FIVE Must Eat Taiwanese Foods for UNDER NT$100!!

So this is a sweet jianbao and I'm not going to tell you much about it Get stuck in Cool Are we counting down? No Hello everybody welcome back to the channel My name is Alan This is my life in Taiwan and we've got a food video for you today I am going to be sharing with you my five must-eat Taiwanese foods for less than 100 dollars So we're starting off with a nice easy light snack We are going to be getting some Taiwanese xiaolongbao So there you can see our eight xiaolongbao which cost me 65 Taiwanese dollars That's about two US dollars But because the two of us we're going to be eating five different foods today We're going to just share a box Is there a history to xiaolongbao? I just know it's from China Oh it comes from China that's fine I've featured xiaolongbao before in my videos And the big problem with them is they can burn your mouth right? Traditionally xiaolongbao will be eaten with a spoon and you poke a hole in it to let the hot soup come out and you can eat the soup a little bit later Or like I'm doing like we're doing there's nothing wrong with just eating the whole thing in one For anybody that's never seen the inside of a xiaolongbao Let me see if I can do it for you That's what it looks like It's like a light pastry on the outside filled with pork, leek I think or spring onion Absolutely delicious I would love to know if you think that $65 for a xiaolongbao Is that reasonable? Is it cheap? Is it expensive? How about you? Do you think that's cheap? No No? I have one in my workplace Only $40 Wow okay $40 okay But is it as good as this? Similar I'm still a little bit hungry so we're going to make a move from here in Dadunlu We're going to shoot straight down Xiangxinglu and we're going to check out another staple Taiwanese food for under $100 Rightio for our next must-eat Taiwanese food Neuromian Not sponsored and I've never been here before but I'm pretty sure that they've got a good selection of beef noodles well within our budget Just look at the size of this menu It looks a little bit like a quiz like a test 20 minutes I might die I might pass away Okay I feel a little bit of a fraud This isn't really noodles This is Mian Ge Da which I thought was a little bit different I thought it was really thick cut noodles but it's more like a like a noodle dumpling Of course it's made from the same stuff as noodles but just made into a different shape So let's get a bit of broth a few green onions a bit of vegetables and try this Mian Ge Da First time trying Oh wow That really reminds me of a British style dumpling When we were younger my mum would make soup or stew and to thicken it up you would throw in like suet dumplings which were just like bread balls or something and this is the closest thing I've ever had to that before here in Taiwan Let's try a bit of beef A confession I have to make is that I broke the budget a little bit on this one because there was the option of having different cuts of beef So I went with the which is the leg and the belly So mine was $130 So please forgive me I broke the bank a little bit and this is the small bowl and it's huge It's absolutely massive Real big chunks of beef Lots of those Mian Ge Da There's celery There's leafy vegetables spring onions Looks like some goji berries Really good Really fulfilling Most of the foods today I would consider as snacks but this one is probably the one that I would consider like my main meal of the day Absolutely delicious A little bit spicier than the Hong Sao Niu Mian I've had before but I can see there's chilies floating around in there Do you think I can drink from the bowl? Is it weird? Oh my goodness That was absolutely delicious Incredibly filling Probably going to go home, take a nap and then in a few hours time for another snack Okay for the third food in today's list we have come to Dou Jiang shops are some of my favourite types of shops in Taiwan So many foods on offer but today we are going to be buying some a really special stuffed bun and they're super cheap They're $20 So we are going to be buying five Sui Jian Bao and then we're going to be going to take them to treat some friends just around the corner Four Sui Jian Bao So somebody is not going to get one but I am definitely going to get one Let's go see some friends We are at Andre's Gaff Thanks for having us and we've got some Sui Jian Bao Now they didn't have enough in the shop so we're one short Actually we're two short because one disappeared on the way So maybe Eddie and Lauren, you can share Yeah, of course we can So this is a Sui Jian Bao and I'm not going to tell you much about it Get stuck in Cool Are we counting down? No It just gets stuck in It's a doughy bun bread bun with lettuce mushrooms Carrots Mifen is like those glassy noodles that you've got in there Oh, I always think they're like jelly How is it? What are the flavours? What's going on? I'm a bit less in the dark on this Yeah, have a try I would definitely eat these like every day How much is one? They're so tasty That's yummy How much is one? Have a guess What do you think is reasonable? 