Chengdu is known for its food, actually, it is known for its spicy food. Chengdu is not just any food city, it is a UNESCO city of gastronomy. There is no better way for a family of Westerners to learn about the food than to do a Chengdu Food Tour and eat some Sichuan food.
We organised to meet our guide Alina at the Wenshan Monastery subway stop at 4.30pm. After initial greetings and some short history about Chengdu, China we were off to our first taste of Sichuan food. Straight from the start Alina was warm, extremely knowledgeable and paid attention to the kid’s questions, including them in all of the conversations.
Chengdu Menu Decoder
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| Skewers of meat or vegetables cooked in a spicy, oily hotpot broth | 串串香 | chuànchuànxiāng |
| Husband and wife lung slices | 夫妻肺片 | fūqī fèipiàn |
| Wonton served in a sweet chili oil | 红油抄手 | hóngyóu chāoshǒu |
| Cold slices of mung bean jelly in a spicy vinaigrette sauce | 凉粉 | liángfěn |
| Dandan noodles | 担担面 | dàndan miàn |
| Pockmarked grandma's tofu | 麻婆豆腐 | mápó dòufu |
| Dry-fried green beans | 干煸四季豆 | gānbiān sìjìdòu |
| Boiled fish in a spicy chili-oil sauce | 水煮鱼 | shuǐzhǔ yú |
| Twice-cooked pork | 回锅肉 | huíguō ròu |
| Kung pao chicken | 宫保鸡丁 | gōngbào jīdīng |
| Fish fragrant pork | 鱼香肉丝 | yúxiāng ròusī |
Chengdu Street Food 成都小吃 (Chéngdū xiǎochī)
Don’t miss these popular street foods when you’re in Chengdu.
Suān là fěn 酸辣粉
Liáng fěn 凉粉 Jelly Noodle (Yellow and/or White)
Tián shuǐ miàn (甜水面) Sweet Water Noodles
Chuàn chuàn xiāng 串串香 Skewers
Hóng yóu chāo shǒu 红油抄手 Wontons in Red Oil
Dān dān miàn 担担面 Dan Dan Noodles
Guō kuī 锅盔 Meat Pie
Chòudòufu 臭豆腐 Stinky Tofu
Sān Dàpào 三大炮 3 big cannons
Gěn zhēng ròu 粉蒸肉 Flour Steamed Meat
Some of the best Chengdu street food by walking around the city and sampling from a variety of vendors. There are also plenty of vendors selling specialities that aren’t specific to Sichuan, so be adventures and don’t limit yourself. Some other street foods to look for when in season: táng chǎo lì zi 糖炒栗子 sugar roasted chestnuts, gānzhè zhī 甘蔗汁 sugar cane drink.
Sichuan Food in Chengdu 四川菜 (Sìchuān cài)
There’s more than street food in Chengdu. Sichuan has an incredible array of dishes that will tantalize your tastebuds. These are some of our favorite Sichuan dishes found in Chengdu.
Huǒ guō 火锅 Hot Pot
Kǎo yú 烤鱼 Grilled Fish
Huí guō ròu 回鍋肉 Twice Cooked Pork
Má pó dòu fǔ 麻婆豆腐 “Pockmark” Tofu
Shuǐ zhǔ yú 水煮鱼 Water Boiled Fish
Tips for Eating in Chengdu
Order dishes without MSG, sugar, chili, meat, etc… Dishes such as dan dan mian are made to order where each ingredient is spooned into a bowl. Joe and I often ordered our dishes without MSG and sugar which each restaurant was able to accommodate.
Ask for vegetarian options Let the wait staff know you want to eat vegetarian by telling them 1) 我吃素 wǒ chī sù which translates to “I eat vegetarian” or 2) 我不吃肉 wǒ bù chī ròu which translates to “I don’t eat meat.” I was able to find many vegetarian options in Chengdu using those two phrases.
Local street food areas Jianshe Alley, Chenghua Qu, Chengdu Shi, Sichuan Sheng.
Try dishes that aren’t Chengdu specialties You can find other types of cruise from all over China in Chengdu. One of our favorite restaurants was a hand pulled noodle shop lán zhōu lā miàn 兰州拉面 down the street from our apartment through AirBNB.
Bonus Tip: Use the subway to get around Chengdu. It’s easy to use and rail stations are conveniently located throughout the city.
Little did stop number 1 was only 50 meters from the metro exit. A little mum and dad hole in the wall style shop selling the most amazing baked bread pocket. The three varieties came filled with sliced beef, bamboo or gelatin noodle. They were then filled with julienned veggies and a sauce of chilli oil, garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorn and spices.
The sauce was very tasty. It had a great balance of taste and spice, just make sure you lean forward when you are eating it so you don’t drop it on yourself. This was a great start to the tour with lots of laughing as Alina was constantly having to remind us to lean forward all the time. This Chengdu snack was amazing.
We wandered down the streets with Alina pointing out foods and showing us snacks that locals eat. We headed into the Wenshu Monastery area for our next meal. We arrived at Zhang Lao Er Liang Fen to be greeted by what can only be described as chaos, with people everywhere.
There were staff darting in and out and around tables, people arriving and leaving all at once. Alina explained it is the sort of place you grab a seat anywhere quickly eat and leave since it’s so popular. It is what they call a ‘fly’ restaurant…it is a hive of activity.
We had sweet water noodles 甜水面, and Huang Liang Fen 煮凉粉(made of sticky rice starch and covered in fermented bean paste and chilli oil). The thick noodles and dark tar-like sauce made an amazing combination as you slurped your way through a bowl of goodness. For the Chinese in Sichuan, it is not just about the taste it is about the texture of the food as well.
Alina leads us to the nearby Wenshu Monastery, where there is one the nicest and busiest tea houses in Chengdu. The Tea House culture is very important to people in Chengdu. It is somewhere to relax and chat, it’s somewhere to eat and drink and it’s somewhere to continue with the traditions of their past.
On the way to our next destination, we stopped off at a local bakery that sold an array of biscuits, cakes and sweets. Alina said it is a must we try these cookies that were flavoured with the Sichuan peppercorn. The taste was both strange and engaging, the biscuit crumbled and melted in your mouth like a Yoyo biscuit. It was also here that Alina encouraged the girls to practice their Chinese by ordering. They both did very well.
The market gave us a chance to see and taste the famous peppercorn that makes the Sichuan food what it is. If you put a peppercorn between your teeth and just put some pressure on it (not crush it) you will get the taste and not the burn. Just one peppercorn and you could feel the numbing effect this peppercorn has.
In the market, we sampled the Chinese version of the spring roll. The Vietnamese roll is the most famous and they use rice paper while the Chinese use a flour-based wrapper for their version. It is stuffed full of local vegetables drizzled with a Sichuan sauce and I can assure you these things packed a big taste.
By this time we were pretty full but Alina told us it was time for the main meal so we headed to the Ming Ting restaurant. This is the type of place you fill the lazy susan with dishes and go for your life. It seemed as fast as Alina was ordering, another dish would appear on the table
We had an amazing array of dishes including
Fish soup
Chinese Cucumber
Prawns with noodles
Rice
Fried eggplant dish
Mixed Chinese vegetables
Sugar Corn
Morning Glory
We washed this down a local beer for us adults while the kids had a sprite. Alina was one of the best guides we have ever had on any of our food tours. Chengdu food tours sure know how to conduct a tour, this adventure went for around 4 hours and in the end, we had to throw the towel in and walk away from the food as we were just so full.