- All right, check it out, guys.
It's Trevor James.
We're in Chongqing, China.
This is the land of Chongqing spicy xiaomian noodles.
We're on a world noodle tour and today I'm so pumped
'cause we're bringing you for a full-on noodle adventure.
Let's check it out.
And this is it.
Chongqing, the land of noodles.
The slurp city.
You can see we got tons of people here slurping noodles,
and today we're gonna be bringing you
for five bowls of Chongqing noodles,
all in the deep back alleys.
I'm so pumped for this.
So make sure to watch all the way until the end
because this is gonna be an iconic noodle tour video.
And here we are guys, Chongqing,
rollin' down, looking for noodles.
It's a super cool city and very modern.
It's a huge metropolis.
There's like 20 million people that live here.
We're going to a
(speaking foreign language)
noodle.
It's a mixed noodle and it's just up ahead.
Are you pumped, Ting?
It should be good, right?
(speaking foreign language)
This is an awesome city.
We are going to one of the most famous xiaomian,
Chongqing xiaomian restaurants in the city.
Xiaomian is next level spicy.
It's like dan dan noodles but spicier and more numbing.
We just found it, guys.
Oh, here it is.
And all of these.
We're gonna get a big bowl.
Oh, and look at this, guys.
This is the total la jiao heaven.
We've literally got massive bowls.
Look at this guys.
La jiao, fresh chili.
Oh, that's so thick.
Oh and we're gonna start a fresh bowl here.
Pickled mustard greens.
Oh, soy sauce.
There's the chili.
Look at that, that's pure chili oil.
Smoky chili oil.
Oh, beautiful.
And then we've got a little bit of ground pork, MSG,
and you can see there's literally hundreds of bowls here,
ready to scoop noodles into pre-made chili
in the bottom of the bowl,
looking spicy and xiang.
And there's a little bit of green onion.
Oh and here's the fried egg.
So you can get fried egg with it as well.
That's what it's all about.
She's just saying that
when you add the egg in with the xiaomian,
it's geng xiang de, it's more xiang.
And here's the noodle stock going right in.
That's noodle stock and ginger.
And then here come the noodles,
adding those noodles right on.
Wow.
Chongqing xiaomian.
And then adding a jidan, egg on top.
And there it is, guys, the bandeng mian zhuang.
We're a little early.
This place is bumpin'
and we're gonna sit down right here.
Ooh.
Okay, mix it up.
She's gonna teach us.
Wow.
(laughing)
Oh.
People are so friendly here, guys.
Mixing it up for us.
That literally smells so delicious.
Smoky chili oil and the rou, the meat.
That is some of the smokiest noodles I've ever smelled.
And there's literally just flakes of giant chili in there.
This is the famous Chongqing xiaomian we came to try
and she was telling us to eat it quick.
You gotta eat it quick otherwise it'll stick together
and everyone's just waiting for us to try it.
We gotta go, we gotta try it out.
(upbeat music) (slurping)
Mmm!
Wow!
That's what it's about there, guys.
Wow.
That is delicious.
This is less spicy than it looks.
It's xiang.
It's smoky.
That rou flavor, that pork flavor
is giving it so much juicy fragrance,
and let's go for one more.
Let's just test that out again.
(slurping)
Mmm.
Mmm!
Mmm.
And they're telling us to add a little more tang.
Oh.
Ooh.
We've just added the tang in, that's the noodle broth.
And there's a little bit of soy bean in there as well.
Wow, that is a next-level bowl right there, really.
And that right there
was one of the most xiang bowls of noodles I've ever tasted.
You can see that it's just packed now.
There's a big line up.
We came nice and early to avoid the rush.
And this is the city of noodles.
We're exploring a local little neighborhood
and right around the corner here,
there's a sesame spicy xiaomian.
Wow.
It's just a super busy morning market
and we are just looking for these noodles.
Let's go find them.
Look at all the meat, guys.
This is a Sichuan market.
You come here, you get your spicy,
you get your, you get your chilies,
you get your meat.
All the dried chilies you'll ever need.
Sichuan peppercorn.
Oh.
And all the rou.
This is it right here, guys.
Oh.
Thank you.
Here we go.
Peppercorn.
We've got mustard greens, chili oil,
and then there's the magic right there, the zhimayou.
Zhimayou, sesame oil.
And then noodles and then just add a little stock in.
