Nothing but BREAKFAST for 48 HOURS in China’s breakfast capital!

In today's video, we're eating breakfast six times. I'm in China's breakfast capital, but I never expected it'd also be the source of some of the funniest people I've encountered in my travels in China. So grab snacks, get comfy, because this is about to be one of the most entertaining food adventures I've experienced. Hello, hello, and welcome to another Chinese food adventure and welcome to the beautiful Tianjin. It's a city about a 30 minute high speed train ride from Beijing. And it's basically a heaven for eating breakfast. You may have tried jianbing guozi that comes from this city. So I basically don't need to say more. And we are going full Hobbit mode the next few days. I'm talking first breakfast, second breakfast, third breakfast. I'm going to be eating as much as possible. And it turns out there's actually a lot to eat in the lead up to this trip. I actually asked my Chinese social media following what should I be eating here in Tianjin? And wow, there were like so many suggestions. I've written them all down on pieces of paper. I'm going to put this into the pocket of my bag and we're going to be pulling out what to eat for breakfast. I'm going to try and do as many as possible. First suggestion. OK, fate wants me to go easy and simple for our first food here in Tianjin. The first thing I pulled out is jianbing. I mean, I was hoping to do something different, but maybe this is a good thing because apparently there's a very special way of eating jianbing here in this city, which involves you actually buying your own ingredients. So let's head to the market and buy some eggs that we can BYO to make jianbing. I'm still a bit confused about this concept. My mission is now to try and use this phrase at some point today. Hey, here we are. Just like a local little morning market. Nothing too crazy. Oh, I see some eggs. The way he didn't even bat an eye at this makes me think that this really is something that people do a lot here. Great success. I have two eggs. Now to find a place selling jianbing. Mind you, here in Tianjin, it's not hard. I can smell the jianbing. Which is the same price I paid for my eggs at the market. So please, people from Tianjin, let me know. What's the reason for this? Why bring your own eggs to the jianbing stand? So after the eggs are cooked, he flips the pancake over. Then it's time for the filling. Here you have two options. A youtiao, like he's just put on there, or a crispy baocui. In Tianjin, youtiao is the most traditional option. And the guozi in jianbing guozi is the local term for youtiao. But I'm sorry, a jianbing for me just isn't the same without some crunch. So I'm going for the baocui today. It's basically just deep fried dough. I've probably had hundreds of jianbing in my life. But this is the very first time that I've actually BYO eggs. Well, it's the best. Loving the sauce. Nice amount of sauce on there. Very nice eggs, if I do say so myself. And something maybe different about this one than ones I've had before is they definitely pile up full of the crispy stuff. More than maybe I've had before. Not that I'm complaining. The crispier, the better, in my opinion. But the day is young. There are many more breakfasts to be had. Let's choose our next breakfast. OK, I'm just going to put them in my hand and I'm going to crease them up and then I'm going to go in randomly. What's this one? Oh, oh, oh, I'm excited about this. Miancha is one of my favorite Beijing breakfast. I think I covered it only a few weeks ago with my parents. It's basically a millet brawl topped with sesame sauce. So I'm interested to see what the Tianjin version of Miancha is like. Let's go, because I'm pretty sure the Miancha store I saw online actually closes at 10. OK, well, I guess there's only one way to find out. The store I found online is really hidden away in this local community here. In fact, it's so local, the store doesn't even have a name. OK, there is the biggest queue. I mean, it's already developed behind me in the minute that I've been standing here. OK, so it seems you have two major decisions to make here. First, do you want a small bowl or a big bowl of Miancha? And secondly, do you want one layer or two layers of sesame sauce? So I'm obviously going to go for that and just check out how they make this. They take a spoon of the gruel. They put on some ground sesame, a healthy amount. And then they put some sesame sauce and then get this. They go in for another spoonful. Oh, my gosh. So I'm not going to have to ration that sauce like I usually do in Beijing. I can just eat it knowing that there are layers of sesame waiting for me. Oh, my good lord. Is this a local way to eat it or do you just eat it? Next thing I knew, I had made a restaurant full of new friends guiding me through this experience. Oh, my gosh. Oh, it looks so good. Oh, that's so good. I'm a big fan here in Tiantian that they put two layers of sesame sauce because you have a bite and not only are you getting the first little bit from the top layer, but from the middle layer as well. So every single spoonful is so sesame. I'm also loving that ground sesame as well, which adds a little bit of a crunch as well. So a bit of a texture excitement. Also, this one is so thick. I feel like it's thicker than the Beijing version. It's so hearty. It's so tasty. I also ordered this breakfast bun filled with osmanthus flavoured red bean. So what I like about this is that it's quite sweet. It's really packed with filling. I mean, this place is also very reasonably priced and you've got the sweetness of this that goes so well with the saltiness of this. So it's kind of like balancing each other out. So let's go to the other one, shall we? I feel like Tianjin people are so much fun. Like every single interaction I have had has been like making me crying with laughter. Like the lady in the queue today at Miancha, she was telling me that Tianjin people are really direct. I love that because us Australians, we're also really direct. We have arrived. Zhen Su Cheng to get some Gaba Cai. I need to find out the tones on this dish. I actually have no idea what I'm about to eat. But when I was just in this Miancha place, like suddenly 10 people were like, yes, yes, Gaba Cai. You need to have Gaba Cai. No Gaba Cai! I'll come back tomorrow. Luckily, I still have another day. I guess I am here a little bit too late. I'm right on the cusp of breakfast hour. It is 10 a.m. But I thought I'd see if the baozi place my taxi driver recommended is still open. It's still open. It's open until 2.30. 