(bright music) - Oh my god.

(board taps) Oh, man.

(people chattering indistinctly) Oh, wow.

It's like, amazing.

(bright upbeat music) Wow!

Oh, wow.

That sounds insane.

That's insane.

(shaker shaking) Wow.

(people speaking indistinctly) Insane.

(upbeat bright music continues) It's amazing.

- Yeah.

(wind whooshes) - It's insane.

(engine zooms) (plates clink) Wow.

(oil sizzling) (metal tapping) It's amazing.

(playful music box music) (clock ticking) (playful upbeat music) (wood creaking) (metal squeaking) (dreamy bright music) I think the element of surprise in food is one of the most powerful things that food can do.

(dreamy upbeat music continues) It is that kind of taking people off guard that I really love.

I think that the unexpected surprises with food, that's magic.

(dreamy upbeat music continues) (chill upbeat music) I love the fact that Korea, like, kind of owns its own narrative.

You know, you go there and it's like everything is just backwards.

And everyone's fine with that.

(chill upbeat music continues) Every time I go back to Korea, the food innovates in a certain way.

It's a little bit smarter and it's a little bit more efficient, or it's, like, presented a little bit differently.

And there are all these pleasant surprises.

(people laughing heartily) (chill upbeat music continues) (people speaking in Korean) - [Danny] In a way, it's kinda triggering for me, because in Korea they're really good at doing this cool thing that seems familiar, and then they can come outta left field and like, present something that's unfamiliar.

(chill upbeat music continues) So the cool thing about Mr. Pizza is it's an authentic Korean pizza.

It's so crazy that I've never seen anything like this before.

- Yeah, I think because pizza was never a part of Korean cuisine, they never that worried about keeping it authentic.

And so I feel like a lot of people will look at this and say it's not good, or it's not fair to call this pizza, but it is pizza.

(chuckles) - Yeah, it's Mr. Pizza.

- It's... (chuckles) (muffled hip-hop music) Hi, I am Danny.

This is Young-Mi.

(cook chuckles) How long have you made pizza here now?

How many years?

(cook replies in Korean) - Five years.

Oh wow, wow, wow.

Okay, cool, so we're gonna make some pizzas.

We wanna do the...

Which one was it?

- The Romantic?

- The Romantic combo.

- Combo.

(cook speaking in Korean) (Young-Mi replies in Korean) (soft chill music) - Oh yeah.

- So when was the first time you had Mr. Pizza?

- Maybe around 8 to 10.

- Was this normal for you?

Like, this was pizza?

- I mean, we knew it was different because- - Uh-huh.

- We had had American pizza.

- It seems like this is just a lot more fun to eat and like, there are way more options.

- Yeah, 'cause they have fruit toppings.

The shrimp topping, bacon.

(chuckles) - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cool, so he's ready to go here.

So I guess he just wants to show us we can do it together.

- Okay.

(speaks in Korean) (cook speaks in Korean) - So what is this?

- Milk sauce.

- Milk sauce.

- Milk sauce.

- [Danny] Milk sauce.

So it's like a cream sauce.

- [Young-Mi] Oh good, I'm doing the side that they said is for women.

(cook speaks in Korean) - I'll do the other- - The man side.

- All right, well- - Danny, don't do a better job than me.

(cook speaks in Korean) (Young-Mi gasps) - [Danny] Oh shit.

So this separates the crust.

- Yeah.

- This is so crazy.

(cook speaking in Korean) - Do I need more?

(cook speaking in Korean) - All right.

(cook speaking in Korean) - So corn goes on which side?

- The women's side.

- The women's side.

Oh, you got some corn on the crust there.

(Young-Mi chuckles) - (speaks in Korean) pineapple.

(Young-Mi replies in Korean) (cook speaking in Korean) - Is this the first time you've ever made, like, a pizza in, like, a restaurant, Young-Mi?

- Yeah, of course.

- (speaks in Korean) lovely pizza (speaks in Korean).

- [Danny] How many pizzas do they make here?

