I Ate China’s MOST INTENSE Street Noodles

- In this video, I'm in Lanzhou, China, the home of hand-pulled noodles. And today I'm on a mission to try all of the best foods in the city. But first, let's rewind. - Here we go. Whoa! Bravo! - [Trevor] Okay, hold up. Let's rewind for a second. You've seen Chinese hand-pulled noodles before. But almost nobody knows they were born right here in Lanzhou. And this guy is my buddy Alex. He's from the UK, and it's his first time in China. And he thinks we're here just for a simple bowl of noodles. But today I'm surprising him with a massive Lanzhou Hui Muslim Chinese street food tour. And after he gets the full taste of Lanzhou, only then are we taking him to meet a real noodle master to taste the source of hand-pulled noodles in China. And first up, a hidden joint you'd never find without knowing about it serving baozi, a classic staple all around China. But here in Lanzhou, the Muslim version, upgraded so juicy and plump, you'll enter heaven on your first bite. - Wow, it's busy! - [Trevor] Oh, the baozi hot spot! Look at this! - Hidden gem. Whoa, look at this. That's wild! - This is insane. Look at the baozis. - [Alex] Look how many they're making! - Hello. (speaking Mandarin) - So we're gonna get the beef? - Are they the bestsellers? (speaking Mandarin) - Okay. And the beef carrot. - Yeah. And then 300 of them. Yeah. (laughs) (speaking Mandarin) - We just got invited to the bowels of the kitchen. The bowels of heaven. - Oh my gosh. Look at that. - (speaking Mandarin) Oh, look at this. And first up, for the first stop of five, a hidden joint that you'd never find without knowing about it. Serving baozi, a classic staple all around China. But here in Lanzhou, the Muslim version upgraded so juicy and plump, you'll enter heaven on your first bite. - It's a production line of baozi. - [Trevor] It is, right? - And I've never had baozi before. - [Trevor] Really? - This is my first one. - [Trevor] First time? - I cannot wait. - [Trevor] Ooh. (laughter) Oh, the pinch skills are incredible. It's not easy to make perfect baozi like that. - [Alex] Can you ask him? How many he makes a day? (speaking Mandarin) - He said, probably, 5,000. - 5,000 baozi a day. - [Trevor] Yeah. And these are all halal dumplings. - [Alex] Oh, they are? - [Trevor] Specialty from this region. This is Hui Chinese, Muslim, Chinese cuisine. So they're using beef, they're using carrot. She's hand pinching them. And seriously, look at the precision. They're all the exact same weight. And one thing that's super cool is the variety of fillings they've got here. They've got vegetable, they've got beef and garlic chive, and then carrot. They're all looking incredibly delicious. And then, (speaking Mandarin) So, they're gonna steam 10 minutes. - Look how many they've got. - [Alex] It's fully loaded. - 36, 120, 150, 80, two, ten. Probably three, 400 baozi just in here alone. - Let's line up and get some baozi - Oh, yeah, yeah. Let's order. - Let's go. - Ooooh. (speaking Mandarin) - I think we would eat these all the time if we lived here. - Absolutely. They smell, okay, let's get 'em while hot. - Look at these. - Look at the size of them. - We just got the biggest baozi feasts ever. We got like 20 baozi of here. So, the secret is you gotta create your dip. You got chili oil and vinegar. We got the regular beef, plump baozi. They're so plump. And then the beef and carrot. I think we should go in for the beef and carrot. - [Alex] Yeah. I think so - [Trevor] What do you think? - And then you can dip it in your chili oil. - Oh my gosh, I'm so excited - Chili oil and vinegar. - Can we go? - Let's go. - Oh, my. The dipping, the vinegar, the chili oil, so flavorful. And the beef and carrot just combine so nicely. - These ones here are with the regular beef? - Yeah, regular beef. You can soak it with vinegar and chili oil. So, it's like a little sour, a little spicy, but it's still so juicy. Oooh. - Oh-ho-ho-ho. - [Trevor] That's right. These were