AMAZING Chinese Food in Chengdu ｜5 must try dishes

They're following my billy billy Hey guys and welcome back to a very very special Chinese food adventure. I'm here in Chengdu It's a food capital of China known for its spicy mouth-numbing foods But when it comes to Chengdu and food in Chengdu the first thing that pops into my head is of course the food ranger He spent many many years here He's got so many amazing resources food guides food tours Google Maps where you can access and see different places and what to order So I reached out to him and I'm actually about to get on zoom with him He's gonna be our remote food guide for today's food adventure. I am literally deceased Okay, let's go I Have no words Hello. How are you? I am so excited. You have no idea how excited I am How are you, where are you what are you up to I am in Dubai and Definitely loving it here, but I'm missing China to a lot. Oh, and I'm really excited to hear you're in Chengdu Tell me what do I need to know about Chengdu tell me everything there's too much amazing food like Just you could I mean Eat for decades there, you know, I wish you could be here. The city is calling your name. It's in the breeze Once we can we're gonna come right back What would you say a kind of like the characteristics of like Sichuan food that you could find in Chengdu? It's young It's like really aromatic. Yeah less Spicy than what it's made out to be. Yeah, it looks spicy on camera, but it's more like Aromatic if you eat it, it's just like it just gives you this nice soothing warm chili Sensation as opposed to a mouth burning like fresh chili burn. So I know you have this amazing food guide I've been checking it out kind of religiously leading up to this Chengdu trip, but I wanted to know from you What are your like favorite three places that you think I should check out and I'll I'll go and check it out Well, there's a few different like Categories of food that you need to try so for sure hot pot is in there Chengdu or Chongqing hot pot. They're both Amazing like you've got to have one hot pot place. You got to have them. You got to have a noodle joint Yep, and you got to get some dishes. Okay, so to start I would say go to get some Dishes so this is one of Chang's most traditional restaurants. It's a it's a classic like fly restaurant They're called a tongue in Guanzi. So I've just arrived at the fly restaurant and it is so cool There are all these chefs out here preparing the food. The smell is absolutely incredible Tongue in Guanzi is a Qingming's big Chinese restaurant So delicious and the locals just go there for eating like the food is so good So the fly restaurant Trevor's recommended I go to today is called Chen Chi Liang Fen and it's been a mainstay here in Chengdu for over 70 years It's in an alleyway an old traditional neighborhood. There's no traffic. No cars allowed. So it's just pedestrian and It's always super busy It's got a huge Array of Sichuan dishes to try and the coolest part about it is the food is brought out from the back of a bike The food is actually brought out on the back of a bike, which I wasn't sure I was gonna see happen, but it actually does They're put onto a giant table that you put you just get the point at what you want to eat Basically coming to the restaurant and you've got all these different dishes being prepared on different stations You've got a Liang Fen station over here mix of white and yellow Liang Fen You've got a meat section here with these beautiful roast meats That's being cut up over here and then you've got the hot dishes over here that are being brought out all the time constantly refreshed Oh my god, it looks absolutely amazing Some famous dishes to try there there's like the pig brain tofu dish. It's kind of like a map of tofu Upgraded with pig brain their most famous dish is the Liang Fen Jelly the Huang Liang Fen jelly and they cover it in their signature like chili oil and bean sauce So, of course, I took Trevor's advice and got the two dishes He recommended something that Trevor didn't mention is just how big the portion sizes are How am I supposed to eat all of this? So this is the one he recommended then now hot tofu, which is like the map of tofu with the spin Just a bit of pig brain added You can see the bits of pig brain in there Also a lot of Sichuan peppercorns a lot of chili the dishes in general quite red So I'm assuming it's gonna be quite spicy So for that reason I got myself some rice just to try turn that down a little bit Wow Wow, wow, wow. Oh my goodness So this has got the pig brain inside and I've just tried to lift up a piece with my chopstick and it just falls apart It's almost as tender as the tofu and that's saying something because tofu is very very tender so to be completely honest brain is still one of those things that Still it's still taking me a while to be able to eat and not like freak out a little bit over But I feel like this dish with all of that spice and the tofu and the texture is actually gonna be quite easy to accept It's time to get in there with the brain the