(cook speaking in Korean) - [Young-Mi] Whoa, it's a lot.

- [Danny] Yeah, it's a lot.

(cook speaking in Korean) - Is this okay or less?

(Young-Mi speaks in Korean) (cook speaking in Korean) - Do you wanna do the man's side and I'll do the woman's side now?

I think that would be- - Move aside!

- [Danny] I think that makes more sense to me.

(birds chirping) - [Narrator] Here, in the quiet reaches of Sichuan province, China, we observe the laconic, yet graceful malaise of the giant panda.

Contrary to their genetic predisposition, these pandas defy expectations, with a diet of bamboo and other grasses.

(TV static hisses) (singer chants in Korean) - You know, one of the biggest things that resonated with me on going to Chengdu and going to the Sichuan province is all the vegetables.

The idea of thinking that food should be tasted in stages.

Having something that offsets the heat of a dish.

(muffled upbeat music) This dish is just a blanched and chilled watercress, and it's served in a broth made out of soybeans and salted nuts.

So, traditionally, this broth is made with these.

These are perilla seeds, and they're toasted.

This is always really important for this soup.

So add some of these to a blender.

And this is gonna establish flavor and texture.

And then an OG trick is to use, like, mixed nuts in here.

(glass trickles) And then to this we'll add the soy milk.

So this should be pretty bland, it shouldn't be super salty or anything, 'cause all the other things in the dish will be seasoned.

(blender buzzes) (blender buzzes down) It's like super aromatic, it smells like...

It almost...

It smells a lot like just freshly-cut grass, which is kind of insane.

You can smell it actually.

Right?

All right, cool.

Well, I mean, I think the idea of it all is, like, when you think of Chinese food, you think of, you know, dishes with protein in them.

Korean food is the same way.

People think of meat.

My favorite dish in Korea is actually Boribap.

So it's like a barley rice dish with, like, mountain vegetables.

And when I'm in a market in Korea and there's this option of getting, like, blood sausage or Boribap, I would most likely gravitate towards something that's a lot cleaner and lighter, so I can eat more stuff.

Yeah, I think maybe here.

Boribap?

- Yeah, Boribibimbap.

- Oh yeah, yeah, I'll get one of those.

- Okay.

- Can I get this one?

And then I'll get these onions.

So this is like radish dim kimchi, like top.

And then this is the roots, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The flavor of like... Like it's really clean.

What is this?

Does this go in it too?

Oh yeah, you want me to try it?

Okay.

I wonder how many people she lets do that.

Oh yeah, it's so (censored) good.

And then she puts a little bit of the soup.

(Danny thanks in Korean) (vendor replies in Korean) - So yeah, it's like it's half of the fermented soybean and then half Gochujang, which is the pepper paste.

And then you just, like, mix it together.

So this is crazy.

This is like building your Miseu en Plaseu but it's like you have all these, like, amazing ingredients ready to go and then you just mix it with some steam, barley and rice.

It's like the best, man.

(market bustling) Oh man.

Something that's really important about this too, 'cause you can taste each individual component.

When I worked for Paolo at the Italian restaurant, he taught me, you know, like, you never want the flavor of the first course to bleed in the second course, or that course to bleed into the third course, or that course to bleed in the fourth course.

And it was amazing to me.

Like, when he makes pesto, for instance, he'd always just use like one clove of garlic for, like, when we'd make like two gallons of pesto.

(TV static hisses) (soft upbeat music) With Paolo there was, like, this sense of, like, really organic, genuine, like, trust.

And I think maybe a lot of that had to do with mine and Paolo's chemistry.

I picked up a little bit of confidence from Paolo 'cause Paolo's very confident.

All right, so Paolo, how long ago did we do this together, the pesto?

- Mamma mia.

- When did we meet and when did we- - We started nine years ago in San Francisco in Farina.

Piano, piano every day.

The same times at five o'clock- - I remember that.

- When we make the pesto.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Exactly.

- [Danny] So let's talk about Italy because I didn't know.

- No, you had no idea.

