- My mind has literally been blown.
- And that makes me feel uncomfortable.
(imitates explosion blasting)
- I know my Chinese food,
and so, if I don't win this Try video,
I will be calling the Race Discrimination Commissioner.
Just putting it out there.
- Quack, quack, mother-
- [Tom] Today,
we're here to try each other's Chinese takeaway orders.
- Every time I eat Chinese food, I'm drooling,
and I'm like, "This is so good."
- Chinese food in Australia is top-notch.
I think that we do it much better
than other places around the world.
UK, I'm looking at you.
- I don't order Chinese a whole heap.
Being Chinese, I often cook food for myself.
But when I do order Chinese takeaway,
I want it to be comforting,
and I want it to be the kinds of things
that are just a little too complicated to make for myself.
- For me, Chinese food is very much like a group situation.
- You can get a bunch of things,
a little bit of everything.
It tastes great, everyone's happy,
everyone's full, yes.
- I would love it if somebody picked something
off the beaten track.
And maybe something will be a little bit spicy,
I don't know.
Mm, maybe I'll be spicy, who knows?
- The meal that gets the highest score
will be crowned the winning dish.
- Let's go! (upbeat music)
- I like having a bit of a degustation,
multi-course experience on my plate.
My order is pork and chive dumplings,
stir-fried noodles and veggies,
and a side of sauteed spinach.
With garlic, or soy sauce, or anything, it's great.
I think it's the best for me,
but I don't really know much about anything,
so let's find out if it really is the best.
- Ooh, I like where this is going.
We love some little thick noods.
- Yeah, this is what I'm talking about!
- Someone got the sauteed spinach, yay!
- Every good Chinese meal starts with a dumpling situation.
- I think this might be shepherd's purse and pork dumplings.
Mm.
- Mm.
It does seem like pork and chive.
A little cross-section there,
you can see quite a lot.
- The ratio in this is great.
It really feels like a 50 meat, 50 veggie.
- That dumpling was delivering me flavor,
but was it delivering me texture?
It's not my jam, I am a pan-fried biatch.
- My mom would be so happy that I'm eating these right now.
- Fiber, plant goodness, plant power.
- Hell yeah.
- Garlic.
- This is like a Shanghainese style
of cooking Singaporean noodles,
which I think is just the noodle variety.
- [Coops] Mm. (slurps) (cheerful music)
- [Ryan] Mm!
- A delicious bite, honestly.
- The flavor of these are not my favorite.
I kind of seek a lot more saltiness
and sweetness in my meals.
- I feel like I like the green bits better than the noodles,
which is the opposite way around than we usually go.
I think this gets a 7 out of 10,
'cause the noodles were kinda eh.
But the rest was kinda eh.
- I'm gonna give this a 9 1/2 out of 10.
- A few things were off for me.
There's no meat, and the dumplings are not pan-fried.
So because of that,
I'm gonna give this person a 7 out of 10.
(lips smack)
- For my order, which I already know is gonna be the best,
I am getting xiao long bao to start,
because they're delicious and they're very interactive.
Everybody eats them a little bit differently.
And for the main, we're gonna go a braised eggplant,
and this one's got some mince in it.
It's got everything that you need, alright?
It's just the best, there's no questioning it.
- Ooh!
- So I am a big fan of braised eggplant.
So I'm really keen to dig into that.
- I straight away smell the braising on the eggplant.
And I'm never mad about xiao long bao
because they are truly China's gift to the world.
- These have to be the second-best dumplings in the world,
because the dumpling that I ordered is obviously the best.
It's kind of a little bare. I need more.
- So when I eat my dumpling,
no idea if this is even right or offensive or whatever,
but I poke a little hole,
and then I dip it into the sauce,
and then the sauce can get sucked up into the dumpling.
- The best part about them is their soupy insides.
- This looks great, yes!
♪ I'll be there for you ♪
- Mm, yum.
- Mm, mm-hm.
(videotape whirs)
I definitely shouldn't have eaten it in one go.
- It's bloody delicious.
I would probably almost basically choose that for my entree.
- It's porky, it's soupy.
It's such a delicate little parcel.
(light inquisitive music) (participants munching)
- [Ryan] Mm!
- Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
It's eggplant, but it's so much more than that.
- You've got that signature sweetness
meets a little bit of savoriness.
It's very umami.
- Surprise, there's some meat in here.
It's such a comforting food.
- Generally speaking, this order feels incomplete to me.
It feels like an entree and a side dish.
Where is the main?
I love each individual piece,
but as an order, it's lacking.
So I'm gonna give it an 8 out of 10.
- I have big criteria when it comes to takeaway food.
- Hair's out. - [Tom] Hair's out.
- That's how you know the takeaway's getting serious.
Yeah, I love this meal,
but I do wish that there was something green in this order.
So it's not perfection, 9 out of 10.
- Two things from Chinese takeaway, it's not enough.
So I'm gonna give this one a 6 out of 10.
