- Street food, $1, maybe not more than five,
but when you're traveling you want a mix of cheap and fancy.
Introducing Bougie Belly, the series on quality food
at reachable prices in foreign places.
Today's episode, we're trying high-end hotpot.
Savory, spicy broth, buttery meat,
and over the top presentation
for the most luxurious dining experience.
(dramatic music)
The first restaurant is Top One Pot in Taipei, Taiwan.
This restaurant has consistently high reviews
across all their branches and we're here
at their oldest and original branch to eat like royalty.
And dress up like one too?
(asian music)
(water pouring)
Oh hey, it's me Cup of TJ, emperor. (laughs)
Emperor of hotpot. (laughs)
Hello you guys, I think this is the most luxurious
I've ever looked, OK.
So whatever you're wearing today, I'm wearing it better.
First let me just explain this soup base.
This right here is a combo pot.
And right here we have the chicken pot
and in this we have the royal spicy hotpot.
And inside you can see all of that aromatics
just dancing with the water.
I feel like everything I hold I have to hold it luxuriously.
This is minced scallop.
So it's made into a paste form.
Get this wooden stick and you form a little shape
and you pour it into the soup
and it's gonna solidify into delicious scallop goodness.
Oh my goodness. (dishes clatter)
(waiter speaking)
This, this is what an emperor should eat.
We have a platter, alright, of amazing boneless short ribs
and right in front of me are Matsusaka pork roses.
Look at the way it's layered.
It is absolutely beautiful.
Even an emperor shall not dirty his clothes.
So I'll just uh, usually you should take off the hat,
but because I'm extra as fudge I refuse. (laughs)
Nevermind.
The correct way to eat this boneless short rib
is what you do is you grab it and then you dip it
into the soup
one,
two,
three,
oh my gosh.
Four, five, six, seven, eight, and this is the correct way
to cook it.
Oh, look at that, beautiful.
Even though it was just like a dip and dip
you can see most of the parts of the meat
is actually cooked already.
There's just a little bit of pink in there.
That means it's gonna be really nice and chewy.
Here we go.
Mm, such a nice chew on this piece of meat.
Three to four bites and it just dissolves in your mouth.
That is some quality meat.
Sometimes the spiciness can be too overwhelming,
so if you just lightly cook it, lightly dance in the soup
then you're gonna get a nice spicy flavor just a tad bit
and then really enjoy the aroma and the taste of that meat.
(Asian music)
Now we are going to cook the pork roses.
And I've been instructed, you wanna put this in there
for about three minutes and let it cook.
Oh yeah, just let it in there.
The layer and layer of pork
is just gonna slowly slide apart
and just relax out in that soup.
Well, as we wait for that meat, I'm gonna outfit change
because why not?
(Asian music) (soup bubbling)
And my soup is boiling with a ton of goodies,
so we're gonna start eating.
Remember when we put in those pieces of scallop?
Oh, look at it, yep.
Bouncy piece of deliciousness.
Oh, these are the exploding balls.
There's like stuff inside, surprise!
I know you're all used to something like that.
Is that cheese or egg?
Wow!
Mm, it's so good.
It's almost like a mushy, eggy filling.
Mm.
As you bite inside, there's little exploding fish roe.
It's fantastic.
It's so good!
(crew laughing)
Forgot to wear my bib again.
Now I wanna try the scallop, which I was so excited about
because it looked amazing even just in its raw form.
It's just like soft, chewy fish ball
and it tastes so yummy.
It's just got a little bit of savory flavor.
More about the texture, that pillowy chew to it.
We have an assortment of meatballs.
I mean, we got some small balls, we got some darker balls,
we got some white balls, we've got some balls with onions.
We just got a platter of balls.
This restaurant really knows what I like.
Gosh, look at these giant, monstrous deliciousness.
This has got a nice bounce to it when you pick it up.
Look at that, wow, it's like fluffing a pillow.
(mimics beeping)
My pot is looking so festive.
Oh, hey, now I'm the emperor's mistress, ooh!
Girl, where'd you get your look?
A hotpot restaurant called Top One Pot.
These are luxurious fries.
So this is actually a scallion pancake inside.
They rolled it up and then they fried it so it's crispy.
It kinda reminds me of a really long mozzarella stick.
What you wanna do is dip it into the soups,
get some of that flavor and oh, are you ready?
Oh, ho.
Oh yeah, oh that's good.
Nice crunch on the outside and you can taste
that soft scallion dough on the inside.
Love to bite in that, that is good.
This time when I put on the bib, it's gonna be flawless.
It is time to try my flower pork.
I am excited, we're gonna see
what this Matsusaka pork is all about.
So as we're taking out the pork
you can see it's still kinda in the shape of that rose,
but if you shake it, it's just gonna come apart.
That layer and layer of thick pork.
Oh, we're gonna put those pieces,
whoops, there it goes, into your bowl.
We're gonna get a piece of this.
And while I was changing the amazing staff
brought over some sauce.
Grab one of these and just flow over, just float over.
Yeah, 'cause you know, I'm a princess.
Dip it in the sauce that they mixed for us.
Oh my goodness.
Wow, I was not expecting that, wow, wow, wow.
I thought looking at the meat that we'd chew into it,
it would have a thick, quite a chew of a little bit tough.
But when I bit into this it was so easy
to chew through the meat, it is absolutely tender.
This is some quality pork.
Wow, they were not kidding around.
Mm, this is probably one of the most tender pork pieces
that I've eaten, incredible, mm.