insane. But nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to eat next. So we finished the steam baozi and we're on our way for more. - Thank you. (speaking Mandarin) - Those were incredible. Bye-bye. And that's just the start, man. Lanzhou has so much good food. We gotta keep going. - I'm so excited. All right, next stop. - Let's go. - Let's keep going. - [Trevor] It's getting crazier and crazier, guys. A lot of incredible Lanzhou food coming up. And before the hand-pulled noodles, and spiciest kebabs, and juiciest boiled lamb ever seen on this channel. I'm taking Alex to try the most insane mianpian noodles made by a mianpian noodle master himself, Mr. Ma. And next up, man, we're just exploring the local neighborhoods. And right up here, mianpian. Noodle blankets. (speaking Mandarin) (laughter) - Mr. Ma is gonna make some amazing mianpian for us. - Yeah. - What is mian, mianpian? The, The blankets? - Noodle blankets. Yeah. - I can't wait to see them. - Yeah. - I have no idea what they look like. - [Trevor] And before we knew it, Mr. Ma himself was setting up the kitchen for some of the most incredible wok skills I've ever seen with the wok almost full to the brim with noodles and spicy mianpian sauce. It makes you want to come back for bowl after bowl. Highly recommend a dish, guys. Just watch. Oh, here we go. Beef going in. (inaudible)

(speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] Here's the bell pepper. Oh, man - [Alex] This is crazy. - [Trevor] This is crazy. This the beef bell pepper fry. He's adding in some seasonings right now. Oh, some spring onion. Yeah. Crazy. - It's mesmerizing watching him work. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] That's the topping on the noodle. And here's the mianpian. The noodle blankets. Okay. So he is just taking this dough and flattening them out into sheets. Oh wow. Here's a blanket. - [Alex] Oh my gosh. It is a literal blanket. - Yeah. (laughter) - [Trevor] And then look. - [Alex] Oh my God. - [Trevor] It's like a noodle blanket machine. You ever seen anything like that? - I've never seen anything like it. - [Trevor] So, he's making the noodle blanket. This is the base of the noodle dish. And then he's gonna make another layer and top it- - [Alex] With that beef. - [Trevor] With that beef. Here we go. - [Mr. Ma] Here we go! - [Trevor] Tomatoes going in. Whoa. - Whoa! (speaking Mandarin) (cross-talk) - [Trevor] Going in. Look at the speed. - Okay! - Yeah. (laughter) (speaking Mandarin) - Oh, rice noodle. Oh, here come the noodles. Look at that. Whoa. And there they go. Right in. That's insane! - [Alex] Look how full that wok is. - [Trevor] Look at his skills. Oh my God. Look at the skills. - [Trevor] This is years and decades of experience. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] Oh, whoa. The chili going in. - [Trevor] Look at the skills. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] Master Chef Ma is here. - [Alex] This is unbelievable. Never seen anything like it. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] Wow. These noodles. - [Mr. Ma] Okay! - [Trevor] A real noodle master at work. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] Man, he is the real noodle master. - [Alex] He is the noodle master. He is the official noodle master. - [Trevor] Wow. I've never seen anything like that. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] Here's, there's more. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] And he's gonna top it with the beef and bell pepper. - [Alex] The portions are massive. Each bowl is brimming. And the finishing touch. - [Trevor] These look like some of the best noodles you'll ever see. Seriously. Look at the color. (speaking Mandarin) - Oh my God. Look at that. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] There's so many layers. He made the noodles first, then he made all the veg. There's zucchini, there's bell pepper, there's cabbage, it's all in there. And then he topped it with the cumin bell pepper beef. Should we just go in? - Yeah, let's go. - Let's try. Mmm. Wow. