the closest thing in America. Not every jiaozi with soup is a xiaolongbao. I think we associate soup dumplings with xiaolongbaos, obviously. They can actually even be a little bit different. The reason that jiao jiaozi is considered the most contemporary dumpling house in America is because of that platter. Your change of the complexion of the way a dumpling tastes by experimenting with the skin, the filling, the juices that then come out of the filling. We had the steamed ones. Here's some boiled ones. This is the boiled shrimp. This is the boiled signature one. This is pork and shrimp. You know, for me guys, my ranking goes steamed, boiled, pan fried at the bottom. Oh, facts. Yo, I just feel like you switched up, David. Maybe trying to ride the healthy way. Let's try the signature. They stuck to each other. This is the hot pot boy's ring. And you know what I noticed about their dumplings here? And that one was really good. Very subtle, high quality. Small. Yo, but I would say this. No matter what the filling was, they all taste relatively light. When you pour the juice out, it's not super fatty. That's boiled shrimp. You know what it is? I would say that original one with the pork and shrimp does rank in my top three of the dumplings I've had. So I feel like the boiled shrimp. Yeah, I'm riding the shrimp. Even the boiled shrimp was really good. All right, everybody, we just finished with the jowd's. Now on to round two. Here, we have the apps and veggies. Just go to the mushroom first. Notable that they have sliced little lines on top, just so that they know the truffle sauce is going to go straight in. Light truffle flavor, but it's there. Let's go for the cactus. Cactus. Here, you got some goo from the cactus, I believe. David, moving on. The green beans. The string beans, green beans, whatever you want to call it. The first thing I noticed is the amount of shrimp paste and chilies on here is on another level. Got a nice little crunch in there. Those are good. All right, spinach. Clean. Just clean. I think they cooked it in a broth. That sauce is really nice. There are very traditional elements, and there are very like fusion elements, like this dish right here, I'm assuming. I feel like the traditional part is the beef roll, and then obviously the fusion part is the salsa. What you guys? Beef with salsa. Wow. I don't know, you guys, I like that a lot. You said Beijing's very like desert-like. That dish is very desert-like. And it's fascinating because it's almost like fusion, but fusion from a Chinese chef. Let's try this chicken roll. You have a chicken breast wrapped around some cucumber and a chili sauce. Mm, that's good. You got a little bit of that Malak kick. Papá, papá. All right, we're going for the okra, guys. Okra. They're Southern favorite, guys. Some people might think that this gooey texture is gross, but that's how all okra is. I actually really like that. I love this sauce right here, that sun. The main theme that is stuck with me is the qualities there and the feel like. Jajaju obviously does pride itself on no preservatives, no MSG. MSG is not the worst thing, but let me tell you this, that is not traditional to Chinese food. All right, guys, we just finished round two. What was your favorite? Ooh, ooh. If I'm thinking visually, it's the mushroom caps. Just like we used to rock the mushroom top before. Every Asian has had the mushroom top in their lifetime, at least once. Ok, now on to round three. The elevated fried rice is here at Jajaju. Oh my gosh. Obviously, you have a classic shrimp fried rice. This is a beef mushroom and cheese, almost looking like a risotto. You have a chicken quinoa, and then you have a vegetable quinoa. This one's the veggie one. That egg is super fluffy. I think immediately you gotta compare with the chicken one. You're worried about your health. Quinoa fried rice is a great substitute. I know which one's better, the veggie one. Chicken one's a dry. The corn made it juicy. Yeah, it is out. There's almost like a low mic guy, but it's like it's got cheese in it. Beef and mushroom, an amazing mixture of umami. Cheese actually having umami flavor. Oh! Uh-oh! Uh-oh! Uh-oh! This is good, bro. That is unique. You look like Mark Wiens, bro, when you took that bite. And that was natural. Don't we all have a little Mark Wiens in us? So you got a little bonito flakes on top. You have some pepper, you have shrimp, you have egg. It's gotta be the lightest shrimp fried rice ever. All of the shrimp is good, though. Wow. That shrimp is juicy. This and the dumplings is what Jajalza is about, man. I swear that's what's setting them apart, man. Round four is actually back to the dumplings because we are at a spot called Jajalza, by the way. You have the pork and celery boiled dumpling. I would say it was a nice switch up. I love how the pork broke down. That was nice. The pork, the pork, very soft. They're fish dumplings here at Jajalza. You know me. First team all NBA. You know me. Chive, anything chive, solid. Oftentimes fish dumplings are like fish balls. They're just packed super tight, super firm. This, when you bite it and you eat it, it just melts in your mouth. Beef and onion jajalzas. Obviously, it reminds me a little bit of a Northwestern flavor, Northwestern Chinese. You can tell there's a lot of juice, hold on. It's zooming. It's golden juice. Do you see that it's sitting on juice? I shot at the juice world at Coachella. Dumplings not the same. No, no they're not the same. Dumplings not the same. Do I have more beef soup, please? 