– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

- You gotta just see a close-up of this noodle

and in that chili oil.

Look at that beautifulness.

(rhythmic music)

Good morning, everyone, it's Mark Wiens

with migrationology.com in New York City.

Ying and I are walking over to the subway near Times Square.

And today we're on our way to Queens,

or more specifically, to Flushing, to eat.

(rhythmic music)

We actually just waited on the wrong track for like

15 minutes until Ying figured it out,

that we need to go downstairs one more level to get

to train number seven.

Definitely on the right track now, train number seven

heading towards Queens.

Oh, here it comes immediately.

(rhythmic music)

To Flushing Main Street Station, I think that took

about an hour, although we took the local train.

I think it would've been faster had we taken the

express train.

But the good news is, we are here.

We are heading straight for the Golden Shopping Mall.

(lively music)

Okay, I think this is it, the entrance to Golden Mall.

Oh, I'm loving this place.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

Made it to Flushing and then made it down to the basement

of the Golden Shopping Mall, and this is an amazing

food court.

You can smell the spices as soon as you step down here,

particularly the cumin.

And the first place I had to come is Xi'an Famous Foods,

and this is a very, very well known restaurant

within New York, and they also, this is,

if I'm not mistaken, I think this is the original branch,

but then they have branches in Manhattan, quite a few now,

but I wanted to come to this branch here.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

Okay, they do have a row of seats and one long table,

where you can sit down here.

The menu is all on the wall.

I ordered two things, I got that spicy cumin lamb noodles,

which is one of their signature dishes,

and then I also got a side of pickles.

When I asked you all where to eat in New York City,

this was one of the top recommendations,

so thank you all for your recommendation as well.

And now I have a plate of the spicy cumin lamb noodles

in front of me.

The noodles are on the bottom and they are flat and wide

and handmade, and then you can smell the cumin coming

off of it, the chilis, the Sichuan pepper.

I think there's some cabbage in here, some onions,

some chilis, and then pieces of lamb.

And I gotta begin with this.

Hohohohohoho, yes.

The noodles are,

oh, the noodles are in a lumpy pile at the bottom.

Very thik, very, very widely cut.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

That is insanely good.

Oh, it's so flavorful.

And you taste that cumin in there,

and taste a little bit of chilis,

but I also really like the green chilis

that are chopped in there, as well as the onion.

And then the texture of that noodle, the handmade noodle,

it's a little bit chewy.

We can taste the, like, doughiness of it.

And then just that oily chili-filled, chili-infused

and cumin-infused gravy is just insane.

Follow that with a pickle.

And now the pickles are also marinated in lots of chili oil

and garlic and maybe some Sichuan pepper.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

Mmmm.

That has a nice sourness to it,

a vinegary, but then also with the chili oil.

You can taste the garlic in there.

The cucumbers are incredibly crisp,

and juicy as well.

You gotta just see a close-up of this noodle

and in that chili oil.

Look at that beautifulness.

It is unbelievably good.

I'm gonna add on just a little bit of black vinegar,

give it a little bit of a sourness.

Okay.

This is just such an unbelievably good plate of noodles,

the mixture, the combination, the freshness of the noodles.

And I love these tangly-like sheets of noodles,

the lamb, the fresh chilis in there as well.

It's just ridiculously good, but that chili oil

with the cumin is just what wraps everything together,

what makes it complete, what just holds this dish

full of flavor together.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

I did not want that plate of food to end,

but I have reached my last final bite.

There's still a little bit of lamb.

And there's also celery in here, which I didn't realize

at first.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

A couple of notes that I was just reading on the wall.

Number one is that there's a big warning that the noodles

taste the best within 15 minutes of the assembling of them

or preparing of them.

And so they recommend that you eat right on the spot,

and I would recommend that, not only because the noodles

will taste better, but because, after you smell the aroma

of them, there's no way that you can go longer than

a couple of minutes without starting to eat them.

And then I also love the sign over there where it says,

chili oil is your friend.

And it really is your friend, it's your best friend

when you are here.

But he, they say that he, the chef, he perfected his recipe

for the chili oil and he makes it fresh every other day,

and the oil contains no trans fat and no cholesterol.

So it is almost worth drinking, you should actually

almost drink it, it's so good and so flavorful.

That was just an amazingly good plate of noodles.

