Alright so check it out
It’s Trevor James
And today I’m with my parents
And we are going deep
We’re going to go for a full on Sichuan food experience
Out here
On the outside of Chengdu
Is this what you would call fly restaurants?
Yeah so these are all fly restaurants
And the main one is up here on the corner
And you just choose the dishes that you want
Right from the table
Yeah that’s the one we’re going to
Right up on the corner
For my parents visit
I was so excited to take them for a foodrangin tour in Chengdu
To go really deep
And to have a food inspired travel experience
And make some connections with local people
I knew that we were going to have to go super deep
To one of my favorite spots in the north of Chengdu
To feast on classic Sichuan food
This is Ding Ding Candy
Oh look at this
This is classic sichuan snack you can try
There is sesame, and
Oh, look it this
Oh and there is the scale
Checking it out?
Making sure it’s not a counterfeit?
Yeah
OK let’s try it out right here
Be careful, put it on your back teeth
Because its very very taffy like
Oh yeah
It’s totally sticking
Kind of like sesame
A little sesame
It tastes like there is some sort of citrus flavor in there
It gets better as you chew it
Yeah that’s right
There’s sesame and orange peel
That’s why it tastes citrusy
Cool
Look at these guys
What are these guys playing?
Whats this called, this traditional instrument?
This is the erhu
And they are blind
Oh they are blind?
Both of them, or just him?
He is
OK so we’re going to eat up here
Oh look at this
Fresh dishes coming from the kitchen
So what’s really cool here
Is that the food comes out on the back of a bicycle
You see the guys standing over at the kitchen over there?
It all comes out from the back of a bicycle
And it’s delivered fresh to the restaurant
And you can come choose the dishes that you want from the kitchen when they are hot
So let’s go take a look
This guy is always busy
Oh, look at this
Wow!
This is doubanyu
Twice cooked pork, that’s a specialty
Let’s get this one
Oh, we don’t need too much
But this is a necessity here in Sichuan
OK so next thing we gotta try is the liangfen
Oh that’s beautiful
That looks beautiful
What is that?
This is liangfen What is that?
This is liangfen
Cold mung bean jelly in their specialty chili oil with black beans
Beautiful
There’s actually a lot more to try here
See right behind us?
These steamers are full of fenzheng rou
We gotta get a fenzheng rou
What is that?
It’s steamed spiced beef
This is the fenzheng rou
Steamed spiced beef with pumpkin
Oh, pork
Pork! Sorry
Steamed spiced pork with pumpkin
Oh doesn’t this look insane
First off, this is called doubanyu
Which is river fish with Sichuan fermented broadbean paste
Doubanjiang
And pickled chilies
So it’s sour and spicy and fragrant
Covered in green onions
It looks incredible
Over here, this is their famous dish, liangfen
This is sliced mung bean jelly
Covered in their own, it’s a mixture between black beans and chili oil
And that is super fragrant and there should be a little bit of Sichuan peppercorn
Yeah I could smell that
Yeah
And then over here
This is a classic Sichuan dish And then over here
This is a classic Sichuan dish
Huiguorou, twice cooked pork
So, very fatty, sliced pork
Mixed with these suanmiao, and it’s super fragrant
And then this over here
This is fenzhengrou
Which is steamed, sliced, fatty pork, spiced over top of pumpkins This is fenzhengrou
Which is steamed, sliced, fatty pork, spiced over top of pumpkins
And you can see it behind us here in the huge steamer
I’m not even sure which dish I’m smelling.It all smells so good
Oh, doubanyu
Broad bean fish
So I brought you guys to this place because it’s the most classic representative of Sichuan
And you can get some of that sauce on there
Mmmmm
Oh my god
That is really good
There’s so much ginger in that
Oh, bones
Careful
It’s broadbean paste mixed with chilies
So it’s got a slight spicy sourness to it which is amazing
That ginger is unreal in there
That’s a lot of ginger but it’s so good I love that flavor
So look at the neighborhood we are in
This is just total Sichuan
Local families
Just feasting
Look how busy it is
Next up
Take a look at this
Next up we’re going to try this
This is the liangfen
Covered in that black bean chili sauce
Oh yeah
Let’s try it out
I didn’t expect that, that’s really good
Oh you can really taste the Sichuan peppercorn in that
It’s tingly right
And powerful
I like, wow that’s good
I like these cold dishes they do
It’s almost refreshing to eat
Because of the cold mu- what is it?
