- Hi, check it out, it's Trevor James.
We are in Chengdu, Sichuan and in today's video,
your mouth is gonna be on fire 'cause we're going for a ton
of delicious Sichuan street food I know you're gonna love.
Let's check it out.
(upbeat ensemble music)
Get ready for street food of your dreams
because today we're bringing you to four
new places that you can come visit on our
Chengdu Food Guide at thefoodranger.com.
Eating some amazing Sichuan spicy dishes,
more hotpot and some delicious rabbit noodles.
Starting off first with a 25-year-old family dumpling joint.
Let's eat.
All right guys, we got a ton of amazing
Sichuan street food to eat today but first
I wanna tell you about a great opportunity.
Along with our original Travel, Eat, Repeat
and Tai Hao Le merch, which means amazing in Chinese,
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They make perfect gifts for family or friends for Christmas.
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Order one, I know you're gonna love it
and we're gonna keep exploring guys.
Here it is guys, one of
the oldest dumpling joints in Chengdu.
Whoa, look at this.
Wow.
Wow, look at this.
We are gonna be making shui jiao here.
You can see these are all hand pinched.
This is the (speaking foreign language) here.
Look at that, that is the (speaking foreign language).
Wow, this is an old joint.
Whoa.
Oh yeah, and you can see that's
the big cauldron of boiling dumplings.
So these are not wontons, these are dumplings
and there's a difference, it's the way they're pinched,
the (speaking foreign language) and the mouthfeel.
Oh yeah, and here we go.
So we're gonna make the (speaking foreign language).
Okay, so this is the Liu (speaking foreign language)
and this is Liu (speaking foreign language).
And you can see these are all hand pinched one by one.
Oh, so it's hard on the neck pinching jiaozi all day.
Wow, and these just look so delicious.
We're gonna sit down and have a delicious bowl.
You can see Liu (speaking foreign language) here.
Liu (speaking foreign language)
is totally rocking the jiaozi.
We're gonna have a bowl and start the Chengdu tour.
Oh there they are, look at those.
Right over top of that (speaking foreign language).
He's gonna plate ours right on top of that chili oil.
Amazing.
Look what we got here guys.
Beautiful dumplings hand pinched
and I really wanted to visit a dumpling place for you guys.
Put this on the map so that
you can find delicious dumplings.
We've already got wontons on the map but not dumplings.
These are Fuzi shui jiao covered in chili oil.
Oh, you can smell the garlic, you can smell the chili.
Let's try it out.
Mm,
oh wow.
Wow, those are really nice.
They're not the most plump dumplings I gotta say
but the flavor and the chili oil, the garlic is delicious.
They're actually slightly sweet.
Mm, those were nice dumplings guys.
We got lots of exploring today.
We're gonna pin this joint and keep exploring.
And next up, before going to the biggest Sichuan feast
and then for an amazingly spicy and flavorful
Sichuan hotpot for dinner, we're gonna go try
one of Chengdu's most famous noodle dishes, rabbit noodles.
Awesome guys, and the rabbit noodle joint is right up here.
We've already got a big list of noodle joints for you
if you come to Chengdu but we have nothing for rabbit.
So we're gonna try out some classic rabbit noodles
right up here, let's go check it out.
Look at this, so they've got (speaking foreign language)
which is fragrant rabbit spiced noodles.
Let's go try it out.
Wow.
Awesome guys.
And we're gonna take a look at how they
make the (speaking in foreign language).
Oh yeah, here we are in the kitchen.
Look at this guys, all of these bowls.
Beautiful, you can see these bowls of chili oil.
Oh.
Oh, that's the bamboo fungus.
Oh, that's the black chicken.
And matsutake mushrooms.
Wow, this is amazing to get into here
and they're just making, oh.
So they got black silky chicken in there.
This is amazing.
And the noodle station is over here
but it's just so steamy.
As soon as we point the lens there, it fogs up.
Oh, that's ground pork oil.
And what's so beautiful here.
Pickled veg.
Sesame paste.
Wow, and then we're just boiling up the noodles here
and that's gonna go on top, there's our noodles.
Look at that, right on top
and they're gonna put that rabbit meat right on top.
Putting the (speaking foreign language)
right on the (speaking foreign language) there.
