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For years, China's food scene has been somewhat hidden from the world, locked away behind borders, language, and limited exposure online. But beneath that surface lies one of the oldest, most authentic, diverse street food cultures on the planet. So today, I'm trying as many of the greatest street foods as I can across China. And of course, guided by local experts, we're going to be seeing Chinese food like outsiders almost never do. And we're starting things off in Xi'an, which, if you've never heard of it, listen up! Not only were noodles literally invented here-and yes, they still slap a thousand years later-but because of the incredible diversity of cuisine I think people don't know about: breads, meats, sandwiches. They might look simple,
but let's not judge a book by its cover because, like our first bite, they tend to surprise. In Xi'an, you're almost never gonna see locals lining up; it's not really a thing unless it's really, really, really good. And there's a line. We have a maxed-out bao. Look at the size of this thing! I mean, this is a big boy. And also, it only costs two RMB. For two of them, it maybe costs, like, 50 cents. Insane! You can charge five dollars a pop for this in America. Now, I would have gone for the pork normally, but what I find interesting is they have an eggplant version that everybody seems to be getting. That looks and sounds tremendous.
It's not something I've ever seen in the West, so why not try that? Here we go. Cheers! Oh, yeah. Rich, juicy. Just like you. Okay, I'm rich. You're juicy! Wow, this is so good. Is that zucchini? You live here, I don't know! I'm blown away every time I order something that is not meat. My first thought is, "I wish I had meat," but it's so rich and flavorful being just eggplant. And I love this texture. It almost has the texture of fat.
It's seasoned perfectly. The salt levels are, like, perfect. Like, exactly where I want them to be. It's a little spicy. This is, like, one of the best bao I've ever had, and there's no meat in it. I can't believe it. I'm gonna be honest: despite it being so unassuming, it was so good. Kind of like our guide, Allen. Look at him. Come on, he's cute! He's also a Xi'an local who actually has been using my burger bun recipe in his restaurant for years. Xièxie, Allen.
Allen, we love you. Next up, we have breakfast: jidan youtiao. Basically, a freshly fried egg-stuffed cruller. There's no way this is not gonna blow our mind. So good! Like, looking at this, I'm like, "How much flavor can really be in there?" That looks like fried dough; there's not much on it, just an egg. This is delicious. That's why we have it every day in the morning. This really is a perfect breakfast food. I mean, this bread, it's crispy and soft like a donut, but the inside is almost like a really well-hydrated ciabatta.
It's very unique. I've never had anything like this before. It's unbelievable. It is fried absolutely perfectly. There's moisture in it; it's not greasy. It's salted nicely; the salt levels are good. Whatever they season this egg with is nice. And that's the reason why they've been open for a really long time. Maybe more than 20, 30 years, I guess. If it's 30 years, it's older than me! Unbelievable. Basically perfect. I don't think I could outdo this. On to the next.
We now have another classic breakfast. It's called liji jiamo. Kind of like a soft steamed bun. pork loin. fried egg, lettuce, chili oil, some sort of sauce. This whole thing is less than one dollar. As big as your face. literally. Cheers! The seasoning's great! God, they know how to season here. The meat's cooked nicely. It's not too fatty. I like that they did pork loin instead of bacon because you do get, obviously, the fat cap for some richness, but the meat itself is actually nice and unctuous.
It's got a good tenderness to it. Having lean meat in here-lean protein-gives it a chew and just adds a density to it. The flavor is great. I can taste the pork. The fried egg is cooked perfectly. Allen, what do you think? What do I think? Yeah, I don't. my brain's stopped. Now I really want to dig in. For Xi'anese people, I'm really proud we have this kind of breakfast. There's a lot of carbs in this city.
This is maybe the only chance we can have some, like, lettuce. Not to diss Austin-and I love Austin, I live there- this is better than most breakfast tacos, if I'm being honest. Now listen here, brother: I know those are fighting words, but I'm gonna be honest, I've never had street food like this before. And to be honest, it's been a while since I've seen a pork sandwich that I've wanted to. well, you'll see. Oh! BLEEP that smells good. It tastes good as well. It's like slowly braised pork. Super fatty. She's chopping it up fresh, puts it in there with a little bit of the juice from the braise, and then of course, the fresh chilies and onions.
