- Cheers, Ting.
It's been a great year.
Ting just got her wisdom teeth pulled out
a couple days ago, she's a little swollen and sore
so we're gonna have a bunch of dim sum.
She's gonna slurp some porridge
and go over all of the best golden 10s from 2018.
So we started out 2018 in Mexico.
We traveled to Mexico City, Oaxaca, and Merida
and out of all those places, we had two 10s.
One was in Puebla, we had the Pueblan mole,
which was like this rich, chocolatey, spice-packed gravy
with the most tender chicken of your dreams.
It was so delicious.
A little sweet, savory, spicy, and chocolatey in one bite.
Mmmm.
Oh yeah.
So after that Pueblan mole, that was a solid 10,
we went to this food court in Puebla
and there was this lady that chopped up
the sandwiches with these huge slices of avocado
with ninja precision and speed.
And they were just so delicious, these cemitas,
full of Pueblan local greens called papalo.
Tasted kind of like cilantro and mint mixed together.
Gracias, senora.
Oh, look at that, that's a monster sandwich.
And the we also had a whole barbacoa roast lamb.
This was outside of Oaxaca,
in a little town called Tlacoloula.
Big roast lamb covered in this red chile sauce,
this adobo sauce, it was fantastic.
We were hanging with our buddy Javier, he brought us there.
It was a ton of fun and it was totally worth
going to Mexico for.
Look at that big piece of meat, mmmm.
Oh dude, those avocado leaves, yeah.
(laughing)
That is so good, isn't it?
And then after Mexico, we came back to China,
where we're at right now, in Guangzhou.
We filmed an entire steamed pig.
It was so delicious, so soft, so succulent, and fatty.
And for the whole steamed pig,
we watched the entire process.
They laid the whole thing down and steamed it
for a couple hours and then you watched as the master chef
chalked it up and served it to us.
Oooh, oh wow, yeah.
(speaking Chinese)
And then after that in Shunde,
we went and had the best roast goose in the world.
Solid 10, golden 10.
We watched Leodachu, Master chef Leo
cook up his delicate, delicious, succulent roast goose
in his old traditional-style oven.
Oh, we're gonna have to go in for that.
(speaking Chinese)
He cooked up the best barbecue pork in the world.
It was so sweet with an ultra flavorful honey sauce,
plum sauce and he had it with barbecue pork and goose liver.
It was like a barbecue pork goose liver sandwich.
Solid 10!
And then after Guangzhou and before going to Japan,
India, Greece, Morocco, Egypt,
we came back to Chengdu and we brought the
one million subscribers winners,
the giveaway we put on when we had one million subscribers,
for a full-on Chengdu street food tour
and we found the most delicious,
succulent duck right outside of Chengdu.
We got to watch as they smoked the ducks
in this traditional-style oven.
It was so mesmerizing and magical to watch.
And then when you taste it, it was smokey.
It tasted like the most delicious ham actually.
It was so flavorful and then after that amazing
one million Rangers giveaway, we went to Japan.
Had some of the best raw fish and sashimi
and noodles of your dreams.
We flew in with the goal of eating as much as we could
and in two weeks, we ate a ton.
We had this amazing Wagyu beef.
It was expensive but so worth it, it was about $300.
We had some delicious ramen that you order
from a machine at Ichiran Ramen.
It was definitely very touristy,
but we both found it so delicious
for our first time in Japan.
And then for a splurge, went for a
once-in-a-lifetime $500 sushi feast.
It was a private kitchen, you could only have eight people
in there at a time.
It was just the best and the uni,
the raw sea urchin, was so delicious.
That was my first time trying
super high quality, premium uni.
Wow, look at that.
The gonads from the sea urchin.
Wow, thank you.
Look at that perfect uni sea urchin.
It's just like pure creamy, melt-in-your-mouth joy.
And it was the best thing ever.
If I could eat anything right now,
I would probably go back there and have an uni roll,
it was just so good.
Ting thought it was okay.
- Too ocean-y. - Too ocean-y
but I was addicted.
And then from Tokyo, we made our way to Kyoto
and we had some of the best tempura ever.
It was so crispy but soft on the inside
and it was cooked in the oil so perfectly.
It was tender and juicy, the shrimp, oh.
