SPICY A5 Wagyu Beef HOTPOT With The TRY GUYS! NOODLE DANCE in Los Angeles

How long do you cook a brain? Brain, at least 3 minutes. 3 minutes? Oh no, the brains! Oh, I can taste the peppercorn. Oh, you're gonna hate this. Oh, here we go! I can't believe it. I'm actually in LA when it's raining. It happens like, what, 4 times a year? Anyway, this is the perfect weather for some hot pot. And there's a couple people joining me today that's never had it before, so we need to fix that. I'm here at Haidilao, which literally means scooping things from the bottom of the sea. It's one of the most popular hot pot chains, probably in the world. Never been here, always wanted to try. And I get to do it with a couple of guys. Let's go say hi. Hey guys! Hey, how's it going, man? Hey, good buddy. Good to see ya. So you guys hungry? I'm so hungry. I have not eaten very little because I wanted to eat a very lot. Well, I'm excited to share with you guys. I've never been to this place either. This is one of the most popular places for hot pot. So, I've never been here either, so it's an experience for me. I did look at pictures on the internet. It looked good. I still can't wait for you guys to try this. Let's do it. Alright guys, we finally sat down. Let me do a formal introduction. This is Zach and Keith from The Try Guys. And Keith and I met over a nice meal of noodles. But we really connected over food. And I've reached out to you several times for advice when I've been in San Francisco and New York and you've led me to some amazing dumplings and noodles and various nooks and crannies of the city. That's like the only thing I'm good for. You know it. I have text conversations just like, where should I go? I'm in this neighborhood. He's like, well, there's nothing in that neighborhood. Go to this one. That's like my entire meaning in life is to help people find good things to eat. And you guys never tried hot pot before. This is the first time. I'm really excited. I've heard good things. A lot of high expectations. And I'm ready to dive into that bowl. Let me tell you a little bit about what hot pot is. It's basically just a boiling pot. It's a hot pot. The dish is over a thousand years old. In Mongolia, the Mongolian soldiers were coming down south. They would use their helmets to boil water and then put ingredients in there as a speedy way to eat a meal. And also kind of a greasy way. That's amazing. This is a very traditional Chinese dish that we love. And it's a great socializer because you just sit there, you cook your own meal, and just have a good time. And now is this something like where I'm getting my hot pot and you get your hot pot? Or is this all family style we're sharing? Usually the more traditional type is there's a big pot in the middle and it's divided by two or even nine or four. The more traditional one is one spicy side, one non-spicy side. But this place, Haidilao, they have individual pots. But we're going to be sharing. Because we want to try different broths. But right now, we're going to do something really really special. We are going to go make our dipping sauces. Wait, what? We're going to go make something? We're making it. We're going to make the sauces we're dipping the ingredients in. There's two dips when it comes to hot pot. You dip the ingredients into your pot, dip the ingredients again into your dipping sauces, then you shove it in your mouth. I love sauces. This can be a little confusing, but let's take a field trip. Alright, welcome to the hot pot sauce bar. This is where we're going to create our flavor. Feels like there's a lot of pressure right now. Just coming up here is going to be a little daunting because you guys know what a sesame sauce is? Yes. Okay, perfect. Basically, every person who loves hot pot, they have their own customized sauce that they love. I have two recipes. I have one that's customized for me and one very traditional recipe. Wow, you are getting Mike's exclusive sauce recipe right now. Watch it. Satay, which is Chinese barbecue sauce, a little bit of this. Garlic, for sure. Hell yeah. I like a little bit of vinegar, a tiny bit to bring the acid. Yeah, makes sense. Yeah, a little umami flavor there. I was going to say the same thing. Soy sauce is vital. Chili oil is a must for me. Oh, you're going for it. Wow, wow, wow. And then sesame. Next one is really simple. Three parts sesame, a third of chive. And that's it. Alright, so you guys go nuts. Great. Oh, that's delicious, but not what I thought it was going to be. No. I think this is going to be