- Wow, look at that, pure (speaking foreign language)
noodles and just look at what we got here guys, wow.
Look at this beautiful bowl starting here.
We've got noodles and we're
gonna put this on the map for you.
A beautiful bowl of beef noodle soup.
Nice chunks of beef in there, beautiful bits of bamboo.
This is (speaking foreign language),
so it's red braised beef.
Look at all those nice noodles.
So first up we're gonna put this beautiful
rabbit slivers with sesame, coriander, pickled chili,
ginger and onion on top of this beautiful bowl.
Look at those noodles which that rich chili oil,
that rich stock,
pork-bone broth
and we're gonna put that right over top.
Oh, look at that,
beautiful.
Mm.
Oh whoa.
That is insanely delicious, that flavor is intense.
The Sichuan peppercorn is so numbing.
This sesame is so nutty, the rabbit is so tender.
The onion gives it a kick
and the pickled chilies are slightly spicy and sour.
That's the ultimate combo and that's just the beginning.
This is honestly one of the nicest bowls of noodles
you'll ever eat and if you're eating the beef
noodle soup with the amazing bamboo flavor
and the ultra umami black chicken soup,
we made our way to a classic fly restaurant of Chengdu.
All right guys, next up we are going to the one of
the oldest, most famous fly restaurants in Chengdu.
Beautiful, we're just walking through these hanging Sichuan
sausages here and right up ahead is Mingting restaurant.
We're gonna have a feast.
We've got hanging sausages here, Sichuan sausages.
Pork, chili, tons of Sichuan (speaking foreign language).
Beautiful, we're gonna go inside and have a big
feast for lunch and then keep exploring for more food.
And just shortly after ordering, the food all arrived.
Incredibly flavorful food.
Whoa, look at this massive
Sichuan feast we got here today guys.
Unbelievable.
Look at this, a beautiful (speaking foreign language).
This is a carp, a river carp covered in look,
with fresh green chilis and (speaking foreign language)
which is fresh green Sichuan peppercorn.
So this is gonna be numbing, spicy,
fragrant, soft river fish, beautiful
and this is just one of many delicacies
you can have here at Mingting Fandian.
Look at this, this is (speaking foreign language).
Wow, this
is pork blood,
they give you squid.
Looks like there is some (speaking foreign language)
which is tripe, thousand-layered tripe.
They give you these split-open sausages kinda like hot dogs.
Let's see what else is in there,
oh it's just full of green veggies, thousands,
look at that, hundreds of dried red chilies
and Sichuan peppercorns, this is spicy Sichuan delight.
Extreme flavor extreme aromatic (speaking foreign language).
That looks pretty intense and look at this, guys.
We've got (speaking foreign language).
So they put pork spare ribs on toothpicks.
Thousands of dried red chilies and then look,
we've got Sichuan (speaking foreign language).
These are like deep fried bread crisps.
This is a dessert, this is the (speaking foreign language).
So these are deep fried sticky rice sticks
covered in a dark brown sweet molasses
and then this here is what we saw outside.
This is the Sichuan style sausage, they boil it.
It's full of spice and Sichuan peppercorn.
It's gonna be so fatty, fragrant,
delicious, aromatic joy and then we've got
a nice variety of Sichuan twice-cooked pork.
This is ultra fatty pork slices
fried in these fresh green chilies.
That looks actually quite heavy
and then over here look at this, guys.
This is the number one recommended dish on their menu.
This is the (speaking foreign language),
pork brain with tofu.
You can actually see there's a bit of pork brain,
a bit of tofu mixed in and it's just in a thick chili.
It's kind of like a (speaking foreign language)
but upgraded with pork brain, extra silky pork brain.
First up I really want to try this
beautiful Maoxuewang, look at that.
Mm.
Oh.
Mm.
Oh, that's actually really delicious.
It tastes like this hot dog flavor is infused
into chili oil with hundreds of dried chilies.
Next up guys, let's try this fish, this carp.
You can just pick it right off the bone.
Wow that is Tengjiaoyu, one of the lesser known
flavors here of Sichuan is the Tengjiaoyu.
Peppercorn oil,
green peppercorn fragrance
that you can actually find in a lot of dishes here.
Mm.
