 And the Yen Tai people always say the Qingdao people are cocky though. I'm from Qingdao. Oh, you're from Qingdao? Is that true? That's true. Very confident. Do you think this dish, even this one, will get more popular in Qingdao? It's probably already super popular. There are so many different types of Chinese food. We like to try them. Eight different types traditionally. Fourteen types in modern days. However, there is one for Chinese millennials that reigns supreme. Sichuan food. It is the most popular and trendiest style of Chinese food currently across the world everywhere from Australia, Canada, America, even South Korea. Why is Sichuan food so popular? To answer this question, we, one, have to eat a lot of Sichuan food. And two, we got to talk to people who are involved in the way, people who are owning restaurants and serving Sichuan-ized food. Not all of them are from Sichuan. Guys, if you guys are excited about this video, hit that like button, click subscribe, and turn on your notifications. Andrew, is this the Sichuan-ification of everything? It could be, but we got to find out. Andrew, we have arrived at Tao's Kitchen. In my opinion, the hottest must-go-to underground spot in the 626 right now. Tao's Kitchen, very hard to find on Yelp, and their style of chicken is based off of the Sichuan dish Kousui Ji, which we have covered on our channel, the Mouthwater Chicken. But their version is from Qingdao, which is up north. They are actually one of the only Chinese dishes that I've noticed recently that uses a lot of line. We got to go into Tao's Kitchen, you guys got to see for yourself. We got to get the boneless chicken feet. Morning. We got to get the boneless chicken feet. Let's get it. We are looking at two versions of Qingdao Malaji. We have the Tang Jiao flavor, and this is the Shang La, which is almost more similar to a Kousui Ji. And not only that Andrew, you have the unboned chicken feet, the boneless chicken feet. And then here you have the Tang Jiao flavor of the chicken feet. They go through a very laborious process. First up, the Shang La Ji. Shang La means fragrant hot. And this is their own version of garlic chili oil. So that's why she said I'm not really tripping, because other people, they're not going to put the work in to make the sauces like me. It is spicy, but it's actually not overwhelming. There is that mala numbing sensation, but man, it's good. That piece is extra good. You know why? Because it's a dark meat piece. You've got a lot of skin, you've got a lot of fat, and you're going to eat around the bone. This dish is a five out of five. Our second flavor of chicken here, Tang Jiao Ji, AKA Sichuan peppercorn flavor. Like, she threw in peppers, garlic, fresh chilies, and then on top of that, she just squeezed in all those limes. With the inclusion of lime and the ratios between the green onion and the cilantro to essentially make a flavor that to me is unappealing to feel very bright and fresh. David, between the two, which one is your favorite? Shang La Ji or Tang Jiao? Which one is your favorite, bro? I'm still going with my original love, the Shang La Ji. She said all girls like the Shang La, and guys get the Tang Jiao, but... You're doing it for the ladies! Let's try the chicken feet. Shang La flavor. It's different than the skin of a chicken because it's less fatty and it's got more texture. It's almost more similar to enjoying the tendon pieces and southern food. Here we have the foreshadow. This is kind of like the carb that you can get here. Look how flaky this thing is. David, let's go try this Tang Jiao flavor of the chicken feet. For chicken feet, I'm going Tang Jiao all the way. Okay, okay. I can rock with you on that. The chicken feet here, Tang Jiao flavor is actually better. As you can see, a lot of young people like it. Like they know. You know what I mean? I haven't necessarily seen somebody who was like 80 in here. Is that the tang bro? Yeah. All right, John, try it, man. Chicken feet. Deboned. Oh, I've never even had that feeling before because like you always got to take it one bite at a time. Good. Which one? So good. Which one? Tong Jiao, man. On this day, it's so hot already. Man, just... I would eat the entire thing if I could right now. We got to go to the next place. This Tang cuisine is so popular nowadays. I think there is... Yeah, like some people might associate Chinese food with more and more like Sichuan cuisine. So what's the future? Do you think Sichuan food is just going to take over China? Like people are going to think it's just only Sichuan food when they think of Chinese food? It's definitely become a more popular trend. You see a lot of these like Malagu, these like hot pods are spicy. Like even no matter where you are, you'll always find something that's similar and even authentic. Like you don't have to be in Sichuan to have authentic Sichuan cuisine. Do you guys personally think the spiciness is a little bit overrated right now? Like people kind of just into it for the feeling? Yeah, I mean, I can't do it. I can't do the mala. So like I think it's overrated, but I mean, every teacher of you know. I think it's great. Like