I am feeling exuberantly happy right now.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

Right next door to Xi'an Famous Foods

is Tianjin Dumpling House.

And I actually, I was reading through the

Serious Eats blog, and they recommended this place.

They have a full menu at the top where you can mix and match

your different dumplings and they will make it

on the spot for you.

So you can choose your own combination,

but I just decided to go for one that they already have

made up, which is the pork dumpling

with chives, shrimp, and egg, which sounds like a

beautiful combination.

So I just ordered one plate of that,

and it should be hot and fresh, coming soon.

That's one of the greatest types of steam baths

you could possibly have, a dumpling steam bath.

Okay, I'm gonna eat these while they're hot and fresh.

Chopsticks, and you gotta add on that chili oil

in this, what a beautiful canister, tub of chili,

dried chili oil,

which I am going to generously apply.

We just go with half of them first.

Oh, yes.

Okay.

All right.

I think it would be a poor decision on my part

to take the whole thing in one bite, as it is flaming hot.

So I should, I'm gonna just bite it in half right now.

Yeah, that is a good dumpling.

The skin is gooey and doughy.

Inside you got the minced pork, the chives in there.

And that dried chili oil, mmmm.

You can taste the fragrance

of the dried chilis, the oil, the garlic in there.

I think I might add a little bit of soy sauce.

A little bit of vinegar.

Oh, that's a lot of vinegar.

That's okay, too.

And then some more chili oil.

The chili oil is actually not very spicy,

but it is extremely fragrant.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

I think it cooled off enough, I think I can take it all

in one bite.

Oh, that vinegar, mmmm.

That is the touch it needs.

This is an absolutely wonderful little food court below here

in the Golden Shopping Mall.

Incredibly good food, I wanted to taste everything,

but we have a few more places to try,

so time to move on.

Flushing is just amazing.

So many markets and restaurants.

It's hard to believe you're still in New York City here.

(lively music)

Ying is gonna stop at CoCo for her bubble tea.

It's not my favorite thing, but Ying really likes it,

so that's our next stop.

Bubble tea, medium, no sugar, please.

(Mark speaks in a foreign language)

(Ying exclaims)

Mmm, it is pretty refreshing on a hot day.

We're walking up the road now, on our way to a place

called White Bear, and they are also famous for dumplings.

Gotta have another plate of dumplings next.

And this place is well known for their dumplings

in chili sauce, and this was a recommendation from

foodiehub.tv and Joe DiStefano, who is a blogger

from Queens.

Thank you for the recommendation, I just ordered my plate

of dumplings.

Thank you.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

This is just a really, really small little restaurant,

and the kitchen is in the back, there are two of them,

and they work kinda slowly, taking their time,

but expertly preparing the different dishes.

They have, they do have a full menu, but I just came here

to have the plate of dumplings.

And one thing I immediately notice about this dumpling

is that the flour in the wrapper is very white in color,

so they might be using a mixture of different flours,

I'm not sure exactly, but it's very white in color,

and they've dressed it with the chili oil,

as well as dried chili flakes.

I think these are some kind of pickled,

maybe pickled mustard greens, and onions and green onions,

and, yeah, what a, what a piece of art.

I'm gonna go ahead and stab the one

right in the middle there, keep getting some of those

preserved greens, and oil as well.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

They didn't look that hot from the outside,

'cause they're not steaming,

but on the inside, they're flaming dumplings.

I think it's a combination of minced port in the middle,

and then the wrapper is very kinda sticky,

rather than doughy.

It's more sticky and thinner.

And then, despite all of that chili, it's not really spicy,

but it is very fragrant.

And the other flavor that really adds to this

are the pickled mustard greens, or the pickled greens.

You can taste that kind of fermented,

preserved pickle flavor to it.

A little bit of vinegar.

Let me add a little bit of, I think this is the vinegar.

It's that vinegar?

- [Ying] I don't know.

- It looks like fish sauce.

Okay, I better start off with a little bit first.

And for this one, I will attempt to

bite half of it.

Oh ya, that is vinegar, I can smell it.

Okay, come take a look inside.

I think it's a combination of minced pork

and maybe some chives in there.

And then you can see the layers, the wrapper is very thin,

but it's wrapped a couple of times so it has multiple layers

of wrapper.

Get some of that oil.