dish that Trevor recommended. I need to try here at this fly restaurant. Let's go Wow It's really good. It doesn't have any taste. Actually. I hardly even have to bite it. It just kind of slips down. It's Yeah, it's literally just like tofu. Yeah, it's pretty much like a similar flavor profile to a Mapo Tofu spicy numbing salty umami Super super tasty And it will forever be the dish that took the scariness out of eating brains Now I'm keen to try the signature dish of this restaurant the huang niang fen. Oh, it smells amazing Look at that. That's art. So it's made from peas one dough and the resulting texture is slippery Flexible and chewy and just looking at this sauce on top here. I can tell how umami this is gonna be That is so freaking good I'm so excited for this. I love the huang niang fen Be still my beating heart Super super umami a little bit spicy and not super blow the top of your head off spicy and actually after having these two dishes Now the spice levels are quite fine. I don't feel overwhelmed which just means I can go in for more and more food Oh, it's so good And the customers just keep rolling in as well as the dishes for that matter, but I'm sure So I've been thinking about this in the last few minutes And honestly the only thing that really separates this place here from like a Michelin star gourmet restaurant experience is the price I'm eating this fantastic Flavorful amazing food. I have a water side seat. I'm outside under the trees The service is great. There's even someone coming to serenade me during my meal But I think this just shows me that here in Chengdu good food is very accessible can be enjoyed by everyone from all walks of life Good food doesn't need to be expensive and that's what I love about this The food is for the people next up you're gonna go for some noodles Yeah, actually, there's two noodle spots The first one is a fuego room and twice cooked pork noodles super delicious super spicy You eat it like you can sit on the stools on the street. It's an amazing joint Here's the menu number one on the menu wiggle room. Yeah, the one that Trevor Recommended I should get 12 room and be for a small serving 15 room and be for a big one like one Wait, what do you mean? Okay, ma? Shout about and because this place is so busy This restaurant has a production line with different stations for different tasks First we have the source station here where the sauces for each bowl of noodles is made. Oh Yeah Get that chili oil very generous amount there Then we have the noodle cooking station noodles are added to the bowls of the pre-prepared Sauces and finally the toppings are added. This one here is the famous way Gordo twice-cooked pork topping Oh, this is yeah. Wow. Oh my golly gosh, this looks and smells absolutely freaking amazing. Okay, where should I sit? Oh Goodness I guess I'll sit here. Oh my gosh So excited. Oh Wow, so this week we're all here. It's not just a noodle topping It's actually one of the most famous dishes from Sichuan province featuring a lot of layers of flavors Very umami slightly spicy not over-the-top. This isn't gonna like burn your mouth off and it's a deceptively simple dish it's a dish that pretty much everyone in this region grew up with like home-style cooking and Although it looks simple Really hard to describe that flavor. It's just so many levels to it. And that's another thing about Sichuan food It's about the levels not necessarily about the spice You should be able to taste a lot of different things happening in your mouth when you eat Sichuan food And when you put it with the noodles and all of those sauces at the bottom that you've just mixed all together Oh my gosh, you can definitely taste all those beautiful layers in this dish But they take maybe five minutes to work themselves out in your mouth The first thing you'll taste is the saltiness the umaminess just that savory rush When you get that in your mouth and then after that saltiness you can start to decipher The sesame paste that's in that and some of the flavors in the sauce a little bit more spice is hitting you by this stage And then about five minutes later Your mouth is just buzzing because there is Sichuan peppercorn in this not too much that it overwhelms your palate and you can't taste anything But just enough that you've got a nice little nice little buzz going on there and another level to this dish that I'm only kind Of just realizing now is a slight sourness from these pickles here So good, and you know, you're doing it local when you're literally about to be hit by a car It's how I like it Honestly, I will take sitting on the street Eating with the locals any day over a fancy restaurant. Like this is where it's at. This is what food is to me You can tell what you do Sichuan farmer They're following my Billy Billy Ten out of ten dish but it was only after finishing my bowl that I realized I missed a vital part of the experience It's free and it's constantly refilled with fresh noodle water throughout the day. Okay, very curious to try this Yeah, it's like noodles funnily enough