Skip to main content

My First Taste of Sichuan at Yang Hero IT Park

I was doing some random historical study. One of the many things I recalled from Asian history class was the Chinese Communist Party in Sichuan. It's an interesting piece of historical detail that Mao Zedong (and other Chinese communists) were avid lovers of spicy food. Yang Hero had its first branch in Gaisano Tabunok. It opened a branch in IT Park last May 25, 2023.

The menus had Chinese translations. The establishment has made me realize the importance of learning Mandarin. True, I could order their food without speaking Mandarin. However, I still feel that the increasing number of Chinese businesses left and right would mean, "You may need to learn some Mandarin now to connect with more people in the world."

For a bit of background, here's what I gathered from Sun Star Cebu:

Evanmarie Mendoza, social media specialist at Yang Hero, said: “The Chinese barbecue is also a must-try for foodies as it differs from the regular ones that we typically have here in the Philippines. Marinated with a special sauce, this dish is cooked in a special way where the flavors are truly unique. But that’s not all, our head chef from Sichuan is also exploring adding more menu items to showcase more of the authentic Sichuan cuisine that is worth trying out soon.”

She also explained the meaning behind the restaurant’s name, “Yang Hero,” and expounded on the brand’s journey: “The word ‘Yang’ is the last name of one of the business owners. They started the business in the hopes of bringing Sichuan cuisine and culture to the Filipinos, especially with the help of Mr. Yang’s friends who are from Sichuan.”

According to Mendoza, the language barrier was one of the biggest challenges the owners of Yang Hero had to face: “They were quite worried at first about how the Cebuano market would perceive this new concept. Despite that it was a bold move to position themselves beside established restaurants, the owners were still hopeful with the high volume of traffic that IT Park offers.”

But the owners would eventually cross this language and culture barrier by asking their Filipino friends to help tailor the dish to better suit the Filipino taste buds: “There were times when they would let their Filipino friends sample the dishes to make sure they would suit the Filipino taste because they really are passionate about sharing their culture and cuisine with the Filipinos in a way that doesn’t come off as something intimidating.”


My first experience was this smoked bacon rice bowl. Some people I talked with were afraid that it'd become too spicy. They had a special Sichuan sauce. I also tried their Wang Lao Ji tea (Wong Lau Kat in Cantonese) which is a special blended herbal tea. I wanted to try Malatang which would be around PHP 300.00 (round-off price) but it's rather huge. I read how Mao enjoyed Sichuan braised pork. I could just assume that Mao probably also enjoyed this dish. I dubbed it the Chairman Mao Rice Bowl. I wanted to try eating like Mao himself. I was expecting to try Sichuan-style humba which they didn't serve. The last time I went, the place didn't accept credit cards. Fortunately, I was able to withdraw cash after the COVID-19 pandemic. There are other stuff I want to try at Yang Hero such as the barbecue, beef brisket, and their soup. It's all because the smoked bacon rice bowl gave me a good impression

I'd recommend trying this restaurant when you can. This is just the beginning of my journey. I might review some of their food items when I get to. 

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Tragic Windfall of the Late Flor Contemplacion's Family

PEH.ph Last year, I wrote an article talking about Flor Contemplacion crybabies spreading fake news for 30 years . I noticed that the movie could be watched for free on YouTube (which is one hour and 52 minutes long), and the one that you had to pay for via rent or personal soft copy ( which is two hours and two minutes long). I was looking into the film and realized the "for free" version lacks the exaggerated water dunking and electrocution torture scene, which I believe is available, which is a ten-minute difference. I remember seeing the old version where Flor was tortured by Singaporean police via water dunking and electrocution, to get an answer out of her. The famous line by the late Nora Aunor was, "I did not kill anybody!" It's 31 years, and I don't expect the fake news about Flor to stop just because  it's past 30. No, fake news is that hard to kill even in the digital age. It reminds me of the fate of Flor's sons , where one of them, Sandr...
Read more

Has Passing Down Hatred for Singapore (Because of Flor Contemplacion) Economically Helped the Philippines?

PEH.ph It was on March 17, 1995, when Flor Contemplacion was executed in Singapore. I've noticed that I've been addressing her as the late many times, even if the late is a statement that may be ony appropriate if the person has been recently deceased within 10 years. It's about to become 30 years since Flor was hanged in Singapore. However, generational hatred would've been passed down from 1995 up to 2025. Some people are still tagging #JusticeFor Flor. These traits may be passed down from the Batang 1990s to their children in this generation. It may also be passed down from parent to child, even if the child was born in the 2000s to 2010s. Somebody born in 2000s and beyond might even say, "Papa and mama told me about Flor Contemplacion! That's why I hate Singapore!" Talk about a child born in 2004 who's probably angry with Singapore, because his parents kept telling him about how Flor was supposedly "unjustly treated" over there.  Some tim...
Read more

It's A Myth: First World Countries Self-Industrialized and Only Opened to FDI, After They Succeeded

The Straits Times As the battle for economic charter change goes on, another lie often spread: "First world countries, first industrialized by themselves, before they opened their economy to FDI." I'm seeing it ironically on Facebook. I tell them, "If you hate foreigners so much, why don't you get out of the Internet?" Some of them give replies like, "We're not hypocrites for badmouthing FDI on Facebook. We're simply forced to use imported equipment because foreigners unfairly own the means of production (read rebuttal here )." When I ask for their sources, they give sources like people from Bayan Muna (Nation First), the League of Filipino Students, the IBON Foundation, Kabataan Partylist (Youth Partylist), the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), and maybe even the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Most of these sources (not all) are the favorite sources of those going against badly needed economic cha-cha.  I...
Read more

Why FDIs are Choosing COMMUNIST Vietnam Over DEMOCRATIC Philippines

China Daily HK Tomorrow is Ho Chi Minh's birthday. I would like to raise another FDI issue between democratic Philippines and Communist Vietnam. I remember with a certain woman I'll call Miss Clueless, to respect her privacy. Miss Clueless probably never saw a map, called FDI as Favored Duterte-China Investments, and I told her the bigger problem with the constitutional restrictions. Miss Clueless kept talking about that the late Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino III made us a tiger economy, regardless. However, I wrote that relying too much on Noynoy's economic legacy, is pretty much landing into the same fatal mistake that Nokia did . Relying on past successes is a surefire recipe for failure. As Miss Clueless blamed former president Rodrigo R. Duterte, the person still believes that people must change first before systems. I asked her, "Why are people choosing Communist Vietnam over the Philippines." The reason I heard from Miss Clueless was something...
Read more

Is Jollibee "Invading" South Korea Now as It's About to Acquire 70% of Shabu All Day?

I must confess that I find this new rather hilarious . It's because the word shabu is often associated with drugs. All the while, shabu shabu is a Korean delicacy! Well, I'm going to say that Jollibee Foods Corporation has now become a multinational buyer . Jollibee acquired 70% of Compost Coffee back in 2024 . This year, Jollibee as a multinational corporation is now acquiring Shabu All Day for PHP 5.1 billion pesos. Is Jollibee checkmating South Korea or is the Philippines conquering South Korea not just by OFWs but als through Jollibee? The answer is still no. From GMA News , we can read this article by Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas: Under the deal, Shabu All Day will be consolidated into Jollibee Foods Corp.’s (JFC) financial statements immediately upon completion of the acquisition for a total consideration equivalent to KRW127 billion. Completion of the transaction is subject to closing and financing conditions. The acquisition is expected to lead to a 2% jump in revenues, incre...
Read more