It’s Trevor James

And today I am in Chengdu, Sichuan

Street food heaven

Today we are going for a full on street food tour of this city

All the spots

And some adventure

Let’s check it out

Sichuan is a street food heaven

You’ll find a huge variety

Of street food that will please your cravings

I like to visit a local wet market or neighbourhood

With a sense of adventure

And an open mind

It’s the best way to find new foods and flavours

In this video

I’m using some of my favourite locations

Along with some impromptu food that I find along the way

And if the food near the end was out of your comfort zone

Let me know

This is part 2

You can see them hanging up in the back there

Roasting here

We got a roast duck

OK so it’s marinated with good ingredients

Oh it’s so steamy

Look at that skin

It’s so crispy

The seasoning on it is so magic

It’s lightly salted

Crispy skin

Juicy and heavenly

Next I biked to my favourite little street food neighbourhood

And found a lady selling

Pickled vegetables soaked in chili oil

And a huge selection of different preserved century eggs

Drops it on the floor

Should I eat this

Should I eat that?

OK, we’re going for the full experience

Covers it in oil

Am I dreaming?

I got no egg yolk there

It doesn’t have that stench

That fermented stench to it

Rollin with the yolk here

Here is the yolk

That has a fermented slight stench to it

Sulphur-y

And the next thing you gotta try are the hot oil wontons and dan dan noodles

At the place that made me decide I was going to move to Sichuan

The flavour here is otherworldly

This is it

I got one more coming

Classic sichuan snack food here

I’m on the street side in Chengdu

I got dan dan noodles

With some ground pork

And some yacai mixed in there

BOOM

Look at this

All that chili oil on the bottom

It’s creamy

This one right here

Is the reason why I moved here

This one dish

This hongyouchaoshou

Look at that chili oil on the bottom

See that?

It’s a slight coating

But this one is so good

Because it’s a little sweet

This is a liangfen

So it’s a rice starch

And this is mixed with vinegar and chilies

So it’s a little sour

Look at that

I have so many dishes here

Huangliangfen

Mung bean jelly

In that chili oil

Everything is in chili oil here

You get used to it

It’s really nice

And a zhengdan

This over here is zhengdan

Like a steamed egg covered in ground pork

And then they give you a free noodle broth

And free poacai

The first thing I’m going to start with here

Is the classic dan dan noodles

Like this

That is

Really good

It’s like slightly earthy

From that yacai

Preserved mustard greens

Spicy

It’s a slight spice

It’s actually not too spicy

And that pork is creamy

So all of this food

All of these locations are going to be

Put in my guide to you

If you come to Chengdu you gotta come to these locations

This is one of them

Next I visited my favourite maocai joint

In a backstreet that’s always packed

The concept behind maocai is simple

Your choice of ingredients are blanched quickly in boiling water

And then served in a huge metal mixing bowl of fiery red soup

With seasonings like garlic

Ginger

Black soybeans

Chili bean paste

And lots of Sichuan peppercorns

The soup is the essence

And every shop has their own version

It’s a must try when you’re in Sichuan

I’ve got the most amazing maocai here

Look at all those fermented black beans on top

It’s in this extremely spicy oil

But it’s like a fragrant and satisfying spice

Look at all those bean sprouts

Doufupi

Tofu skin

I got beef balls

I have beef

I have it all here

The best thing about Sichuan food

Theres some beef

The best thing about Sichuan food

Is that all the spices are slightly different

This one is less invading

More smooth and refreshing

That is a refreshing spice

It’s smooth

Not powerful

It’s like pleasureful

Next I visited another local must try

A sandwich version guokui

A crispy baked bread pocket stuffed with pork or beef

And a spicy mix of shredded carrots

Cucumbers and bean sprouts

You can also get the jelly noodle version

It’s like a jelly noodle sandwich

Crispy bread

Freshly baked over coals

Oh my

That is too good to even speak

The jelly noodles are cold

And this bread is so fresh

I mean look right here beside me

It’s being made right beside me

There is not a lineup

I got so lucky today

This place always has a huge lineup

Look at that!

It’s like spicy

And a little sour because there is vinegar

Fresh chilies

Its a little smoky

Oh yeah

Hit me baby

So next up is a Chengdu specialty

I’m saving the last for the last

Rabbit head

This is insane

It’s hot

Get the glove on

I got it backwards

It’s really hot

Look at that

You gotta break it

That is really nasty looking

Ok I’m just going to go right for the cheek meat

Thats the soft stuff

Let’s try it out

There’s like so much meat on there

It is kind of nasty looking at it

But the flavour is not bad

It’s super tender

I’m not a huge fan to be honest

But there it is

That’s a chengdu specialty