A certain amount of creativity is healthy when it comes to food presentation.
But a hot pot restaurant in Las Vegas, United States, appears to have gone too far with a street snack from Asia.
On March 9, the official Las Vegas Instagram page posted a video showing a “Chinese doughnut” — which looks just like youtiao — that was suspended from a hook, fine-dining style.
With a pair of scissors, a waiter cut the fried dough snack into smaller pieces for diners.
“Is this the most satisfying new tableside presentation in Vegas?,” the video asked.
This familiar dish is available at Copper Sun, a restaurant at Resorts World Las Vegas, which is operated by Happy Lamb Hot Pot.
The video made its rounds on the internet, garnering over 2.2 million views and 8,000 likes to date, eliciting various reactions from Asian netizens — including some Singaporeans.
Local singer Rriley commented: “What in the youtiao”, while Nathan Hartono wrote: “Just wait until these guys hear about butterflies,” likely referring to butterfly fritters.
“Not the gentrified youtiao,” said another netizen.
Other Asians also chimed in, with commenters from Malaysia and Indonesia pointing out how they could get a youtiao for less than a dollar in their countries.
In fact, this video even took non-Asians aback.
One man wrote: “I am extremely white, but I’ve lived in Asia for many years and if I got served this and told it was a “Chinese doughnut,” that would escalate quickly and I’d probably end up being asked to leave.
“Do they call churros (which is basically this, but with cinnamon sugar) “Mexican doughnuts”? No. This is called “youtiao” and is often served alongside rice porridge.”
According to Copper Sun’s menu, the snack in the video is named “Giant Crispy Fried Crouton Stick” and retails for US$15 (S$19) each.
The hot pot restaurant, which focuses on “blending the rich traditions of inner-Mongolian cuisine with simmering innovation in every pot”, opened its doors in February this year.
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