The smell is sensual. Cheers I'm taking my pants off. That is absurd. The fact that this is just something you just stroll along the street and it's like, "I guess I'll have, like, one of the best, crispiest, fattiest little pork bites I've ever had." God, this is so good! There is a green chili and also the onion gives it a natural flavor and fragrance. The exterior is so crispy, so crunchy, so flaky like a croissant, but not buttery like a croissant, which I think is good because it would be way too rich if it was, because the inside is so salty and fatty and porky. The fresh pepper kind of freshens it up a little bit.
It's not spicy at all. I might even opt for double the amount of pepper just cause I like the flavor of it. How can you make this better? Maybe something like acidic? More meat. Yeah, more meat. The best part would be, in a hurry, you can just grab one and go. On to the next. This is insane! But just when I thought the pork couldn't get any better. Xun Rou Da Bing. When I was young, I had them pretty much every lunch. So, it's got barbecued pork, which she chopped up. But what is this exterior?
Pretty much like a deep-fried tortilla and wrapped all the meat inside. And the meat is smoked pork, green onion. It smells super smoky. I'm just going to go in. You should put the whole one in your mouth. The whole one? Yeah, of course. Okay. Don't look at me like that. I'm in love. Oh, it's smoky. Lightly smoked, lightly sweet, fatty yet meaty. This is the perfect blend of pork. They basically cook and smoke the whole shoulder, the fat and everything. But then they chop it up in a way where you get a good,
like, 50/50 of very lean meat and pure fat. So it all comes together. Little bites of nice chewy lean meat and then bursts of fat. And it's smoky and it's slightly sweet. Makes you so satisfied, right? Beyond satisfying. That is unbelievable! It's good. Ooh, and the onion's a little spicy too, which I like. Simple but good. Classic example of a street food. And it's made quickly. I love it. On to the next! I'm going to be honest, Xi'an by far has been one of my most favorite places to eat in the world. But we can't leave Xi'an without one iconic dish,
which also inspired a recipe that I released in the second channel. It is Biang noodles. I named this my favorite noodle on our noodle tour across Asia. But now we're having it streetside and in the birthplace of noodles. This shop is legit. To operate a Biang noodle shop, you need to have this official seal in order to even prove your credibility to serve. Also, look at how this dude is tossing the noodles in the pot. We got some potential. We have two different kinds, and we're enjoying it right here on the street. One that is the short noodle, where they basically are tearing the noodles and you have little pieces of it. And then one that is the whole long noodle.
And it looks like the toppings are slightly different. This has like a chili oil, sesame, garlic chives, and braised pork. This one's similar, but it's slightly different. It's got a different chili powder with almost like a green onion. And then it has like a stir-fried egg and tomatoes. Very traditional. That's what you're gonna say? Yeah. I'm eating, like, one of the best noodle dishes of my life and he's like, "Very traditional." "Very good."
This is incredible! Flavor is genuinely perfect. Balanced, seasoned absolutely perfectly. The texture of the noodle is ridiculous. It's so chewy, but it's also, like, perfectly cooked too. And the meat is tender. It's porky. It's rich. God. Okay, on to the next one. It's wider than your belt. It's wider than my belt. You'll notice that I took my belt off and my pants stay on. That's 'cause I've gained some weight since I got here.
Wow! These are a lot more saucy. When I first saw the tomato, I thought it was like, "Ah, I don't need a marinara sauce. Thanks, though." And what I realized was I was a fucking idiot for thinking that. All it is a dispersion for the chili oil. It just creates its own sauce. This looks really spicy; hardly spicy at all. This is more balanced than this because it has the acidity from the tomato. They're both perfectly evenly good. I would pick this one first because I love the experience of the big noodle. If this was being produced in America, this would be considered, like, one of the best restaurants in the state.
