LOCAL Chinese Food BREAKFAST - Xiaolongbao & Wonton Soup + Master of the Nets Garden | Suzhou, China

Just keep dipping, let it absorb that. You go in. Mm, it's not hot. Luckily it's not so hot, because usually it burns your tongue. Good morning, everyone. I hope you're all doing amazing. This is David Hoffman from David's Been Here in beautiful Suzhou, China. I'm here with my guide, Judy. Hello. Judy's gonna be taking me around today, and we're gonna start off first with some typical, traditional Suzhou breakfast. What is that? What is Suzhou breakfast? Xiaolongbao. Oh, xiaolongbao. Similar. And soup wonton. Yeah. And what does the soup wonton have? Just like pork, or? Pork mixed with the shelled shrimp, or the wild vegetable. Only the spring season we have. Okay, so with shrimp. I haven't had it like that before. Sounds amazing. And then after this, we're gonna go and explore local life. We're gonna walk through some back lanes, and then we're gonna go see the oldest and most preserved gardens in Suzhou. So Suzhou is famous for its gardens. Yeah. And what's this garden's called? The Monster of Nets Garden. Okay, and that's it. So the gardens actually survived the wars, right? Yeah. Perfect. The survival for the Cultural Revolution. Cultural Revolution. Okay, back in 1949 or something. Yeah. Okay. All right, guys. Let's go eat. Have the breakfast. You had breakfast already? Come on. You just, xiaolongbao, and one bowl of the qicai, hundun. That sounds perfect. Yeah. Maybe we get two bowls. No, I'm joking. Okay, yeah. Maybe two bowls. And here we go. We're starting off with the xiaolongbao, and this is basically soup dumplings. We have pork inside. It's also really hot soup. We have some vinaigrette right here, right? And then we have, this is pork bone soup. Mm, it's delicious. I'm gonna let it sit for a second. It's really hot. So I'm gonna grab this. So as you can see, it's like dripping. Dip it here. And when you do, you're supposed to make a little hole. Mm. Oh, wow. That's the wonton soup. Oh, my God. Mm. So you suck as much out as you can. It's so good. Super nice. Very chewy. I love the soup in there. I like the vinaigrette, like putting it with that. Mm, very soft. And these are so good. Xiaolongbao. You gotta be careful with xiaolongbao, though. Sometimes it's way too hot. The inside, the soup, can like burn your mouth. So do it like that. Mm. These are really big. Portion of four costs 10 yen. So pretty affordable. That's like $1.40. Oh, they're amazing. They really are incredible dumplings. Xiaolongbao. Just keep dipping. Let it absorb that. And you go in. Mm. It's not hot. Luckily, it's not so hot, because usually it burns your tongue. I'm gonna try some of this pork bone soup. Mm. Mm, very light. What else is in here? Some chives. Mm. So the skin of the egg. Okay, skin of the egg, some chives. This is great for a hangover. If you drank last night, this is perfect. And in case you thought that, you know, four xiaolongbaos wasn't enough, it's enough, because I have a huge wonton bowl to eat right now. It's so good. These are really a mouthful. They're big. That's the best part about, you know, traveling with locals, they take you to the best spots. Like, I don't see not one tourist here. It's all locals, only locals. All right, next up, let's try this wonton soup. This wonton soup is massive. It is so big. So what do we have here? We have some nice, yummy wontons here. The wontons have what inside? Okay, so pork and wild vegetable mix. Fantastic. And then they have here also bean curd. Oh man, there's so many. There's like eight in here. Do we have any spice? Is there spice? It really is, like, amazing. Thank you so much. This is, this is like everything I wanted. Time to eat. This vegetable inside, wow. It's like the most delicious wonton vegetable ever. I actually prefer the wonton soup over just dry wontons. It just, it's a whole different thing when it's been bathing in this nice soup. Let me get some of these herbs. You know, some of my favorite soups are from China. I've had so many good soups in China. When you eat soup, it'll, like, warm you up. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna grab some of these chilies, dump it in here. Enough, right? Grab some of that. The wonton. It's not too hot, just gives it a nice little kick. Now my entire soup is, like, drenched in these pepper flakes. There's so many. These actually taste more like a little, you know, like a, almost like a ravioli stuffed with this delicious vegetable. You know, I need more spice in my life. Dip it like that. And I wouldn't suggest having more than what I'm eating. It's a lot of food. These wontons are, like, extremely soft in how they absorb the soup. This is, like, really, like, a juicy wonton with vegetables. This is exactly what I needed to, like, start the day. Get really full. Get all the carbs in me as I can. It's a great soup. It's so simple, yet so good. In the States, we usually eat this as, like, an appetizer. You know, a few wontons and a soup, and they put some other stuff, but it's never this good. This is, like, really good, authentic, local dish. Getting really full. I'm about to pop. Oh, wow. This is just too, too good. You don't know me. I love Sichuan food, but when I'm in Suzhou, I eat Suzhou. This bowl is ginormous, but I can't leave it. I wouldn't suggest drinking that soup right there. Too many chili flakes, but I'll do it. You love this restaurant, yeah? Yeah. Good? You like this? I love it, I love it. And this is a dry one, right? Dry one looks great, too. Next time, next time. So good. So good, this restaurant was amazing. So right when you walk in, you order, you pay, then right behind you, you have the lady serving the xiaolongbao, so