This is a wonderful plate of dumplings as well.

Just finished with that plate of White Bear dumplings.

That was again a delicious plate of dumplings,

but it was totally different from that other plate

of dumplings that we had, especially the wrapper.

The wrapper was really different.

I'm in a little bit of a debate right now where to eat

our next meal.

I think we're gonna sit down at a restaurant.

And right behind me, that big yellow sign,

that's a restaurant called Fu Run.

They are well known for serving lamb chops with cumin.

Okay, I'm flipping though the menu here.

Oh, here it is, the Muslim lamb chops.

- But we don't have the salmon today,

and the watercress, spinach, baby cabbage, baby bok choy.

- Sauteed string beans.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

(water splatters)

This restaurant serves food from the northeastern part

of China,

kinda north of Beijing, which is near to,

approaching Russia, and then also part of inner Mongolia,

so you have Mongolia to the west.

And they serve a lot of lamb dishes,

and have a lot of chili-filled dishes, it looks like,

on the menu as well.

But I came here mainly to eat the lamb and cumin.

We're starting off with a bowl of hot and sour soup.

Oh, I love that aroma, that vinegary and spicy aroma.

I think there's also some bamboo shoots in here as well.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

Mmmm.

Yeah, that's very sour, vinegary.

Mmmm, it's very soothing.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

And hot.

- [Server] String beans.

- Thank you.

I want the rice, yes, thank you.

Wow, look at the size of that plate of green beans.

Oh, that smells delicious.

Thank you.

Got two different dishes.

One is fried string beans, and then the main dish,

the main event of this meal, the reason I came here,

is to eat the lamb, the Muslim lamb, with cumin just piled

on top of it.

And as soon as he brought it to the table, just the aroma

of the cumin filled the table, maybe even the whole

restaurant.

Oh, that smells incredible.

It's marinated in many things and then deep fried,

and you can see how crispy it looks.

I think it's maybe even coated in a little bit.

Let me pull one of these guys out.

And then you can actually just see all of this cumin seed,

the chilis.

Wow, this smells unbelievable.

Woho, look at that.

Oh, yeah and you can even see on the inside,

it's like stuffed with redness, and then deep fried

all the way to its core, with cumin just protruding

through it.

I think I'm just gonna bite this like a drumstick.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

All the cumin comes in nicely.

I think there's a little bit of Sichuan pepper in there,

and then that lamb is so tender.

Maybe that's a lot of garlic as well, and dried chilis

which are fried on top.

But I really love that cumin.

The cumin is so strong.

And also I can see, I think those are sesame seeds,

both white and black sesame seeds.

But then you can see those cumin seeds all over there

that just shining beautifully.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

Absolutely beautiful.

And that was a fatty bite.

It's so creamy, so lamby, and so cuminy.

I'll try to take my last piece off this bone.

Oh, that just slides right out.

(Mark laughs)

That just slides right out like a sock.

Mmmm, an edible sock.

Wow, look at how clean that bone is.

The next step, for those string beans.

Mmmm.

That's really good, too, nice and salty and garlicky.

And you can actually taste like,

the skin of the green beans

are blistered because they've been fried on such

a high heat.

I was just eating my second piece of lamb,

but you have to get a close-up look at this lamb.

I took my first bite over here,

but look at this lamb under here.

It's so tender, it's so juicy, it's so everything you want

in lamb, and then more, with all that cumin and chilis.

I'm gonna break up that piece of lamb

and I'm gonna dip it.

Some of my crust, all that cumin fell off,

so I'm gonna,

oho, yes.

(people chatter in a foreign language)

I finished with that plate of lamb,

and this is another case of the lamb sweats.

I'm definitely feeling the lamb sweats.

Flushing is a place that's worth it to get a hotel room

and stay here just to eat.

Oh, I would love to just go to my hotel room right now

and then come back out to eat again.

Oh, that was good.

Gonna go right here.

But I think we are walking back to the metro station,

to the subway.

Gonna head back to Manhattan.

Flushing, you have been insanely fantastic.

There's so much good food here.

(rhythmic music)

(pedestrians chatter)

- We're gonna walk all the way through Times Square

on our way to Central Park.

I think today is a fantastic day to do a little walking

around Central Park after all of that food.

(rhythmic music)

This is a monstrous park.

