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My wife hasn't tried authentic Italian food in the past. So today we're gonna have her try various dishes that are the most famous here in Italy from ragu to carbonara and more, but will she actually like it? Good morning today. I am heading to Italy to meet my wife Ting who is gonna be judging and ranking Chinese noodles versus Italian pasta and we're both flying in to not only Italy But the best food city in Italy as well Bologna, but there's a problem She's been eating the best Chinese noodles in China for her whole life And I want to see her honest opinion whether Italian pasta can beat Chinese noodles for her So I'm gonna take her to the must-try pasta dishes here in Italy and Bologna
and have her compare those dishes with the best Chinese noodles we've had over all our years in China rank them on texture sauce and filling memorability and Cravability and in the end see her favorite and then tally up all the scores So there's only one winner either Italy or China. There we are made it to Italy You can already smell the pasta amazing How are you good to see you hungry? Yeah, I'm super hungry really. Yeah, okay. Well Okay, let's go. So I was thinking first up. We can start with pizza We can compare it to Chinese Genping The Beijing one with Beijing duck in the Genping Okay, and first up well not a pasta
We were super hungry at the airport and I researched a famous pizza place that she could compare it to Beijing duck Genping like a Chinese crepe but loaded with super juicy chunks of Beijing duck Sweet bean sauce onions and a crispy cracker. Let's go taste this pizza Okay, but first we're gonna go have a pizza here Right here and when I asked her if Italy might have a chance of beating China at food. This was her answer You mean Chinese are hard to beat or this might be hard to beat Chinese hard to beat
Ragu, yeah, this is the land of ragu right so I think we'll be saving that for the end But I did some research and this place here in the airport has a wood oven Wood-powered oven and apparently really good pizzas. So let's start with the pizza and compare it to a Beijing duck Genping That dough looks fantastic
Wow Ting you got to try this Here you sit here you try this for the first bite Okay, make sure you get the cheese on there So juicy It's really good really I gotta try this looks good boy. There it is. You look you got a you got to fold it up Oh, there's a flop factor on that. There's a definite flop factor on that
You can never get any good food So what do you like dough texture? I think pizza seven because it's you like it more softer. I like it I like this thin and soft, but this dough it's more chewy. Oh, okay So seven okay, and then the jen bing You like jen bing hey, okay, I like them be more because The thinner what about the sauce this one is very hard I think I like tomato sauce you like tomato sauce more. Yeah, so this is gonna win on the tomato sauce. Okay, I think this Nine I'm jumping. I think it's
Too sweet the bean sauce, yeah, but it's more umami I Like you like this one, okay Thing found the pizza to be a little less memorable and cravable than a Beijing duck jen bing So overall that gave pizza a 28 out of 40 and jen bing a 33 out of 40 giving China the lead by five points three Oh, so jen bing one and as for me I found them both quite equally satisfying in different ways But still ending up with both dishes getting 30 out of 40 But will the next dish change the tally or will China stay in the lead? Okay? So we got our luggage over there. Let's go check in to our Airbnb and then go for dinner I've got a really cool dinner plan that we can compare with mahjong men sesame
paste noodles in China Okay, let's go I have it on the map here. We are balonia the famous food city in Italy, right? Ragu is good. Yeah. Oh and the tortellini, right? Yes You have to taste the tortellini and the tagliatella ragu tagliatella ragu. Okay And if you want also lasagna too. Yeah There is a ragu. It's the number one food city in Italy, right? Balonia, yeah Yes, in my opinion. I traveled a lot. Yeah, but for me the born years of food is the best What do they call here the fat city the fat? What is it? What's the name of Balonia the fat one? Because every yeah Here we are in Balonia Time for dinner and for dinner before hitting the heavy hitter Balonia dishes the next day
