Szechuan Flavor brings dishes from one of the world's most famous culinary cities to Regina - Action News
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Szechuan Flavor brings dishes from one of the world's most famous culinary cities to Regina

Rui Yang is from Chengdu, the cradle of Sichuan cuisine in China. In 2021, he took over Szechuan Flavor in Regina and is committed to serving authentic Sichuan dishes.

Local foodie eats his way through Regina to share his take on whats good

A Chinese man in an apron holds up a bowl of food in a homey-looking restaurant. Two other dishes are on the table in front of him.
Rui Yang took over Szechuan Flavor 1640 Albert St. in Regina in 2021. He's a one-man show, running the entire business himself. (Dwight Lugay)

Rui Yang is on a mission "to carry on the culture of my hometown."

That hometown is one of the world's most famous culinary cities: Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province of China. Designated a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2011, Chengdu is the cradle of Sichuan cuisine, known the world over for its distinctive flavours and cooking techniques.

Yang operates Szechuan Flavor all by himself. He preps all of the ingredients, he steers the fiery wok, and delivers hot tea to customers with a smile. He even wipes down tables.

Seeing Yang in the kitchen is like watching a cooking show. He preps all of the ingredients in small dishes on the countertop, ready to add them to the hot wok one at a time.

"Three things of importance in Sichuan cooking," Yang tells me through a translator, "it must look good, it must smell good, and it must taste good."

I can confirm all are true of Yang's cooking.

Three dishes sit on a table. Each different, they have varied orangey broth bases and are topped with meat, fish, and chopped up vegetables.
Rui Yang prepared these dishes, clockwise from left: Sichuan mashed potatoes with pork gravy; Yuxian ('in the style of fish') chicken; Chinese hot pepper basa fish. (Dwight Lugay)

The Sichuan region is known for styles of cooking likethe hot pot and leng dan bei (street food), andtechniques like stir-frying, steaming and braising.

But the standout characteristics of Sichuan food are its fragrance and flavour. As Yang cooked for us, pungent hits of garlic, ginger, floral and citrusy Sichuan peppers, and hot chili peppers filled the kitchen.

Central to Sichuan cooking is the fermented broad bean chili paste. Yang uses the Pixian paste from the Pidu District of Chengdu, which he calls the "soul of all Sichuan food."

A Chinese man wearing an apron points to the label of a jar of red liquid he is holding in a commerical kitchen.
Rui Yang holds up a jar of Pixian paste, a fermented broad bean chili paste central to Sichuan food. (Dwight Lugay)

Sichuan food is the sum of many parts. Dishes are layered and complex.

By contrast, Yang is perplexed by Western dishes like steak. The steak stands alone, next to a baked potato and some salad.

"The flavours are not related; they are separate," he says. "But the Chinese put all things together. The combination [is critical]."

A hand tops a dish of white chunks of fish and red hot peppers with slivers of carrots and green onions.
In this dish, Yang marinates basa fish in onion and ginger water. The fish is then poached slowly in pork bone broth. It rests on a bed of lightly cooked bean sprouts and asparagus lettuce. The dish is garnished with chili oil, minced garlic, birds eye chili and thinly sliced green onion and carrots blanched in hot oil. The Sichuan peppercorns cause a phenomenon called paraesthesia: your tongue tingles and almost goes numb while eating. In Mandarin, this is called 'm.' (Dwight Lugay)

Yang learned to cook at home. While studying economics and accounting in university, he would go home for the summer and cook for the entire family while his parents worked. It became his passion.

"There is a tradition in Chengdu that men should be involved in housework," says Yang, "and also every man should have some kind of favourite dishes that he is good at."

Eventually, he travelled around China, and whenever he ate something he liked, he would ask the chef about the technique and ingredients behind the dish.

"They were so friendly," he recalls.

When Yang moved to Regina in 2019, he saw a gap in the dining scene for Sichuan food. He visited various Chinese restaurants that offered Sichuan dishes modified to cater to a Western palate, which solidified his resolve to offer authentic cuisine from his hometown.

A Chinese man in an apron sits at a table in a restaurant with filled dishes displayed before him.
Rui Yang, the owner of Szechuan Flavor, learned to cook at home. Eventually, he travelled around China, and whenever he ate something he liked, he would ask the chef about the technique and ingredients behind the dish. (Dwight Lugay)

In March 2021, he took over Szechuan Flavor when its previous owners moved to Calgary.

Tucked next to Dancer's Den at 1640 Albert St., it has kept a low profile while attracting the attention of Chinese clientele and people who have visited the country and are looking for authentic Sichuan cuisine. Yang says he's impressed that many of those non-Chinese customers are familiar with the dishes on the menu, like hui guo rou (twice-cooked pork) and mapo tofu.

A ladle stirs a fiery orange mixture of sliced chicken and spices in a wok.
Yuxian chicken means 'in the style of fish.' The fermented bean paste is added to a hot wok, followed by minced ginger and garlic. Yang uses thinly-sliced chicken breast in place of the traditional pork to make the dish healthier. Carrots, asparagus lettuce, wood ear mushrooms, a touch of sugar and some vinegar are thrown in as well. (Dwight Lugay)

Yang doesn't have any Western Chinese food dishes on the menu and vows not to stray. He even keeps his personal touches on dishes to a minimum.

"I want to follow strictly the characteristics of Sichuan Chinese dishes," he says. "Every dish has a special character. If you try to move to change the character What you call Sichuan dishes is not Sichuan dishes anymore."

The best compliment you can give Yang, he says, is to tell him his food is legit Sichuan.

"I'm really pleased when I can make delicious food from my hometown to introduce to Canadians in Regina and get people's positive feedback."

Thank you to Yuan Ren for interpretation services.

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