 The second I finished the dry lotus cookie, and then I drank the pear soup. I was back in the Qing Dynasty On everybody welcome to a special royal edition of Feng Rose food. Yes, we are going to be having a Qing Dynasty Imperial feast we are here today with Nelson Chan for Hooping life. What's popping everybody man? I can't wait to eat this. I don't know if you guys remember we did a video about royal Korean cuisine in Soul Korea, but we are not in China right now We're in the 626. All right, David We're talking about having a royal Qing Dynasty feast here You know that is fit for anybody of like the Emperor to the eunuch or someone else in the royal court But what is the Qing Dynasty now is the best Chinese historian amongst us the Qing Dynasty is the last Chinese Dynasty that ended in the early 1900s You know all those like classic Chinese movies and martial arts movies that used to be what the world was like Royal Qing Dynasty cuisine. Let's go Does this look like the forbidden city or what and I have eaten at so many Chinese restaurants in America This is probably the closest reproduction to a spot from Beijing that I've ever been you can see they have all the Chinese Instruments up there types of Urhuz Chef Tian from Beijing is going to be joining us. Wow a KAC food. Let's eat or as they Mandarin We are here with chef Tian, you know, you know, what is this called? This is called Xiao Diao Li Tang Can you say it like a Beijing? Xiao Diao Li Tang Yo now you knew about this drink because I know my mom makes this drink This is kind of a sense of nostalgia for you. Yeah. Yeah, first. I thought it was a tea But when I drank it, I was like, yo, this tea tastes like a soup to me that I drank before This dish is mainly suitable for the government's private kitchen. At that time, it was to switch people to each other's Basically in Beijing, they would have all the top chefs from different regions of China with really different cuisines all different flavors come together And it's just like being in the big city of LA or New York, obviously a lot of different chefs from all over the country or world We are very excited to start cheers. Cheers. This dish is called oil-based pork because the weather here in Los Angeles is relatively dry Beijing is very dry climate and LA especially where we're at like in San Gabriel Valley also very dry So he was saying you drink this and you eat this and just kind of like get the moisture flowing. Whoa It's got a lot of flavor right off the bat really flavorful has like a burst of like citrus flavor You know what it reminds me of David growing up mom and dad We would eat the jelly left over from the cold like chicken or something or the fish. Yeah, the dome This is just this dish is very difficult to use in the United States When you come to the United States, you can use the ingredients of the United States completely But you can use your own taste Next dish coming up. Wow. Look at that. What is that thing stabbed into that burrito looking like thing Did they have this back in the Qing Dynasty? The first one is a sesame sauce spinach classic Beijing style You know, and then this is Jiao Ma Ji we're going to put the spicy sauce in this little corner Give it to me. Yeah, it depends on your personal taste and then put the sauce on top of it And then what's next? This is a warm version of the skin of the old Beijing It's not peeking duck. It's Beijing Slices smoke duck. There is different types of Beijing duck. Let's get that straight. Let's get into it All right, the spinach is sesame sauce on spinach. It's like a whole little square It's actually a sandwich. It's got sesame sauce in the middle and then on top Yeah, that's actually really good My god I would have never expected to taste like that just spinach and sesame That spinach was chopped up, but it wasn't too fine Is it me or was there like a hint of like a wasabi like flavor in it? Yeah, I think a little bit of Chinese hot mustard up in there Yo, I gotta say that that was the best version of that that I've had in my life I bet what are we in the hospital right now? Dang the whole thing. Let's try this Try this Tastes like a Shandong dish So even though these are kind of a mixture of different provinces in China I do think that the most influential cuisine in the north, including Beijing, is Shandong You guys ready to go on the tofu skin? Yo man, I love tofu skin. Let's do it And you know what I love about this tofu skin? And this is gonna sound weird, but that was really tender For tofu skin you have to soak it in whether it's water or like a specific type of like soup base or whatever Maybe because it was you know soaked in a soup base and it had that fragrance It was like flowers I think there was a lot of cilantro, a lot of greens, maybe green onions as well Alright man, smoked duck I might have to hit it with some sauce This ain't no typical Chinese roast duck No, I think if you use this on your next bite of duck, you're not gonna regret it Don't forget about the plate, it's in the shape of a pear What would you say your favorite thing was on this plate? Either the tofu skins or the spinach sesame Yo, I gotta say the tofu skins man I love tofu skins I love it Exidish You can eat the skin And then the below is the green grass bamboo shoots And the dry side of the mouth Look at how they kind of separated the skin from the meat of it And it's just like this big like flower thing I think they could have made it in the shape of a heart Cheers guys, crispy shrimp The number one selling dish Oh my god, that glaze of sauce Oh wow, wow, wow That was the coat of all shrimps And it was definitely about separating the shell from the meat and cooking that separately That's really light It was a gigantic shrimp but it didn't lose its flavor Sometimes big shrimps They lose their flavor Alright, let's try these mushrooms Mushrooms got an interesting texture They cut the small slits into the top of them So that the inside gets crispy But they have battered it really