Best New ASIAN FOOD In Los Angeles 2022 (626 CRAWL)

Yo, this beef noodle soup is so good. You gotta try the longanisa pizza here at Roast City Pizza. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hot and very fresh. Oh my gosh. On our recent trip back to LA, we had to eat what was new in the 626. In my opinion, it has the best food in all of Los Angeles County, from a birria pizza to a Korean pancake straight from Gwangjang Market, an old-school HK noodle cart, and of course, hidden Chinese skewer boba lounges that look like nightclubs. Now hit that like button if you want to see where culture is headed. Let's go. If you guys know or do not know, Arcadia Temple City is sort of known as the beef noodle soup center of America, and a lot of people actually open up hipster beef noodle soup spots like Whole Foods in New York City are actually originally from Arcadia. So here we are today. We got to try out 88 Beef Noodle. I heard it's one of the best spots serving Taiwanese style. This and Daiho. But you guys, we're at 88 Beef Noodle. Like we said, a lot of the sort of second-generation hipster beef noodle soup purveyors around America actually came from Arcadia or Temple City. So it goes to show you it is an epicenter of producing this style of food. I have a Shou Dua Bing right here, which is the Taiwanese version of a Tung Yau Bing, which has been ripped up by hand. This is half tendon, half beef. Yeah, you guys, that is stewed to perfection. Yo, this beef noodle soup is so good, but it pairs perfectly with this house-made Shou Dua Bing. And actually what I like to do, because it's shredded up, it kind of looks like a noodle. I'm just going to put it into the bowl and use it as a noodle because there's different types of textures here. It's still going to have the crispiness. That tendon is on point. Yo, straight up, Arcadia is a still a Taiwanese-American enclave to this day and it has the best beef noodle soup selection in America. Listen everybody, one of the most interesting things about the 626 is seeing these chains from Asia, all over Asia, not just Taiwan or China, to come and open up their first location in the 626. And this bar right behind me, Soon Hee Gah, is actually famous for its Korean pancakes. They come from the Gwangjang market. They have hundreds of locations around Korea, but now they opened up their first one in LA in Arcadia, 626, which is not even the most Korean zone. It's actually more of a Chinese zone, if you made me say, obviously. Let's go try some Korean street pancakes. All right, so we're here at Soon Hee Gah. We have a spread. Everything was about $45. That's obviously a little bit more than it would be in Korea, but of course, you're getting the Korean exclusive. All right, so you got the seafood pancake. Let's take a look at this. Extremely thick, big. It's very hefty. It's crispy on the top. Let me just split that open for you. Either way, guys, this is not the seafood pancake you're going to get for free. This does not come as just a complimentary dish. This is jam-packed. Look at that. Lots of mung bean, some egg. You got seafood. You have octopus in there. I have the pork meatball one. So this is going to be a mixture of pork. So it's going to be kind of like a pork patty mixed with mung bean. Let me split this up for you guys. It's very hot and very fresh. Oh, David, you know how much I love scallions. This, this right here is looking very, very appealing to me. This is the dish that made Soon Hee Gah blow up. So this is it. This is their premier dish. This is their bread and butter right here. Here you have the ddeokbokki, of course. Pretty classic. Here you have the Maya kimbap, which is a different style of kimbap. But I think it's really cool that you get these dishes outside of K-Town in a whole entirely different area because these are very, very deep cut. Pour a little sauce on it. Wow, that's good. Jam-packed with ingredients. I'm not going to lie. I'm kind of getting some Vietnamese banh xeo vibes right now. That's pretty crazy. Between the Korean corn dog and the Korean pancakes, man, Koreans know what they're doing as far as the street food goes. Meaty, peppery, got mung beans, scallions all stuffed in there. That's pretty good. Looking at this Maya kimbap here, it's a smaller roll. It's almost going to be kind of like your salmon roll in sushi, where it's just a piece of salmon wrapped up in