We found a bright blue lobster in Taiwan... then we ate it

In this video, I've come all the way to Taiwan to eat the most exotic seafood I can find. And trust me, here, they've got a lot of it. But first, let's back up. Taiwan is a giant sovereign island nation. When you're an island, that means you're surrounded by water. And inside that water is a load of seafood. Plus, let's be honest, a lot of the seafood gets flown in on an airplane. And that's cool too. Right now we are at the northernmost point of the Taiwan island. Here there's a giant seafood market known as Fuji. And here they have every different type of seafood you can imagine. But today, I'm not here for just any type of seafood. I'm looking for the most exotic, unusual, bizarre creatures of the deep that I can find. I want to see how Taiwanese chefs take on the ocean's creepiest creatures. Let's move. So here's how it works. This building is full of the live seafood. You choose what you want here, and then you go over here to the restaurant. Inside there, they're gonna cook it for you, and you can eat it. But first, we got to find some seafood in here. Let's go. We have come to our first vendor right here. I would say in this market there are about 25 vendors and all of them have different stuff So you really need to check out everything before you finally choose what you want to buy boom right here This is probably a Boston lobster. It's looking very lively. He was really trying to make a break for it Imagine if he escaped and then got where buddy you're in Taiwan. You're not in the New York Boston area anymore speaking of lobsters They also have these giant red spiny lobsters rainbow lobsters giant spiny ones over here But my favorite thing about this place is the junk drawer of seafood that they have right here So he's going to show us some of the cool seafood he has right here. Guys, take a look at this and see if you can figure out what it actually is. This is eggs of a cuttlefish. It feels like grapes. So if you look deep on the inside, you can see a little cuttlefish swimming around. They have one more I want to show you. Oh, here we have a little puffer fish gasping for breath. Oh, and he's oh my God, he's puffing it up. I don't know if the fish consented to that. Wow, the little spiky things just feel like cartilage. It's not that painful. Time to put it back. I'm so sorry. Yeah, deflate, buddy, deflate. All right, let's keep moving. Boom, we've come to our next location right here. This is Shufan. Ni hao. Ah, ni hao. She brought the seafood right here. First of all, some of the biggest oysters I've ever seen in my life. That is huge! It's... Ah. I have no idea what she said. Is there just one oyster in here? Just one? Can you open it right now and show me? Okay. She cleans it up a little bit. To shuck it, she shoves a knife in. She hits it with a mallet. She rips the top of the shell off, gives it a little bit of a spritz. I'm telling you, those Fukushima oysters are wild. She drains a bit of water and then she says, hey, go for it, nobody ever does this. But you can if you want. That sack right there is still breathing. Oh, it's alive. It's alive! I'm gonna, you know, just like fruit by the foot. Oh my god, you're gonna see my bite mark Aphrodisiac in effect that might have been a mistake. It was so gigantic. I just wanted to know if I could fit it in my mouth Next food. So I want to show you one of the local crabs here This is a group of very active and lively Taiwanese crab take a few of these throw them in a hot pot and you're set but we're not here for this I'm looking for something a little bit more exotic. Look at that mouth. He's like Am I not exotic enough for you? Take a look at what we got here These are some massive creatures. Oh, wow. Look at that This is a very PG possibly PG-13 So this is called mellow mellow and it's interesting compared to other sea snails because it can hardly go back inside of its own shell Most snails can retreat all the way and this guy he's not hiding from anybody I'm gonna buy one of these mellow mellows take it to the kitchen and see what the heck they do with it Boom right now we are in the kitchen and this place is busy. Everyone's bringing their seafood over here to get cooked All right, folks, it's time for some snail action. Oh my God, the mallet comes out immediately. He's beating the snail to death. And in the end, that is what comes out. That is our meat. This guy works quickly and efficiently. Absolutely no messing around. He's cutting it into different sections. Little bitty thin slices coming off of that giant mellow mellow snail. Right there, that is basically the snail's head. And I think that is a snail antenna. Oh my gosh, it's absolute seafood carnage in here. It looks like they threw this snail into a wood chipper. But I bet it's gonna be pretty good. Right here we have our snail. and then he puts it