And I've actually just taken a few more bites guys
just to get the real flavor profile of this carp.
What you gotta do is dip that flesh into the sauce here
because there's so many fresh green Sichuan peppercorns
in there that oh, when you dip it in,
your mouth just goes tingly and numb
and this place is so busy right now.
There's a lot of unique dishes you can try here at
Mingting Fandian with the amazing carp in peppercorn oil,
the delicious sticky rice sticks and the fatty
twice-cooked pork really standing out but the one
thing that's always ordered at Mingting and that
deserves showcasing is the pig brain tofu.
This is a classic dish of Chengdu, wow.
Actually I think it's mostly
pork brain and just a little tofu.
You can take that pork brain and let it drip over
your rice a bit, get some of that flavor into the rice
and you can actually take it with some rice as well
but I'm just gonna take it pure, a little bit of tofu,
a little pork brain, going for the kill.
Classic Sichuan food here.
Mm.
Oh wow, that is unlike anything you'll ever taste.
The pork brain has no odor to it.
It is just perfectly smooth.
It takes on that chili flavor,
it's very similar to (speaking foreign language).
Maybe a little bit less numbing
and it just melts in your mouth.
You can just take a bunch of that, slurp it down.
Maybe it's just me because I've been living here for
a few years but I think it's actually really delicious now.
That was an amazing lunch at Mingting Fandian.
Beautiful sausage, amazing fish,
so much delicious food and we got more to explore.
And for our final meal to pin on the map,
we're going to a famous hotpot joint in Chengdu that serves
hotpot with nine sections to separate your ingredients
originally used back in the old times when you would eat
with strangers and needed to know who's food was who's.
Awesome guys, next up we're rounding out the guide.
The guide is going so well right now online
but we need a couple more hotpot joints.
So right up here is a famous (speaking foreign language),
hotpot joint, we're gonna have a feast and try it out.
Here we go, guys.
Oh,
here we are.
Hotpot heaven.
This is the (speaking foreign language),
nine-sectioned hotpot.
So look at that, this is all beef lard
and there's dried chilies in there, onions.
That is gonna get extremely red and potent.
It's all here, guys.
We've got (speaking foreign language), duck intestines.
This is their specialty, look at that.
These are supposed to be really long duck intestines.
These are actually a big specialty here in Sichuan.
You boil 'em just for about 10 or 15 seconds
and they become crispy, almost spring like.
We've got some beautiful shrimp here,
you can just slide that off from the bamboo
and we've got some beautiful beef ribs, beef spare ribs.
Some imitation crab, we've got some sliced beef,
some soft beef and then some (speaking foreign language),
spicy and numbing beef.
We're just gonna try this (speaking foreign language).
Beautiful duck intestine, look at how long that is
and the secret is you just wanna hold it in for about 10
seconds, maybe 15 seconds and then it's gonna get crispy,
it's gonna have a springiness to it
and it really is the specialty here.
Gotta put it in one that's boiling, there we go.
Hold that for about 10 seconds
and then you just pull it out, give it a dip
in your extreme sesame garlic dip and go for it.
So good.
It's crispy, it's crispy and springy
and it really takes on the flavor of the hotpot.
There's no organ flavor in there at all.
Let's start with some of this shrimp.
Oh yeah, you can just slide it right off of that bamboo
and then we're just gonna slide some of this in.
Oh beautiful, it's over the top of some cabbage.
Just slide it right in, just slide it all in.
Beautiful, I love the variety of flavors of hotpot.
This one definitely has an intense chili kick
but with this garlic and cilantro, it's perfect.
Let's try it with that shrimp.
Mm.
Oh yeah, that is a hotpot right here.
Just look at the bubbling red, all the peppercorns in there.
It is burning, it is joyful.
The dried chilies got so much flavor.
It is also very fatty,
hotpot itself is fatty, full of that lard.
You eat this and you are full and you are
feeling heavy but you are feeling happy too
because the flavor is unlike anything else.
So the secret is this looks really red,
this looks spicy but it's actually,
when you get used to it, it's not that bad.
That was just amazing guys,
another delicious hotpot joint in Chengdu.
We're gonna pin this joint and go for more food.
Well that was way too much food, guys.
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and thank you so much for watching.