and it's free and apparently it cuts through grief and cuts through the spiciness It's good simple easy digestible. Oh And bless this guy still scrolling through my feed anyone out there watching this video if you haven't already subscribed would absolutely Love it. If you took a second to do so Yeah, next noodle spot is actually more Famous for their chow show their Sichuan one times their Sichuan on your chow show chili oil one times Let's give these a mix get all that chili oil all up in there. Oh my god Amazing got to get all those babies completely coated in that delicious chili oil if your mouth's not watering mine definitely is I Just love chili oil and you know a good chili oil when you get but that's like smokiness from it Really really good one time So soft the texture of that pastry is also so fine Not too chewy and a lot of people watching this might be hesitant to order this because it's got just this puddle of chili oil On the bottom of the dish, but don't let it scare you off because it isn't actually that spicy not overwhelmingly spicy Like right now I'm able to feel all sides of my mouth. My head isn't blown off by the spice. It's more nuanced It's a bit sweet. Obviously, it's a little bit salty. You get a little bit of twang of that chili But overall it's just like a really savory experience Actually had a friend told me something pretty interesting the other day that chili isn't a taste It's actually a feeling of pain in the mouth. That's what chili does to you. It literally brings you pain. Oh, but it's a sweet pain So so sweet and then to finish up the night you can go for an amazing Super spicy hot pot where they cook it with a big pot of spicy beef fat and chili oil The one that Ting and I used to always love to go to it's in a local neighborhood and the special thing about it It's kind of just like a one restaurant shop. Yep, and they bring you the hot pot and the bottom is like a thick layer of Like fat and chili and it's like really cool to watch The making and when they pour the broth on it, like it's a it's told and it's really spicy This is actually a Chongqing hot pot and the biggest difference between a Chongqing hot pot and a Sichuan or Chengdu hot pot Is that the Chongqing hot pot is made on a base of butter? Whereas the Sichuan hot pot Chengdu hot pot is made on a base of oil. So butter it is So there's our butter there melting away slowly slowly into the hot pot And you may be asking. Oh, we're in Chengdu. Why are we eating Chongqing style hot pot? Well, the answer to that question is Chongqing used to be a part of Sichuan province until 1997 when it became a municipality So yes, Sichuan and Chongqing have a lot of similarities when it comes to cuisine when you're walking around Chengdu You'll see Chongqing hot pot everywhere. So our base here is starting to bubble away nicely. So it is time we order some stuff You bet believe I'm taking notes Pork There's a Sichuan they have the beef the mala beef, right? It's really spicy. They coat the beef in chili. Like the beef is coated in chili and then you dip it into chili So I bought it everything that Trevor suggested except one thing I added of my own accord and it's something called you sing Which is a kind of food kind of like coriander that some people love it and some people hate it And I've never tried it before so I'm interested to see what side of the scale I fall on Because a lot of people really can't stand the taste of it. So, you know what? We're gonna try you always have to get this drink and Also because they recommended it I got this as well. They said it's very good for reducing the amount of spice It's time to get this hot pot party started I'm gonna start off nice and easy with the wu huai rou Can you can you see how many Sichuan peppercorns are in this spoonful, oh My good lord, this pork belly used to be white now it is red Well, well, it's been a long time since I've eaten anything that's spicy Very very spicy, but very very tasty very fragrant But you can cool down If you by adding more vinegar into your dip If it's too spicy, just make your ratio of vinegar in your dip a little bit more Get all the vinegar now, I'm gonna try another piece of that streaky pork and Just dab it in some vinegar and see whether that makes a difference That does turn down the spice a lot still frickin spicy though, but I'll go you ain't seen nothing yet It's time to level up and dip spicy marinated beef into this already super spicy hot pot to be completely honest with you I'm pretty scared Let's try Very tender it tastes amazing at least right now before that spice kicks in Oh, yeah, yes, spicy very very spicy That makes my mouth feel better. I think I can go in for some more of that actually Look, it's really spicy, but I'm such a fan of this mala beef. It has such a flavor. It's so fragrant It's really really delicious. I just need to keep topping up Just need to keep topping up with that vinegar I feel like my mouth is on fire. So good I've just had a thought and I'm interested to hear what you guys think about it So here at Sichuan