It was a big surprise for you, because you enjoy to do the pesto so much.

- I remember it was, like, the most surreal experience 'cause I never left the country.

(playful upbeat music) I remember walking to work one day and Paolo coming to me and being like, "Hey," like, "By the way, we're going to Italy."

(playful upbeat music) And heard of him going to compete at this pesto championship, for about a month.

My understanding was that I was gonna go to Italy and finally see everything that Paolo had been telling me about.

So I was very excited to go and see that.

So we get there, and we go to where the pesto competition was gonna be.

'Cause the pesto competition was the next day.

This guy gave me a packet and Paolo a packet, and I'm like, "Okay, what is this?"

Paolo was like, "Oh yeah, you're competing tomorrow."

And I was like, "Uh, what?"

(crowd shouting) So the night before, I tried to sleep, and I can't.

The next day we go to the competition, we show up.

There's like 500 people there, lots of press.

Everyone's speaking Italian, I'm the only Korean kid there.

And Paolo is like, "This is the best chef in the world.

He makes Italian food like my grandma did."

And I'm just like, "So (indistinct)."

I was like, "Oh my god."

So I'm walking around, seeing these, like, 90-year-old women with, like, this mortar and pestle as big as they are.

But it was really serious.

This guy comes up with this, like, pesto-colored robe on and a crown and some scepter, and he is, like, giving this long dissertation about something in really traditional Genovesian.

And then they're like, "Okay, we can start."

The moment I knew to start was I heard everyone just taking their mortars and just... And pestles, and just, like, there's this tapping.

At that point I was in the zone.

And I just started tasting things one by one.

Taking the pine nuts and crush 'em in my fingers to see how much fat comes outta the pine nuts.

Like, taking the basil and just like rubbing it, smelling it.

Identifying what everything was.

I was, like, approaching it like it was my first time ever making it.

And so, like, right when I was about to finish, I like, kinda see this person coming over towards me and I'm like, "It's Paolo."

He comes over and he's like, "Danny, I totally messed up.

I added too much salt.

It's not correctable.

So let me taste yours."

Then he tasted, he's like, "You're gonna win."

(upbeat music) And the moment he left, all the reporters started diving in.

And all of the judges start coming by.

And I'm just, like, standing there, like, super awkward.

And they like, look at me, they eat it and they look up, and they're, like, trying to not show any expression.

So I have no idea.

Right?

And then they come back out, the guy with the robe on comes out and is like, "The champion this year, the World Pesto Champion, James Bowien!"

(crowd cheers loudly) And the whole Palazzo Ducale, it's like this uproar, like, people were cheering.

I was standing there and like, someone comes behind me, puts a robe on me and hands me this golden mortar and pestle, and like, they're holding my arm in the air, and then, like, all the contestants were, like, super happy.

(crowd cheering wildly) (playful upbeat music) Like, that next morning, I remember walking outside and walking up to this newsstand.

And all the newspapers had me on the front.

All of 'em were like, "Korean kid, California, Pesto Champion."

And there's this picture of me just, like, holding the mortar and pestle.

(playful music) It was like- - A big deal.

- It's like going to Naples and winning- - Yeah.

- The best pizza in the world competition.

- Exactly, exactly.

- So to me, like, your grandmother's pesto, your pesto, will always be the best pesto in the world.

- Yeah.

- I think the thing about this pesto that's so amazing, it's like eating nothing.

- Very light, yes.

- So this is what we're doing today.

- Yeah.

(muffled upbeat urban music) So there's so many things about this recipe.

So it's completely different than any way I've ever made pesto before.

I think a lot of it is nuance.

If you think of the pesto, you think of, like, garlic, right?

But I think the secret is only adding a tiny amount of garlic.

And you always taught me that garlic is a very strong flavor.

And this is actually... Is that the amount you wanna use?

- Yes.

- All right.

(garlic cloves clack) So, pine nuts, right?

- [Paolo] Yes.

Two tiny like that.

- [Danny] So this is a measurement- - Yeah.

