LOCAL CUISINE
Revered throughout China, Sichuan cuisine is known for its
heavily flavored dishes. The most famous dish of all is spicy
hotpot, a broth made from Sichuan peppercorns, spicy oils, and
chili peppers in which food items are cooked at the table. So
spicy is the hotpot that it will leave your mouth numb, forehead
sweating, and taste buds yearning for more.
When in Chengdu, check out Yulin Chuanchuan Xiang, a
skewer hotpot restaurant located near Sichuan University. For
RMB1.5 per skewer, you can fill yourself up on skewers
containing every kind of meat imaginable.
When you ask a Sichuanese person what their favorite local
dish is, they might respond with
huiguo-rou
, or twice-cooked
pork, a regional staple. It’s made with fatty pork belly first
simmered in a seasoned broth, then cooled, sliced, and fried with
spicy oil and vegetables.
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If you are not yet an aficionado of Chinese cuisine, then
Sichuan stir-fried dishes may change your mind. Dishes like
tudousi
(stir-fried potato strips),
hupi qingjiao
(stir-fried peppers
with vinegar), and
yuxiang-qiezi
(spicy garlic eggplant) are some
of the more famous ones.
If you visit a noodle shop, try
dandanmian
, a noodle dish
with spicy chili oil and braised meat sauce. Most noodle dishes in
Sichuan go heavy on the oil, and all of the ingredients will be
found on the bottom of the bowl, so be sure to mix it up well.
Sichuan is also a great place for tea lovers. Head to the
People’s Park for a large assortment of teahouses, all offering
excellent tea as well as typical Sichuan snacks. Tea service costs from
RMB10 and up, depending on the quality of the tea. A small packet
of tea in a teahouse can get you through an afternoon, but while you
are at it, have your ears attended to by one of the many wandering ear
cleaners who announce their presence by chiming their tools as they
pass through teahouses looking for customers. Such scenes are
becoming rarer in modern-day China, making a visit to Sichuan both
rewarding and memorable.
Chengdu is famed for its historic teahouses and spicy hotpot restaurants.
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