rice and seaweed. So this is kind of the same thing. This is something that you can find a lot in New York. Dip it in the sauce. Come on, you have spinach in there. Peeling it back. Everything's very thinly sliced and it's super easy to eat. So I'm going to take this Maya kimbap over the regular larger kimbap. Okay, here you have your classic ddeokbokki. Your rice cakes and your fish cakes all stewed together. I mean, you know, I mean, I think a lot of people have had this by now, but it got also kind of, I think, repopularized in Squid Game when his daughter was eating it. That one tastes like I'm eating it on the streets of Seoul right now. Wow. Taking a quick break from traditional Asian food. We had to check out our friend Brian's spot in West Covina. He's half Thai and Filipino and he's making Asian and Mexican pizza. Most purists from the East Coast might say that pizza isn't good in California, but this non-traditional stuff slaps. All right, you guys, we're at Rose City. Check it out. We have a birria pizza. It is, you know, topped just like a taco, chopped onions, cilantro, red radish. We're going to go ahead and dip in the consomme. All this stuff is made in-house. That is the LA pizza. Combining the hottest taco trend of the past three years, birria with old-school pizza. Next pizza is the Taiwanese popcorn chicken one. Now this is interesting because I think a lot of people would think that Chinese food does not blend well on pizza, but you have to remember popcorn chicken is popcorn chicken. No, the Taiwanese vibes are real with this one. But hey, if you're a big popcorn chicken fan, if that's like your number one go-to item, always when you hit the boba shop, then you got to try this pizza. This is the longanisa pizza. It's like a Filipino breakfast on a pizza. There is no tomato sauce. There's a little egg in the corner. Chili sauce, egg, longanisa. That's actually really good. Yo, I'm not going to lie. This longanisa breakfast pizza is my favorite one. This is hella good. I know there are a lot of Filipinos that live out in West Covina and Covina. You got to try the longanisa pizza here at Road City Pizza. Now Arch guys, we are looking at the grilled cheese garlic bread lasagna. This is straight from Brian's crazy mind. Guys, he basically put a lasagna in between two pieces of garlic bread, but made it a sand dough. This is one of the most craziest items I've ever seen before in my life. Yo, Brian, a lot of people have not seen a Thai-Filipino guy own a pizza shop. I think I'm one of a kind. Yes, this is not a traditional Italian pizza shop. It is run by an Asian who studied underneath Italians. But let me tell you this, it's creative and breaking all boundaries. Like we said, guys, this franchise Mochi Nut is everywhere. This is Cheung Chun hot dogs, Korean hot dogs. And one thing I noticed is they are starting to do seasonal flavors of hot dogs and mochi donuts. So is it the new Starbucks? Seasonal? Check it out. Like we said, clearly Korean corn dogs have gotten to the point where they're doing seasonal limited exclusive items now. I did not predict that. It's a little bit like my reaction to the Doritos taco from Taco Bell, where you're kind of like, hey, maybe it's not fully there, but there's something there. Crunchy hot Cheeto shell. You know, personally, I like the hot dog on the inside better than the cheese when it comes to any Korean corn dogs. I'm gonna go ahead and give this a 3.5 out of 5. Like we said, guys, Mochi Nut with the seasonal flavors. This is pumpkin spice. At least this Mochi Nut versus the ones in New York City. This one's like a 5 out of 5. This was fresh. This is a Biscoff one. This is the same as the crackers they give you on every Delta United flight. You know, I don't know why that's the only context I've ever had Biscoff crackers, but Andrew, you might need to try yourself a fresh Mochi Nut because in New York City, you only get the old ones, the cold ones. You don't get the fire ones. I'm not gonna lie. These are not my favorite donuts in the world, but maybe they might be after I try these fresh ones in Arcadia. Oh my gosh. How different is it than the ones in New York? That is so good. This is the best Mochi. I think this is the best Mochi Nut location maybe in the world. Like I'm just saying, everything is fresh. It's super light and fluffy. If every Mochi Nut was this good as the one in Arcadia, I