On Tour: The Historian Who’s Eaten at 7000+ Chinese Restaurants

Meet David R. Chan, a food historian, who over the last 40 years has been obsessed with eating at every Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles. His now-famous list – the spreadsheet of Chinese restaurants he has dined at over the decades – includes over 7000 entries from across the United States, and more recently, Taiwan.

You can see more about David’s unique experiences in the LA Times video below.

Last year we had the honor of hosting David and his wife on our award-winning 10-day Taiwan Island tour. Before the trip, we had lots of questions: Should we alter our usual hand-picked menu? Even if we did, where do you take someone who’s already eaten everywhere? What kind of things might be interesting to someone who’s tried so many places?

We love to share great travel and food experiences, and we were confident in our tour design and execution. So, in the end, we decided to just include the same great arrangements we had on our usual tours. Of course, we were still intensely curious with many questions and couldn’t wait to hear his thoughts!

Now, David has published his on-tour experience with us on his personal blog. We invite you to read his pictorial write-up featuring the meals he ate on our tour including dumplings at the original Din Tai Fung, a healthy Ami-style tribal lunch, and much much more.

So which foods did David like the most? Continue on to his blog to find out!

1. What We Ate in Taiwan
2. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 2 — The Original Din Tai Fung
3. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 3 — Evergreen Resort Hotel Buffet
4. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 4 – Hualien
5. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 5 – Indigenous Food
6. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 6 – Upscale and Buffet at the Royal Chihpen
7. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 7 – The Unique Juoncun Cuisine
8. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 8 – Seafood in Kaohsiung
9. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 9 – Danzai Noodles in Tainan City
10. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 10 – Milestone in Tainan City
11. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 11 – Regional Cuisine of Lukang
12. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 12 – The Unexpected Star Of The Show
13. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 13 – Sun Moon Lake
14. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 14 – Farewell Luncheon In Taichung City
15. What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 15 – The Rest Of The Trip