How about we open a restaurant like this when you're back? You want to do it? Yeah, sure. Okay. Okay, deal. Done. America, be ready. Yeah, in Texas, actually, that's a legally binding contract. Street food in Xi'an feels like almost a cheat code. Every single thing just banged at the highest level. But now we turn the flavor all the way up in Chengdu, a city who's famous for a particular spice that's beloved and maybe even slightly feared for its tingling, numbing qualities: the Sichuan peppercorn. And our food writer guide, Harry Li, is starting me off strong in Chengdu with a twist on crispy roast duck.
If you like Peking duck. Kind of hard to imagine anything better, if I'm being honest. But this duck is dunked in boiling chili oil. Could this be better than what we had in Xi'an? So, it's a whole meal. Basically, you can order one portion. It's a family-style meal. You can sit down with three, four, five people and just go to town on this. For example, if you're a housewife and you don't want to cook today, you just order one portion and take it home.
The whole family is all set. I'm the housewife! Let's go for it! Okay. This is absolutely incredible. There's so many different things in here. There's vegetables, there's cauliflower, there's bok choy, there's jelly noodles. There's even little tofu skin in here. And it kind of almost has like a hot pot flavor. If you've had hot pot before, you kind of get that almost like a mala spice, right? Like, it's so simple, yet so good. You get a million experiences in one! This is like everything in one pot with rice.
I don't need anything else. I could stop eating this and go home. In comparison to, like, something like a Peking duck meal where you have, like, all these components-you have duck, you have the pancakes and the sauce and da-da-da-this is, to me, way better. More exciting, more flavor. And this guy's doing it every day like it's no big deal. I would come back to China just for this. One of the best family-style meals out there. by far. I feel like I'm family here. Welcome to the family. Yes. God! It's hard to say that we're moving on, but I'm gonna enjoy this for now.
Let me be clear about something here: this was $7.25 for a whole duck hot pot. This was one of the better meals that I've had so far. But I have a feeling we're just getting started! Because next up is a legend in Chengdu: Grandma Yen's Guokui, a famous baked pancake that looks simple, but it's cut in half and stuffed with a Sichuan chili oil-doused filling. of your choice. We had the beef and, most classic and unique to me, a starch jelly. You can't knock it 'til you try it. Mm! I thought it was gonna be too much starch.
Not at all. That is a great texture. Super crispy on the outside, and it's not very gelatinous. It's like a very soft noodle. Little bit of chew, and then all that Sichuan oil just kind of, like, coating your palate. Super tasty! If the oil's doing this, that's a good sign. I'm learning, I'm learning. Okay, this is the beef one. This beef is, like, with some vegetables. This is gonna go straight to the gains factory here.
Mmm! It's very steaky. Almost like sliced steak. Oh, yeah, because they are braised. But it's not chewy at all. The meat is nice and tender. It's beefy, but, like, I love this oil. I like this one a little bit better than the noodle because there's more flavor from the meat. The meat plus that oil creates such a perfect flavor. And it's not too spicy, but the crisp, the crunch of the exterior of this is so, so, so good! And I'm a fan.
Moving on. We wrap up Chengdu here with a dish that could potentially be the greatest bite in all of China, possibly my life. Supposedly, it hits all. all five tastes, but it's an old-school recipe and technique, and at risk of going extinct. Supposedly, this is one of the last places in the world that makes noodles like this. What we have in here is called Tian Shui Mian-the sweet water noodle. The most traditional kind- of noodle in Chengdu. And you can see the noodle is quite different.
They're, like, almost as thick as my pinky. The smell, the aroma from this. you can't really describe it. It's just, like, toasted. It's roasty. It's sweet, it's spicy. It's very complicated. Shall we take a bite? Mm! Oh, the chew! This is an important dish. This is one of the few dishes that we have had that is almost more about the noodle that you're eating than it is about anything else. This is not coming out of a box. These are clearly being made fresh by hand. And they have such a presence when you bite them because they're so big.