you stay there. He's a big line right now, but you stay there, she serves you yours, then you go to your table, then eventually they bring you your wonton soup if you ordered that as well. Very local restaurant, lots of families there. Oh my God, the food was so delicious, really filling. Thank you, what a great experience. And what's the name of this restaurant? Sheng Xi Yuan, or Xi Sheng Yuan. Xi Sheng Yuan. To the small alley, then to the garden. And what are we gonna see in the alley? And now, later. But what's there, what are we gonna see? Across the street, there you see the Stone Arch Bridge, and all the local people's houses face to the flowing water. That's the Baby Granite Canal. The Baby Granite Canal. And so this is Zou Kui, the father of the queen of the Emperor Chongzhen, lived here at the end of the Ming Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, Kui Gu's house, Zou Kui's house, became Zou Zhou's weaving department office, okay? So what else is here? 448 meters long, it was, okay, let's go explore it. So I'm like learning from this board here what this place is about. Zou Zhou has a lot of small alleys like this way, over 1,468. She knew that exact number. That's a lot of small alleys. And all these small alleys are basically people's homes, that's it, right? Yeah, because the main commercial stuff is on the main streets, and the back alley's just people where they live. So just think of a small street in America, you know, it's a tiny street in a suburb, that's the same thing. I've never been to United States. The number 10 middle school, the back gate. So it's a famous middle school, and it's like heavily protected here with the guard. Yeah. I used to be living the second floor. Second floor right there? How to say that one? That one right there, incredible. So this is your old neighborhood? Yeah. Wow, and look at this door. Look at the door here. This is really nice. Yeah, but look at the doors, how it's out here. Yeah, now it's beautiful, it's beautiful. I've never seen like this, like a door on the outside, and then inside is a terrace, right? A terrace? Really, really nice. I like this neighborhood. How much is a house cost here? A few million. $100,000. Yeah, 100,000. More, more. It's 600,000 yen. This is like $350,000 here. Oh, it's expensive, expensive. Across the street. So we're crossing this bridge. Feels like an ancient bridge, but it's not so old. Not so old, just 30 years. 30 years, and these guys right here, they're gonna go clean up the canal. Beautiful canal. This is why this place is called the Venice of the East, because it's so many canals. How many waterways, like canals, are there in Suzhou? Also, there are 186 kilometers. Oh, wow. Next garden? Next, most of next garden. The oldest garden in Suzhou, built in the Southern Song Dynasty, more than 1,000 years. I love visiting places that are over 1,000 years old, because it really transports you to a different period, a different mentality of like, you know, what people were thinking back then. And to even think that they built some of this stuff back then, it's like, how did they do it, with what technology, you know? The door, the gate. Oh, is this the gardens in here? No, rich people, the villa. You see, this we call the security. Put a good luck for them. This is a really beautiful gate, though. Yeah. I mean, just the way they did it. Look at that. Really nice, solid door. I love the detail here. This is like a doorbell. Like a doorbell, yeah. Just don't hit it, don't hit it. You see this, the beans, so the golden color, and over there has the lotus flower. So a long, long time ago, during about the Ming Dynasty, they had a temple. Unfortunately, during the Cultural Revolution, it's damaged. And that's right here. We made it here to the gardens. I have to purchase my ticket. How much is the ticket? 40? 40 yen? Okay, so 40 yen, so like $8. Not bad. That's usually the cost here in China. Usually between $5 and $10 for any attraction. Also, you pay cash or WeChat. I know, but the only problem with WeChat for me is that I don't have a bank account in China, so I can't put the money. So 40? How much now? 100 yen, divide it. 100. Give me the change. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Here we have like a little depiction of the garden, and right here to the right, that is the entrance where we are now. And then we have this massive garden. I'm excited, but we need some coffee. In ancient times, only allowed the men, the guests to be here. The ladies is behind. To the tea house, we had a good table. This is for the ladies reception room, for the wife and some of the girls. The female people to be here for the reception. That's opium bed. Opium. Opium bed. Smoking opium. Rich people, the ladies spend the money for the husband, money. I am loving the furniture here. And if you guys didn't know, this furniture is mahogany, right? And it's all like one piece, because back then, they would just put it together without screws. So it's literally like set in place perfectly, piece by piece. And yeah, incredible furniture. I love the table. I asked her how much the table costs and the chairs. She's like, easily like a million dollars. Well, you buy it, I pay you back. Really? I'm joking. Super strong. We're stopping here at the cafe here in the gardens to get a coffee. And they also have, basically this is like a souvenir shop. They got a lot of paintings here, lots of different things. They're also selling tables. This table looks incredible. Can't imagine the price. And this is what I was talking about. These huge chairs like this, they're just like one piece chairs. I'm sure they're super expensive though. I'm loving this place. Beautiful paintings, like gorgeous