perfect. Alright, you guys got your sauces? We got our sauces. Taste it, see how it is. Mine's a little too on the salty spectrum. The spice level is good for me. I like mine. If it's going to rock your world, it's going to be a slow rock your world. Oh, that's good. That's good. This is the Mike Chin custom sauce. Alright, let's move on. Let's get our pots ordered. Dancing noodle. Yes. Only $4 for a dancing noodle? $4 for a special dance? Can we just keep on ordering this? Yeah, I got $20 in my pocket. Bring the dance on. Okay, we're going to use some tongue. Alright, I'm in. How do you guys feel about Spam? Spam. Yeah, I love Spam, actually. What's the right thing to drink with this meal? Hot tea. A hot tea. I'm a tea nut. Also, I like that our dinner is referred to as a shopping cart. One other thing we've got to prepare for. Here's your aprons. I'm sorry? Are we baking? Are we in the splash zone? We are always in the splash zone. It's like going to see Shamu. It is. It smells amazing. This is the mala. So mala means numbing spicy. You can see those little round things there. Have you eaten one before? Yeah. This is Japanese A5 Wagyu. Whoa, that's unbelievable. That's gorgeous. First things first, this is going to go bad if we don't eat it right now, but it's not really traditional, but it's yummy. So take that, dip it in this milk. Not use that because... Okay, no milk for me. Yeah, no milk for you. Oh, wow. It's so crispy. Cheers. Oh, wow. That's such a good crunch on that. It would be better with that. I get it. I'm going to try a little bit. We're already going all in here. Yeah, I'm going in for another dip. Oh, yeah. Let's get started. So, typically what we like to do on hot pot is throw in the ingredients that's going to take a while to boil. So potatoes are going to take a bit. Throw that in there. That's potato. Trust me, you never had potato until you had a hot pot potato. So what are those dumpling things you just threw in? Those are fish balls. Fish balls. With fish roe on the inside. Fish eggs inside of fish. It's like you're eating a fish right now, a pregnant fish. Fish don't get pregnant like that. How do you know? I don't. There's a strategy. You're either a dumper or you're like a meticulously dipper. So a dumper means there's some people who just dump everything in. They eat it like that. When this boils, take a piece of meat, swish it around about 10 seconds. As soon as the color is good, take it out. What meat do we start with? There's so many to choose from. I forget what's what instantly. Oh, well let's move up the chain. Is this barbecue sauce that I'm drinking? That's plum sauce. That's plum juice, man. It tastes like barbecue sauce. How does plum juice taste like barbecue sauce? It tastes like American barbecue sauce. Alright, now that he's mentioned it. That's plum juice. I like it. So throw it in there and then don't release it. Drop it in. Swish it around. Oh, I can taste the peppercorn. Oh, you're gonna hate this. Oh, here we go. We're starting off early. I think the pork is not that spicy. It won't be as spicy as this. Oh, that's delicious. Oh, but it hurts. But your sauce you made helps balance it a little bit. Oh, yeah. The best meat on hot pot is usually the fatty beef. I'm having a great time already. I'm having a great time. Chinese people cannot stay away from hot pot. I get it. You guys ready for the ultimate? Yeah. Actually, I don't think I am. I'm like, I'm still like living in this. This, we gotta cook it perfectly. Don't overcook this. No, no, no, no. So each of us take a piece. This is gonna be insane. Look, it's so loose that just holding the stick through its own weight is pulling it apart of itself. I need your eyes on this. I wanna make sure I'm doing it right. Take it out. Is that a ribeye? It's basically like a ribeye. Oh, ribeye has nothing on it. Ribeye calls this thing the daddy. Wow. I mean, this is 50-50 fat. Maybe even 60% fat. Yeah, go for it, Keith. It looks like, no, I think yours needs to go in there. It couldn't wait. Cheers. I didn't chew it. That was butter. I just ate it and I already missed it. Grab a fish ball. It's like a soup dumpling. Ventilation system. Oh, the flavor in it is great. A lot of flavor has been soaked up by the fish cake. Potatoes and hot pot, here you go, is the most amazing thing. Oh, wow. Right? Yeah, that melts. This is amazing. That's chicken feet. It's pickle. Pickles? Yeah. Oh, it's a spicy pickle. Everything's spicy, Mike. I think you need to up your spice tolerance. I can't. My tongue can't sew itself