Lee Sang-joon completes intense 8-meal Hanoi food tour

Comedian Lee Sang-joon successfully completed a grueling one-day food tour in Hanoi, Vietnam, after consuming eight meals in a single day.

The second episode of 'Lee Sang-joon's Distant Tasty Places,' a YouTube series by Studio Double released on the 4th, showcased the latter half of Lee's one-day tour in Hanoi. Despite the tight schedule, he added humor to the trip with his signature wit and impromptu skits while searching for local delicacies.

Lee began the schedule by joking, "It feels like I've been in Hanoi for four days already." When he explained the program's concept—a one-day trip—to a Korean business owner he met by chance, the owner ignored the context and instead offered to send fried chicken to his accommodation, creating an unexpected moment of laughter. When the owner handed over unique packaging paper for an autograph, Lee quipped, "This is the first time in 20 years I've seen such unusual paper," maintaining a playful rapport.

In the middle of his food tour, he visited a famous barbershop that was also once visited by coach Park Hang-seo. Lee remarked, "This is the only one of the eight places we must visit where we don't have to eat," and received a full-course treatment including a shave and ear cleaning. Although he initially grumbled about having to get a shave after traveling all the way to Vietnam, he changed his tune just five minutes later, saying, "Never do this on your first day; you'll want to live," drawing laughter from viewers.

At a Korean cuisine restaurant visited next, he was delighted to encounter Korean food after a long time. Upon seeing the generous spread of side dishes, he exclaimed, "Cancel my order and just give me a bowl of rice," before continuing his full-scale Korean food mukbang. When he craved a drink to accompany his meal, he naturally approached nearby Korean customers and was seen being offered a glass of soju.

At Hoan Kiem Lake, he tasted ice cream that is said to bring good luck to those who eat it. While initially skeptical of the superstition, he added to the humor by immediately shouting "Luck!" after taking a single bite.

The seventh meal was Banh Mi. Expressing great satisfaction with the harmony of the crispy exterior and moist interior, Lee did not stop his food tour even though he was already full. He even went as far as to describe it as "feeling like fat is accumulating in my brain," yet still recommended Banh Mi as a snack.

At night, he headed to Ta Hien Street, a bustling area in Hanoi. Spending his first and last night in Hanoi with fried corn, snail dishes, and Vietnamese beer, he shared his thoughts, saying, "I want to live hard so that in my old age, I can live here like a king."

Upon arriving at the airport after completing his schedule, Lee summarized his one-day overseas trip by saying, "It feels like I left in the morning and returned home in the evening. It's just that the road was a bit long."

He selected Banh Xeo as the best dish among all the foods tasted during the day. He explained that the choice was based on the criteria of "where would you go if you brought someone else here again?" Until the very end, he maintained his signature variety-show sense, joking, "Since I won't be able to use Vietnamese money once I get back to Korea, give it to me."

Lee's next destination after completing the "8 meals in 1 day" challenge in Hanoi is Kobe, Japan. The third episode of 'Lee Sang-joon's Distant Tasty Places,' a 24-hour food tour series where he flies abroad to find local restaurants in a single day, will be released on YouTube on the 11th at 5 PM.