TAIWAN's Street Food：Most EXPENSIVE Pork Rice! 🇹🇼 🍚 😋

Okay, yes, hello everybody welcome back to the channel, my name is Alan This is my life in Taiwan and in today's video. We've got something a little bit different I'm gonna be comparing this $40 laurel fan to this relatively expensive $120 laurel fan to this unbelievably expensive $480 laurel fan and taking a look at the differences between the dishes and seeing whether or not we actually get what we pay for when it comes to eating one of the most Iconic staple dishes here in Taiwan that has been keeping the country well fed for generation after generation Also, this wouldn't be a life in Taiwan video If we didn't have a little bit of learning or education about the history of the dish So we're gonna do that inside where we're about to eat the cheapest of the three dishes Let's go inside have a chat and get eating Okay, so as I mentioned the intro laurel fan is a staple dish here in Taiwan and the history surrounding its introduction to Taiwan It's somewhat debatable as some people argue that it's actually just a Chinese food that became popular in Taiwan Well, other people will argue that it's 100% Taiwanese and as you know me pretty well I always avoid any kind of controversial topics on this channel So today we're just gonna be focusing on the food the flavors and the prices and talking of prices My $40 laurel fan is here in all its glory and what we'll be doing as we order the laurel fan each restaurant today we'll also be ordering a side dish or Something that people would typically eat alongside Laurel fan and at this restaurant their offering is by Tai Lu which looks like Cabbage carrots and some other mixed vegetables But the first thing I want to introduce at each restaurant is the presentation of the dish and at this price level You're not really expecting too much in terms of presentation But as somebody who eats this dish relatively regularly, this is exactly what I'd expect in terms of presentation Hot steaming rice with the meats and the sauce piled on top of it But I think that's enough talking for now time to dig in get eating Okay. So what is there that can be said about laurel fan? Well, depending on which person you ask in Taiwan, everybody has their own specific Likes and dislikes and one of the most important differences that you'll find with laurel fan is the balance between meats and Fats now I am a person that loves a bit of fats in my laurel fan And this dish doesn't disappoint lots of big chunks of fat combined with some really chunky pieces of meat So if you're a kind of person who's into fat, let's be honest who isn't I definitely recommend this shop for the cheaper option Really tasty and one interesting thing about this particular dish is you'll notice it's got a very ready color and that's because they use Red yeast rice extract which apparently in Chinese is on true And other than giving it a very distinctive bright red color. It also offers some Anti-inflammatory antioxidant qualities, so I'm actually eating probably the healthiest food I've eaten in a while Okay Right almost finished with the main dish, but while I've got some rice left, I'm gonna dig into this by Tai Lu And I'm gonna just stick it into my rice. I'm not sure if that's normal, but this reminds me a little bit of Just a typical galley tie that you get at a hotel restaurant No idea if that's the right way to eat it, but mix it up with a bit of rice get it down the hatch Wow Now when I mentioned that it reminds me a little bit of galley tie that you get in a stir-fry restaurant The thing I like about the galley size got a bit of crunch to it But because this has been braised so long just like they braise the meat. It's a little bit softer a little bit Less crunchy, so the flavor is still there, but the texture is definitely a more Maybe for a more elderly palate can I say that I'm not too sure but absolutely delicious She gong gong time to pay the bill get out of here and get to the next restaurant Let's go and just like that. We've arrived at the next restaurant the medium priced level restaurant and I have to say that as the price goes up the light goes down the Ambience and the decoration of this restaurant is definitely of a higher standard than the restaurant we came from at lunchtime but I guess that's to be expected as We actually had a little bit of trouble finding a more expensive loro fan out on the street It just wouldn't happen Taiwanese people. I don't think would go for it But here it is. This is my hundred and twenty dollar Loro fan And I have to say I feel a little bit less comfortable Talking about this one on camera because the one I ate earlier is very normal for me very standard eating But this one is a little bit out of my comfort zone so forgive me if I'm not too sure what I'm talking about, but apparently this is a Fan so yeah, then and the pork has been replaced with wagyu beef and quickly before we get into eating I'm sure many of you are gonna disagree on the names of these dishes that I'm actually eating Whether it's actually known as Loro fan or roads out fan. I just call everything like this Loro fan But apparently whether you come from north middle or south, there's different names According to how the meat is served So please have your own argument in the comment section about what it's called and I've also been given my side dish that I ordered Which is the speciality of this restaurant, which is a to Dagen like a steamed or cooked radish, but we'll get to that later First things first gonna get stuck in to this middle-of-the-road Laura, okay. Let's do it Okay, absolutely. No surprises here three times the price Is it three times the value or three times as good to eat? Well, I have to say that the ambience and the The surroundings definitely make you feel like you're eating a much more expensive much more