paintings. Got super, super strong coffee. Black, no sugar. By the way, this coffee cost me, actually it was more expensive than my breakfast. This was 30, which is like five bucks. My breakfast is 28. That's crazy. The gate is original, about 1,000 years. They have the two layers. Outside one layer is brick, inside is wood. If the neighbor, they catch the fire, they close the door. So defense for the fire, protect the buildings. These gates are over 1,000 years old. And this is the reason why this place is UNESCO because these are original. Blow my mind right now. Blowing my mind. So in Shanghai, the first city mayor named Chen Yi. And he loves this garden very much. So when starting for the Cultural Revolution, he know in that time all the old things were destroyed by the Red Guards. So he immediately write a letter, send it to the primary Zhou Enlai. So Zhou Enlai, all the local army surround the garden. So that's garden not destroyed. And that's the reason this is the most preserved garden in China. In China, right? It's the study room for the boys. First son study hard, learn full skill. Qin, Qi, Shu, Hua. I mean, this is like a very open library. Over here to the far end, you have the bookshelves. You have some sitting area, right? And then over here, I guess this is where he would do his studying. Next, we're gonna enter the daughter's building. Is it a daughter's building? Yeah. So Chinese people like a bamboo, like a panda. So the owner love their daughter very best. So they have the screen, they use the bamboo picture, or the yard, plant the bamboo. My daughter also is my favorite. I'm joking. I have two daughters, so they're both my favorites. But my older daughter loves the panda as well. She keeps asking me, bring the panda, bring the panda. So I bought her a stuffed panda. Oh, yeah. And some bamboo, so she eat some bamboo. Bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots, we eat in the spring bamboo shoots and the winter bamboo shoots. Delicious. So the moon gate design is circle. So the symbol is for the daughter, good wishes is perfect for the daughter. The tree is oldest in this garden, more than 930 years. So it represents this garden more than 1,000 years old. Look at this tree. It's dying though, or is it dying? This part died, but the rest is still alive. Wow, wow, yes. This part's like sort of dying, but the other parts of it are still alive. Wow, it looks like it's gone through a lot of fire. No? A little burnt, a little burnt. And this tree that we're about to pass around is 130 years old. And the reason I know that is because it says it. It says 130 years, it actually has the date that they planted it. So cool. Such a cool place. And right here, that's the moon gate right there. So she was telling me that what they'd do back then is that from there, they would watch like a full moon, and they would bounce off the water, bounce off like a little mirror they have, and then go into their cup and into their heart. Spring water, spring water, not like outside connected with the granite canal. It's spring water. So they say it's to the round the corner under the high wall. So that's for ancient time, the girls have shower here. During the Second World War, Suzhou occupied by Japanese people and the famous painter Zhang Shanzi and his brother Zhang Daqian, they farmed the tiger baby in this area. When the war finished, the brothers escaped to Taiwan. Nobody continue feed the tiger baby to eat the pork. He hungry to death and buried to just the yard. Super sad story. That's incredible though, they found a tiger around here. Are there tigers in this area? No, no more. No more, obviously. You stand there, I put the camera here, then can do the magic. One David become two David. Okay, look at me, one, two, three, Chinese. David, this the small yard just in ancient time and this one is the lady, the daughter of the garden's owner. They play the music here, music room. I mean, it's just like an open garden, big music room. I love your outfit, by the way. Thank you. Beautiful. Thank you. I'm gonna get a shot of your outfit. This the window, very special. The design is so perfect. You see, the outside is the square, the center is circle. It's really in and out balance. This is the smallest bridge in Suzhou, named the Injin Bridge, for good luck. Good luck? It's a really tiny bridge. Look at this. It's like nothing, four steps to cross it. Let's cross it. On the bridge, you can see the oldest tree in Suzhou. The oldest tree in Suzhou. That's it? That's it, finished. We're done? Yeah. Wow, guys, so we did it. We explored the masters of the nets. We had such an incredible morning. We ate a delicious, delicious breakfast. The xiaolongbao and the super thin wonton soup. What was the name of the wontons? Soup wonton. Soup wonton, but you had a different name for it. Qi cai, soup wonton. Oh, it was so, so good. A really filling breakfast. I mean, easily, one person eats that, you're full for three, four, five hours. I'm still full, and we've been walking around, we've been walking around a lot. No, no, I'm ready to eat lunch later, for sure. And then we came here to the master of the nets garden. What an incredible place, over 1,000 years old. This is a must visit when you come here to Shanghai. Definitely, when you come to Shanghai, travel over to Suzhou, get to visit this garden. It's like the top of the attractions here in China. Well, I hope you guys love this video. If you did, give me a thumbs up, leave me a comment below, and subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. I'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Suzhou, China, peace. What are you guys talking about, bro? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.