Wow.
So we've just made these delicious bowls
of sesame oil, chili oil, mustard greens,
sesame, jiang you, soy sauce.
And we got a
(speaking foreign language).
Add our own green onions.
And she's just added in pea shoots and noodles
into that giant cauldron.
Oh, there's the pea shoots.
So she's just said I can add as much as I like.
If I like more, add more.
So we're gonna add more of these green onions
and then we've got the garlic chives over here.
And we'll just add a little touch in there as well.
(laughing)
And there is the noodle.
Wow.
And that's Ting's bowl.
And we're gonna add a little more of green onion.
(speaking foreign language)
Thank you.
And there it is guys, the zhima xiaomian.
You can really smell that sesame.
Look at how much toasted sesame aroma is in there.
That is a full bowl.
It's all about mixing it up.
(slurping)
Mmm.
That is smoky with sesame
and it's got that hua jiao, peppercorn in it.
It's definitely just pure noodle, sesame noodles.
It's an instant hit of spice.
Hua jiao,
peppercorn,
florally,
and nutty from sesame.
(slurping)
Mmm.
What I love about this is the sesame comes from sesame oil
and these toasted sesame seeds.
It's not from a sesame butter.
So it's more of a natural sesame flavor
instead of like a buttery sesame flavor
and it's smoky and it's got hua jiao as well.
So it's peppercorn, floral,
slightly numbing with a bit of a greeny nice vegetal flavor
from those pea shoots.
Wow.
Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye. - Bye-bye.
That was xiang.
The zhima, the sesame was just toasted.
And we're going for more, guys.
We got tons of noodles to eat today.
Next up, deep in the alleyway.
Look at this.
This place has tons of different Chongqing noodle styles.
Oh.
Oh!
And look at this.
Wow.
As you can see here, here's the jigong mian.
That's the chicken noodles, the ones we're gonna order.
Here's the jiza mian, that's the chicken organ noodles
and it's on spicy broth.
So that's the suan la fen.
So this is actually a sweet potato starch noodle
in a very spicy broth.
And then we've got jun changmian,
that's a mushroom soup.
And actually we wanted to try the doufu mian,
the silken tofu noodle.
But seeing that giant cauldron right here
of just pure chicken and delicious la jiao
and xiangu mushrooms.
We're definitely gonna have to order that up.
It totally looks delicious.
So this is the total magic station of la jiao chili
and Sichuan spices.
And the noodles just go right in the cauldron.
And look at all these la jiao chili bowls.
Chongqing, the land of spicy.
So it's fragrant, it's not la.
And there it is.
Hoo-hoo.
We're gonna get an extra big scoop.
Oh.
(laughing)
Wow.
That's beautiful.
Look at that.
So you can see, we've added huasheng, peanuts, cong,
and there's big chunks of chicken in there.
We're gonna go try it out guys.
And here it is, the jigong.
It's all about the xiang.
It's not la, it's not spicy.
It's xiang.
And it's got xiangu mushrooms,
literally translated as fragrant mushrooms.
It's got the noodles of course,
and then all of these chunks of chicken.
This is what Chongqing is about guys,
spicy xiangu and big chunks of peanuts in there.
Wow.
And there it is.
Noodles just coated
in chili oil.
(slurping)
Mmm.
Mmm!
Mmm.
That is delicious.
Big chunks of chicken with chili oil and peanuts.
The peanuts actually give it
a lot of nuttiness and smokiness
and there's definitely a sesame flavor in there as well.
And what I'm loving about all the noodles in Chongqing
is that so far, they're not too spicy.
They're just xiang.
And it looks spicy on camera
but it's actually just xiang.
People are so friendly here.
Oh, it's delicious.
Wow.
- Bye-bye.
We're gonna keep going, guys.
And next up, we're in a local neighborhood now
and we're gonna get something a little different.
Right here, there's a jun gan mian place
and you can see everyone is slurping away.
This is the slurp station.
And I think it's chicken liver noodles.
Let's take a look.
Ooh-hoo.
Look at that, that is duck liver.
Oh.
Watch the action here, guys.
This is the magic.
Jiang you, soy sauce, suan, garlic.
Oh, MSG.
Pickled veg.
Hua jiao, peppercorn.
And it goes right over the cauldron.
Okay and we're gonna make a load of jun gan mian right here.