hot pot Chongqing hot pot, there are so many things to help bring down the spice levels Vinegar brings down spice levels Sesame oil brings down spice levels Bean drink brings down spice levels Suan Mei Tang brings down spice levels so many ways to bring down the spice levels. Here's an idea Why not just make it a little less spicy? Something to think about I'm interested to hear your thoughts about this in the comments now I'm super keen to try this Yuxing Cao. Look, I'm not loving the smell of it It smells a bit like dishwasher soap. My next-door neighbors here. They've also ordered it Do you like it? Yes, I do. Don't you think the taste is a bit strange? Yes, I like it We're just gonna put a couple of bundles in the hot pot Hmm, I don't know. I don't think I really like that actually It's weird. It tastes like soap and the texture is really weird as well Quite hard to bite through but the bits that you can bite through kind of has this consistency of like mashed potato Yeah, I'm gonna give it another try. I Don't like it. No Turns out I am NOT one of the chosen few that like Yuxing Cao. Well Let's go for a palate cleanser. What's better than some goose intestine? And I know there'll be comments on this video how can you eat so much in one day? Let me let you into a trick of the trade. I didn't film this video in one day I've actually filmed it over the course of several days because I love eating but I love enjoying what I'm eating I hate the feeling of gorging myself for overeating So usually in my videos if there's too much that I want to film and eat in one day I'll break it into a few and you'll probably notice in this video that in some scenes I've got a little pimple and then in others I don't so that's why And then for dessert get the hongtang bingfen It's like one of my favorite things bingfen is Amazing arguably my favorite dessert in China, even when I'm not in Chengdu. I have it at least once a week I go and find it but here in Chengdu. It's like the bingfen paradise like bingfen is everywhere here It's like this jelly thing made from something Actually, I don't really know what it is, but it's sweet It's got toppings of different textures and crunchy and chewy and they top it with this sugary syrup hongtang Okay, so out of the hot pot restaurant And here we've got some bingfen. I told you it's not far that you have to walk before you come across some bingfen So there's the hongtang there the sugary syrup and then it's in with the toppings these here are the three classic bingfen toppings You've got the peanuts the hawthorn and raisins my three favorite toppings actually Okay, so here is my bingfen Honestly, can you look at this and not want to eat it? It looks gorgeous, right? There's attractive toppings green pink some what white you cream You've got hongtang on top there that sauce that you can see Sugary syrup and to do it properly you need to mix it up Like this so excited for this so it's like a jelly and In my opinion the best bite of bingfen is one that incorporates all of the different toppings a little bit of everything a bit of jelly bit of dried fruit bit of peanut That's a good bingfen after a couple of bites of this My mouth has already forgotten that I just ate something extremely extremely spicy I want to ask what is bingfen? How do you make bingfen? Bingfen is made from water and the gelatin of the bingfen Do you think bingfen is healthy? Yes, it's healthy Bingfen actually has a lot of benefits I have a description here You can take a look So this sign here says that bingfen is good for calming Getting rid of phlegm Relieving internal heat Detoxifying the body And even for relieving a cough I mean who you? Probably the best news I've ever received I've tried not to ask this question whether bingfen is really really bad for you or not Because I love it so much I'm eating so much of it I think to hear that bingfen is not healthy in some kind of way would really hurt my heart Now I'm just going to eat more Hello Hi How are you? Good to see you I have had the most amazing food here in Chengdu thanks to you I need to stay for another few weeks Just to eat more and more I just wanted to thank you so much for all your suggestions And for joining me in this video It's been a dream come true My pleasure, I'm happy to help I'm glad that you enjoyed the food I am so excited to share this video with you guys Probably one of my favourite videos I have made to date So many amazing foods Again, thank you so much to Trevor The Food Ranger You're the best I'm sure you guys are already following him on YouTube But if you aren't already, you can check out the link below in my description I've got his channel link there I've also included the Chengdu food guide that he made That I've been using for this video So if you're planning to come to Chengdu Or you're in Chengdu Feel free to check that out in the link below Drop me a comment below as well To let me know what you thought of this video What you thought of the dishes Don't forget to subscribe And I will see you next time Goodbye from Chengdu, bye