I Tried China’s Best Street Food

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.

And Xi'an, you're almost never going to see locals lining up.

It's not really a thing unless it's really, really, really good.

And there's a lot.

We have a maxed out bao.

Look at the size of this thing.

I mean, this is a big boy.

And also, this only cost like two RMB.

For two of them, it's maybe cost like 50 cents. It's insane.

You can charge $5

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 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 in it.

There's no meat in it.

I can't believe it.

I'm going to be honest, despite it being so unassuming,

it was so good.

Kind of like our guide Alan. 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. Xie xie, Alan. We love you.

Next up, we have breakfast jidan youtiao.

Basically a freshly fried egg-stuffed cruller.

There's no way this is not going to blow our mind. So good.

Like looking at this, I'm like, "How much flavor can really be in there?"

That looks like it 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, dude.

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 a 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 can hold it for a really long time.

Maybe more than 20, 30 years, I guess.

If it's 30 years, it's older than me. >> Basically perfect.

I don't think I could outdo this.

On to the next.

We now have another classic breakfast.

It's called Li Ji Jia Mo.

Kind of like a soft steamed bun. Pork loin.

Fried egg, lettuce, chili oil,

and some sort of sauce.

This whole thing is less than $1.

As big as your face, literally. Cheers. 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's great.

I can taste the pork.

The fried egg is cooked perfectly.

How much do you think? What I think?

I don't My brain stopped.

No, I really love to dig in.

For Chinese people, I'm really proud we have these kind of breakfast.

It's a lot of carbs in this city.

This is maybe the only chance we can have some of lettuce.

>> Not to diss Austin,

and I love Austin. I live there.

This is better than most breakfast tacos, if I'm being

And now, listen here, brother.

I know them's fighting words.

But, I'm going to be honest, I've never had a 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 You'll see.

Oh, that smells good.

It tastes good 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 >> 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

fatty little pork bites I've ever had.

God, this is so good.

Pair it with a green

chili and also the onion

give the actual flavor of 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.

Cuz 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 cuz I like

the flavor of it.

How can you make this better?

Maybe something like acidic? No, meat. Yeah, more meat.

The best part of you, in a hurry,

you can grab one and go.

On to the next. This is insane.

But just when I thought the pork couldn't get any better.

I ate shao bing.

When I was young, I had a pretty much every lunch.

>> So, it's got barbecued

pork which she chopped up.

But, what is this exterior?

>> Pretty much like deep fried a tortilla

and wrapped all the meat inside.

And the meat is smoked pork, very hot.

It smells super smoky.

I'm just going to go in.

I suggest putting one in your mouth. The whole one? Yeah, of course.

It's 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 burst

of fat and it's smoky

and it's slightly sweet.

>> Make it so satisfying, 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 biang noodles.

I named this my favorite noodle on our noodle tour across Asia.

But now we're having it street side and in the birthplace

of noodles, this shop is legit.

To operate a biang 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.

He's 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, 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 going to say? Yeah.

I'm eating like one of the best noodle dishes in 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 my belt.

>> It's wider than my belt.

You'll notice that I took my belt off and my pants stay on.

That's cuz I've gained some weight since I got here. Wow.

These are a lot more saucy.

When I first saw the tomato, my thought was like,

"Eh, I don't need a marinara sauce. Thanks, though."

And what I realized was I was a idiot for thinking that.

All it is 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 cuz 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.

All right, how about us open a restaurant like this one in America?

>> You want to do it? Yeah, sure. Okay. Okay, deal. Done. America, be ready.

Yeah, in Texas actually, that's legally binding contract.

Street food in Xi'an feels like almost a cheat code.

Every single thing just banged

at the highest level.

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. These Sichuan peppercorns.

And our food writer guide Harry 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

>> 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,

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 the da da da da da.

This is to me way better, more exciting, more flavor.

And this guy is 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 going to enjoy this for now.

Let me be clear about something here.

This was $7.25 for a whole duck hot pot.

This is 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 the legend in Chengdu.

Grandma Yen's Guo Kui,

a famous baked pancake that looks simple but it's cut in half and stuffed

with a Sichuan chili oil dosed filling of your choice.

We had the beef and most classic

and unique to me, a starch jelly.