- Two of Danny's palms.

And then we always start with this, right?

(Paolo speaks in foreign language) - This is a Taggiasca olive oil from Liguria.

I always put enough oil up to the blades, right?

- Yeah, bravo, to the blade.

You remember, yes.

- So if I remember correctly, we would just take this on- - Yeah.

- We would just pulse it.

- Yeah, pulse it.

- Come on.

(blender buzzing) - Yeah, so you can- - Yes.

- Already see it.

Like, it's starting to become a different color.

Doesn't just look like oil.

- It's perfect.

- So I got that half, why don't you take it from here?

Because I've never done the basil part- - Okay.

- [Danny] Like blanche, so you can show me- - Okay, we do it like this.

- It's really crazy, after you make recipes for a long time, you just know.

I remember you would be able to see pastas from across the room and be like, "That looks like it's a little...

It needs to go a little longer."

(blender whirs loudly) So this is the color that pesto should look.

It's a very definitive color.

- Yeah.

- I don't even know what color it is, I always look it, I'm like- - Yeah.

- "Oh, it's like pesto."

- So we're gonna do, before, a little bit of Parmigiano.

- [Danny] And it's always like two to one, like- - Two to one.

- Two parts- - Yeah.

- Parmesan.

- Yeah.

- To one part Pecorino.

- Oh.

- Yeah, it smells good, it smells like we got it.

You can tell by...

When you just smell it.

Italian food is like Chinese food.

That flavor bomb of, like, crazy.

(TV static hisses) - [Narrator] This new arrival, having recently migrated from another region, seems to be adapting quite nicely to her new surroundings.

- [Narrator 2] Fuchsia Dunlop, how a British national became the preeminent voice of Sichuan cuisine.

- I went to China in my early twenties.

- Okay.

- And then fell in love with it.

Then after studying Chinese a bit in my free time I got a scholarship.

- Uh-huh.

- And I chose to go to Sichuan University, partly because of the amazing reputation of Sichuanese food.

- Uh-huh.

Cool.

- So I just wanted to learn to cook.

So I started asking small restaurants, you know, "Can I come into the kitchen?"

And they probably never had some ridiculous English woman coming in and saying, "Can I come in your kitchen?"

And they thought, "Wow," you know, "A university student, a woman, a foreigner?"

- Right, exactly.

- And people were just, you know, very generous and welcoming.

And the other thing is that in that period, like, in the sort of mid-90's in China, there weren't very many foreigners and people were all really curious about us.

(muffled intriguing music) - [Danny] So we can just jump into it, if whatever- - Sure.

So these are the eggplants.

And in China they don't actually salt them, but I like to salt them because then they absorb a bit less oil.

(soft bouncy intriguing music) - [Danny] So this just goes right into hot oil.

There's no dredge on it or anything like that?

- No.

- It's cool.

- Once or twice I've seen people dust it in starch but normally they don't.

- [Danny] So we're just gonna go right into the wok?

- Yeah.

And they want to be lovely and tender and buttery, and just slightly tinged with gold, but not brown, yeah.

(oil sizzling) - Not brown, right?

Just a little gold.

- Yeah, just slightly gold.

Yeah.

- Not too gold.

- And they must be tender, you don't want them brown.

Yeah.

- I see.

Done?

- I think so, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, great.

(upbeat music) - So, put these here now.

- [Fuchsia] And we can get all our ingredients over here.

(steam blowing) (oil sizzling) And first in goes is the chili bean paste.

- Right.

(pan sizzles) - This is called (speaks in Chinese), "Frying fragrance."

- [Danny] Mm-hmm.

- And what you want to do is poke out the lovely spicy flavors- - Right.

- Into the oil.

And this is a very typical first stage for all kinds of wok dishes.

And can you put the ginger and garlic in?

(oil sizzling) - There you go.

- And the most important thing is, you don't wanna have the oil too hot when you shove everything in, because they can just burn instantly.

- [Danny] Yeah, it just goes up.

- And now the eggplants can go in.