gotta say, I would love to have more of these around. Of course, we got to cover chains from Asia that are coming over. Heulawasan is a gigantic chain from Hong Kong. And I don't know how they expect Western people to actually pronounce the name, but maybe it's not for them. Anyway, let's check it out. What part of New York are you from? Do you mind giving a shout out? I live right in Midtown Manhattan. Good to see you here in LA. All right, Andrew, as we wait for the Heulawasan, I just heard some crazy news. I heard the entire chain in Hong Kong shut down, but there's two left in the world in LA. One in Roland Heights, one in Arcadia. That's crazy. If you guys do not know what Huangmenji, yellow braised chicken is, I'm gonna put you on. It is the pot roast, the meat and taters, very blue-collar dish in China. A lot of construction workers eat it. Let's check it out. All right, you guys, this is the world-famous Huangmenji from Jinan, Shandong. Listen, guys, $13.99, you get the Huangmenji, you get Mifan, which is rice, and you get this cucumber wood ear tofu skin and a drink. $14. Obviously, this version in America has a few things different. Western broccoli, a sous-vide egg that we're going to throw on top of there, but the concept is basically the same. You're going to braise chicken with some fermented soybean paste and soy sauce and a few spices in a pot. Every time I have it, man, it's a five out of five. Guys, this Hui Lai San is a Hong Kong dessert chain that is going extinct in Hong Kong, but it lives on in LA, Singapore, and a few other locations. Guys, there is some controversy. Some people think that all Hui Lai Sans have closed down around the world, but it is not true. They are living and thriving in Arcadia, and they are focusing on mango. So here, we have your kind of coconut jelly stuffed with watermelon. You have konjac, you have some lychee balls right here. Very aesthetic. Yes, coconut jelly. So I got the three-layer drink right here. I'm excited to try it because I don't even know what this green thing at the bottom is, to be honest. Let's try the mango. I'm going to be honest, when it comes to mango, I think Hong Kong dessert spots do it the best. Usually, they have mango in the name, like Mango Mango, or there's a very orange aesthetic to the shop. But either way, guys, Hui Lai San is Hong Kong handmade desserts. Hey, everybody, in the comments down below, let me know what you think about kind of chains from Asia that are closing down in Asia, but living on and having outlets across the world. I mean, does the original essence stay? Is there freedom in the Arcadia one where they can like do whatever they want and just kind of keep the name? I don't know, but it's really interesting and I'm glad that it's surviving somewhere. Shout out to Hui Lai San. All right, so our next spot is the most popular and most well-respected Sichuan noodle chain in all of America. We got Mian right here behind me in San Gabriel, California. And as far as like taste authenticity and how it kind of recreates that experience that you might have in Chengdu, which actually I've been to a noodle shop in Chengdu before and it felt a lot like this. So guys, Mian's are opening up all across the nation. Let's go check it out. Here we are at Mian, a very, very authentic feeling Chengdu meal right here. Okay, we have the dry chili noodles with minced pork, fried egg on top. Man, it looks delicious. You can see the heat. Look at all these little chili flakes that got caught on the side of the bowl right there. And then here you have your spicy Niu Rou Mian and look at these chunks of beef here. Plenty of tendon too. I would say, you know, maybe the tendon could be a little bit softer, but we'll see. Plenty of veggies, not complaining, but of course you can see the heat. Look at this chili oil right here. So there's minced pork on top. There's a little bit of like chili oil and then there's this whole steamed egg underneath. Nice little kick. We didn't get it too hot, but the minced pork is covering all the noodles very evenly. Here we have the Chengdu style Niu Rou Mian, aka beef noodle soup. All right, gotta try the steamed egg. Does kind of remind me of that steamed egg that you're going to get at Korean barbecue. But overall, I would say if you're going to try an appetizer, listen, they have the Sichuan fries on the menu, but I would say get this steamed egg