The first bite: all about the noodle. And then as you chew, all these, like, diverse flavors. Literally all five tastes: salty, sweet, umami, spicy, a little bit of bitterness from the chili too. So you're literally getting all the flavors in one. And there's no meat in here. There's no green onions to crunch on. It's all about the noodle. This is, like. might be one of the best noodle dishes I've ever had. Some of these places are really popular, but what we're really looking for are the hidden gems. What are the gems that people don't know about around the world?
I mean, look around us. There's no, like, tourists walking around here. I mean, this is, like, working-class food, but they're cooking it at a Michelin level. Actually, it's on the Michelin list. Oh, it is? Yeah. Wow! Chengdu. Incredible flavor. Not only was everything that I had delicious, but also different than what I had in Xi'an. Each city is unique to itself, but if there's one city that has the culinary firepower to possibly steal the spotlight, it's Shanghai, where people from all over the world perfect some of the most iconic street foods ever-like this loaded jianbing.
This, to me, is the Chinese breakfast of champions. It's from the north of China, but our guide, Rachel, a prolific local food writer, says this is one of the best. This is the luxe version of jianbing. If you're going to ever go shell out on a jianbing, this is 22 RMB, so maybe like just $3. I mean, $3 for this is crazy! So this has sausage, fried chicken, jianbing cracker- the youtiao, which is the deep-fried cruller- and basically a whole egg and sauce. What are the sauces?
One is a tianmianjiang, so like a sweet fermented bean sauce. And then the other one's just a chili sauce. So many textures! Crunchy, soft, airy. God! And the seasoning on this is so good. You get a hint of sweetness from the tianmianjiang. I love that fragrant five-spice coming through, too. It just, like, sweetens everything up in a way that just goes together so, so perfectly. It's so balanced! My first concern was, "God, there's so much in this!" There's no way this is going to be balanced.
It's just going to be a fatty, heavy bite. But honestly, it's quite light. Like, I could finish this and I would feel great. This is awesome! I wish that I could have this every day for my breakfast. You gotta make a video how to make it at home. I don't feel confident enough in that. I need to work on that one for. for a minute, because this is so good. The sausage alone is, like, such a great bite, too.
I love this. Jianbing is definitely a breakfast hall of famer, no doubt. But next up is a breakfast dish that may be even more famous in Shanghai, and I have zero expectations. So this is doufuhua or doufunao, which is soft, silken tofu, and this is a savory version. You can also get it sweet. And on top, they season it with light soy sauce, scallions, pickled vegetables, and little pieces of dried krill. So the best way to enjoy it is the combo. You have your youtiao, your fried cruller, and then you dip it into your tofu hua. Let it soak a little. Ooh, they're so airy!
Like, when you bite into them, it, like, squeezes out all the juice. It's so light. It looked like it was gonna be, like, really strong. It's very light tasting, but there's a lot of flavor in it. Yeah. It's got, like, an earthy pickliness to it that's really nice. But you get a little bit of richness from the bread. It's a little oily, it's a little fatty, but in a nice way. It absorbs the liquid well. It's got so much air in it. It's more of a vehicle for this to get in your body.
Also, I love the little krill. Just, like, adds a nice little uncomplicated oceanic flavor without it being, like, overwhelmingly so. This is not too strong. So it's usually served warm. So in the morning, you want something, like, hot and warm and soothing to get your stomach going for the day. This next one I know looks a little boring. You got to hear me out. These are bao and dumplings cooked in a unique style that I've always wanted to try. So, how do they taste?
We have the seared bao, which is shengjian bao, and then these are pot stickers, essentially called. guotie. Goutie. Guo- Guo- Yes. Guotie. Where should we start? I think you should start with the. shengjian. So be careful. It's juicy, it's hot. It's called shengjian because they're cooked raw. Sheng meaning raw, jian meaning pan-seared or fried. So inside is like a meatball and a little bit soupy, more like juicy.
