🇨🇳 Chengdu

Chengdu's food

Chengdu is a city of food and living opened at the centre of the Sichuan basin. Speaking of Sichuan cooking, one cannot omit the flower pepper — the "numbing" that tingles the tongue, joined with the "heat" of chili into "mala," the backbone of this land's taste. Yet Chengdu's heat is not as fierce as neighbouring Chongqing's, leaning to a finer path that savours fragrance and numbness. Its other face is "sweet." Brown-sugar sweets — sandapao, tangyou guozi, bingfen — fill the gaps between spicy dishes and rest the mouth. The alternation of mala and sweet, and the "slow life" spent idling in teahouses — these two make the air of Chengdu's food.

Starting from three areas

Here, Chengdu starts from three areas of differing character. Jinli is the old-street snack lane beside the Wuhou Shrine — sandapao, tangyou guozi, danhonggao, bobo ji — an entrance to a food walk where you see all of Chengdu's sweets and light bites at once. Kuanzhai is a street of teahouses and old names where a Qing-era district survives; sip a bowl of gaiwan tea and trace the tastes of famous houses born in Chengdu and spread nationwide — Long Chaoshou, Zhong dumplings, Chen mapo tofu. And Yulin is a local quarter away from the tourist spots, where chuanchuan, hotpot and the rabbit head and offal noodles of hole-in-the-wall diners run late into the night in unadorned shops. All three are joined by metro.

How to read Chengdu's food

The key to reading Chengdu's food is the movement between "mala" and "sweet." After a spicy dish, cool the mouth with sweet bingfen or sandapao — this repetition is the knack of walking Chengdu long. The heat can often be adjusted at the shop, so saying "mild" or "no heat" lets you enjoy without strain. Another thing to hold on to is the difference between hotpot and skewers: hotpot simmers the ingredients round a pot, while chuanchuan puts those ingredients on sticks, eaten by the stick in an easy form. For a first hotpot, a split "mandarin-duck" pot with a spicy and a non-spicy side is safest. And do not forget the teahouse — order one bowl of gaiwan tea and, with the water topped up, spend a whole afternoon. Eat, go numb, cool with sweetness, rest with tea. This give-and-take is how to walk Chengdu.

Before you go

Getting around Chengdu, the metro is convenient, and Jinli, Kuanzhai and Yulin are all close to a station. Payment is mainly by QR code, usable at many stalls and small canteens, but a little cash is reassuring just in case. Those uneasy about heat can say "mild" or "no heat" and most shops will adjust; sweet shops are plentiful too, so even the heat-shy can fully enjoy it. Popular hotpot and snack shops crowd on weekends and at night, and you may wait — go off-peak or early. The signature rabbit head and sandapao may surprise you to look at, but try one first. From Jinli, Kuanzhai and Yulin, walk Chengdu's food, moving between numbing heat and sweetness, each tied to its shop.