in a waffle of hot water. This kitchen is insane. There's so much action. I'm starting to understand why they don't usually let people come into the kitchen. This place is a storm. He gives the snails a little bit of a stir. Boom, take it out. Give it a little bit of a rinse. From here, he takes the snail and puts it into a different container. He hits it with a little bit of veggie. He puts in some minced garlic, some chilies, and then some gravy, some more spices, more flavoring. This is seasoning, another type of seasoning. He gives it a little bit of a mix. It looks like that is it. Oh no, my snail, come back. The first official food of the day. So let's get into it. It's a ton of protein. That might be an eye right there. I'm more of an ass man myself. Let me find that crack from earlier. Ah, maybe that's it. All right, cheers. That's pretty good. When you prepare snail in this way, it is insanely hard. So it's important to cut it into very thin slices. The sauce is amazing. A lot of the sauces here in Taiwan, There's something sweet, sugary, and soy saucy in it. Wife bite. Wow, I got this. See, mixed emotions. But let's talk about the price. For just the snail, it's about $15. If you want it cooked, here it costs about $6.20. Is it worth it? Hold on, I'll answer when I'm done chewing. Actually, I think it's delicious. Okay, I'll tell you something that's not delicious. Do you remember those cuttlefish eggs from earlier? That stall vendor said I could come back and eat the egg raw. Do I wanna do it? but I'll do it for you guys after I eat this whole plate. All right, we're headed to the man who has the cuttlefish egg. Ni hao, my man. So he's got it right here and he's taking the skin off of it and now he's kind of stretching the egg. Oh my God, that is a baby cuttlefish in this amniotic fluid right here. Oh, it's inking. Oh, you made me ink. I'm going to eat it. Ah, ah. Sashimi. Sashimi. Ah, ah. It's not much there. It's very salty. Wow. How's it? How's it? Kind of. Poor baby. It was born. It got to see the world. It got freaked out and inked. And then it got eaten by a giant. But at least it was seen by millions of people? Five million people? 10 million would be nice. Guys, on to the next food. Well now that I've eaten the microscopic cuttlefish and its ink, I'm ready to cleanse my palate with a little bit more of seafood durian. Right over here, there are a bunch of Taiwanese sea eels. Right here we have the bag. And he's gonna dump it out into the bucket. Oh, take a look at that guy. People are so afraid of these things, they will not take it out and hold it or anything like that. They said they bite, and when they bite, they bite deep. I would be very impressed if it could jump up and bite anybody from there. Oh my God, is it coming out? These things are tough as heck. This soon is gonna go inside my body. Who's the real predator? I also have a deep bite. And we're back in the kitchen. In just a moment, the chef is gonna dispatch the eel. Let's see how it goes. Step one, he grabs his trusted cleaver. He aims for the neck. He studies the movement patterns of the eel. Boom, okay, and just like that, the eel has been decapitated. From here, he's gonna chop up the eel. They're gonna put it into this hot oil right here. This is the frying station. Boom, and just like that, after about eight minutes, it is finished frying all the way through. From here, my man is loading up a load of different spices and seasonings, tons of flavor. All of that goes into the wok, hit it with a little bit of oil, and soon this is gonna join this. Boom, he takes some soy sauce, some salt, some sugar, and he throws that in the wok. He hits it with a little bit more spicy sauce. Right here we have cornstarch to make it thick. Boom, soon that's gonna become a gravy. Nice, he takes this thick, beautiful sauce and he puts it all over the top of the eel. And that is our final product. Wow, that eel really got a glow up. This is pretty stunning, I gotta say. Take a look at this midsection. I don't even know if they took out the intestines and stuff. Also, turns out the chef, pretty afraid of the eel. He had to kill it through the bag. Am I afraid of the eel? Absolutely not. Look, it's in little pieces now. So let's give it a shot. Cheers. It's just like this sweet glaze that's coating every single nook and cranny of the eel. The backbone is right in the middle. All the meat surrounds it. I think I just ate a pancreas. The skin is still a little bit crunchy and then the fish is just like this super flaky delicate white meat. This eel had a really peculiar shape. It had the head and then its chest section is a little bit thicker and then it narrows down and then it just gets smaller as it goes down. This, I believe, was that big thick chest area. It's delicious. It's a really clean flavor, but not a strong flavor. So it's the right move to pair it with all