We're just gonna kinda take it easy, walk around

and just enjoy the park for a while.

(rhythmic music)

The weather is fantastic today.

Enjoying the Central Park.

Central Park is huge, I've been looking at the map,

and we've been walking around for about 10 or 15 minutes,

and we've barely even covered maybe about 10%

of the first part of Central Park.

It goes way over that way, but we are enjoying

the relaxation right now.

(rhythmic music)

And just like the rest of New York City, there's always

so much going on and so much happening in Central Park,

people running around, people playing musical instruments

and singing, people dancing, people laying in the grass.

Some people walkin' around and just talking to themselves.

Everything going on in Central Park.

(rhythmic music)

I had a lot of meat today already, that entire rack of lamb.

So I thought for dinner, we're actually very, right around

the corner from our hotel there is a place called

Fresh&Co.

I think they serve salads.

I've looked through the window and I think you can choose

your own salad and your mixture.

That sounds like a fantastic dinner tonight.

I'm gonna go have a salad.

It's not a fully vegetarian restaurant, but they do have

many vegetarian options.

It's a little bit expensive, but looks like really good,

high-quality ingredients.

I got this salad and I got the gaucho salad.

I didn't film inside 'cause I wasn't so sure about their,

if they would allow filming inside.

But, anyway, I got this salad, he mixed it up,

and I'm gonna take it up to the hotel room and eat it.

(pedestrians chatter)

All right.

Oh, that just smells of freshness.

Uh, there is kale in here, there's corn,

there are kidney beans, cucumbers,

avocado, and it's vegan so there's no meat in here.

And then he added crispy onions, oh yeah, crispy onions,

and lemon.

I think that's what, I think I got that correct.

All right, salad time.

(Mark munches)

Mmmm.

That's really good because it's all coated in avocado,

so it has that creamy factor to it.

And then I think down below here

are more, oh yeah, more kidney beans and corn.

(Mark munches)

Mmm.

(Mark munches)

In the videos, I often show a lot of meaty dishes,

but I do really, really love vegetables and,

oftentimes, when I'm not filming, I am eating

a lot of salad, a lot of vegetables, a lot of

healthy food.

But I do love meat as well.

But vegetables are fantastic.

Good salad.

Expensive, an expensive salad but a good salad.

(Mark munches)

And on that bite of kale, I'm gonna end today's video.

If you love to eat, and especially if you love

Chinese food, I think making a trip out to Flushing

when you come to New York City is mandatory.

Amazing food, great place, well worth the trip to Flushing.

Thank you all very much for watching today's video.

Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it,

and also make sure you click subscribe for lots more

food and travel videos.

Thank you again for watching, see you on the next video.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
noodle /ˈnuːdl/ A2	noun - a long, thin strip of dough made from flour, water, and sometimes eggs, used as food.
chili /ˈtʃɪli/ A2	noun - a spicy fruit used as a flavoring.
beautifulness /ˈbjuːtɪfəlnəs/ B1	noun - the quality of being beautiful.
migrationology /maɪˈɡreɪʃənˌɒlədʒi/ C1	noun - the study of migration patterns, especially in relation to food.
specifically /spəˈsɪfɪkli/ B1	adverb - in a detailed and accurate way.
definitely /ˈdefɪnɪtli/ A2	adverb - certainly; without doubt.
amazing /əˈmeɪzɪŋ/ A2	adjective - causing great surprise or wonder.
spicy /ˈspaɪsi/ A2	adjective - flavored with or containing strong spices.
cumin /ˈkuːmɪn/ B1	noun - a warm, aromatic spice.
lamb /læm/ A2	noun - the flesh of a young sheep.
texture /ˈtekstʃər/ B1	noun - the feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or substance.
vinegar /ˈvɪnɪɡər/ A2	noun - a sour liquid used as a condiment.
crisp /krɪsp/ B1	adjective - firm, dry, and brittle.
flavorful /ˈfleɪvərfl/ B1	adjective - full of flavor.
aroma /əˈroʊmə/ B1	noun - a pleasant smell.
dumpling /ˈdʌmplɪŋ/ A2	noun - a small mass of dough, often filled, cooked by boiling, steaming, or frying.
exuberantly /ɪɡˈzjuːbərəntli/ C1	adverb - in a full of energy, excitement, and cheerfulness.