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

#SahodItaasPresyoIbaba Economics' Understanding of How Gasoline Prices Work

International State College of the Philippines Today is Flor Contempacion Day , and rallies are expected. However, whether it's Flor's death anniversary or not, rallies are expected for the wrongest of reasons. I would like to address this photo from the International State College of the Philippines' Facebook page. The demands here are rather clunky and stupid. We have the following demands that would naturally clash with each other, such as: No to the oil deregulation law while demanding lower oil prices. This is simply ignoring the basic fundamentals of economics, namely the law of supply and demand . They say that oil companies are greedy for gain. These rallyists probably don't really understand the difference between revenues and profits . Let's understand the Oil Deregulation Law  The Oil Deregulation Law, or the Republic Act No. 8479 , passed on February 10, 1998, under the late Fidel Valdez Ramos. Here's how the liberalization works: CHAPTER II  LIBERAL...
Read more

"Will #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba Economics Lower Philippine Gas Prices?

Inquirer Gasoline prices have increased again, haven't they?  A few days ago, I wrote  why #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba's view of gas prices is questionable . Today, I feel like writing this after several complaints on Facebook. I would like to create a follow-up post. People are complaining too much without understanding the real reason why some countries have lower prices of gasoline. Real talk. We need to talk about economic policies,  and  of course, please do a study on supply-demand analysis  on supply chain management . Let's examine the complaints made by Bulatlat Bulatlat Here's a chart from Bulatlat that compares the increase in prices of gasoline between the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia. It's always problematic when people ignore simple economics. It's funny, but Bulatlat mentions this on their website: Note also how expensive our diesel and gasoline products are compared to those of our ASEAN neighbors. The estimated common price today of diesel in...
Read more

The Good Old Days when Gasoline was Cheaper Under the Late Noynoy Aquino

Millennials' Voice I would like to clarify first and foremost that this post isn't an attempt to say that the late Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III's legacy was all bad. Some good things happened. However, let me be clear that it's stupid to say, " We don't need economic cha-cha because of the late Noynoy. " However, let me clear that I decided to write this because of a Facebook post called Millennials' Voice , which wrote this: Did you know that during President Noynoy Aquino's time, the price of oil in the world market was high, between $100 and $110 per barrel. But even with those high prices, gasoline and diesel at local pumps in the country were still relatively affordable.  Under President Duterte, world oil prices went up and down, from a low of $41 to a high of $101 per barrel. The big jump to $101 in 2022 happened because of the war between Russia and Ukraine.   Now, under the current president, world oil prices have gone up again to around $...
Read more

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