I would love to fly right back there just to eat that
and thinking about all the food in Japan,
that was probably one of the most satisfying meals
we had in the whole country.
Oh look at the tempura, they're ready.
Wow.
That is beautiful.
Arigato, ooh.
Wow, it's big.
Just look at the size of this tempura bowl.
Mmm.
Oh wow.
That is unlike any scallop or tempura you'll ever eat.
And after Japan, we came back to China to Xi'an
to create a full on street food tour for you,
a guide for all of the best places to eat in Xi'an.
We found so much delicious food.
We had the best pork roujiamo ever.
This amazing local pita bread from Xi'an
filled with a stewed, soft pork.
Ultra soft, sloppy, full of flavor.
And just watching them chop it
was one of the most satisfying things ever.
Mmm.
That is insane.
Oh and it's just the perfect fatty, rich start to the day.
Just being in Xi'an
and eating all of the hand-pulled noodles,
we've done so many hand-pulled noodles,
had so much amazing Xi'an Qingzhen
halal Muslim street food, it was amazing.
And after that, we flew into Hyderabad, India
to film haleem and biryani.
And haleem was one of the most unique,
crazy, and delicious foods you'll ever try.
Filming it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, watch this.
Honestly, this is one of the most
unique street foods you'll find.
Look at it now, it's getting thicker and thicker.
Hyderabad specialty?
Ramadan special, only for Ramadan.
- Only for Ramadan.
- Oh it's a magical scene.
And look, there's just row after row of haleem.
You can smell..
Pudina?
Pudina, yeah.
- Goat meat, goat meat. - Oh goat meat and pudina.
You can smell the goat, the pudina, the mint,
and the coriander and they're just pounding it.
They're gonna be pounding it all day,
putting more wheat in so it gets thicker and thicker.
Oh and look at that.
Eating that was a dream come true,
to eat the haleem right from the factory, from the source,
full of all those spices and eating it
before they brought it out to the locals was life-changing.
And after that we went to go film Hayderabadi biryani,
one of the best, most delicious biryanis we've ever had.
And they let us get upstairs to film how they make it.
It was incredible to watch the process,
the massive rows of pots of biryani,
mixing it by hand, and just being up there in the heat
really made us appreciate how hard that work is
and how much love and passion
goes into every pot of biryani.
And then after Hyderabad, we flew to
Delhi, Jaipur, and Mumbai.
And my favorite thing from all those places,
there's so much food in each city,
so many delicious 10s in India
that you can travel a lifetime to eat for,
but the most fun we had
and the best food we had on that trip was in Mumbai.
We went to Trishna's Restaurant
and we had a monster mud crab.
It was fantastic, it was covered in garlic and butter.
It was so succulent, the meat and the flesh
just popped into your mouth like a popsicle.
It was so delicious and a solid 10 out of 10.
It's just giant and the flesh is just bulging out.
Let's try it out.
Oh wow.
Mmm.
That is insane.
After that, we had a black pav bhaji.
They put secret black spices in.
It was so delicious, so amazing to watch
how they mix all the spices together,
how they chop up every ingredient,
put it all onto the grill, and add a ton of butter.
It was full of butter, so much butter,
and it was so delicious.
We actually had a red pav bhaji afterwards
because we loved it so much, we wanted to try the red one.
Mmm.
It's a little bit less peppery and strong, less masala,
but it's so smooth and tomato-y.
So after India, we flew to Athens, Greece
to go for a full-on street food adventure.
We had some crazy, crazy foods.
We had baby lamb heads on a spit.
We had baby lamb intestines, the kokoretsi,
wrapped around the baby lamb organs on a spit, it was crazy.
And we had a delicious 10 out of 10
peynirli Greek pizza boat.
It was full of sliced meats,
they cracked a raw egg in there.
So much cheese, so much butter.
It was heavy, delicious, so savory and filling,
and one of the best things we had in Athens.
We also had a plate of amazing Greek lukumades,
kind of similar to donuts but Greek style,
covered in so much ice cream.
We got one with vanilla, we got one with chocolate,
and they let us into the back to watch how they make them.
He was using his hands to poke holes into the donuts.
It was super cool and they were really sweet and delicious.
Mmm.
This is one of the best desserts you'll ever eat.
So good that we ordered another plate after
to try it with the chocolate syrup and ice cream.