together. My lips are burning. I don't know why I got this. I have no idea. I encourage you. I almost feel it. Oh, my God. Just touching my chopstick is, oh, God. I love it. Oh, that is beautiful. Oh, wow. It's like running over a dead animal. It's just the feeling of it, even. I'm gonna detox my chopsticks. Oh, it's changing textures. Oh, it's white now. Immediately. It's like a goo. It's almost like a post-egg. Yes. How long do you cook a brain? At least three minutes. Oh, three minutes. Oh, no. The brain. That was completely by accident. I'm sorry. Oh, no. The only bad thing about that drop ring is a mind is a terrible thing to waste. I was thinking the same thing. I tell you what, the flavor really blows your mind. I've had my mind on this moment for a while. Oh, wow. You remember that commercial for drugs back in the day? This is your brain. It really should be something like this. This is your brain on hot pot. Let's do it. Mind over matter. This matter is mine. Do you guys mind stop punning it? It's so soft. It's the softest thing I've ever had. It's mush. It's like meat booger. Not like a booger. A booger would be more viscous-y. It's like meat mush. I hate it. It's just mind-blowingly bad. Oh, God. This is the greatest thing you can ever do with an egg. Ready? We're gonna poach a freaking egg in a hot pot bowl. No, you're not. Hold it there for a couple minutes. Best poached egg you will ever have in your life. It's a perfect egg. I need a hot pot just so I can cook breakfast. So when the hot pot broth boils down to the lower point, all that ingredient that we cooked, the flavor is now saturated in there. Yeah. Now's the best time for some noodles to go in. Can we bring in the dancing noodles? Oh, my God. You couldn't even do that with a chump rope. No, not a chance. Oh! Wow! Do you have a glass for me? Wow. That's awesome. I didn't want that to ever end. One more time. One more time. Beautiful. It must be captured. Yeah, awesome. Thank you. That is the best way ever to get noodles delivered to your table. I wonder if that ever has gone wrong. What if it just snatched and took my glass? Yeah, hold it, hold it. Yeah. This is sort of what I've been waiting for my whole life. I know Keith really well. I don't think he'll ever top this moment. This is really great. This is the first of everything he loves in one. Hey, that's what hot pot is. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's spicy. I don't know if you guys can take this. That's really good. I want to be able to describe what's going on, and I can't. Because there's not one flavor or two flavors. There's like a good fish quality to it. It's like the Captain Planet of food right here. Noodles have such a good chew. Whoa, yeah. Those noodles. They taste even better because they were made with love. And like crazy boobs, bro. All right, so what do you guys think? First hot pot experience. You basically went through everything. I mean, Mike, I'll tell you, this is probably one of the best eating experiences of my life. I've been doing Korean barbecue for my Thanksgiving dinner for the last couple years. This might replace it because I love everything about it, but this gives me noodles. I really don't know what to say. It's crazy good. And I feel like there's so much to explore and I've really only just gotten started. Yeah, I mean, almost every ingredient is in play. Oh, by the way, everyone grab some mulchiball here. This is one of the greatest desserts ever. It's fermented rice with mulchiballs. It's sweet. Incredibly fragrant. Oh, it's like soju. This is my favorite thing that I have ever had. Put it there. Oh, this is definitely your... So up my alley. Everything going on here. This is like Boba's cooler cousin. Oh, Boba has nothing on this. Perfect way to tie up this meal. Well, guys, thank you so much for joining me on this meal. Thank you for having us. Don't thank us. Don't you dare thank us. What are we doing next? Hey, we got more stuff to explore. I mean, this is a huge, huge culture of food. There are a lot of stuff out there to eat, but I love showing people who have never tried hotpot before, hotpot, because it's one of my... favorite food in the world. Wow. And you know what? We love trying things. Yeah, I figure. It's kind of our thing. And guys, definitely check them out, the Try Guys. Their link is in the description box below. Thank you again so much for joining me and thank you guys so much for watching. Until we all eat again, I'll see you later. Bye, we're gonna be meeting. Yeah, we are. For a while. See ya.