You can't knock it until you try it. Mhm.

I thought it was going to be too much starch. Not at all.

It has a great texture.

Super crispy on the outside

and it's not very gelatinous.

It's 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 is doing this, that's a good sign. I'm learning. I'm learning. >> Okay.

This is the beef what?

This beef is like with some vegetables.

>> This is going to go straight to the gains factory. Here we go. Mhm. It's very steak-y.

Almost like sliced steak. Oh, yeah.

Because they are braised.

But it's not too 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 cuz there's more

flavor from the meat.

The meat plus that oil creates such a perfect flavor.

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 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 do we have in here is called Tian Shui Mian, a sweet water noodle.

It's the most traditional

kind of a 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? Mhm. 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.

You're literally getting all the flavors in one.

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?

And 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 like list. Oh, it is? Oh, okay. >> 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 middle 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 tianmian

jiang, so like a sweet fermented bean sauce, and then the other one's just

a chili So many textures. Crunchy, soft, airy.

>> God, and the seasoning on this is so

>> You get a hint of sweetness

from the tianmian jiang.

I love that fragrant five spice coming through, too.

It just like sweetens

everything up in a way that just goes together 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.

This is just going to be a fatty, heavy bite."

But honestly, it's quite light.

Like I could finish this and I I would feel great. This is awesome.

I wish that I could have this every day for my breakfast.

>> You're going to 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 cuz this is so good.

The sausage alone is like such a great bite, too. I love this.

Sheng Jian 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.

Uh so this is doufu hua or doufu nao, 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 fried cruller.

So the best way to enjoy it is the combo.

You have your youtiao,

your fried cruller, and then you dip it into your doufu hua.

Let it soak a little. Soak a 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 going to be like really strong but it's very light tasting.

But there's a lot of flavor to it. >> Yeah.

It's got like um earthy

pickliness to it that it'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.

It 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 sheng jian bao

and then these are potstickers essentially.

guo tie guo tie guo guo yes guo tie guo tie Where should we start?

>> you should start with the sheng jian. So be careful. It's juicy. It's hot.

It's called sheng jian because they're cooked raw.

Sheng meaning raw, jian meaning seared or fried.

So inside is like a a meatball

and a little bit soupy, more like juicy.

Some places use a leaven dough so that when you cook it and cover

it the steam cooks the top while the bottom sizzles in the cast >> 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 potstickers 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. 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 cuz 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 tsai 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.

>> also cook it in this cast iron so it like soaks up all the

flavor as It's not too much at all.

I was thinking like, oh there's so much pork fat in this is going

to be too rich, but it's not. Very balanced.

There's so many textures in this.

I thought I had 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 cuz you can see they're like individual beads, right? >> 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 a really good Thai food.

Out of all the rice dishes I've had, this is one of the most unique.

A lot of mixed rice dishes become very homogeneous.

As you cook and you toss them, it's all kind of one fluid flavor

that flows through the whole rice.

Just 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,

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 {slash} 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 youtiao.

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 uh 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 and 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 is 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. Yíbì yángyáng. Yíbì yángyáng.

I don't see your passion there. Zàitíngbāo. Zàitíngbāo. Shíbǎoguā. Shíbǎoguā. Qíbǎobā. Qíbǎobā. Zàotíngdàsà. Zàotíngdàsà. That was good. Welcome to Chongqing.

What did I just say?

That your aunt was hit by lightning

and sadly passed away in the

eating this pie, you know, right?

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 what 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 cuz 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 are thick,

some are 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 going to 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, looks good, 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, aren't you?

Grab one and let's give it a little taste.

Oh, it's actually good.

It's actually surprisingly good.

Yeah, it's really good.

This was a surprising

one cuz 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 flavors that I've enjoyed across Chongqing.

Just like I mentioned, there was a lot of oil there, 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. Mhm. Just avoid carbs. That's impossible.

We've done the opposite of avoid carbs today.

What happens if you avoid 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 surreal.

But the crazy part is we 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 star restaurant.

I maybe spent $100

for the whole trip,

but instead it was served on the side of a street.

If you're going to go somewhere and you have travel plans, you might want

to consider going to China.

And if you're going to go somewhere in China, pretty much any street corner will do. Subscribe. Love you.

See you next time.