Extremely sweet and delicious.
After Athens, we flew to Marrakesh, Morocco
and we went for a full street food adventure.
We found tons of delicious food.
We chatted with so many friendly locals.
And that was one of the things
that we really discovered in Marrakesh.
Chatting a lot of the locals,
we found so many friendly people.
And one of the best things we had
was this huge, whole roast lamb they put into
these big pits in the ground,
deep pits full of charcoal.
And they would just put them down into this pit,
let them roast for a couple hours,
pull them out and then chop them on a big cutting board.
You could eat that and they covered it in salt
and a little bit of cumin.
Perfect, perfect caveman-style meat.
Look at that, that's one piece.
That's one piece of meat.
And wow, looks good.
Let's try it out.
Mmmm.
That is absolutely perfect meat.
And after Marrakesh, we went to Essaouira,
a beautiful, beautiful coastal city, so beautiful.
And we had one of the best tajine chicken stews,
full of olives, full of spices and herbs,
in this farmers market outside of Essaouira.
It was worth the drive, it was so delicious,
and we got to watch as they made it as well.
It was so good and we would both love to go back
just to eat that.
The chicken just breaks right off into the bread.
That is so beautiful and you can smell all those spices.
And we're just so deep.
Mmmm.
Oooh.
Wow.
It is so smooth, the flavor, and you can really just dig in.
Then we went to Egypt and we loved Egypt.
So much good food there.
We really loved the koshari, kind of like an Egyptian
pasta full of lentils, tomato sauce,
you can get some versions with meat,
and they're all over downtown Cairo.
And what really brings back fond memories of eating in Egypt
was going to the Prince Restaurant
and trying this Molokhia green thick stew.
The prince himself, the owner of the restaurant,
cooked it up for us and fed it to me.
Whoa.
Oh wow.
Oh yeah.
That is incredible.
It tastes like a dark green vegetable
with the fragrance of onion.
He was a super nice guy and it was so delicious.
And after Egypt, we flew to Dubai
to meet with our buddy Haman
and he brought us for the most amazing traditional,
super traditional, old Emirati entire camel, it was crazy.
We got to watch as they made it,
prepared it, put it in tons of Emirati spice.
One of the craziest things we've ever experienced.
Unbelievable, breath-taking, whole camel.
And then after Dubai, we came back to Guangzhou,
where we are right now and we went to Hong Xing Restaurant
to film the craziest, biggest seafood.
Here we go guys.
We're having seafood of your dreams here.
Solid 10 out of 10,
the most delicious seafood you'll ever eat.
It was extremely expensive but we were so lucky
because Hong Xing Restaurant invited us.
They wanted to show to the world what they have there
and it was so crazy.
We got into the kitchen, we watched as they made this
big lobster, four kilogram lobster,
in garlic and light chili,
It was crazy, it was so delicious.
And the Alaskan king crab was so juicy, so garlicky.
Just pulling it out of the legs,
putting it in your mouth and feeling that
succulent, juicy burst of joy
was worth going there alone for.
And then after that, we flew back to Chengdu
to our home base and put out street food tours for you guys.
If you come to Chengdu, you can follow along on our blog,
on our website, thefoodranger.com,
you can find those places.
One of the best things we had there
was the huiguoroumian, the twice-cooked pork noodles.
Super delicious, covered in this red chili oil.
So much delicious twice-cooked pork cooked in a
spicy doubanjiang fermented broad bean paste.
And then after those videos in Chengdu,
we came back here to Guangzhou
to meet with my family and Ting's family,
they met for the first time, and we took them
for a full-on Cantonese street food adventure.
We brought them here for some delicious dim sum.
We took them to Leodachu in Shunde
and had that amazing roast goose
and now here we are at the end of 2018,
planning for our 2019.
We're going to some amazing places.
Next week, we're going to Sri Lanka.
After that, we're going to Bangladesh.
After Bangladesh, we're coming back to China
for Chinese New Year, spending it Ting's family.
And then in March, we're going to Pakistan
and then after Pakistan, we have so many
amazing places we're gonna share with you.
It really is a dream come true to be able to do this,
to share the amazing food and people of the world with you
and we're so happy to have you watching.
Thank you so much guys.
It's been amazing 2018 and we can't wait to share with you
what we find in 2019.