I wanted to think to compare a cheesy pasta with a nutty dish in China that has a creamy feeling to it The mahjong noodle loaded with sesame paste and chili oil one of the pure joys of life And when I asked her if she thinks she'd like creamy pasta in Italy, this was her response Okay, well, let's see
From a general yeah, 27 months I heard Oh And this is Carbonara real carbonara is with one challenge one challenge. Oh, but this has pancetta. Yeah. Okay. Oh my god Amazing Smells nice Wow, it's so creamy you excited thing look at that And
this Parmigiano is on it's from here. Yeah There is look at that. Oh my god smells so good, right? Wow The cheese the ham the pancetta the pork belly. Oh, how is it thing? Oh my god It smells so creamy Oh, it smells like bacon like it's like a bacon pasta pancetta in there the bacon Oh my god If you love bacon You're in heaven. Okay, so let's give it a quick prank in here
So what do you feel about the texture here? I think it's 9.5 9.5. Oh, yeah I feel like this is good too 9.5 perfect al dente, right? And then what about the sesame noodle? Eight. Yeah, I was gonna say maybe like Eight as well. So we're same score now. What about the sauce? I think it's similar in my heart in your heart Yeah, um, I give it to Eight both eight. Yeah, I would say actually sesame noodle Is maybe a little more memorable for me like
memorable, I think This one is more memorable. Like I like it. So when they're cooking on the cheese Yeah, so I would give this to nine Maybe it's just me noodle for me. It's just like a really Normal thing things. So we're the opposite Now for the last bit Cravability I feel like they're both too heavy to me. I think I'm not so craving this kind of food too much. So maybe it's Six and the sesame dough Five and the results are out. Okay. You want to share yours first? Who won? You added them up, right? Yeah, the italian one there's something wrong here. Do you feel guilty for having the italian one win? Wrong here. I think the sesame suit wins. Really? But you were thinking it was gonna win, right?
Yeah, but I don't know if I like the creamy Now I feel like the sesame suit wins, but it didn't The creamy pasta is 32.5 And then the chinese sesame noodle is 29 And that brings Ting's scorecard for idly almost tied to china for 62 points for china and 60.5 for idly And for me, they were pretty much tied at 65 points each and next up the next afternoon We're going to try balanzoni a classic bologna specialty compared with chinese dumplings here The balanzoni are stuffed with mortadella meat ricotta and parmigiano cheese So later on we got three dishes to eat today later on we're going to be finishing with the ultra classic ragu Bolognese, but they don't call it bolognese here. They call it ragu
And I feel like that's going to be a very strong competitor to Sichuan Wanza Mian or Dan Mian similar right with the braised pork gravy very similar That's going to be a competitor, but first I think just around here we can go get Some balanzoni spinach dough stuffed with ricotta cheese and mortadella sliced mortadella meat and pistachio as well So that's going to be a strong competitor to dumplings. Oh, maybe for me it's not Really? Well, I say that all the time, but I don't know Okay, I think it's just right down here. Let's go. Look at this city ancient.
It's like 2000 year old city I think oh, I think our balanzoni are just deep in one of these alleyways. Oh, here it is This is us. Oh The balanzoni looks good. Yes, it's good. Yeah. Oh, that's it. Balanzoni. See That is beautiful and look at yours. Look at the lasagna Smells so good green lasagna That is beautiful, but this is what we came for the balanzoni. Yeah, isn't like going to be sweet or salty. It's going to be savory. Yeah. Yeah Savory. Yeah, try it out.