(upbeat music)
♪Every time ♪
♪ I got my baby... ♪
Yum. I was an emperor, I was a queen
Now, I have a royal baby.
A royal food baby right here.
The quality of this restaurant is incredible.
I absolutely loved the attentive service
I love the way the food was presented, and I loved
the overall feel of this restaurant.
It's very high-end, it's very clean.
I see why it is one of the best
hotpot restaurants here in Tai Pei.
Personally I had an amazing time, especially since
I got to dress up, serving looks.
But we're not done yet with today's episode
Because I think next restaurant we're going to kick up
the spicy level and
I hope you guys are ready.
(ambient electronic music)
If this doesn't define Bougie dining,
I don't know what does, okay...
Right in front of me, there is a lot of stuff
there is so much stuff
This item is their special beef.
So this beef has actually been smoked before,
and now it's covered in these peppercorn.
It's layered on this giant pile of ice
and this dish, you gotta consume as soon as possible
because it's fresh, fresh fresh fresh fresh.
I'm taking a slice of this beef
Oh, my goodness.
It is layered in spices.
So she informed me just to put this in for
about ten seconds, and then it's ready to consume.
Oh, yeah.
Ten, nine, eight ...
three, two, one...
just an extra second...
Alright, is it ready?
Oh, my goodness.
Holy smokes.
(restaurant patrons laughing and chatting)
Oh, my.
Oh my God.
That is beef butter! Nice!
That literally just dissolved in my mouth.
It was like a blanket of meat and it just disappeared.
Holy smokes.
On top of that, that spiciness,
oh it's kicking in, I feel it.
My mouth is in flames.
I gotta have another piece, just one more time,
Oh.
Oh yes.
I'm pulling it out.
That is one hot piece of meat, ladies and gentlemen.
That is so good.
The spiciness of this soup immediately clings to the meat
so you taste so much flavor.
It's a flavourblast.
Amazing.
(ambient electronic music)
Oh, d'you need a LiftPro? (laughs)
Right in front of me is a whole paddle of meat.
Now usually, you have maybe a party
of five or six people try it
but today it's just a party of two, me and you.
Look at that, wow, it's glistening.
We're gonna dip it in.
Similar to the first type of beef we tried.
I'm just going to put it in there for about ten seconds.
Lift it up from the soup.
Oh my goodness. Look at that.
Dripping,soppy goodness
This is like the best form of workout, you guys.
Workout, eat, workout, eat, here we go!
Mmmmn.
This one has more of a chew, so if you're someone who likes
a little bit of stiffness in your meat, this is it.
In it goes,
swirl it, swirl it.
Look at all that pepper dancing in the soup.
♪ Dancing queen, feel the heat... ♪
♪ Oohh, its yummy... ♪
I don't know (laughs)
(ambient electronic music)
Now I'm gonna try this amazing boat of different beef parts
I'm gonna go in there and grab an intestine
so this is already all cooked already. So we're just gonna
dip it in, get some of that flavor from the soup,
and eat it.
Oh yeah, just let it dance in that soup
Let it drip off.
Oh, oho...
it's crazy good.
That soup, the more it's boiling the spicier it gets,
and that bite was so spicy.
It's like a good spicy.
It's got a kick.
(coughs) It got spicy.
Intestine, if you've never had it before,
it's got a nice chew, it's got a nice bounce in your mouth
and we eat it for texture.
Pair it with the spicy flavour, beautiful.
We're gonna try some of this tendon.
The tendon is just slipping off of my chopstick.
Drench it in.
Yeah, not too much, because the spiciness is getting to me.
Gonna take a bite.
Oh, this tendon's got a beautiful thickness to it,
sometimes a lot of tendons are a lot softer.
This has got a nice bite.
Um, um-hmm.
This is a huge piece of tripe. Gigantic.
Same thing, dip it in the soup. Okay..
Take a bite.
Oh -
just put the whole thing in your mouth
Try comparing intestine,
I think intestines are a lot softer.
Tripe-wise, it's straight up, just chewy goodness.
We are trying their signature dish right here
This is crispy work.
Let's take a bite into this.
I want to hear that crunch.
Um. There's a juicy pork slice in there.
It's already cooked.
And paired with this salty, outer, crispy layer, you're like
It's like popcorn pork, and it's seasoned so beautifully.
That is darned good.
I'm gonna eat another one.
Oh, yes.
(ambient electronic music)
So, those were two restaurants here in Taipei, Taiwan,
that considerably are one of the
probably the best hot pots you can have here in the city.
I mean the soup flavor
is fantastic, it's aromatic,
the quality of the meat is incredible,
and for what you get with that price, worth it.
Thank you you guys so much for tuning in
to today's Bougie Belly.
Now I usually ask you guys, you know,
which do you think was better
but both restaurants are fantastic.
I think it's just so good.
So what I want to ask you is actually
which dishes from today's episode stood out to you
and would you want to order?
Thanks so much for watching this episode.
Be sure to give it a thumb's up.
Click subscribe and turn on your notifications. Okay?
Because the next episode of Bougie Belly
you do not want to miss out. Bye!
I wonder what emperors say.
"Put the meatball in my mouth!"
"Meat, now!"
"Lift the meat for me!"
Am I talking like an emperor, yet?
"You pour that juice in my mouth, peasant!"
How's that, guys?
Pretty ah, are you sold yet?
Sold yet?
Hey you, thanks so much for watching this video.
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