First we're gonna throw the noodles in
and then look at this,
this is all pea shoots going right in.
So you can see this bowl is definitely,
the base isn't spicy.
It's just got those salted veg and garlic
but the pickled chilies are gonna add spice.
Here we go.
Oh.
Here's the noodles.
Right over top.
Look at that.
That's ginger, that's peppercorn,
and that's pickled chili.
Oh and here they are.
That's it there, guys.
Pickled chili and duck liver.
And you can see this is a top tan mian in Chongqing.
And there it is, guys, the jun gan mian.
Those are pao jiao, pickled chilies
but they actually just look like cherry tomatoes.
We're gonna see how spicy those are.
And then there's the ya jun, the duck liver,
and we're gonna get a jidan on there as well.
And we're gonna sit down and have a taste.
And there it is, guys.
It smells like sour pickled chilies.
And it's full of duck liver.
Look at that.
Literally big chunks of duck liver in there.
That is unique.
We're just gonna mix it up.
Get those pickled chilies all throughout
and you can see this is just a busy joint.
(slurping)
Mmm!
That is floral.
Literally like a spicy numbing flower of noodles.
That pickled chili there.
It's a little bit sour, definitely spicy.
And the noodles are just covered,
a numbing hua jiao, floral deliciousness.
Late night duck liver noodles in Chongqing.
They're delicious but I prefer gan ban style.
I like the dry style.
These are pretty oily and salty.
We're gonna keep going.
My mouth is just whoo!
And next up, guys,
we're just exploring.
We're looking for something extra strong.
Right up here, there's a famous noodle joint
called hei hua mian,
literally the black, darkest, richest,
chili xiaomian in Chongqing.
Oh, look at this, guys.
So everybody in Chongqing
is saying their noodles aren't spicy
but these definitely look spicy.
They look strong.
Oh and here we go, we're gonna make a bowl.
Soy, that is garlic.
We've got chili.
That's the magic, the pure chili oil.
And then a little zhiyou, vegetable oil,
and salt right in the bowl.
Peppercorn, that's numbing this.
Oh, even more salt.
This is gonna be powerful
and rutabaga and then onion.
Oh, beautiful.
And look at these giant mountain of kongxincai,
Chinese kongxin greens.
And the noodles go in first into the cauldron.
And then here come the kongxincai,
Chinese kongxin greens, they go right in.
Beautiful.
And just look at this magical station here, guys.
These are all pre-measured bowls of Chinese xiang liao,
ready to pour noodles and greens
and wandou, yellow peas over the top.
So we've got chili oil, we've got peppercorn,
we've got soy.
There is green onions in there
and a mixture of other secret sauces
and also it's gonna be covered in a zha jiang,
ground pork sauce as well.
And we're just boiling up the noodles.
Oh and the kongxincai right in.
Look at that.
That's the greens.
Oh and here they come.
The miantiao.
Look at that.
They're gonna go right on.
We got it with the wandou.
Wow.
There they are.
Look at this, guys.
we're adding the zha jiang, the ground pork.
Wow.
And there's the wandou.
Wow.
And you gotta drink this.
So it's a herbal tea, a Chongqing herbal tea.
And you can just pour it in
and that's gonna go perfect with the noodles.
And I can also see some tea leaves in there.
So we're gonna try that
and that's gonna wash down really well.
And here it is, the heiwa mian.
Heiwa mian.
It's all about mixing it up quick.
Look at that.
That is so thick, guys.
We got a smoky dark chili.
There's peppercorn you can really smell.
And it's got the ground pork.
(speaking foreign language)
And these yellow peas on top.
That is a
(speaking foreign language)
Oh.
That is looking so good.
And you really gotta eat it quick
because you don't want the noodles to stick.
Let's try it out.
(slurping)
Mmm!
Oh, wow.
Mmm!
Look at that.
It's just coated.
All the noodles in Chongqing are so xiang.
Literally, there is an incredible aroma.
This one is a little more smoky.
It's actually not spicy.
We've tried so many bowls of noodles in Chongqing
and the locals are right,
they're not actually that spicy.
They're xiang.
They're aromatic.
The chili just has this essence
that fills your whole taste buds,
your whole mouth with this,
this feeling,
this xiang chili goodness that you can't get anywhere else.
Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye. - Bye-bye!
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Chongqing has been amazing, so much delicious food.
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Thanks a lot for watching, guys.