Look at that filling What do you think? I don't know about that guy. Really? Not your thing Really? It looks fantastic to me. That is delicious I really love that. I think it's so weird. It's it's like creamy, nutty meaty salty It's all combined. It's just like Ah, what's this? It's not your thing. No creamy and nutty on a meat No creamy and nutty On a coffee is good For me, I love that. Wow. Yeah It's like a dump thing It's like a pistachio dumpling Like a pork dump thing with pistachio. For me, that works perfectly
This is good. That's really nice Yeah That's very good Now I can wait for them The ragu How is it? It's really nice. Yeah. Okay. So now's the time to compare. So let's start with the dough texture We're talking about the skin now. Okay. So start with the green balanzoni. What do you feel? I think maybe six. Six? Okay. Why only six? Because I feel like they are quite thick. Like quite a lot of dough. Lots of dough, really? Yeah. You like it thinner in China. They're thinner, right? Yeah Okay, now let's talk about the most important thing. The filling. This one can be really bad for me. I don't like it at all. Really? I think it's too. No way The meat is so soft and like
Like pink. It's the same. That's the salumi meat. It's it's mortadella meat. That's the color of it That's what it is. It's for Chinese. That's Raw meat that doesn't cook. It's delicious. I loved it. Okay. So what do you rank it? Two. Sorry And it's it's soft. It's like not It's too soft you feel. Yeah, it's not like the solid meat feels like you don't have to The mouth texture. Yeah Now for memorable factor. Would you remember this dish long after you leave? I want to keep coming back To taste it. I will remember but I won't coming back To Italy to eat that. You finished it. I finished it. I ate it all. Look at that. It's all gone. It was delicious But for Jiaozi like
10. Yeah memorable. I 32 of your mom's dumplings that she cooked. Remember? I couldn't stop. I always talk about them. Yeah So yeah, this is eight memorable and in China like 10. What about you? For me memorable maybe one If there's no food I would eat it. Sorry For Chinese Nine ten Chinese dumplings nine or ten. Okay. Yeah. Okay. What about crave ability? Yeah, that's enough zero So zero crave ability and for dumplings But I'm planning I can eat it every day like for lunch and you cannot stop eating. They're so good, right? Yeah with the chili just like every day okay, um I would be saying 10 this dish brought china way ahead of idly with 100 points for china so far
And almost 70 for idly and with only two dishes left It's a very close call now But idly still has a chance and let me just say that I found these balance only to be absolutely delicious And I would personally fly back just to eat them But for Ting's taste she just wasn't used to them Okay, so next up before the ragu tonight one more lunch Let's go get some tortellini in brodo the classic Tortellini and we can compare that with wontons Guangzhou style wontons. This is where you're from right beside hong kong famous So this is going to be a I think it's going to be a close call as well But who knows because I thought you were going to love those balanzoni, but you didn't you don't know
Yeah, we're gonna go for some tortellini and but just look at this city Look at these old buildings and it's famous for the Covered walkways in the city. You literally never Exposed to the sunshine or the rain. You're always under these Ancient walkways pretty cool, right? Yeah, wow That's so amazing It's a 2,000 year old city here. You're walking in the history. Oh, here it is Good morning Tortellini and brodo. Yes one Just one spoon or two spoons? Two spoons please Your name? James Yeah, thank you Please Oh, look at that. Tortellini It's like wonton. Wow That's it. Very nice Oh There it is to go
Beautiful to go. We got tortellini and brodo. It smells good. Oh, it smells Like very bone like bone broth really Okay, so this is egg pasta Stuffed with a blend of pork loin, prosciutto di parma, classic mortadella sliced salumi here Parmigiano reggiano egg and a little nutmeg. So I think this is gonna be a strong competitor to Of course Chinese wonton. What do you think? I think so. Are you gonna go in? Smells good Oh the broth Yeah Oh the bone marrow beef brisket rooster nutmeg This is oh it smells like buttery The apparently the pork loin is sizzled in brown butter when they cook the filling so
You can smell the buttery creaminess Now here we're gonna compare these to shrimp and pork wonton noodle soup often found in hong kong and guangzhou An absolute classic where the wrapper is thin and they're stuffed with whole shrimp and served in a super savory pork bone broth I'm gonna have a first bite. Yeah, go for it It's all minty. Minty? Mmm like Aregano, regano. Oh really? It's a Regano, regano really some herbal flavor in there. You like?