right here. I just can't wait to see what other authentic chains will start in America because that is something that's happening now. All right, our next spot on the 626 crawl is taking it back to 1950s Hong Kong with Chia Tsai Mien, aka cart boy noodles. It's a style where people would roll around on carts, have a whole bunch of different ingredients, throw it all into a bowl together, give you some noodle soup. Guys, Ho Chi cart noodle here on Valley. Let's check it out. Right, so the Chia Tsai Mien has arrived, the cart boy noodles. I got my fried egg. I have two different types of noodles, beef brisket, pork hock. Yes, this is what fueled Hong Kong blue-collar workers for many, many years and generations. Let's go. Okay, and then right here, I actually got a side of boiled chives. Now, this is not really a dish that I grew up eating, but I saw it on the menu and I had to try it. Yeah, just what I thought. Man, I love chives. I just think it's really cool to see this and I love that they're bringing it back. It's kind of like seeing like a 1960s or 70s like pizza shop or some other type of diner. I mean essentially this is like the Johnny Rockets diner food of Hong Kong. So I think it's cool. I say try it out. It's worth a shot. It's great lunch food. It's relatively light. It's not too expensive. You guys are looking at the very first Western Society outpost of Yi Mian Zhi Yuan, which means noodle art. This started in 1985 in Xi'an. They got about a hundred around China. This is the first one in the US. On the blogs, on the forums, on the reddits, on the Twitters. Let's go. What you're looking at here is the roujiamo. Boom. Notice a few more peppers in there. A few more little spices. We're looking at liangpi. There's no real way to say this other than like maybe a ribbon noodle. It actually really has a complexion of pasta, but it's cold. It's got some spicy sauce oil on it. Very, very difficult to describe. You serve it at room temperature. I've never been to Xi'an, but I would imagine that's how it tastes. Boom, you guys. And fanxie chaodan, tomato, egg. Boom, braised pork. Boom, spicy. Boom, potatoes. I like all of that. I think this item has a lot of crossover potential. This is roujiamo. You know, this is like the roujia jizzy. I don't know how else to say it, man. It's lamb. Whoa. You guys, this is dapanji, and they do it a lot of different ways all around China. They do it different in, you know, Henan to Xinjiang to Dongbei to Beijing. But let me tell you this. This is one of the best dishes ever. All right, guys. You are looking at a dish. It is no stranger to our channel. It is the big plate chicken, aka the dapanji. As you can see, you have your big ribbony hand-pulled noodles. Gigantic. They didn't charge extra for this. They have their chicken here. Let's just try it, man. Let's talk. Less talking, more eating. Mmm. It's good. I mean this in a positive way. It's kind of slimy, but the taste is there. Let me try the potatoes. They roasted those potatoes first before they stewed them. I gotta say those are some of the better potatoes I've had in this dish in my life. The potatoes are a 5 out of 5. I give the chicken element a 4 out of 5. I give the noodles 4.5 out of 5 overall for 20 bucks. Big plate chicken. You cannot go wrong. You guys have to try this dish. I remember a time when Asian or Chinese pastry shops did not do seasonal items. They just had polo bao, char siu bao, lai wong bao, gai mei bao. Now, you have Thanksgiving bao, Christmas bao, holiday bao, sun mary. Let's check it out. David, don't do it. You told me not to get it. Don't do it. You know I'm a big fan of the forte dan bao. No. I'm getting it. Of course, you know like new sneaker releases. This is the chocolate Nutella version of the polo bao, which is the pineapple bun. Gonna give this a 4.75 out of 5. That's hot. Very solid. Of course, guys, they're always dropping new items. I saw this Taiwanese shaobing, which is sort of like a clamshell sandwich. They put a Jimmy Dean patty in there with some mayo and an egg. Reminded me of the ham and egg forte dan bao. It might need to get warmed up. I don't know if you guys know the story. I believe the Japanese got the idea of a cheese tart from the British, from the French. It looks a lot like a Don Tat. Then, of course, you know, Japan has a big influence all around Asia. So we'll see the Chinese version of the Japanese