Mung bean jelly
Next thing to try here is the fenzhengrou
The thing about this,All over Sichuan they make a different variety of it
This one has pumpkin
And they use a fatty version of pork
But this one I know is definitely worth a try
Let’s get in there
That is the bomb!
Is that good?
The sweet from the pumpkin
The pumpkin!
The pumpkin is so good!
Mom and I were really nervous about going deep with you
Yeah?
And experiencing some of the crazy things that you’ve had on the street
The various street foods
We were really nervous about it
This is fantastic
We could do this every day with you
Like nobody needs to be worried about this
This is so incredible
The food is unbelievable
And eating here with all these local people
It just adds to to it
I mean, no tourists are going to do this
So how lucky are we?
After that incredible lunch
I brought my parents for a tour to the wukuaishi spice market
Sichuan’s largest wholesale spice market packed with Sichuan peppercorns
Dried chilies
And all of the famous Sichuan ingredients
I want to take you guys to the largest Sichuan peppercorn spice market in China
Oh cool
Because we are in Chengdu, Sichuan
The land of spicy numbing cuisine
Numb your mouth off
And this is the largest wholesale Sichuan peppercorn and spice market in Chengdu
And throughout all of China
These are all dried chilies
What?
Really?
Wow, really?
Let’s go take a look
Oh my god, look at this!
If you remember the first video I ever filmed in Sichuan, in Chengdu
This is where it all happened
Just all down here
All of this is where
This is where I tasted my first Sichuan peppercorn
This is where I spoke my first Chinese in Sichuan
First time I ever came here
And this is the place that made me fall in love with Sichuan
Seeing all of the spices
All of the smells
Sichuan peppercorns
Let’s go take a look
I’m absolutely blown away
This goes on and on back here
I’ve never seen so many chili peppers
That looks like enough chili peppers to feed the worlds spiciest foods for the rest of eternity
Look at these dried chilies
She is sorting them
How is she sorting them?
She is sorting-
She is taking out the greens
She’s sorting out the dry
Look at them
She’s sorting out the dry ones, or sorry
The ones that don’t look very nice
And the little bits of greens
And putting them aside
Using her bare hands, yeah
Oh these are the spicy ones
All of China
And also abroad
To America and Canada
So is this the biggest distribution center?
Yeah it’s the biggest
It’s the biggest
This is majiang?
Yeah, making, they are playing majiang here
This up here is broad bean paste
All different ages
This is fermented broad bean paste
And this is the soul of Sichuan
It’s chilies with broad beans
And it’s spicy and salty
And they can be anywhere from one to eight years of fermentation
And the longer it ferments, the more fragrant it gets
And the less spicy it gets
You can smell it
It’s potent right
And that is what makes mapo doufu
That’s what makes doubanyu
And that’s where it gets that insane fragrance
We should take home a tub
After the insane spice market in Chengdu
I brought my parents to chill out at peoples park
Have a cup of tea
And taste durian for the first time
Although it’s durian off season in December
We found some
And I wanted to see what their reactions would be
This is like a marriage market
So you see all the paper down here?
This is for parents putting out flyers for their children
It says their height, their age, their job, salary
And if they are interested, they will grab it and try and match their kids up with a husband or wife
Do the kids have any say in this matter?
No
I don’t think so
Is there price tags attached?
Is there like an online address where you can go to see a picture?
There is a phone
I don’t think there is a photo
So we’re going to have some tea
And durian for your first time
Oh boy
This is going to be either a magical
Or a horrible moment
And we are soon going to see
So the secret is
You gotta break it
And oh it’s soft
And you’re supposed to use your hands
So dad maybe you can take that half
Ok you take the soft half there we go
Take the whole thing?
Really?
Yeah
And then mom, why don’t you take a little piece from the spoon here
Oh my god that is so good!
That’s fantastic!
Actually, that is really good
It’s like butter
And, I don’t know what
It’s a cross between pineapple, onions, and butter
What an amazing day it’s been
The spice market
The tea
And now this beautiful park
Great lunch
Got an amazing lunch
And then trying durian for the first time
And we all love it
I guess it’s in the blood
Yeah, it’s in the blood
Dad really liked it
I love it
Well, leave us a comment down below
And subscribe if you haven’t already
Yeah
Thanks for watching
Yeah, thanks for watching
Bye bye