honestly, I think it's just... It's something that makes you more addicted to Chinese food. Because sometimes with other types of Chinese food, you kind of get sick of it after a while. Because of like the oil and the salt. But spiciness kind of makes it more acceptable to eat like on a daily basis. We're talking about the Sichuan takeover of modern Chinese cuisine. Let's go straight to Sichuan, Tuchandu, Hibiscus tree. And they're serving essentially like mini Chuan Chuan pots. Everybody knows mala hot pot. Essentially they cook it in that same mala pot in the back. And then they put it in individual servings for you in a bowl and serve it to you there. So it's this new style in China that is kind of skipping a step. Alright, and we are in Hibiscus tree and this is a cold skewer. So these are all the same things that you would actually get in a hot Chuan Chuan. Except it's just cold, so let's try it. I was looking at the broccoli. Yeah, I was actually looking at the potato. It is spicy, but not as spicy as you think. This is actually really good. Alright, here we got the gridded tofu pee. This is the more tough tofu skins. Really easy to eat, wow. It looks spicy, but you can just devour these. What else are you picking, man? So I saw some wood ears, put some potato slices. I think I would more go for the beef. John, let's go ahead and let's see where you're at, bro. I ain't going for any average joke here. We're going to only try two. Doing this for you. You should try out new things in life and this is an example of that right here. It's good. Now let's go with the marinated beef. Marinated beef, yeah. A lot of flavors going on. You know that fermented black bean. You have the garlic, the fresh chilies. My mouth is, good thing I have this yogurt drink. Alright, moving on to the number two dish and they get to pick a bunch of different things. It's got a little bit thicker oil. In a way, versus a hot pot, it packs a much harder punch. As far as just spicy flavor, if this is what you like, almost that's one of the best things you can get. And when I saw the Bing Fun, I'm a Bing Fun fanatic. So you have chopped Hawthorne flakes right there, aka Haw Flakes. Okay, you have dried raisins right there and then you have chopped peanuts. We eat it like that, yeah. Every spot we go to we're looking for the five out of five for me personally. I'm going with the Bing Fun here. I think that if you're looking for a Chinese food that gives you like some crazy sensation, obviously Sichuan food is the way to go. It's very, like that girl was saying, addictive. So it just kind of makes you want to eat more. We have arrived at DX Labs. DX stands for Dong Xi, so it's the first D and then the X. I have never seen anything that's more arch-bazzling. It's kind of cool. You were born in Chengdu? Yeah. Why do you think that it seems like people from Sichuan have like a little bit more like free thinking? I've actually went back there in 2017 for the first time in like 10, 15 years and it was like way different than what I expected. It was, everyone's like chill and some people know English and it's just like a totally different one. Also my grandparents, like they were chill with tattoo and my grandma actually took me for my first tattoo. So kind of different than another part of China. So we're going to get back there, see how you guys are making some of you guys's unique food. So let's check it out. Are you guys speaking Mandarin or Chengdu Hua back here? She speaks Chengdu and I know a little bit so I kind of just like go with it. All the flavors in the baozi is all natural. So all the greens are spinach, yellow or carrots. Okay, so this is not artificial coloring? No, they're all natural. So the greens is greens. The orange is carrots. How do you guys get the blue? The blue one is actually from the butterfly flower pea. It's something new. And people actually move here from Chengdu who grew up in China and think it's also cool as well because they taste the authentic flavor but with like a brand new look or food they've never had before. We've arrived at DX Labs, Andrew. This is the Leaf Wrap Savage Mochi. A pork mochi wrapped in a leaf. It's that classic pork and mushroom flavor but I've never had it in like this rice mochi outer which I think is totally unique adds to the different textures that are going on in my mouth. If you guys are a fan of mochi this is the most savory mochi I've ever had. Way more traditional though. And now we have their baozi. DX baozi. You know, I can't say that I taste the color of the bun but does it make it more interesting to eat? I would say yeah. The steamed baozi is like such a traditional old recipe and eating all over that. It's not bad to mix it up and kind of add a new look to it. Alright, this is a very famous Chengdu street food. It's called Zha to Rou Tiao. So it's just, I mean it's a fried pork strip. Mentally, I'm back in Chengdu. Really juicy and this really kicks it up a notch and this dried chili is pretty important. You don't see fried pork that often in Chinese food but that's a good one. You have got a Liang Fen. So if you guys know this is a pretty much a thick