Ever heard this Chinese expression..?
一菜一味，百菜百味 yī cài yī wèi， bǎi cài bǎi wèi
lit. One dish, one flavour. One hundred dishes, one hundred flavours.
It’s used to describe one of the “8 great regional Chinese cuisines":
川菜 chuān cài (Sichuan cuisine)
As you may already know…
川菜 chuān cài has a reputation for it’s incredible variety, and is particularly famous for its hot, spicy and numbing flavours.
A good example of this is 麻辣烫 má là tàng (“numbing & spicy soup/hot pot”)...
"麻辣烫 má là tàng" broth
… and in the video below I chat with the owner of a small streetside 麻辣烫 má là tàng restaurant in Chengdu.
Press play to practice your listening ability and pick up some common words and phrases used to talk about food and flavours in Mandarin.
BONUS: Download MP3 + PDF to Review This Lesson Anytime
Hungry for more Chinese food interviews in Mandarin? Check out one of these, videos: How to Order Street Barbecue in Chinese, A 90 Sec Chat with a Cantonese Restaurant Manager, Mandarin Chinese Street Interviews: “Is there anything you don’t eat?”
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