lightly Like you know there's a light powder on it The majority of ABCs probably didn't come from any sort of like royal lineage But here we're eating royal Chinese food It's special and I think it's something that's like Not everybody has to do it But I do think that if you are interested It's totally worth checking out Wow, that is the littlest candle flame for a soup that I've seen I don't know everything else that we ate was super ancient Because it was like a mixture of generations and cultures But this looks like it's from the Qing dynasty for real It's called Huangtanzi This soup is made with chicken And it's been stewed for 8 hours And it's like this And there are 5 ways to eat it The first one is to stir this up Okay, let's do it Then you teach it a number one way Then you eat the flavor The second one is to add the coriander They put in the shantai This is the number two way It's kind of like a hot pot The third one is to add the fulu This is definitely fermented I like it, I like the paste The paste is good That adds another flavor That adds a whole other side to it, man The young people nowadays are under a lot of pressure They need to be stimulated So we added some chili I like the whole pepper I've made a huge mistake That's based on my life And this is the fifth one Two meters of rice Two meters of rice One meter of rice And pour it in I'm gonna add the fulu They don't put MSG in their food That's what the fulu is for That tastes so different Than when we first ate it But it's still kind of in the same frame But just with a whole bunch of different flavors added on There's two different versions of this soup You can get here There's one for men and one for women And of course we got the male one So there's beef tendon and fish mo on here Obviously it's kind of hard to tell What you're eating exactly There's chicken in this too This is actually low-key was a winner I could see why you like it But I'm not a fan of it Not a fan of the fulu I've never had anything like this before For sure, ancient I like how they're giving you a different plate For each dish Very classic Chinese baked with style This is a little bit of this carrot sauce So... No Here you go with the sauce I swear to God this was a zucchini So this is a bistro gnaws delicacy Definitely we're eating a fusion of dishes This is really good That was really good I almost said it was like an egg We stepped in here expecting old Qing dynasty food There is definitely some of that And there's also some of bistro's gnaws Specialty dishes that they've come up with Yeah, I mean it makes sense because Not only would you not want to eat everything That was like 100% But you can't even recreate it anymore For sure, for sure How is he gonna know What the actual dish is gonna look and taste like One of the owners of bistro gnaw Has the bloodline of one of the eight noble families That used to guard the emperor What? Like the most entrusted inner soul Really? So he gets to eat all the good food then What he should do I mean he should know the recipes Some of the recipes are passed down So that's why some of the recipes are very traditional And obviously some of them are coming from him You know, in 2018 This is the gnaws gnaws delicacy So this is from Beijing But not a traditional dish We got sour, sweet, and spicy So traditionally kung pao dishes are made with peanuts But this one is gonna be made with sweet roasted walnuts Man, look at this piece of lobster Man, that is beautiful right there You gotta eat the brain though Brains, brains I like that in Beijing They're like willing to be playful with the food You know, even some Chinese Americans Will be like, I don't know if you can do kung pao lobster But if they're doing it in Beijing Hey, that's the center of China right now So like if they're doing it in the center of China It's pretty much good to go So this is like the turnt up version Of the appetizer that we had before Which is the fish jelly But they got hakaido, scallops You got surf clams, and tuna Very refreshing This looks like steak I thought it was a duck at first Oh, that tuna is crazy Yeah With the light sear on it That broke down in my mouth The cool thing about the surf clams They organized it and placed it In a shape of a fish Surf clams, nice Because the surf has a very light flavor You know how you have it in your mouth, right? But you really feel that kick when you swallow it Because that hits the back And just that pause Alright guys, that was the last Savory dish that we had Now what we did, we had a mixture Of two different menus It was a $150 one And the $58 menu And we had select dishes from each one The one in the front This is wontou huang And the one in the back This is sesame ruyi roll And the one in the front is zao hua su Sweet and paste Yeah, this one is very smooth No other additional additives Sweeteners Wow, it took four hours to do the pizza I've never tasted anything like that before No, that's what you call it Sweet peas, man This one is Lü Da Guen Okay Lü Da Guen is very soft Japanese got mochi from China Japanese got mochi from China We should say that I'm sticking by it I've read that before I'm not saying that Chinese invented mochi But mochi originally came from China Mmm The filling is completely rolled inside The texture is very rich It's good, I like it a lot Oh This one is sesame ruyi roll You're gonna taste the black sesame first But there's a whole bunch of sesame With the mint on top of the fire Sesame That's pretty good, man The process of it The reason these ancient sweets Are not that sweet Is because they got to use honey Because sugar didn't exist back then Right So to properly replicate the dynastic experience You can't use, you know, sugar Right, right, right And sugar would be an easier way to sweeten it This one is zao hua su Using zao ni and flour Rolled into a flower shape One of the best looking cookies I've ever had By the way This is one of those cookies That you do need to drink a tea with I can't believe that