- So my Chinese takeaway order is a selection
of delicious Shanghainese food.
I've got the wheat gluten with black mushroom,
the shredded pork and shepherd's purse
stir-fried rice cakes,
and then just to top it all off,
I've got a prune juice, just to wash it all down.
I feel like Chinese drinks are often,
they have some kind of herbal or functional element to them,
so it may be the case that this prune juice helps digestion.
So I think my order is going to win
because it has all of the flavors,
and it think it's a nutritionally complete meal,
using ingredients that are maybe less common
in other Chinese takeaway orders.
- Oh, my God, what are you?
- This person is a food explorer.
- I might love it.
I've not been exposed to this before.
- We have a bit of a drink situation over here.
- Oh, what are you?
It's got good legs on it.
(light curious music)
- Oh, whoa!
- Oh!
- Oh, hell yeah.
- It kinda tastes like tea and alcohol had a baby.
- It's a cola meets vanilla and fruit.
- [Tom] It's prune juice.
- Prune juice?
I got it completely wrong.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
- I thought prune juice was what old ladies
who slip in the bathtub drink.
I didn't think it was this delicious, my God.
- My new favorite thing.
- I like it.
It could go down well with some whiskey.
So I'm gonna try this one first.
(participants munching)
Mm!
- Um, yum.
- This confused me.
- It's a bit of a fishcake going on there.
- It's just like a neutral taste,
which adds to the texture of what you're having.
That's good, I like that.
- I have this feeling it's tofu.
- Oh, my God, yum!
- Wow, oh my God, the flavor here.
That's really sweet.
- Wheat gluten, this is the most flavorsome thing.
- It's great, it just wouldn't be my choice.
(imitates explosion blasting)
- We've got some black fungus here.
(soft upbeat music)
- Oh, so good.
- It's all about the texture, the black fungus.
Kind of like jellyfish.
Oh, I think this is also tofu.
(Ryan munches)
Actually, I don't know what it is.
But it tastes good, that's the most important thing.
- This order is so cool,
it feels very different from what I'd usually eat,
and it's flavorsome as hell.
This is getting a 10 out of 10 for me, baby.
My mind has literally been blown.
I'm gonna order this next time I go somewhere.
- I wouldn't order it because I'm boring,
and I'm not adventurous, and I don't try new things.
It's not devourable for me.
I reckon I'm gonna give this one a 6.5 out of 10.
- I'm going to give this a 9 out of 10.
So my Chinese takeaway order is three things:
I've got juicy bao,
which is pan-fried pork dumplings,
and then I've got soy duck,
and of course, fried rice to soak it all up.
So this is the best meal
because you get those juicy, delicious pork dumplings,
which have a crispiness and softness to them.
The duck is sweet.
Duck is a delicacy at Chinese restaurants,
and they always do it really well.
That's why I splurge out on it.
- Ooh, this looks great!
- Just so excited.
All about that glaze life.
- Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck...
I'm not the kind of person that's like,
"Oh, I love duck,"
or, "I'm gonna get the duck."
- Usually, with good sheng jian boa,
they should also be a little bit of a soup explosion.
- Let's go.
(upbeat techno music)
- Mm!
- Yeah, there is soup!
- Mm-hm, mm-hm.
- It's really interesting, it's like spongy.
- The pork is very tender,
and there's a great crunch to the bottom.
(bao thuds)
(Coops laughing)
(Coops inhales sharply)
This has been recorded, right?
Let's get this meat!
- Oh, there's like full on-bone and cartilage.
And that makes me feel uncomfortable.
I like to really disconnect the morals.
(participants munching) (light playful music)
- Mm. - Oh, hell yeah.
That is phenomenal.
- That's pretty good.
I like it.
- The flavor on the outside,
the braising, the soy, it's delicious.
It's so powerful.
- I just don't think anybody can do duck
like Chinese food does duck.
I'm sorry to France as a country,
but they got you beat here.
- Ooh, I see that there's SPAM in the fried rice,
which I love, that feel very comforting.
- [Coops] Mm-hm.
Mm-hm, mm-hm, mm-hm.
- Mm-hm. - Mm!
- Delicious.
There's solid egg in this as well,
which is what you want in a fried rice.
- This is a pretty rock-solid order.
The dumplings were delicious,
the duck absolutely carried this.
Quack, quack, motherfucker.
I'm gonna give this a 9 out of 10.
- I love this order.
I would definitely order it.
I think I'm gonna give this one also a 9 out of 10.
Again, it's just missing the green element for me.
- I'm gonna give this one a 7 out of 10.
- [Tom] So the winner of the Chinese Order Takeaway video
is Wheezy.
- Yes! (bright cheerful music)
I am...
Look, am I surprised? No.
Am I gloating? No. (chuckles)
But do I think that you should try my order?
Definitely, yes.
- Wheezy!
You brought us something really cool.
And she's also just like the coolest person.
I'm a little bit in love with Wheezy.
I'm just saying.
(cheerful music)