Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Wiens I'm in Taichung Taiwan And let's just say in Taiwan People take hot pot seriously and there are so many different varieties of Hot Pot People love to eat hot pot. It's such a social meal. you can cook everything in front of you. It's hot and fresh and so today the plan is we are going to go on a little hot pot tour.

We're going to be eating one hot pot that is more of a modern day luxury kind of a trendy hot pot and then we're going to be following that with another hot pot that's more of a traditional local a street food an Alleyway both which are extremely popular and which are very highly rated and we're just gonna compare. We're gonna eat, We're gonna enjoy Taiwanese hot pie. so it's all coming up for you right now in this video. Welcome to Taichung And we are getting started at the luxury version right across the street and you should see this place.

One of the reasons that I was most excited to come to this hot pot which is actually extremely highly rated is because you can order this huge like quadruple deck rack of meat. It's so cool. Let's go. Yes! so you round to the corner and there it is.

King of hot pot. So there's almost an endless quantity and choice of hot pots in Taiwan But this place was very highly recommended. Very high rating. We were in the right place.

This is the spot. We have a reservation and look at this giant steak with a sword in it. that's King Arthur's style. Oh that's awesome! Hello we had a reservation for Mark.

All right great! Oh here we are at our first hot pot and um here you can choose your different soup broths. One of the popular soup broths is the Bonito soup but then they also have the spicy Sichuan broth which is for sure what I'm gonna do. However, this one is unique in that it's not a Central Hot Pot you have your own hot pot burner so I guess we can all get our own flavor our own flavor. There's about 10 different flavors that you get from can get from roasted rice and green tea to Tom Yum to comfort soup to Sichuan soup.

flipping the page. Wait for it. wait for it. There it is.

That's what we're gonna get. the meat rack, the Mega Meat rack and then additionally all the salad bar with all the different vegetables. I think it's self-service I think that's Buffet so it's just the meat you order but the vegetables is Buffet The vegetable bar here at that front is pretty ornate. There's all the green vegetables.

plus they have some tofu. plus they have some different like uh, fish balls, maybe some hot dogs, some sweet potatoes. Oh all the different instant noodle packs up here as well. as we're waiting for the giant meat platter to come, let's take our vegetables.

It has quite a nice feel. I Love that that mist kind of makes it seem like you're in the mountains. Almost that mist coming out of the vegetables, mushrooms, some of the needle mushrooms. I'm gonna go for some of the onions, some pumpkin, lettuce, bok choy, chrysanthemum leaves.

Gotta get some tofu! Taiwanese Tofu is so good! I Really love the Taiwanese bean curd all the sauce station. There's about 20 different sauces that you can choose from as well hot chili oil, sesame oil, vinegar, and soy sauce. and we got front row seats here. This is perfect and all the soups have just arrived.

I Got the spicy Sichuan with some of the chili oil on top. you can see some of the cardamom pods on top as well. Got the plain soup. got the Sukiyaki Oh the Sukiyaki looks really good.

You have your own little controller here to make it hotter or less hot. We need to get a good boil going though right now. Oh here it comes. Yes, Oh yes, Oh here it is.

It's a giant meat rack. It's huge. What a display! Oh he's gonna smoke it. Yes.

Oh, some dry ice technique just for that smoke. Oh wow. It's a hot pot and a show at the same time. Wow.

Dry ice. Steam There's one, two, three, four different types of meat. beef and pork. I Think it's a type of I think this one is beef.

Grab this next piece and the sauce. I Think it's a little chili oil plus some chilies and green onions in there as well. Good with that sauce. A little heat, a little chilly, a little sesame oil.

Maybe Yeah, the the Hot Pot soup is kind of mild, but you do feel a little bit of tingly. uh Sichuan pepper, but very quite mild. Let's try that premium beef at the top here. next.

drop that in and I just. he just filled me up, loaded me up with some fresh broth. Going back in for that sauce. Gotta have some chilies.

