A new three-episode special of BuzzFeed’s hit series Worth It debuts Sunday, October 13 with hosts Steven Lim and Andrew Ilnyckyj, along with cameraman Adam Bianchi, visiting three different restaurants in Taipei, Tainan and Taichung on a quest for the best dumpling in the country. The traveling trio will visit three different restaurants with three drastically different price points — affordable, mid and luxury to determine if the end result is worth it.

To celebrate the three-episode special, the Worth It Taiwan team came to the L.A. outpost of Din Tai Fung, which is one of the stops featured in the series that brings a new lens of accessibility to food content.

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In the L.A. Kitchen of Din Tai Fung (Michele Stueven)

“Dumplings are something everyone can understand and a great gateway into Asian food,” Lim, who along with Bianchi and  Ilnyckyj, started out as Buzzfeed interns at the Tasty franchise, tells L.A. Weekly. “Dumplings in Taiwan are very special because they come from so many different regions. We wanted to go to Din Tai Fung because it’s franchised around the world. We went into the kitchen  where they make everything by hand, and you can see the amount of expertise and work that goes into each dumpling.  You think about a $29 truffle dumpling — what does that mean? Is that a gimmick? Is that a real thing?”

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Truffle and kurobuta pork xiao bao at Din Thai Fung (Michele Stueven)

Based out of Taiwan, the highly regarded Din Tai Fung has more than 150 locations around the world, including Arcadia, Costa Mesa, Glendale and Century City — which makes it possible for viewers to decide for themselves.

“We’re so lucky to be able do to fun and unique things,” Ilnyckyj tells L.A. Weekly over an order of  truffle and kurobuta pork xiao bao. “When we started, we were just doing the greatest hits of food like steak and pizza and this last season we were experiencing eggs in Japan.”

“This show’s audience is a little bit older than the usual Tasty fans,” he says. “It’s not uncommon for families to program their weekends to be able to watch the show together. Before Worth It, I used to be stopped occasionally  by teenage fans. Now I’ve got dads coming up to me with recommendations for us. I’ll be waiting in line at a restaurant or a movie theater and it’s the dad talking to me about the show.”

According to YouTube analytics,Worth It received 80.6 million views and garnered 604.9 million minutes of watch time in the last 90 days.

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