these strong, sweet, savory, delicious ingredients. That said, let's talk about the price. The eel itself cost $26.28 and for the cooking it was about $8. What do you think? Do you pay that much for an eel? Do I find it delicious? I actually do. That said, we're only part way through our journey. There are a lot more weird creatures of the deep that I plan to go sucks out. And we're back at it again. A little bit more touring and a little bit more finding one more food to eat. Or maybe two, I'm not sure yet. Right here, boom, giant shark. It looks somewhat similar to a nurse shark that I've seen in the past, but I'm told locally it might be a cat shark. Is that a thing? I'm not getting it today, but my God, it's amazing to see what is for sale at some of these markets. Let's keep going. It comes to another vendor here. Right here, this is a slipper lobster. Oh, I'm tickling it. Doesn't care crazy legs on the inside. It looks like a face hugger, but check out this one. This is a starfish right here We have the vendor. Why do you have a starfish? So they don't actually make any use of it it does have a purpose though when kids come here It's another play box of seafood the kids can come here play with it, and then after it dies Back in the ocean. It's fine. It's a starfish now. Let's talk about something I can actually eat take a look at this big beautiful creature. Oh my gosh look at its mouth So this is known as a shovel nose ray. Oh, it's trying to flutter away. It's so cute right here It has kind of a skull a bony area that houses all the organs and then from here. It's just fine So there's meat all along here in here and all of oh, I think I just cracked its back All of this can be consumed She said yummy, that's the only word I know Our food is in this bag soon and it will be executed by this man, the Seafood Punisher. The Shuffle Nose Ray is being taken out of the bag. Oh my God. And he throws it in the steamer. I call this man the Punisher, I was not wrong. It is finished steaming already and he gives it a nice scrub down. Oh man, this is a real skincare routine right here. From here, it's time to hack it into little bitty pieces. He takes out the guts, and from here, he is chopping down the rest of the ray. And just like that, our big, beautiful ray has been reduced to a pile of meat. From here, the ray goes into the oil for a nice deep fry. After about five minutes, they take out the whole ray. They put it inside of this steel pot. Right here, we've got some fried garlic and fried anchovies. We've got chilies, we've got green onions, we've got sesame oil. He just poured in some rice wine. That is on fire right now. Hit it with a little bit of sugar. Wow, this thing is really firing up, and that's just the sauce. He puts in the shovel nose ray tossing turning getting every piece of this coated with that thick sauce staring at it intently What could this man be thinking he puts in some greens here we go He's gonna put it inside the bowl absolutely stunning and that my friends is complete time to dine What can I say guys a moment ago, this was one of God's amazing creatures and now it's here that said let's try it out So this looks like some nice mushy meat. We've got some greens here at Cheers Mmm, super salty from the soy sauce, smoky, sweet. Ooh, with the herbs, a little bit of everything. My God, I really love the flavors that people are using here so far in Taiwan. Look at that, what part is it? He really beat it up in that wok, so now the whole thing is discombobulated. The meat texture, it's similar to the eel in that it's like basically falling apart. It's a little bit mushy. It doesn't have a strong bite to it, but it doesn't matter. When you have a sauce this delicious, I could put this on with something gross. I could put this on something gross and it would become delicious. Ah, there we go. Good metaphor. Take a look at this bite. For a second, it looks like pork skin. You do have to chew with caution. There are some big, hard chunks in there, but overall, it's delicious. So let's talk about price. For the whole ray right here, it costs just short of $25, plus to cook it, a little bit more than $7. So far, the most expensive thing we've eaten today, but I gotta say, it's not worth it because it's a lot of food. It's worth it because this is an experience I will never have again. That said, I have an exotic seafood creature-shaped space remaining in my stomach. That didn't make any sense. That said, I have room in my stomach for one more creature of the deep. Let's go back inside for a fourth time and take a look at what we can find. We have come to our final food vendor of the day. After this, I swear to God, I'm done, potentially forever, or until next week. First of all, slightly controversial, this. It feels gelatinous and gooey, and that's because it is a shark fin. It's a very appreciated shark appendage for