Need some. Eat a little bit some more chilies actually. Mmm oh that. I think that Top Line of beef at the top of the butchers I Think that's the premium beef.

good too and quick, not too fatty. also. nice character, nice flavor. We'll toss in the Bean Curd of the tofu.

might add in some of those vegetables right now as well. That pumpkin is going to need some time as well. Oh, that's boiling away. That tofu is coming along nicely.

Try some of these greens. Well, that's really good. I think for this one. I'll go in for some of that chili oil sauce foreign I Think this one is the pork that's really tender.

The Bean Curd is ready I Love how juicy it is and it just absorbs all of that broth you got to be careful going. In other words, you just burn yourself with that bunch of broth that it absorbs I Love Taiwanese Okay, on to that tofu. I Love Taiwanese Tofu because it's just a sponge. It just absorbs but you have to be really careful.

you're not eat it too hot at all. just Scorch your entire mouth. Taiwanese Tofu though. oh that's hot.

oh I Love their sponginess in the layers. Oh and it just absorbs so much of that rum. Okay, the final one we have is this: I think it's the bottom one I think this is the type of fork as well I think this is our final meat that we haven't tried yet. Boil this, give it a nice a nice dunk and gonna load it up with chilies as well.

Oh, you really feel the skin kind of that chewy skin around the outside. foreign that completes Hot Pot Number One: Uh, the I mean I Thought the broth was a little bit on the mild side for me. it could have been a lot stronger with a lot more spices with a lot more numbing Sichuan pepper Uh, but it's a nice place I think the meat and the vegetables quality was quite good. It's a very popular place and I think it was a good experience.

The staff are all very nice as well, but from here later this evening we'll be eating more of a traditional street food. Taiwanese Hot pot and that's coming up. We're going to the next. Hot Pot restaurant which is down this alley.

This place looks so cool. It's more of a local traditional Taiwanese hot pot that's going to be totally different from the hot pod that we had with that massive bleacher of Thin Meat this is the spell. Yes, this is. oh maybe there's a couple in a row.

we gotta find the one that we're gonna go to, but this is a cool place down the alley. Oh this place is so cool. We got a table right here in the alley and we're here early enough to the point where they're not packed yet. but I've become I think in an hour when the Sun goes down this place would be packed all the way.

but this is a an amazing place. I Love the setting, the atmosphere here. nice. The whole checklist is in Chinese but then they do have a menu here.

picture of all the things that they offer. all the beef? Well I suppose it's free rice or noodles. Uh rice. rice? Yes, one, two three, uh just two rice two.

Okay, that's enough. Thank you. Oh oh there it is. That's our pile of everything.

Soup has arrived. Everything comes. Everything comes really fast. I am loving this hot pot this entire experience.

They're so friendly and then everything is so speedy and so fast. And I Like how you just get mountains and piles of vegetables and ingredients. That soup looks delicious. There's no no choices of soup here, you just get one soup.

It's loaded with green onions and cabbage. It just looks really good. All that broth looks incredible. smells really good.

a little bit herbaceous but nice and thin. Not too much oil on top. Some cabbage is already floating around inside of it are ready shrimp. And then we got two different types of beef.

This one they said was wagyu and then this one is Taiwanese beef. I Think we are fully ready to dig into this. Taiwanese Hot Pot Everything is here. but before we dig in, you have to see the sauce condiment station.

We gotta cross the alley. check this out. You grab a bowl down here, grab your chopsticks down here and then you can just load up. This is a sauce.

I'm going to add some of this chili and oil. green onions, garlic. I think soy sauce and vinegar. All right.

I Think we're good to start. Okay, so this is everything. I'm gonna start with that Taiwanese beef which looks fantastic. This looks like the Highlight here.

much more my style. All right. this has to be the first. The first bite in the hot pot here be good.

Yeah, not completely sure what I mixed in here, but at least there's chilies. Lots of chilies and lots of garlic. That's what matters. All right here we go: foreign.

I Love how lean it is and how it's a bit thicker cut. but you really feel the flavor of the beef. The natural beef. That's probably my favorite bite of this entire hotbot tour so far.