translucent yam noodle. Really savory. Almost looks like the Bing Fun but with the more, you know, my life flavor. I love that they really focus on street foods here. Here we got the Bing Bing chicken. Not nearly as spicy as we've been. Really juicy. I like that a lot. It's interesting about this eater but my mouth doesn't feel it but my nose feels it. Eating all the Sichuan dishes one after another. It starts to get to you because it's just a lot of chili oil. You know, I didn't anticipate that we were gonna go to three Sichuan places in a row. Here's the devil one ton and now this one ton is supposed to be super spicy. I'm trying to debate how much of this chili I actually want on my one ton. Oh my goodness. Dave, you're going in. I'm not scared. Oh, not hot. Not hot. Dude, do you see this chili? I already know I'm gonna feel that later. This chili oil is nothing compared to this fresh chili. If you're an adventurous one and you think you can take hot food, come to DX Lab and try these devil one ton. Alright guys, here's their take on Don Don Man. I'm interested to see how it's different. Heavy garlic oil flavor. More lighter on the peanut flavor. Alright, they're the favorite one. Oh man. There is a very addictive quality of this Don Don Man. Yeah. Surprisingly, it's still kind of sweet. So, just the fact that it's a hybrid between what I imagine is a Don Don Man, a Yopua Man, and more sugary. I'm going with the Don Don Man. This is a great segue into Sichuan food. You can really see the influence from the younger generation getting to lab and experiment. A lot of people have been taking good. They started to accepting spicy food. They're willing to try something new. Chengdu is more going internationalized past like 10 years. That's probably like why it's getting popular here. What's so addictive about the spiciness? I think just overall like different the combo of like all the spices, like garlic and other like ingredients and just make it like a little different than like most spicy food you've heard here. It's like not just straight up spicy. It's more like a savory spicy that make you want to just eat through. This kind of pain some people will like it so they say it's getting spicier and spicier. And the spiciness will make you go wild. When you eat spicy food, you'll sweat. You'll sweat when you come to China you'll get poisoned. China has eight major dishes. Sichuan food is a representative of spicy food but it can't represent all the dishes. Spicy food is great for your house. It gave it to end off our Sichuan journey. It is very very right that we have Malatang. The biggest difference is you can drink this broth. I think this is one of the reasons why Sichuan food in general is so popular because when you eat something Malatang it like wakes you up. Not only restaurants in China but like even restaurants in New York a lot of them are that are opening have some Sichuan influence. And it's kind of addictive. It is addictive. Between the spicy and the cold and the cooling effect you're switching back and forth you cannot be half asleep eating this food. So this is a crayfish over rice and as you can see the crayfish is very plump. I like this as a great switch up because it's not that spicy. It's more sweet. It has a healthy amount of zucchinis and peppers. Not so much a fried rice because there is no frying but sort of like Chinese jambalaya. This crawfish pepper fried rice is a new thing. This is Malashangua which is more from Chongqing. He actually boiled this and then he stir fried it later. A lot of people get this to go because it holds up a lot better as a to-go item than the Malatang. So this is actually the pot that I chose the ingredients for. The ramen and the beef the ramen was a good pick for this. Way more fragrant and less oily than dry hot pot. It is a little bit easier to eat than even the Malatang. I'm taking the Malashangua over the Malatang for me. But we have one last thing to eat on our Sichuan extravaganza. We have a ultra spicy chicken steak here. It has a little bit of that cumin season that you might get from a young Rochua. A lot of things can be fit into the Sichuan world by just making it ultra spicy. Hey man, fried chicken is hard to beat. David, as the many different Sichuan dishes and spices and oils are mixing in our stomachs right now, a lot of thoughts are coming to mind. I think for me the thing that I've taken away is that it really is addicting. And I think one thing I realized is that a lot of people want to open up Sichuan restaurants. One, because the food is good and they enjoy it themselves. But two, also the other people who enjoy it might be maybe of the younger generation. So in a way, you're opening a younger spot. So it's going to be a little bit more fun for you if you're a young person. Put a little bit of that mala on your life. Now you guys let us know in the comments below if you like how Sichuan food is so popular or maybe some people out there still think it's overrated. Make sure you like, subscribe, turn on your notifications. And until next time, we out. Peace. Woo, y'all did the double one ton is hot. You said it started as a challenge.