It's good The dough is al dente. Which you like or you don't like? Really, this is famous. Oh my god. Oh, yeah, very al dente dough. Yeah, it's got a springiness to it. Mmm Yeah, and some herbalness to it as well. I love it so I think for My conclusion is I like the chinese dumpling way more than italy But the noodles It's still Thai so but dumpling not Not even close really not the same level. Oh and the broth. I just want to drink the broth
That's one of the best broths of the world right there. So soothing. Okay. What about the filling? Six Yeah, you don't like I don't taste much. You don't taste much. It's just like a juicy pork Yeah, I don't taste too much. It's like I for me it tastes like dough. It's like dough. I don't taste much. I only taste the spice like Oh, you only taste the herbal flavor. I only taste the herbal flavor. I taste that pork filling. It's juicy. Mm. Very flavorful So for me it's six. I would say I like this broth more than Guangzhou wontons. Oh, that's true. That's true
This broth is so good. Ting ended up highly favoring her hometown Guangzhou wontons And with only one dish left China would already win the video even before going into the final dish with china at 135 points and idli at 94.5 But we're going to give idli another backup chance at the same time as the final dish of ragu Just to keep things a little bit more fair and for me China is only slightly ahead of idli now. So will the most popular pasta help win the race? Okay, last up is the big moment of truth. We're going for ragu Oh, I'm excited. Here we're going to compare italian ragu with tagliatelle noodles The number one dish from balonia with Chongqing wanzha noodles the most aromatic ground pork gravy noodle
Loaded with spicy chili oil and Sichuan spices and creamy lop gravy an absolute must eat in Sichuan So let's get a tortelloni a bigger one than the tortellini we had at lunch to give a second chance to the wontons, okay Because I want to give a I'm trying hard. I really want to give china. I want to give idli a chance Oh my god
Smells super good Here we are tang you got the ragu and you're gonna take this tortelloni for a second chance against the wonton But first oh both of our first try ever of ragu from the source in balonia Oh Is it good Strong and strong competitor this The meat the quality really it's so good and then The pasta the texture. Oh really? Oh my god. Okay. I gotta try. I gotta try Here, I'll trade you take the tortelloni Oh, you don't want to give it up No Okay, let me take this ragu
That is pure party satisfying delight It's just pure comfort that is the source of that food Oh the meat gravy it's so delicious That's fantastic. Okay. So let's do the final rankings now. Let's talk about this ragu What do you think about the texture now? Yeah, and it soaks up the flavor of it And it's like It's perfect So I would give it a 10 out of 10. Okay. What about the wanzangmian noodles? Okay, so 10 versus 7 Okay, what about the flavor the sauce of the ragu versus the wanzangmian?
Do you like the hardiness Yeah and the comfort and the meat tastes so good. Really you can taste the quality And it's perfect like sauce. Yeah, you know, okay So what about wanzangmian? Maybe eight. Okay. So you like this more than wanzangmian way more Really? Oh, you're stealing you cannot stop it. I think I suggest you to get another one You cannot stop eating that. Okay here you can take it I'll eat the tortelloni Thanks for me. Okay, actually I'm a little opposite from you For me, I would say the ragu is like an eight Compared to the wanzangmian in Chongqing. I would give it a 10 Because it's so savory and umami with the ground pork salsa and the Sichuan chili
What about memorable though? I think this ragu is a bit 10 out of 10 or everything 10 out of 10. And what about wanzangmian? Seven? Seven. Okay. For me memorable, I would say this ragu seven and wanzangmian is 10 opposite from you Yeah I would go back. I would fly back for a wanzangmian. You would fly back for this Okay, okay, so strong competitor and what about you can't stop eating that I cannot stop it's just so good And I'm not hungry Okay, now what about crave ability, I think we already know the answer Crave ability you cannot stop. So what would you rank?
So 10 out of 10 And what would you rank wanzangmian Six Okay, for me, I would say the other way around Crave ability this maybe seven and wanzangmian 10 for sure Like I love a good wanzangmian. Like it's so satisfying. That's fantastic. Try the tortelloni now This is the final meal. This is going to determine whether italy Or china wins. Okay, I give you another chance. Give it another chance That's the tortelloni and tomato and butter and I think it's stuffed with ricotta as well Okay, try it out
Also not as good as gelta, sorry Okay, so you're not gonna rate that out on all the four factors. Just you like gelta more, right? Okay, so we just added up the scores and china beat italy by a long shot What are your thoughts ting? Well, for me, I think I like italian pasta more than chinese noodle Italian pasta more Yeah, but I like chinese dumpling more than italian dumpling So if we did this again with no dumplings just only pasta, you think idli might win? Yes Okay, that's true if we add up the scores without the dumplings idli won by 10 points And for me actually china beat idli just by a little bit
But I think that's an accurate score for me I prefer chinese food and chinese noodles and dumplings in general just a little bit more than here in idli But they're both fantastic cuisines