49 I'm going to say 20 Now 20, that's less than a Sprite I'm going to say 79 20 and T 25 Wow They're under charging They can make more money off it Yeah, but you've got to think they're probably selling them like thousands at the minute so they're making loads and loads That's delicious That's lovely Really good This is a very traditional Taiwanese food It's just an easy, portable, quick It's like a sandwich Yeah You can do things with it at the same time I've heard somebody say that it makes so much more sense than a hamburger because it's all enveloped encased inside the bread I want to eat like a boat It just comes out the bottom Exactly Kathy comes out the bottom Where can you buy these? You can buy these at Sihai Doujiang Oh really? And anywhere in Taiwan So yeah, there we go That's a Easy stuff, yeah This is the first time a foreigner has eaten Shui Jian Bao If you're not eating it, what are you doing? Okay, and for food number four of five today I've come to Mama Shi Tang here in South District Lots of different interesting foods The food I've chosen to go for is this $60 oyster omelette This thing looks absolutely delicious Incredibly traditional Taiwanese food A kind of jelly-like pancake The guy cooked it so expertly It was amazing to watch him cooking it Frying pan on top of an old oil barrel that had been cut in half Controlled the temperature perfectly Cooked it and filled it full of these massive oysters Let's get stuck in This is amazing, so good An oyster omelette is something that 10, 12 years ago I would have turned my nose up at I would never have tried it But after a long time in Taiwan You get to know where all the delicacies hide out And this is certainly one of them Oh wow So I think what I've just learned there is This is, according to this guy Is the most traditional, the oldest traditional Taiwanese food that you can get So I'm very happy to be including it in this video It's definitely different to a traditional omelette I think there's some kind of pancake that holds it all together But the interesting thing about an oyster omelette For me as a British guy is An omelette is something that is so traditional Something that your mum will cook up for you very easily Maybe use some leftovers Quite an economical, cheap food But as soon as you mention oysters in England It brings up connotations of rich, expensive food But here in Taiwan oysters are a huge abundance So this incredibly filling, delicious, traditional dish Set me back just 60 NT dollars And of course not only is the food absolutely delicious The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming I feel like they just opened up their door and let me into their house I feel like I'm sitting in their living room downstairs Just a real perfect example of the warmth and hospitality of Taiwanese people And food number five, I have an interesting story As I was leaving the last restaurant I was trying to ask the guy where I can find And he couldn't understand a word I was saying So I had to google translate And he was so happy that I was looking for this food Because right next door there was a shop selling traditional For 40 NT Which was perfect because it was a change I got from 100 dollars From the 60 next door And this one is, as I mentioned, is a fried baowen Not as crispy as the fried baowen I've had before Still a little bit soft and jelly-like looking But interestingly the lady was very proud to tell me That she has fresh pork every day And also big chunks of bamboo A little bit of spicy sauce Let's try this fresh deep fried pork This is something that I think if you're coming to Taiwan as a foreigner And you really want to be adventurous But you don't want to be too adventurous It's something you can really give it a go Because it looks incredibly different to any food We would eat back at home in the west And it would look great on your Instagram People would be very jealous of you eating such adventurous food But basically all it is, it's a meatball With some pastry around the outside Or some dough, noodle, mian I don't even know what it is So this is actually it's kind of So yeah it's basically just made from like rice flour or mifen Delicious, adventurous and also very filling for 40 dollars And I know it's a very normal everyday food for Taiwanese people And me saying that it's adventurous might sound ridiculous to you But I promise you there is not one foreigner that comes here and looks at this And thinks oh I really want to try it It's quite different to anything we've seen before So when I first saw this I didn't want to try it But now it's a staple part of my diet And I know I always talk about textures and crunch But the bamboo in this one gives it a real extra level of texture So you've got the really soft outer covering Which is like almost like a jelly Then you've got the meat which of course is a meaty texture And then you've got the bamboo which is a crunchy texture All within this relatively small dish There's a lot going on And of course I've added a big helpful of spicy lajiao sauce So a bit of a kick to it as well So yes that brings to a close my five top Taiwanese snacks for under 100 dollars We had everything from 20 dollars up to 130 dollars So I really tried to give you an example of what is available here in Taiwan For what price If you agree with the foods that I've chosen Which I'm sure you don't There are way too many foods in Taiwan to choose just five I'll probably make this video again in future So please let me know what you'd like to see me trying I love making food videos It's my bread and butter quite literally So yeah let me know in the comment section what you'd like to see me eating And I'll do it for you I'll put my body on the line And go eat and film and share Taiwan's meishi With my loyal team VVVIP Enough talking Thanks for watching Time to say goodbye As for now and as always I'll see you next time On My Life in Taiwan Peace