since we sat down This has accompanied us through every dish I drank my 50 cups already Yo, your voice already sounds different Hell yeah, it does I never felt more Chinese than just that bite I have a feeling That I'm a Chinese Now I'm a Chinese Nelson We had a meal Okay, you Cantonese You haven't had a lot of food like this As far as you know, right You have no northern roots Not that I know of So how do you feel connected to this food? Because I know you eat a lot of Cantonese food We grew up Cantonese, right? Going to Chinatown But a lot of the time when you grow up Thinking what's Chinese You're just thinking Cantonese Because Chinatown's your world There are some certain foods or dishes That were kind of like, you know, the southern style Let's just say maybe like the pear soup Or even like the shrimp and the filet You know, that's more, you know Not specifically made in the northern area But like I said There was a bunch of crazy stuff that I eat today That I would have never thought that I would You know, experience it I guess after eating this meal I'm a little bit more Chinese Especially with Chef Tian's seafood Kind of explaining everything to me The last time I've had that happen Was when I used to live in Beijing for a little bit And you got the first-row seat Because you know, you can communicate with Seafood the best Right, right And with Chinese people in general Obviously it has ABCs that are pretty Americanized Right No, you're from Macau But Macau also already westernized Is a Portuguese colony Hong Kong, a British colony Our dad's from Hong Kong Our mom obviously more from a traditional Place Shandong I just feel like it's cool to see it all I don't like it to be like, you know Oh, you guys are acting so American You guys are dissing one side Or you guys are being so fob Leaning into the ancient Chinese culture That's so un-American I don't see it that way But you know the weird thing is A lot of people do see it that way But I just want everybody to know I don't agree That I don't see it that way Asian-American, you rap both Do it But people think when you rap both You're like a compressed spectrum No, no, no Like you're just teetering Somewhere in the middle Like this side But I'm like, I want the whole thing I want to be from over here All the way over here I think a lot of people Generously being like a Chinese-American Or ABC is hard Like it's not that cool Or for whatever reason Like maybe your parents came over From this area or whatever But like I think the one thing That you can do now And you can feel good about yourself Is that you get to take What you want from each culture You get to choose No one's gonna tell you Oh, you can't be this Chinese Or you can't be that I'm like nah, if you like it You own up to it And you thoroughly do enjoy it And you respect it Then take what you want Like I make jokes about Chinese stuff And I don't even speak Chinese that well Like I don't feel bad about it Because I know that I like At the end of the day respect the culture And I will move it forward In my own way I don't know if I'm gonna be teaching Mandarin classes anytime soon Alright, maybe I'm not a lousher Like that But I will do it in my own way And that's what I feel like We kind of do on our channel No, for sure And I know our Mandarin is even bad Because it's not perfect And mine is terrible sometimes But I'm trying We're trying to just When we speak Mandarin in videos Or Cantonese in videos And it's not perfect I know people roast us for it But I'm just like Who else is speaking Mandarin in Cantonese In their videos And we're just saying that Like it's normal Because it should be normal It shouldn't be weird Like you shouldn't be like Oh no, you can't speak Canton In your video now Because you speak fluent Canton And you're from there So I'm like Be the person you want to be And not what society precedes you to be It's make it normal And just like I want to make Just even coming here as an ABC Who is pretty deep in the American pop culture Normal too I think it can be normal I think ABC should come here I'm not saying you gotta eat here all the time It's kind of expensive And you know I don't know if you want to You want to eat at like noodle world Like soup plantation Or something like that Anyways, there's like A million other spots You might want to go to But I think you've got to try this Because especially If you're not going to go back to Beijing or Shanghai And eat this for real This is like the next best Hey, this was a No, we ain't go to Beijing yet We all go to Beijing and make a movie But this is a pretty good introduction Top three dishes I'm sticking with the sesame spinach Obviously the shrimp We know the shrimp is We know the shrimp I'm going with the Fulu and the chicken soup That first bite of the Fulu and the chicken soup That was wild No I really like the Tofu skin in the appetizer plate You know that's Really good Tofu skin The filet was really good Like the filet And the red bean mochi Loki, so one thing that You guys didn't say that I really enjoyed Was the fish jelly Appetizer Oh, good I like that I like that Especially the second one With the packed in seafood The premium joint That was hairless That was nice I'm so glad you guys watched that video I'm so glad you guys Were able to experience that with us Please let us know In the comment section below What other foods You would like us to try On Feng Bro's Foods That was a very special Imperial Royal episode Make sure you check out Nelson On his channel Hooping Life We are in the 626 I beat your nons And until next time Peace Any ABC who's interested In going back to China Every ABC that I've ever talked to Is that when they go back to Beijing Something changes It changes their life a little bit It changes their life a little bit Like everybody has said that to me You can go back to Shanghai For how I'm not saying It won't change your life too Maybe it does But Beijing for sure I think it's time to book my flight And go change my life