Some places use a leavened dough so that when you cook it and cover it, the steam cooks the top while the bottom sizzles in the cast iron. Mmm! So good. The crustiness on the sear is so good. It's so crisp and almost bready on the bottom. And the top is more like dumpling skin. It gets thinner as you go to the top, and the actual meat on the inside seasoned really nicely. It's kind of like the classic dumpling flavors you would expect.
It's nice. I'm enjoying it. Very, very good. Also, these are two-biters. There's no way you're eating one of these whole unless you're, like, in a huge rush. This is very filling. So these are guotie, aka pot stickers, and they're cooked in the same exact way as the shengjianbao. Put them into the cast iron, you add the water, and then you close them to steam while the bottom sizzles. They're also probably filled with the same meat filling. Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. Oh, no, no! We lost one! Honestly, this is totally different. It's juicier.
It feels a little more flavor dense. So hot! We paid a dollar to fill ourselves up and to burn our mouth. You can see how juicy and filled they are. Somehow this retained way more juice. Similar flavors, similar textures. It's all the same stuff in there. I actually like these just a little more just because they're retaining more of that juice and losing less of the flavor, whereas these kind of lost a little bit of it. But they're both incredibly delicious. The next dish is exactly what this video and Shanghai are all about.
I've never heard of it. It looks simple, and wow, did it impress me. Okay, so this place is known for cai fan, which is essentially a rice dish. Porky. It's cooked in lard, and it's got pork bits, which look a little cured. Little bit of mushroom, onion, and what looks like chopped bok choy. It actually smells very, like, vegetable-forward, which I'm excited about. And they also cook it in this cast iron, so it, like, soaks up all the flavor as well.
Oh, wow. It's not too much at all. I was thinking, like, "Oh, there's so much pork fat in this. This is going to be too rich." But it's very balanced. There's so many textures in this. I thought I bit into a piece of pork fat. It was a mushroom. The mushroom was cooked in so much pork fat that when you bite into it, it just releases this juicy, deep, porky, salty flavor. You have bits of cured pork in there that are also salty and contributing porkiness. Also, how's the texture of the rice? Because you can see they're like individual beads, right?
It's cooked so perfectly. It's chewy. It's perfectly al dente, each individual grain. You could count the rice. And they don't clump together. So that's what makes it really good. Out of all the rice dishes I've had, this is one of the most unique. A lot of mixed rice dishes become very homogenous as you cook and you toss them. It's all kind of one fluid flavor that flows through the whole rice dish as the rice gets coated in all the juices and this, that, and the other. What's interesting about this, every little flavor in this is totally separate.
Really unusual and really fun. And also super simple, because all of these ingredients are relatively cheap. Honestly, this is a top-tier choice for just basic street food. Simple and good. Moving on. Shanghai is like magic. Simple dishes made with a shocking level of care that you just don't see that much anymore. China has continued to surprise me every step as we arrive to our final city in search of China's best street food. And here we are.
Chongqing, China. People call this place the "cyberpunk city." Sounds cringe until you get there. As soon as the sun goes down, this place turns into some sort of futuristic nightclub. LED. light show that I have never seen in my life. To be honest, it's almost a little overstimulating, but at the same time, I'm so bewildered I might as well just enjoy it, right? So it's only fitting that our guide's personality is as big as his native city. But would the food here be enough to top Xi'an or Chengdu? It's raining outside. This is still a street food, so we're sitting inside just to avoid the rain.
Thank you for being here with me today. My pleasure. Can you tell me about this dish? This is what we call You Cha. It's the most tremendous tea in the world. It's tea, but it's not drinking tea, it's chewing tea. So what we have is on the top is the fried dough sticks, the bottom is the. porridge. We got the crunchiness. We also have the hearty soup at the bottom. So we mix them together. This is a very retro, nostalgic. food.
This is the food my mom and dad would like. I still remember when I, when I was a little kid, I would have this before go to school. And this is all carbs. This whole trip has been all carbohydrates. I've been having to try and outrun everything I've been eating, and it's been impossible. Oh, wow, it's so good! It is the pickled vegetable that's making it interesting. So smart! It's like, creamy, but also, like, just melts in your mouth.