And so this is just to simmer them, to let...

They call it (speaks in Chinese)- - Uh-huh.

- To send in the flavor of the sauce.

- So it penetrates the eggplant.

- Yeah.

- [Danny] Wow, so beautiful.

- It is nicer with the purple eggplant, right?

- Right.

- What do you think?

- Yeah.

(metal scraping) Oh my God, it smells amazing.

- So- - It smells almost sweet in a lot of ways.

- Yeah.

- [Danny] It's amazing.

(oil sizzling) (cook speaking in Korean) - [Young-Mi] Oh!

- It's cooked, right?

(pasta sliding) (TV static hissing) And I thought, "Well, what if we do a pastrami the way that you smoke a brisket, Oklahoma style, right?"

So the tricks of Oklahoma style barbecue was that you always rub your meat with mustard first.

(muffled upbeat music) We do kind of the same thing.

We make like a, kind of like a schezwany kind of blend of spices.

So there's cumin, black pepper, little schezwan pepper.

- Can I just sniff?

- Yeah.

Salt, sugar.

- Mm.

- You can help me rub this thing.

- How much?

- [Danny] Enough, to where it's like a layer that all this is gonna stick to.

(bouncy upbeat music) Do you know about, like, Kung Pao chicken?

- It is named after a 19th century governor general of Chengdu- - Uh-huh.

- The Sichuan provincial capital.

- Really?

- Who is said to have liked eating it.

It's a very particular dish.

So you have the chicken cut into little cubes.

- Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

- And the crisp peanuts.

- Uh-huh, yeah.

- And then you have a bit of scorched chili- - Uh-huh.

- And schezwan pepper going on.

- Uh-huh.

- So you have all these elements and that lovely textural contrast of the juicy succulent chicken and the peanuts.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

- It's a long way from that.

- Yeah, this is like... - Mustardy pastrami- - So this is how we're gonna just mess that all up.

Thinking if there's anything in Mission Chinese food you can expect, it's kind of the unexpected when you come in.

What's up?

All right, what do you guys wanna drink?

That's what works with Mission Chinese, is like you go in, it's a Chinese restaurant, but it's not.

It's a Riesling, 'cause it says Riesling really big right there.

- Oh yeah.

- There's a lot of thought that goes behind everything.

Ah, anyways.

And there's a lot of work and time.

- Thanks, Danny!

- Cheers.

Hopefully when you come in you can, like, just feel like you're a part of something special that's unique.

- [Fuchsia] How long do you smoke it for?

- For about 12 hours.

- [Fuchsia] So, will all the staff in the restaurant, go home with a little aroma of smoke- - We all smell like this.

- Yeah.

- When I get home my dog always is like, "What happened today?"

And is, like, really excited but... - [Fuchsia] Mm, that looks gorgeous.

- The thing we look for, really, is, it's gonna look really caramelized.

- Mm.

- That fat should be kind of peeking out.

I think the best thing to look for is that it jiggles like that.

- That's- - Mm.

- [Danny] A pretty good sign that it's ready to go.

- Mm.

That is a very satisfying wobble.

- I know, right?

(TV static hisses) (muffled roller rustling) ♪ I pay in blood ♪ (TV static hisses) (guests chatting indistinctly) - It's like, you know, like in the 80s, and, like, every song was very, like, structured, to where it's like, "We're gonna have the opening, we're gonna have the break, we're gonna have this, we're gonna have the bridge, we're gonna have like this, like, two-minute guitar solo."

I don't know, there's room for everything, like, some of that, that's good, that works.

But I also think there's something about, like, everything working together.

And dishes like this, it's like you taste every single component.

It doesn't taste just like the Doenjang, or doesn't taste just like the little leeks in here.

It all, like, compliments each other.

It's all very symbiotic.

They all play out with each other and work together, rather than working, like, against each other, competing.

There's something very nuanced about it and I love that.

So yeah.

(market bustling) (TV static hisses) (veggies crunching) Watercress is one of my favorite things to eat.

It's one of those things I haven't really seen blanched.