European egg tart. And, or straight up, I'm sorry, this cheese tart, it's not an egg tart, it's a cheese tart, might be better than some of the dedicated Japanese cheese tarts we've had in New York City. Are you saying sun mary is a solid bakery? Are you saying that the sun mary execution is high? For this being from sun mary, for $3, I'm going to give this the 5 out of 5. Here we are with the matcha croissant. It's a very popular item nowadays. Some people fill it with matcha cream. Some people just dust it. Here, as you can see, there's some cream kind of spilling out of the sides here. This has no filling. We just break this open. Oh, it has a little bit of filling. Excuse me. It's right on the brim. Given the lack of French bakeries in the 626, I think this does a solid job. But no, on a French scale, this croissant is not that good. I think sun mary does the buns way better, but this one's decent. I give it a 3 out of 5. Listen, everybody, this is not a new item. You've seen this before. This is the chong bao. 4.8 out of 5. Just want to let you know, you said this cheese tart was a 5 out of 5. My goodness, brother, you weren't lying. Super soft, melty, very cream cheesy, delicious. I would say maybe lacks some depth of flavor. Could have some other elements to it. But overall, this is delicious. All right, so our next spot is symbolic of a trend that is happening right now in China currently. This yogurt trend is blowing up. Guys, they are drinking so much yogurt in China. I'm not going to lie. I don't know why, but we might have to ask them why. Here at From Yogurt, I'm in a very, very cute little cafe. I have salted egg yolk yogurt. I've never heard of this before. I have a little cute heart shelf shovel that I'm going to use. And then you have your lychee peach yogurt. All right, I'm going to try the salted egg yolk one because this is the trendy flavor, and I've never seen it presented like this in an egg. Okay, saltiness kind of adds something like a sea salt caramel type vibe or the salt sea foam that you get on boba sometimes. This is a very colorful drink right here. Let me just mix it up. Mmm. So this one's a little bit icy. It has a layer of yogurt, the slush, and then it has all the lychee at the bottom. That's not bad, but I don't really like slushes, actually. I will tell you, I do like drinking my yogurt right after hot pot. It feels good, so I don't know. Who knows? Maybe people just need to be more exposed to it, but we'll see. Very cute, From Yogurt. As we are all well aware, 626 is Boba Land, and in Boba Land, expect to find spots you won't see anywhere else. Here is Lux Tea Lounge that actually converted an old karaoke lounge into a neon boba club. The drinks are solid. Night Club Boba. Not bad. I gotta have 50% sweet. I got 50% sweet also. This is pretty tasty. Heartbreaker, passion fruit jelly, lychee bits. Pretty tasty, very refreshing. I think fruit teas are the next wave. I think as much as people want the cream, the sea salt cream and all that stuff, I'm like, nah, I think fruit teas are here to stay. Then you got the newly redone Factory Tea Bar, which has been a classic hangout spot for the 15 to 20-year-old crowd and a place we used to film, you know, some of our Boba music videos at. But it has expanded to about five times the size, and now this is a whole fun center with karaoke rooms, billiards and arcade games. This is insane. You can experience your whole adolescence here. I mean, I can only imagine how much high school drama will go down. It's always good to get back to LA and catch some sunshine, get some work done and see how the culture is moving in 626. Obviously, it's an Asian and mostly Chinese food haven, but it has changed from all around the world now. It's both increasing with Asian American-owned businesses and businesses that are transporting over the vibe and aesthetic of the current times. By the way, we got to give a shout out to our friend Spot Taki in Koreatown. I know it's not 626, but they are doing some really cool things over here at the legendary Nightlife Chapman Plaza. Truffle kimchi, fried rice, gopchang, wasabi, egg yolk, uni toast and their soju cocktails. Just bringing something different to the neighborhood. So if you liked that video, hit a thumbs up and let us know where else in the 626 we should hit up when we go back because you know the place got a special place in our hearts.