Apart from being the panda’s hometown, Chengdu is also famous for it’s Sichuan cuisine, which is, believe me guys …very tasty ! Sentences like “不要辣”  （not spicy) will be part of your daily vocabulary during your first week. Indeed, Sichuanese food is known as the most spicy food in China, but it is still amazing, and you’re gonna (hopefully) get used to it.
Hot Pot 火锅 is one of the most famous dishes. You can definitely not go to Chengdu without discovering Hotpot. This involves simmering meat, vegetables, mushrooms and so on in a pot, including Sichuan pepper.

The spicy peanut & chicken 宫保鸡丁, cooked with Sichuan peppercorns and chilli peppers is the classic dish of the area.

Chen Mapo Tofu :It is a popular sichuanese dish,  a combination of tofu set in a spicy chilli and bean based sauce. This dish is so popular due to a fact that the tofu was cooked by a chef with pockmarks on her face, known as “mapo” in Sichuan dialect.

You also have to try the dandan noodles (担担面), which consists of a spicy sauce, pork and Sichuan pepper and scallions served over noodles.

In Chengdu you can eat in restaurants as well as try street food (but I wouldn’t recommend going to places where the only client is yourself guys). The Hui ethnic is also important in Chengdu, and you can try their restaurants which are very good as well

If you don’t like spicy food, you also have many other restaurants which serve typical meals from other Chinese areas. Or you have Food Republic in the IFS, which I highly recommend. In one restaurant you can find more than 15 different specialities from other provinces.

Useful sentences/words at the restaurant :

Not spicy :要不辣的

I’d like beef noodles : 我想要牛肉面

May I have some tea : 想要茶水

Fried noodles/noodles with soup : 炒面 /汤面

If you would like to experience the taste of Chengdu, start a new adventure now!