(soft dreamy music) So what we're gonna do from here is we're gonna chop the watercress.

I think the element of surprise is really what drew me to falling in love with food.

This is Perilla oil.

Has a very similar flavor profile to sesame oil, but it's a little bit grassier.

One of the most important things I've learned in my career, the element of surprise in food.

Is special and unique.

And then some oil-cured Calabrian chilies and they're salty, fermented, kind of.

Very spicy.

(cutting board tapping) And again, this isn't going in the dish, it's served alongside the dish, but it really adds a lot.

So this is the pastrami after it's been cooled down.

I like to go into a really hot and dry wok, and that's gonna help develop more of the flavor.

- Lot of smoke coming off it.

- As chefs, we all chase that now.

It's like, "How can we find something new that challenges us that we can present to an audience?"

I'm starting to see a little bit of caramelization color around there, the fat caps, where the fat is, the white fat.

So I'll just take this and I'll pull it out.

So I grew up going to a lot of American buffet-style breakfast restaurants, where you would have a big tray of bacon.

It was all you can eat.

Or a big tray of home fried potatoes.

So these are just seasoned fried potatoes that have been frozen, that were gonna refry again.

(oil sizzles) ♪ Hash brown potatoes ♪ - Hash brown potatoes.

Like, how full do I put it?

(cook replies in Korean) - Okay.

- Chef is in.

- [Danny] Chef is in.

- Andiamo!

- So another big trick, you never heat up pesto.

That's the thing about pesto.

You don't wanna cook it, because you just worked on this emulsion, why would you heat it up and just break it?

- Fold it, fold it, fold it.

- Fold it in, right?

You know, people may think that, like, I'm an enigma to the food industry in certain ways.

I've heard that a lot.

- I'm just interested in, like, how you go from Kung Pao chicken to Kung Pao pastrami- - Right, right, right?

- With potatoes.

- Like, outside of the box.

So it's kinda backwards because a lot of times when I make Kung Pao chicken or Kung Pao anything, you'd add the chili first and then kinda build from there, but... As a chef you're like, "I think I know what that is.

I think I know what that tastes like."

- Lovely lazy.

- Oh my gosh.

So beautiful.

- Parmigiano, (speaks in Spanish).

(cook speaks in Korean) - [Young-Mi] This looks amazing.

- [Danny] And it's not like a safe surprise all the time.

- Well, you know, I'm wondering what Ding Baozhen, the man who this is named after would think of this.

- Don't tell him.

Don't tell him.

(Fuchsia chuckles) - It's on many different levels.

(soft dreamy music) (TV static hisses softly) The soy milk (indistinct) a viscosity to it but not too thick, you know?

- [Narrator] Settling in for a nice, long nap.

- [Danny] Now I like to mix it up.

- [Paolo] It's almost there, one second.

- That goes down there.

And then we'll put some of these greens down.

See you later.

And then it's all about maintaining them, elements of pleasant surprise.

- All right, got it?

- Got it.

- [Announcer] Or send check or money order to P.O- - [Danny] And I'll stir fry it quickly.

Like, this is actually not gonna be as spicy or numbing at all- - No.

- Which is amazing.

- No, not at all.

- I think the finishing touch is ice.

It's kinda like dressing a salad.

You wanna just run everything through it.

Woo-hoo!

So good.

If you can kinda forget all your problems and just be totally present in that experience.

Oh my god.

Eating something just completely off the radar.

It's like two to three experiences in one.

I mean, it's like, literally perfect.

(Paolo speaks in Italian) - But that's really powerful.

So wait, do you eat this with, like, a fork and knife?

Or you just, like, pick it up?

- However you want.

It's just like green pizza, there are no rules.

- There's no rules.

The only rules are there are no rules.

(TV static hisses) (metal clinks) (air whistles down) (playful minimalistic music) (bouncy wobbly music) (bouncy wobbly music continues) (bouncy wobbly music winds down) (minimalistic music box music) (computer glitches) (echo booms) (computer glitches)