10 dumplings, all I said I needed 10 dumplings. That was like a beef broth. That was nice. That was like, except minus like the cinnamon and star anise. Okay, now we are on to round five. This is already fifth round, man. That's a lot of food. But I will say this, through this excursion of contemporary delicious Beijing fusion food. I feel all right. I'm feeling good. I ate a lot of dumplings, man. This is braised beef with quail egg. Crazy. Quail egg and beef at the same time. The yolk is creamy on the inside and then it kind of covers the beef when I eat it. Are you guys next up? We've got a crazy dish, bro. Plum and pork belly. Wow, sweet. Tastes like a plummy chashu. I've had some form of these, but I've never had Hongsao Rou that sweet with the plum. I've never had this braised beef presented with the quail egg. Between the two, which one did you like more? I should go with the beef. I gotta go with the pork. And usually I'm team beef. This actually looked really interesting. This cabbage with the tofu skin. The hama is hella strong in it. The garlic and dried shrimp flavor is strong with this one. Even this dried shrimp is really high quality. I feel like as Kansas we definitely could appreciate this dish. Yeah, for sure. And that's the cool thing about Jajaza and this chef that's coming up with all these ideas is that there's influences from Sichuan, from the north, even from the western part of China and the southern part of China. You gotta hide my news. Here's the one feature about this dish that I'm looking forward to. Scallion oil. I think that scallion oil kind of tones down the saltiness of the dried shrimp and I like it for that reason. If you look at around this guy, it's a hybrid between ancient and ancient modern. In terms of ancient Beijing flavors, but shown in a brand new way. Oh my God. Okay, guys, this is the hot and sour beef noodle. Mildly sour, mildly hot. Ooh. Okay. All right, I think we are on to round six. Liu. Liu or Liu? Round Liu. This is a English beef skewer, but obviously, like we said at Jajaza, they don't do anything just like regularly. With our sticks combined, we become the hot bar boys. Wow. Wow. Yo, my initial taste, I was like, tastes like a burger. I wish I could eat more of that. English beef was very tender. So look at the quality of that. You know that looks good. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little bit surprised to just see crispy chicken wings on the menu. Yeah, it's kind of random. I was like, oh, it's not like elevated enough, but we'll see. I feel like the garlic is extra strong. The garlic flavor is punching you in the face. Garlic flavor. You said garlic flavor. The garlic flavor. Ha ha ha ha. It's like a swan roll, the way it out. Tuna. Oh! It's bittersweet that we're coming to the end of our meal because we've eaten a lot. This is a cod fried cod sticks. They look like bamboo sticks. Let's see what dressing this is. I was excited by the presence of the shiso leaf in the stick. Mushroom quinoa. I prefer the mushroom quinoa. Yeah, this one's main. Mushroom better than cod fish. We are here again with the venerable chef Tian. Ni hao. Ni hao. So this is your new restaurant? Yes, yes, yes. We have a restaurant in China. We just brought the dumplings from China. And the other dishes are combined with this restaurant. Many Chinese people in the United States are already used to Chinese cuisine. So the ingredients here are a little bit higher. The price is a little bit higher. There are different people. Their needs are also different. Our team of people wants to give the customers a kind of health and a delicate experience and enjoyment. This is the future. Do many people have this idea? There may be others who come to copy or imitate it. But we are actually in the middle of it. Maybe we will be higher. I hope that the dishes will be more welcoming and more popular. This is a traditional dish. We have Guihua in our hometown. Some local elements have been added on the outside. I love the crispy skin and the chewy inside. It's essentially like fried mochi. This is a traditional dish. That's a very light dish. And the last but not least. This is also a Chinese dish. Because it's a Western dish. But the Chinese dish is very Chinese. Only Chinese people have this dish. That's good. Yeah. That's good. The hot thorn syrup is nice. You know this was my major takeaway. We went to Bistro Na's. Bistro Na's was more traditional. But they were taking some of the traditional ancient things at Jiao Jiao and really just mixing it. But at both places it was elevated. Super elevated. I would say Bistro Na was a little bit fancier ahead of that more done up vibe that you would go there maybe with your family and stuff. You know fancier as far as presentation. Here is a lot more casual and accessible. You know what I do appreciate from both spots is that the quality is always high end. And the quality is there. They're really focusing on the quality of the food. And then that's just something when you eat it you can appreciate it. I know in the comments section there's going to be a debate about cheaper, more whole in the wall spots versus more done up spots. But you know at the end of the day the most important thing is that the whole spectrum is filled out. And everybody's just doing a good version of what they are. And I actually think how Jiao Jiao is kind of preaching and promoting a healthier style of Chinese food. I think that is actually where a lot of people want to take it. A lot of people have been wondering can Chinese food still be good, tasty, and authentic, and be healthy? And I think that this spots like this are setting that example. All right everybody thank you so much for watching that video. Big shout out to Jiao Jiao in Irvine. Shout out to Chef Tian. Shout out to everybody here. In the comments down below let us know what you think about the direction of kind of healthy Asian food. I think that healthy Asian food sometimes has a bad connotation to it. You're like always amazed for just American people or whatever. It's meant to be overpriced. Yeah it's overpriced, it's cooked by Americans. I don't know guys, that's not always the case as you can see here. So let us know in the comments down below and also let us know if there's any other spots you guys want us to check out. Thank you so much for watching the video. Like, subscribe, follow us on social media. And until next time we out. Peace. Yo, we vlogging in the middle of a video. Yeah, we paused the video just to, no we're still vlogging. Vlog live. Shoot at him vlogging. Canon on Canon. Pew, pew.