15-minute walk away. Let's go. Thank you. Okay, let's go. I think that's my sign from the universe that yep, we're gonna eat here. We've had the confirmation that this is a good store. Apparently, they only have one flavor. Whoa, holy moly. This is so busy. Okay, where do I even line up? I have no idea. A guy was just standing out here being like, hey, you want to see the kitchen? I was like, yeah. So I've seen the kitchen and it's confirmed again. They only have one filling here. I guess I order here at the counter. So I have a number, 43, in case you're interested. And basically, I just wait for my number to be called along with the rest of these people here. So basically what happens, once they finish wrapping a tray of baozi in the kitchen, it's sent out here to the front of the shop where it's steamed. Once they're freshly steamed, they're sold directly to the crowd and oh boy, do they sell quickly. I was waiting inside for about 10 minutes and then I heard that they're only up to number 18 and I have quite some numbers to go. So I thought I'd come and wait outside and tell you about the sponsor of today's video, which I'm really excited about because you may have noticed in my last few videos, I've been wearing a bit more jade. Like I've got this ring stack here that I'm loving. I've got this hulu here that I have been wearing ever since I got it. But actually, this little jade journey actually began with this jade bangle that my friend actually gifted to me when I was back in Sydney from a place called May's Gems, which is a family-run jade store in Melbourne. And the funny thing is, is that when she went to buy this jade bangle for me, she mentioned that she was getting it for her friend who's a vlogger in China and the owners were like, oh, who's the vlogger? Turns out they actually follow me. They reached out to see if I'd be interested in partnering with them. And you know what? I was like, that's so cool. I have really wanted to learn more about jade for a long time. It's a very special gemstone in China as well as other countries around the world. So I thought I'd take this as an opportunity to learn more about jade. So first thing I learned about jade, or more specifically jade bangles, is in Chinese culture, they're traditionally gifted to express love and protection and they're traditionally worn on the left wrist, which has been a little bit of a struggle for me. I usually wear my watch on my left wrist and in the last few months, I've actually changed to my right wrist, which has been a little bit of a shift. But I wanted to make sure that I was wearing my jade on my left wrist because it's closer to the heart and it's said that you'll absorb the energies better if you wear it on your left. Also got this pendant here. It's in the shape of a hulu. And in Chinese culture, hulu is typically kind of associated with health and longevity, also fertility. If you may or may not know, I'm currently trying. So I thought it would be a nice thing to wear around my neck. But what I love most is that Maze Gems is so passionate and transparent and every piece is tested by qualified gemologists so the jade is always natural and untreated. And they also offer a lifetime authenticity guarantee. Pieces over 300 even come with a certificate. I'm super happy to be able to support this Australian small business. If you'd like to check out their collections, you can check out the link below. You can also scan the QR code. I also want to let you guys know that they do ship internationally. They ship to the US. So check out their link below. And I think, you know what? Let's go see if our balsa are ready. Here we go. Got my balsa. Let's go to the park. Let's try the famous balsa that I lined up for for quite some time. And check out how juicy these are. They're dripping all over the place. Oh my god. Okay, I can understand the hype. This has got to be the most flavorful balsa I've ever had in my life. I think I actually had some prune in my mouth just now. It has like a little bit of a crunchy texture. Look there, that little thing sticking out. That's actually prawn. And then inside you've got meat. And you've also got mushroom and something green. I think that might be some kind of chive or spring onion. It's so fresh. It's got a taste of like sesame oil in there as well. It's super umami. Salty, full of flavor. It's the best. It is the best balsa I've ever had. Wow, wow. Oh my god. Wow. Next thing I knew, I was chatting content creation with this uncle and auntie. And turns out they're into making videos too. And we even ended up making some together. They came prepared with ideas, let me tell you. We're making some short videos. Just wait guys. These walking videos, they're the next big thing. Good morning, good morning. Round two. Let's see if we can get this gaba cai today. I just looked it up on my dictionary. Gaba means crispy and cai means food. So it's going to be something crispy, I'm guessing. Okay, let's see what this is all about. To see that tray of crispy bits on the left there, they're strips of mung bean pancake. Basically the base of a jianbing just cut into strips. Then she takes those strips and dunks them into this thick salty soup. Then it's all added to a bowl, topped with fu lu, fermented bean curd, sesame sauce, as well as coriander. Look at this. It all just sticks together. Let's try. Oh, this is really good. First thing that's hitting me is it's really creamy. It's nutty from that sesame sauce they put in there. It's quite garlicky. I guess that base kind of soupy mixture has a lot of garlic in it. The texture of this mung bean wrapper here is so nice. It's not crunchy at all anymore. Actually, it's the softest thing you could imagine. It's become all soaked with sauce to the extent that it's now quite pillowy and soft. It's a beautiful mouthfeel. And I really love that the coriander really lifts the flavor as well because it's quite a salty, heavy dish. I did hear that Tianjin has some of the saltiest food in China. And definitely, I've been finding some of the foods that I've had in this breakfast adventure. Specifically, the bowls are from yesterday. And also, this today are definitely more on the salty side. Okay, let's see. What should we eat next? I have no idea what this is. I mean, the literal translation is big pancake wraps the world. Dramatic sounding dish, but turns out it's not an exaggeration. They have these piles of food at these stalls selling this dish. And basically, they put it all into this one wrap. So literally, it's a wrap encasing the world. So we have found ourselves in the middle of a morning market actually here. It's where the places that I found... Oh look, okay, not a line. Oh, I'm very happy. The driver told me that there was going to be... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay, problem. Which one do I line up for? We have big pancake, add everything. We have big pancake, add everything, add skewers. Wait, I see people over here in a line. Maybe they're actually waiting for the store. I should have known. It's too good to be true that the store I wanted to come to didn't have a line. But often what you will see in China is if there's one store that has a lot of success and there are a lot of people waiting, you'll find a lot of stores next to it selling almost exactly the same thing, almost the exact same name to kind of like jump on the success of the original store. I can only assume that this is the correct one. We have a line here. I'll happily wait in it. Let's see what this is all about. So standing in the queue here, you can hear a sizzle coming from this area. So I'm assuming someone is here at the deep fryer, just constantly deep frying items that then make their way over here. And then when you get to the front, you just tell her exactly what you want in your Da Vin. I'm watching very closely what people are ordering. What everyone seems to be getting is the deep fried chicken fillet. And also this egg. It looks really amazing. Also got this like big green pepper. In any case, by the time it was my turn to order, I knew exactly what I wanted. So first step, she added a base layer of sauces. Then I added an egg, which is bigger than the pancake itself. Obviously, I went for that crispy chicken and also a nice big green chili. So more sauces then went on as well as some flavor sprinkles. And then she went in with all of the cold toppings like strips of tofu skin, cucumber, pickles. I think that's seaweed there. They just kept coming and coming to the point that she could hardly wrap this all up. That was really a fight of the wills. I was very tempted to get a lot more ingredients, but I really had to justify like, is it going to make me happier than the combination I already have in here? I'm already very happy with this. And would I be able to eat any more than this? I really don't think so. This is going to polish me off. I don't think I'm going to make it to third breakfast today, guys. I'm really, really sorry. This really is wrapping the world in a Da Vin. Da Vin basically means pancake. Just at the entrance to someone's building here. Oh, wow. Oh, my goodness. This also logistically might prove difficult. I don't know where to bite first. Because the first bite is really important. It's going to give you that first impression. And I don't want to just go in with a straight bite of chili. I think I'm going to get this bite over here, where I can get a little bit of egg, a little bit of the crispy chicken. Oh, it's really good. Tianjin does not mess around with its breakfast. I feel like this is a city that has really perfected the art of it. Wow, wow, wow. Let's start with the outside and work our way in. This bread is so soft and pillowy and fluffy. I didn't expect for the bread to be one of my highlights of this. I thought the things inside were going to be stealing the show. But the bread itself, it's the perfect canvas. It's so delicious. The chicken is super crispy, which is great. The egg is like this gorgeous blanket around the whole dish. Every bite that you get has some egg in it somewhere. I haven't tried the chili yet. Let's go for that. It's not one of the spicy peppers. It just adds that green capsicum freshness. We call it capsicum in Australia. I'm not sure what you call it in your country. It all comes together, guys. It's amazing. You've got the fresh ingredients there. You've got a bit of tofu. You've got your protein. You've got your carbs. What's the other macro you need? Fat. It's got fat. It's deep fried. I don't know. Nutritionist in the chat, let me know. This is really good for you, right? Don't break my heart. I'm going to say this brings us to the end of our Tianjin breakfast adventure. Tianjin has been absolutely amazing. The food, the people. I mean, I don't think I've been somewhere where people have been so talkative and chatty and friendly. If you're in Beijing, if you're planning a trip to Beijing and you want to add a little bit of extra spice to your itinerary here in China, I would definitely recommend you pay a day or two trip here to Tianjin, if not just to eat breakfast and chat with the local people. It's been so much fun. My Tianjin adventures are not over. I have quite the exciting day coming up tomorrow. So I've been invited to a wedding. Two of my very good friends are getting married here in Tianjin. And this wedding is going to be like no other. I'll give you a little teaser. The theme of the wedding is minions and Hogwarts. And I'm going to be filming the entire thing. My friend, she's invited me along to see the whole day. Apparently, there's going to be a segment where we torture her husband to be or something. We're actually getting together tonight to talk about ways that we can like... I'm not very experienced with Chinese weddings. So I'm going to let you know more information in next week's video. So stay tuned. I'm going to eat this. You go and eat whatever you're going to eat. And I will see you guys next week. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe. Bye from Tianjin.