I think I'm just going to toss in all these meatballs. These are beef meatballs. You can see. It's almost like you can just see the grains of the meat in here.

I'm gonna toss these in. Whoa. Let me taste that soup broth actually on its own, but it's uh. it's kind of like a neutral.

A little bit herbaceous and a little bit salty. Let's try that broth real fast. Just the broth on its own. Oh, it's just like a mild but soothing broth, possibly a bone broth that's in the pumpkin.

Also, the corn needs to go in and probably boil for a while as well, so let's add that. Oh whoa, and let's try that other beef. I think this one is the wagyu. That's really nice actually.

I Like how it's quite lean. The slices here are a little bit thicker. It's been another place. All right.

great. That sauce mixture is not bad actually. Lots of garlic, lots of chilies, a little bit salty, but so good. Oh, that's good too.

Again, that beef is lean. Okay, both beefs are good, but that Taiwanese beef actually is a better flavor and it's more fresh. Okay, I'm just going to add in some of the Bean Curd skin and you kind of just crumple this up kind of breaks and you know it's going to just completely absorb that broth. Just throw it.

All in all this is so much fun And some of that needle mushrooms. Yeah, you see how that that bean curd skin just totally totally goes way down really fast. Oh here we have a piece of cabbage. Okay, let's go and let's go Cabbage! Oh I Love everything about this place which is so good.

The flavors are delicious, the ingredients are actually really fresh, and then there's this setting here in the alley. Just the old classic. this is Mike on a place, let's try some more of that beanchard skin. This does cook really fast because it's really thin and then this was the sauce that was already on the table.

Oh is this? This was one of the sauces up there though too. I Think let's try this sauce I Love being good. I'm not quite sure what that is. it's a little.

It's not too salty, a little bit nutty and not really spicy. They're kind of nutty and a little bit oily, but very fragrant. Okay. I'll go in for these beautiful shrimp.

Probably drop a couple in because they might take a little while because they're frozen. Okay I think the the beef meatballs should be should be ready to. They're kind of swollen a little bit. absorb some of that broth in, they're kind of.

They're pretty big. Oh, we got a double. Oh, you can tell they're kind Of natural. Let's try that meatball.

Oh yeah, oh that meatball is incredible. Let me fish how natural the beefiness is and the sponginess of it. Man, that's a quality meatball. Oh I Love the texture, but definitely a dip in the chili and garlic would be even better.

It goes really good with rice as well. What? I Think the shrimp should be right? Yeah, oh man. let's go in for that shrimp and then get that divine. There we go and a little bit of chili and green onions and garlic.

I'm gonna use that for my shrimp sauce. Shrimp is actually very sweet, muscular, really good. yeah with some of the rice. Hmm oh man.

I'm starting to really warm up. So satisfying. And I think I mean one of the reasons why Taiwanese love Hot Pot so much is because it's a great family meal. You can get together with friends and family join around the table all huddled around a central pot.

Everything is cooked hot and fresh and then on top of that, it's comforting. It is customizable, the customization of sauce so that you can make it to your own liking the way you like it. I think it's something everyone appreciates. Oh thank you thank you very much America Thailand Thailand Thank you Cheers! Very good, Very good.

Thank you very much. I Had read that the owner was a character that must be him. Oh the National Anthem! What a hilarious guy! Okay, another component was that corn and I think it's been boiling for about 15-20 minutes I think it's ready now. Cool.

aiming hot. Absorbed all of that broth in that meat juice and sweet and crisp. What a hard part experience that just made my day. Um and so that completes this hot pot tour in Taichung Taiwanese Hotbot Two totally different experiences and if I'm being honest, this is totally my style.

I Love the the back alley atmosphere, the setting, the friendliness, even the taste of the food and that's gonna be it for this hot pot tour. I'll have also the information in the description box as well as prices where you can check out uh where you can compare the price also. but actually to be honest with you I mean the quality was great here at this Alleyway Street Side Hot Pot as well. goodbye from Taiwan And also make sure that you stay tuned for all of the Taiwanese food and other videos.

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