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] The flavor on those noodles. The cumin, the tomato, the chili, the bell pepper beef. That is a serious invention there. - [Alex] It is. - [Trevor] Noodle blankets. Man, I'm proud I could take you to your first mianpian. - Mianpian, yeah. - That's a, that's a dish. - Yeah, it really is. - That's a dish, right? - Man, today you've set the bar so high. (laughter) - Literally. Lanzhou has super impressed me already. (speaking Mandarin) - Thank you, thank you. (speaking Mandarin) (laughter) - [Trevor] And this is just the beginning, guys. Before going for some of the spiciest and most delicious kebabs you'll ever taste, and then some incredible hand-pulled noodles from the noodle master himself. I wanted to take Alex for another signature dish of Lanzhou, the hand-grasped mutton. We're exploring the local neighborhood now, and just up here, I think there's a famous hand-grasped mutton joint. Hi boss, how are you? - Hi. - Good to see you. - Oh, okay. Oh, (speaking Mandarin) And we just walked into the ultimate Mutton station. The shouzhuay, oh. - [Alex] Oh my. - [Trevor] Look at that. And they just load it with spices. Look at that. You can see sichuan peppercorn. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] So many spices in there. - [Alex] This meat's been cooking for such a long time. You can smell that stock as soon as the lid came off, it just hit you. How long has this been cooking for? Can you ask him? (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] An hour and a half. - [Alex] They've got chicken, lamb, and then they've got the aromatics. This stock is gonna be extremely flavorful. (speaking Mandarin) - Oh, you have the chicken just for the aroma. - [Alex] How many kilos of lamb do you reckon they get through a day? (speaking Mandarin) - Eight sheep per day. day? - Yeah. Oh man. Now it's time for the chop station man. - [Alex] Boom. - [Trevor] And this is just such a lamb area of China. It's all about the lamb here. They know what they're doing. There it is. - [Alex] Wow. - [Trevor] Look at the skin layer on there. It's like a perfect mix of fat and meat. (speaking Mandarin) - That looks so good. - That is a feast. Oh yes. - Oh, and the chili that, (speaking Mandarin) Look at that. - That's a big pot of chili. You can just dip the meat in and the fat from the meat is just gonna coat it. - Yeah, okay. Where do you start? - Let's just go in. - Oh my gosh. - God, it's so soft. (crosstalk) - Dip it in the chili. Look at how it just coats it. - [Alex] Yeah, it's like a sherbet dip dab. (laughs) - [Alex] It just sticks to it instantly.

- Oh my God. Man, it's like so buttery and fatty and milky. Like he said, like a butter aroma. - [Alex] Yeah. It's really fatty. Fantastic. (speaking Mandarin) - No, no. There's no odor to it, right? - No, not at all. - [Trevor] You eat garlic with it? - Ooh. - Oh, it's spicy. Oh my God. First you get the spice from the garlic. It's, like, very spicy, but then you bite into the fatty lamb and it takes it away and it just combines really smoothly. (speaking Mandarin) - So delicious. Oh, and she's invited us to come back tomorrow. (speaking Mandarin) - Thank you, bro. Thank you. (speaking Mandarin) - Best lamb in Lanzhou. (laughs) Number one lamb in Lanzhou. - [Trevor] Now we're getting to the good stuff, guys. Before meeting the noodle master himself, I wanted to take Alex to try the most unique kebab joint in Lanzhou. This place isn't just serving up regular kebabs. They serve a super upgraded lamb kebab pita with so much spice and fat, but somehow it works so well. Just watch this guys. It's absolutely insane. (speaking Mandarin) - And here we are. Before our final meal, we need a little midday street meat. - Yeah. - Wow. Look at this. - [Alex] Oh yeah. Trevor, we are in the right spot here. Oh my gosh. - Wow. (speaking Mandarin) - Ooh, it's lamb kebobs. Oh, here it comes. Look at this. (speaking Mandarin) - [Alex] Oh wow. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] The classic lamb kebab. It's a little bit fatty and a little bit lean at the same time. - [Alex] They're just keeping it moving on the coals. - [Trevor] Look at the skills there. Oh, and then he is loading it with, (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] Oh, that's the lamb fat he's putting on it. - [Alex] It is scolding hot back here. I dunno how these guys do it. It like a hundred degrees here. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] Oh, the signature secret powder. Oh yeah. Oh. And here comes the chili. (speaking Mandarin) - [Alex] That is a generous coating of chili there, isn't it? - [Trevor] Yeah. (laughter) - [Alex] Look at that. Wow. That is fantastic. This is unbelievable. - It's crazy, isn't it? - It is. - We just walked into the most fast action paced lamb kebab, little street alleyway here. - It's, like, literally, tucked away down a tiny alleyway. - [Trevor] And it's really nice that it's cooked over the coals. - [Alex] Yeah, it's gonna give it that, like, smoky wood fire flavor. - [Trevor] A lot of places these days, they'll use, like, an electric. - True, true. - [Trevor] But you don't find this a lot anymore. So pre warmup, we're gonna start with some lamb tail. Should we just go in? - Yeah. Lamb tail. Let's try it. - Warm up before the feast. (inaudible) - Oh, we found a good spot, people. - Mmmm. Oh, it's like a melting lamb fat. Wow. (speaking Mandarin) - Okay, so these are the mini bouquets we got here. And here we are, the highlight of the day. - All right. - The pita with the kebab. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] So, he's slicing it open. And what's he gonna put inside? Secret spices? Cumin. Oh, and tons of chili. (speaking Mandarin) - [Alex] There you go. So he takes all 20 skewers (laughter) - [Alex] Yes. - [Trevor] Loaded. - [Alex] Pulling them all out. - [Trevor] He's pulling them out. That's a loaded pita. - [Alex] Yeah. Good man. Thank you. - [Trevor] Wow. (speaking Mandarin) - There it is. - Oh my God, it's so warm. Absolutely loaded. - [Trevor] Man. - [Alex] Fat, chili. - [Trevor] And then you got the cumin. You got the secret spices. Let's just get in there. - Let's go. - Oh. Oh my God. Man, what a flavor packed pita pick. - [Alex] This is, literally, an allstar dish of the trip. - The chili is spicy, but not too spicy. That's called xiāng in Chinese. Xiāng. - More aromatic. It just- - Aromatic, mellow flavor. - It's just, like, a smooth aroma that brings you into the heavenly realm. (speaking Mandarin) - [Alex] Unbelievable. - [Trevor] The flavor. (speaking Mandarin) Now it was time, guys. After eating our way through Lanzhou bowl after bowl, street after street, there was only one thing left to do. It was finally time for Alex to taste a real bowl of hand-pulled noodles made right here in China, straight from the source. So, next up for a late afternoon noodle, because we've already had one noodle. - Yes. - We're going for more noodles. (laughter) - [Trevor] And we're leaving the city now. And we're going for more noodles. The home of hand-pulled noodles. Here we are. Noodle heaven. This is the city of noodles. Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles. - [Alex] This is, literally, the sole reason I came to the city is for this dish. - And here we are. We're going in. - This is the spot. - You can smell the beef aroma. - You can literally smell the noodles from outside. (speaking Mandarin) - Oh, we got the local hat. (speaking Mandarin) - Look at that. - [Trevor] Oh. And we're going into the noodle kitchen. Look at this. - [Alex] Finally. Oh my God. Look at these vats of soup. (speaking Mandarin) This is Zheng lǎobǎn. And he's gonna show us how noodles are made. Oh. And look at this. (speaking Mandarin) - [Alex] Oh my God. That is the biggest vat of chili oil I've ever seen in my life. - [Trevor] It is, right. Look at how thick it is. And that's gonna be the sole of the dish in the noodle. And look at this noodle. Look how smooth it's getting. It's got really smooth now. - [Trevor] Oh yeah. Look at that. - [Alex] Look how stretchy it's getting as well. It was so firm. - [Trevor] It's so smooth now. - [Both] Yeah. - [Alex] Oh, there he goes. - [Trevor] And there he goes. Wow. It looks amazing. So this is gonna be one big noodle. - Really? (laughter) - That would be nice. good. - This is, this is probably like, I don't know. (speaking Mandarin)

