25 Sep 03 The food in Chengdu
I had come to Chengdu via Bangkok for a reason. While at Bangkok I had generously indulged in the green curry and the red curry. People had warned me about the fiery Sichuan Huoguo (hotpot). Fully confident I dipped into the Huoguo. It was redder than the red curry in Thailand and fiery it was. Here you see my equally spicy Sichuan friend Luomin at ease with the HuoGuo.
There is a new Indian restaurant in Chengdu called Tandoor. We visited this place one evening, The brochure advertised dance performance and showed a picture of two girls performing a traditional dance. Scam…we got a northern girl immitating bollywood steps. Five more minutes and the little renmin Luomin would have also done it. The restaurant was nice though and they had the Kingfisher beer.
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Just come back from Chengdu - loved some of the hotpots, not all - some “restaurants” are so dirty, make me lose my appetite, especially the flat toilets. Did not see a chance to join in and eat fish bladder etc. etc. etc. If you know where to eat you can find really good food for really cheap, for eg. an entire meal for 2 at about 40 yuan and with leftovers. A large beer for 3 yuan. But the wine ….did not find any good wine, what sells for Y30 in one place retails for Y180 in another - what’s up with that? All is saw was GREAT WALL WINE which isn’t that great. Went to BABI bar in Chengdu - guess what - don’t sell wine. Forget about ordering wine by the glass. Do what I did, buy a “cheap” bottle at the store and take it along, hardly any restaurants object and no corkage fee. ALSO NEVER ORDER COFFEE AT THE HOTEL OR AIRPORT unless you are prepared to pay 10 times the price. Take your own coffee!
Hi KOKO, thanks for your comments. I agree with the airport coffee..very expensive. I actually skip coffee in Chengdu. The city is known for its teahouses or cha-guans. Once I heard from a source that the Great Wall wine is actually imported from France and bottled in China - though not sure how true this statement is.
Hey Preetam,
I will be travelling from New Delhi to Chengdu next week, possibly through Bangkok(any ideas of the route through Kathmandu)?
Also, being a vegetarian, I am a bit worried about food. Does the Indian restaurant you suggested here serve vegetarian dishes as well? What about the language issue?
Cheers
Gaurav
Hi Gaurav,
Yes, You can find some vegetarian food here. There is another Indian restaurant called Cacaja (19 Binjiang Zhonglu) on the main Renmin Nan Lu. This place is cheaper compared to the other Indian place mentioned in my post. They also have some vegetarian dishes. The Wenshu temple (Wenshu Jie off Renmin Zhong Lu) in Chengdu has good vegetarian food too though you must go early there.
Chengdu is a fun city with lots of great food. Try the hotpot. You can ask the restaurant owners to skip the meat and give you only the vegetables. Say “bu yao rou” that means “I don’t want meat” .
There is actually a good page at pratyka.org/vegetarian-china/ for vegetarians traveling in China. Have a good trip.
Preetam
I like indian food too specially when it is less spicy, great food. Concerning street food in South Asia are the sellers are checked for health standards?
Best