(squealing laughter) - It's hot!
It's hot, I can't bite it!
(upbeat music)
There are tons of night markets in Taipei
and tonight I'm in Tonghua with TJ.
Why are we here?
- This is one of my favorite night market as a local.
- Let's check out some Taiwanese snacks.
First stop: Taiwanese chicken.
We got big chicken, we got little chicken,
what is it about Taiwanese chicken that tastes so good?
- I think it's the way they fry it
and the seasoning they put on it.
So it's extra savory and it's extra crispy, so good.
- Let's get some popcorn chicken to share.
Smells amazing!
- Oh yeah, look at that crispiness.
- Fresh outta the fryer. Mmmm.
- It's hot! (chicken crunches) So good.
The locals agree, it's very good.
- It's so good!
When I first tried this I came back like every other week.
- Very juicy, very savory, it's kinda sweet,
do you taste something sweet, or am I like dying?
- It's got a little sweet glaze on it.
- Fyew!
- (Andrew) Is it Q?
- Very Q. (laughter)
- Alright, next up we got our oyster omelet. Look at that.
So, oh, thank you. (foreign language)
So we got an oyster omelet.
Tell me what exactly is an oyster omelet?
- Alright, so it's an omelet, but with oyster in it.
Haha, just messing.
So, what makes it special is that they actually add
potato starch in there, so when you open up this omelet
its gonna be a little bit sticky.
It's got like a sticky and gooey texture.
Mmhmm, I know you like that, yes! (laughs)
- I actually do like interesting textures.
- Okay, so I'm gonna pull this up
and you can see-- do you see that stickiness, right there?
- Okay, here we go. Mmmmm.
- Good?
It just kinda melts in your mouth.
I love that sweet sauce, not like, super egg-y either.
- No it's not, it's the sauce kinda
just balances everything out.
- So is this like a late-night snack, midday thing?
- Honestly, a lot of Taiwanese foodies just eat it all day.
Like our breakfast is 24 hours.
- Time is the fire in which we burn.
Gotta show you something really important.
This is the first time I've seen
a trash can in all of Taipei. (laughs)
I was so used to not having one.
Alright it's that place of the market
we're gonna hold our breath for as long as we can.
Because we're about to pass the stinky tofu.
I will eat a lot of things,
I put a lotta things in this mouth.
Stinky tofu, not a fan.
We are beside the stinky tofu.
Luckily, you can only see it, you can't smell it.
Alright, the locals got really excited about this spot.
So where are we?
- Okay, so we're at a tangyuan spot.
Tangyuan is a dessert rice bowl
and they usually have filling inside.
This particular shop kinda elevates
the regular tangyuan, you'll see, you'll see what I mean.
- What is this?
- So this is tangyuan on a cloud of ice,
and if you notice there's like little flakes
of what looks like flower petals, that is osmanthus sauce,
and it's kinda like a sweet honey sauce.
- Beautiful. It looks like a bird's nest.
- Yes, you want it just like lay in it, don't you?
- I do. Lemme, hold on, I gotta take a photo of this,
cause it's so interesting looking.
(shutter click)
Okay, it's so hot this is going to be very refreshing,
I can tell, so how do we eat this?
- Okay so I usually like to just scoop it all
with a tangyuan like this with a lot of ice.
Op, and it's gonna drop, and then just
put the whole the whole thing in your mouth.
- One go?
- Yeah, yeah, but for this purpose, we'll bite it in half,
so people can see what's inside, yeah, here.
- Camera conscious.
- Prepare for amazingness in your mouth.
- Amazingness in my mouth, let's go.
(laughter)
Okay, I love this taste, it's like peanut taste.
- You see it, you got peanut and mine is sesame.
Look at that filling.
- How did you have such an easy time biting into this?
- Oh I'm just experienced. I'm experienced.
- (Andrew) So we're down to just ice
and you guys add stuff to it.
- Yes, so you can add more of the
osmanthus sauce and you can add lemon juice.
It's gonna give like a sour and sweet kinda taste.
Just like you, boo.
- (laughs) Thank you. So it just keeps going,
it's the dessert that keeps on giving.
- Mmhmm, it's not just ice.
- (Andrew) Alright. Taiwanese sausage.
- Yes, here we go, so right now
we're trying something
which if you translate it, it literally means
'Big sausage wrapping a little sausage.'
- If I had a nickel for every time I heard that.
What makes the sausage special?
- So Taiwanese sausage is different from regular sausage.
It's a lot sweeter and it's got like a nice chew to it.
- We're seeing the sausage for the first time.
It's a sausage in a sausage.
- That outer layer is actually made of rice,
so it's like a rice bun and inside
it's a Taiwanese sausage.
- Alright, here we go: one, how do you say bon appetit?
- Kāi dòng! - Kāi dòng!
- Here we go. (squealing) It's hot.
(laughter) It's hot, it's hot.
(laughter) I can't bite it. Wooo!
- You like that?
- That's good, that's sweet.
- Oh, yeah, it is really sweet, it's a lot sweeter.
It's like they put a honey glaze over it
that's what it tastes like.
- And this rice sausage? (kiss)
What is this?
- Alright so this is pan-fried buns
and they're super special because
they're so juicy inside, just wait.
- Yeah, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that.
(laughter)
- Here it is. - Yes.
- It's too hot, I cannot bite into this yet.
- Yes, you absolutely can, you gotta bite it when its hot.
- That's so good. Oh my god, juicy, savory,
the soup in their and I love the crispiness
on the bottom there, and the like, gooey-ness on the top.
- Yep, yep, yep, you just gotta take one more bite.
- Well thank you TJ for taking me through the market.
- Of course!
- Just a few of the foods,
there's so many more to try though.
- So much, please, please, please
come to Taipei, Taiwan, and eat your heart out.
Seriously, it's amazing here.
- Thanks so much for watching see you next time.
- A la prochaine! - Bye!