some here in Taiwan. But that's not as interesting as this right here. Now, I know what you're thinking. Wow, is that a big piece of horse dung? Actually, no, this is a sea cucumber. This fungy, gelatinous texture on here. It is so bizarre. Oh my gosh. So that's a sea cucumber. But what I really want to show you is the final food we're going to be eating today. And that is this guy, a blue lobster. Take a look at that. Beautiful, bright blue shell, big claws. And look, it's still alive. Hey, don't get away from me, it's crazy. Ah, can I be honest guys? It's dead. I'm sorry to have lied to you. This is a lobster that came all the way from France. It's either known as a European lobster or a French blue lobster. In the USA, in the Boston area, if you catch a lobster and it's blue, it's about a one in a million shot that you would find something like that. I've never had a blue lobster before, so for me, this is exotic. Anyways, today we're gonna see if a European blue lobster actually tastes different from a Boston red lobster. All right, folks, it is time for my man to do his work. He's unwrapping it like Christmas morning. The arms fell right off. There's not much to inspect. He puts it right into the steamer, and we'll see that in about 20 minutes. 20 minutes has passed. We are taking the lobster out to take a look. He uses his scissors to cut it open. I gotta say, that doesn't look that great to me. So right now, he's gonna break every piece of the crab open and extract all the meat out. I gotta say, a little bit more drama than I expected with this last course here. First of all, the first one, immediately after the chef cut it up, his intuition was telling him, this is not a good lobster. So then we went back and got a different one. That one was frozen solid. He put it in the steamer and this pooped out. Let's talk about what separates the Taiwanese preparation of lobster from any other place. Namely, this giant mountain of mayonnaise. It is huge. Now, under there is some tail meat. I'm gonna dig into that soon, but first I'm gonna attempt to retrieve the meat from this here claw. Oh man, it's not looking great so far. Ideally, the claw meat would kind of be coming out, not be sticking to the inside of the shell. If I'm honest, it seems like terrible quality, but let me give it a shot. Yeah, no, I was right. Not juicy, dry. This is one of the worst lobster claws I've ever had in my life. Right now, I'm trying to figure out, is it the actual lobster species that is the difference? Or is it the preparation? Or is it the lack of freshness? This claw meat is a sad state of affairs. There's almost no fat left in there. But maybe that's why they like to eat it with mayonnaise. This is the perfect way to hide the dryness of the lobster. There we go. A little bit of cabbage, a little bit of lobster, a little bit of mayonnaise. Cheers. Okay. The mayo here is awesome. It's very sweet. It's almost just like a salad dressing. On top of that, you're basically eating coleslaw with lobster in it. The dryness of the lobster, gone, because they simply put 300 calories of mayonnaise on top. Simple life hack. Delicious, I love it. Every other part of the lobster, not good at all. One out of 10. Sadly, this is my introduction to the French blue crab. One day in the future, I must travel back to France. I will have to try this lobster again and see if this is truly how it's meant to taste, because I kind of don't think it is. Let's talk about the price. For this whole lobster experience, it's just a little bit over $46. Not bad for an animal that you're gonna throw half in the garbage. Then the cooking is just over $6. That makes this the most expensive thing that we've tried today. Also, in some ways, the weirdest. Right now I'm gonna step outside and tell you which one surprised me the most. Boom, guys, that is the end of the video. Today I ate four types of exotic foods. Five if you include the oyster, six if you include the fetus of a cuttlefish, I guess. In the end, most of these were foods I'd never tried before, especially these types of preparations. I was pretty blown away by everything I saw. People in Taiwan know how to handle their meat, especially their seafood. I gotta say, if I had to pick one from today that really surprised me, it would be the shovel nose ray. First of all, its nose is a shovel, a lot of utility there. Secondly, I couldn't believe how differently it looked within a matter of 10 minutes. Also, the taste, stunning and delicious. Otherwise guys, that is it for this one. Thank you so much for watching. I will see you next time. Peace. Oh, what was that? Sorry, that was Taiwanese style. Oh, Taiwanese style. Yeah. Ah, local, very cool. Bye. If you love Indian food, then you're gonna love our new channel, Best Ever Food Indian. Subscribe now for weekly videos showcasing the most unique street food from around the country.