high-quality food I've always been a beef guy as opposed to a pork guy. Anyway, so the beef definitely is Definitely ring in my bell so to speak but one thing I want to point out is that there's little pickled cucumbers in here too and the texture that that adds to the Dish is probably as noticeable as a difference between the beef and the pork Really interesting textures a crunch that we didn't get with the bite. I know so the crunch of the cucumber the quality of the beef And the moisture provided by the duck egg definitely gives this dish much more varied Textures compared to the the one we ate for lunch I mentioned earlier at lunchtime the importance of Balance between fat and meat. Well, I do feel like this one has a lot higher meat content there's definitely not as much fat in here probably because that's more of a Cheaper meat maybe so it doesn't really match the standard or the price So maybe a little bit more fat would go a long way in this one. But as I say, it's probably not Doesn't match the standard of the restaurant And the side dish that I've ordered from this restaurant is Duck and to looks very starchy and I'd compare it to what a potato would look like from the UK. But there we go Dripping with juice and moisture Hmm is Surprisingly good. I expect it to be a little bit bland But whatever soup they've cooked it in and whatever peppers and spices they've added on top Really gives the otherwise quite bland vegetable a bit of a kick Before I get this finished and on to the next place one thing I should talk about is the level of service That we got here compared to the level of service back in the the lunchtime restaurant Now, of course the level of service here is much higher There's waitresses and you get given beans and a drink when you sit down But I should say that the service at the first restaurant was absolutely amazing considering the price The waitress came and took our orders at our seats Which is something that doesn't often happen in a very busy very inexpensive shop such as that So the service level at the first place was very good But of course with the increase in price the level of service here is just that extra bit better Joey went to guangguang on to the next one Okay, and one more time. We have made the magic transition to the third restaurant of the day And if I felt uncomfortable at the hundred and twenty dollar level, I feel super uncomfortable at the four hundred and eighty dollar Level and I have to tell you it was a little bit difficult to find such an expensive laurel fan in Taichung This is the only one that came close to sort of a crazy price If you know of any more expensive than this then please let me know But let's take a look at why it's so expensive the ingredients include wagyu beef as with the previous hundred and twenty dollars Dish, but there's some special ingredients in here that I think bump up the price a little bit more on the menu They say that it comes with a sea urchin, but apparently that's sold out. So they've replaced that with some exquisite Scallops and there's an abundance of salmon eggs and what looks to me like gold leaf caviar, but on the menu It says it's crabs eggs So maybe I'm mistaken But basically it's about as luxury a bowl of laurel fan that I could find in Taichung But again, I think I'm talking too much There's only one thing to do and that's get stuck in to this 480 dollar laurel fan. I can't believe I'm lucky enough Okay, okay so far so good and so far I've only really eaten the egg the rice and some of the ground beef So let's get some of these more expensive juicier ingredients Scallop those crabs eggs and fish eggs. Oh my goodness. That is One big difference between $120 and $480 is that yes there's the ground beef in there the ground wagyu beef, but they also serve actual strips or Little mini steaks of beef that I didn't get in the second dish Hmm and they are cooked to perfection really really good. So I'm gonna definitely have to give that a Ten out of ten, it's by far the most delicious most luxurious most scrumptious of the three that I've eaten today but for $480 12 times the first dish four times the second dish. Is it worth it or not? Once in a blue moon, maybe on a birthday or when filming a YouTube video It's worth it, but I would feel so guilty to everybody if I was to eat this on a regular basis Oh my god, as you may have guessed throughout this video I do have somebody helping me with the camera and the research. So half of this Is gonna get saved for somebody special Which means time to wrap this video up and make some kind of sense of what has happened today The $40 Lauro fan that I ate was absolutely delicious as was 120 and $480 Laura fan So to compare them is very difficult because of course of the price at the very start of the video I asked do we get what we pay for? I feel with the first two We definitely got what we paid for the third one. I think it's just too expensive I think it's just something that you can't fathom You can't put into context because it is so expensive and having gold leaf on your food There's just an extravagance that I would never consider doing Not to mention that the service in the most expensive place here was a little bit colder we had to get our own chopsticks, which are just disposable throwaway bamboo chopsticks And when we asked for advice on drinks and what drinks were available We were told just look at the menu and that was the only information we were given So a little bit of a failure on the service part, but who knows maybe somebody had a bad day Well, yes, I think that's about it. I'll ask my helper. Does it get the Taiwanese seal of approval? Thank you thumbs up from the Taiwanese participants, but yes Thank you so much for watching, but I think it's time to say goodbye So as for now and as always I'll see you next time in my life in Taiwan