- This is 30 bowls of noodles. - Yeah. - Okay. - Here we go. - Whoa. Bravo. - Oh man. The skills. This is Lanzhou noodles. Number one noodle in the world to me. - [Alex] There he goes. - [Trevor] And here it is. Look, this is the start. Each one of these is one bowl of noodles. (speaking Mandarin) - So, we're gonna do one wide, one thin. - Yeah, let's try it. - Okay and here he is. (speaking Mandarin) - Okay, here comes the wide, here comes the wide. - [Alex] It's so good watching him. - [Trevor] So, he is gonna press it down. - Look how consistent each noodle is. - They're perfect. - And he does it so quickly. Ooh. - [Trevor] Okay. So here comes the thin. - [Alex] Yeah. Who taught him to make noodles like that? (speaking Mandarin) - He, he studied himself. - Oh really? - Yeah. (speaking Mandarin) - He studied himself. - Oh my gosh. - Look at that. - Perfect noodles. - Oh and here it comes, right into the bowl. And then here's the stock. So, they put a little bit of green onion. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] And then there's the beef. Oh, here's the chili oil. Look at this. That's the se- - [Alex] That's the secret. - [Trevor] That's the secret. Oh man. - I cannot wait to try these noodles. - It's gonna be a glorious moment. - There's so much chili oil in there. It's like a deep red. - It's a glorious moment. Your first ever- - Lanzhou- - Lanzhou noodles In the source of hand-pulled noodles in China. I literally flew halfway around the world for this dish. (speaking Mandarin) - Yes. - Extra beef. (laughter) (speaking Mandarin) So, seven hours stock. - Oh wow. (speaking Mandarin) - Beef bone, beef. (speaking Mandarin) - Secret and secret ingredients. - Of course there's gonna be some secret ingredients. So seven hours. (speaking Mandarin) - [Trevor] So, I've got the wide - [Alex] I got the thin noodles. - [Trevor] You got the thin. - [Alex] Look at that. - [Trevor] Oh, we gotta add beef in there. - Oh, extra beef. - Load it up. - Woo. - And then it comes with some pickled radish, some green beans and some egg. But we're here for the- - Man. We're here for noodle and the beef and the soup. - Yeah. Oh man. And you can see that stock, they load it with that signature homemade chili oil. The broth is homemade. The noodles are homemade. Everything is made from scratch here. Okay, let's take it down. - Yeah. - Mmmm. Oh. Wow. - I am so glad I got on a flight for this. (laughter) (speaking Mandarin) - [Alex] Wow. (speaking Mandarin) - Bravo, man. Bravo. - Oh man. - We've had a few, well, I've had a few noodle soups outside of China. It doesn't even compare. - No. Mmm. - I need another one. The stock makes it. - The stock with the chili oil. Deeply rich. - It is. - And you can literally drink the broth. - Yeah. - Some soups, too salty, right? - Too salty. Yeah. - This one is just like smooth, soothing, aromatic. Hit your soul. - I wanna come back in the winter. - Oh yeah. - To this very spot. - Yeah. - When it's cold outside and just have this, like, warming bowl of soup. - Yeah. - With all the chili oil. It would just like literally put a smile on your face. (speaking Mandarin) (laughter) - Man, what an awesome thing. I hope you enjoyed the time. - Man, I absolutely loved it. What an experience. So much great food. Thank you again. - It was crazy. You guys can check out Alex's channel in the description below. He's got an awesome channel. And thanks so much for watching, guys. Epic trip. - Enjoy it. Enjoy.