The congee's perfectly cooked. It's not too thin, it's not too thick. It's not soupy. It's got that, like, unctuousness to it. Just a little spicy, but not too spicy at all. I love the little flecks of crunch. But like you said, the thing that makes this special is the little pops of flavor from the pickled vegetable. This is one of those things where I think most people would look at it from afar and they're like, "Well, how good is it really?
It looks a little boring," but the flavor is insane. One of my favorite bites so far, actually. I love the simplicity of this. But it's not our last item. Moving on. On the way to our next stop, Ryan taught me a little local language. Yeb-a-yang-yang. I don't see your passion there. Zai Tim Bao. Chi Bao Gua. That was good. Welcome to Chongqing. What did I just say? That your aunt was hit by lightning and-sadly-passed away in the cornfield eating this pie. You know. I can't tell you how hyped I am for this next spot. Finally, a dancing wok on the street. This is what I've been looking for.
They had choices of meats, veggies, aromatics. I loaded up a bowl. Hopefully this is the correct thing to do here. He snatched the bowl out of my hand. I'm going to assume that I'm on the right track here because he started cooking. I didn't know it was going to happen. You know, it's happening right now in front of us. We lost Ryan. I'm getting hungry. I saw fried rice, so I at least know what that is. Except I realized that I don't speak Chinese.
I'm not 100% what I got, but I do know I got twice-cooked pork in there, so I'm excited. And also, this is only $2, which is crazy! For all of this. He double-checked if I wanted chilies because he noticed that I'm white. And I was like, "Don't worry, I'm different." I could tell by the motion of this man and his wok skills that this was going to be good. Oh, yeah, that is so good. The flavor is just so deep. It's seasoned really nicely. The rice is cooked really beautifully, so it's got that perfect chew.
It's not overcooked. And the twice-cooked pork is just so perfectly fatty and just unctuous. And he slices it like, kind of, some thick, some thin, which normally I would complain about uneven cuts, but I like that. I bite into one piece of pork: explosion of juicy fattiness. I bite into another one: crispy unctuousness. This is a beautiful bowl of fried rice, Ryan. You shouldn't have missed this one, dude. In China in general, but also in Chongqing, you're gonna see a lot of different carts doing meat skewers and all sorts of things like that. But this place is different.
When he's grilling his meat skewers, it looks beautiful. It looks good. It looks nice. And then all of a sudden, flamethrower! It's an incredible show. Yeah, it's a presentation. Look at that! These are beef skewers. I'm excited to try them. Why don't you grab one and let's give it a little taste? Oh, it's actually good. It's- actually surprisingly good. It's really good. This was a surprising one because there was so much oil on the plate.
It's seasoned really well. It's got a good spice. Got some numbing spice in there. It's got a lot of the flavors that I've enjoyed. Across Chongqing. Joshua mentioned there was a lot of. But actually, most of the street food of Chongqing, there's a lot of oil, and sometimes you just take it as a ketogenic food. Mmm. Just avoid carbs. That's physically impossible. We've done the opposite of avoid carbs today! What happens if you eat the carbs?
Some people, they like it. Ketogenic people, they also like it. It's for everybody. It's diversity. Thank you, Ryan. My pleasure. But that said, I have one more thing to say. So our journey ends here in Chongqing, China, one of the greatest cities I've ever seen. I mean, it's. That's surreal. But the crazy part is we've barely covered even a fraction of this country. There's so many cities and foods and small little towns that we didn't even eat at. We just got a little taste. And yet I had some of the greatest food in my life. And it wasn't on a white linen tablecloth.
It wasn't in a Michelin-starred restaurant. I maybe spent a hundred dollars for the whole trip, but instead, it was served on the side of a street. If you're gonna go somewhere and you have travel plans, you might want to consider going to China. And if you're gonna go somewhere in China, pretty much any street corner will do. Subscribe. Love you. See you next time.
