Chengdu Food and Restaurant Guide – COMPLETE Sichuan Food Guide to Chengdu, China!

Any trip to Chengdu is incomplete without trying the famous dan dan noodles and hot chili oil wontons at Chunyangguan. This place is without a doubt the BEST place to try dan dan noodles and hot chili oil wontons in Chengdu. It’s also very close to people’s park and the downtown Chengdu core.

I have translated the menu to help you order:

You can use this translated menu to help order your favourite noodles. I personally love the cowpea noodles (#2) and the dan dan noodles (#4) as well as the chili oil wontons (#13). If you’re not getting hungry yet, watch another one of my Chinese Street Food Tour videos below! It features the dan dan noodles and red chili oil wontons at Chunyangguan. In the video, we take some guests for a Chengdu food tour, bringing them to many of the SPICY Sichuan foods in this blog. Afterwards, continue scrolling to discover more delicious Chengdu food and the best restaurants in Chengdu!

This is one of the most potent and delicious bowls of noodles you’ll ever eat. Found at Shangchi Mianguan, one of Chengdu’s most classic noodle joints, you can’t go wrong with a bowl of these. It’s full of twice cooked pork, a classic dish in Sichuan cuisine. The pork is a combination of lean and fatty and is cooked in a Sichuan fermented broadbean paste that is spicy and delicious. The bowl is loaded with a thick and spice packed chili oil that you get to mix through the noodles when they first arrive.

I’ve translated the menu for you as well:

Be warned, this is a strong bowl! It’s spicy and strong and will fill you up! Also, the environment around this noodle joint is a little more old school and not suitable for people wanting a perfect modern and clean experience. Your mouth is going to water when you see these noodles in my Chengdu food tour video below! It’s amazing to watch Chef Yu prepare the twice cooked pork using his family recipe!

One of the best bowls of spicy wontons in Chengdu is at Ganhaijiao Chaoshou 干海椒抄手.  This little family run joint has the full spectrum of flavours of Sichuan wontons to try. It is definitely worth coming back a few times to try them all. A lot of their customers do just that, they revisit over and over because the wontons are so good! Their signature dish, the wontons in spicy chili broth stuffed plump with pork and seasonings, is heavenly. The broth is extremely spicy though, be careful! If you want less spicy, they have another signature wonton, stuffed incredibly plump with pork, crab roe, and shrimp. t’s served in a clear and rich broth with caterpillar fungus and bamboo fungus!

I have also translated the menu for you to help you order:

The wonton restaurant is located in a traditional neighbourhood in the northeast of Chengdu. The coolest part is how it’s located in someones home and how you have to walk up some stairs to get in!

This place is a little difficult to find. You can follow along with the map at the top of the post and then if you can’t find it, ask a local near you and show them the address. Most people around should know this place, it’s famous! You will probably have to lineup if you’re not there 20 minutes before they open!

Another famous bowl of noodles you need to try is from the famous cowpea noodle joint featured in Enter Noodle Heaven 2 video. It’s located in the west of Chengdu, in Qingyang district. I found this place luckily one day while biking around looking for delicious noodles.

Order the Zajiangmian 杂酱面  mixed sauce noodles with cowpeas . Noodles are served in sizes of liang in Chengdu, you can order either 1, 2, or 3, or sometimes even 4 liang. I usually order 3, San liang.

These “enter noodle heaven” zajiang noodles are shown in the Chengdu food video below. You’re going to get hungry! The mixing of the chili oil on the noodles is what makes my mouth water every time!

These tianshuimian, also known as sweet water noodles, were one of the first things I tried in Chengdu that made me go WOW. The recipe they use is just right. It’s also one of the few tourist places that’s actually good. It’s located directly across from Wenshu temple in downtown Chengdu. The noodles are thick and rough and coated in a spicy oil, and the sugar crystals added on top add a little extra roughness. It has a sweet and fruity almost plum like jam that they add on top. It’s a really unique dish that must be tried while you’re in Chengdu. Order them up! These sweet water noodles are featured in another one of my Chengdu food tour videos. I hope you enjoy watching! Keep scrolling after watching to discover even more delicious Sichuan food!

Another amazing Sichuan food to try is douhua, the silken tofu. Here at xiaotan douhua, it’s taken to a new level by mixing traditional douhua with noodles and a variety of toppings. You can order couple different small sized bowls of douhua and some other traditional Sichuan street foods as well, like dan dan noodles, zongzi sticky rice, red oil dumplings, zong dumplings, and sweet water noodles. They actually have most of the traditional Sichuan xiaochi “small eats” snacks, but I really only recommend coming here for the douhua. If you want to try the other dishes, that’s fine too.

Sanzi douhua is my favourite bowl of douhua to order. Silky douhua is covered in a thick chili broth and their signature fried noodle sticks with peanuts. The noodle sticks and peanuts are the perfect contrast to the soft douhua! When you bite into the crispy noodle sticks, there’s nothing better!

Another bowl to order is the shaozi douhua mian. Delicious ground pork fried in a ton of Sichuan spices and ingredients is topped over a bowl of spicy broth and douhua, noodles, peanuts, and green onions. Another must eat b0wl of noodles in Chengdu!

There are a lot of different noodles you can try in Chengdu. One of the more unique ones is the rabbit noodles. Here at Xiamianguan 下面馆, there are quite a few varieties of Sichuan noodles to try. The usual offerings like zajiang noodles and dan dan noodles however are not their specialty. Rabbit noodles and the red braised beef noodle soup with bamboo are the two best bowls in my opinion. They also offer a special black silky chicken and matsutake mushroom soup (zhusun wuji tang 竹荪乌鸡汤)  that is incredibly rich and deep in umami flavour. The rabbit is “yuxiang” 鱼香 style, meaning “fish fragrant”, an old style of cooking originally used to cook fish. You pour the rabbit slivers over top of your noodles and mix it in and it’s so delicious!

Make sure to order both of these bowls, they are so delicious!

Another delicious Sichuan food to try is the red chili oil dumplings at Fuzi Shuijiao 父子水饺. This 25+ year old dumpling joint is in an old home and has been continuously run by the Liu family. I must admit, these dumplings were not the most plump dumplings I’ve ever eaten, but the atmosphere, flavour of the chili oil, and friendliness of the Liu family was worth coming here for. They are all hand pinched one by one, and you get a real feel for the atmosphere of old Chengdu which is quickly disappearing.

One of my favourite bowls of noodles in Chengdu is WAY out in the outskirts. It’s in the neighbourhood we live in in Chengdu. If you want to come all the way out to Longquanyi, perhaps you can also visit the peach blossoms in the spring to make it worth your while in the mountains. But if not, you could also just come all the way out to this noodle joint to eat. It’s delicious! SOLID 10/10!

If you’re wanting to try the most LOCAL style hot pot restaurant in Chengdu, you need to come visit Hongshe Chongqing Lao Huoguo. This Sichuan hot pot restaurant is in a local neighbourhood in the North East of Chengdu, and well worth the ride out. The place is PACKED with locals enjoying the extremely spicy and potent hot pot served here. You will probably have to lineup. It’s definitely one of the more local style hot pots in Chengdu. If you want a more clean environment, visit one of the Szechuan hot pot restaurants below.

This hot pot restaurant in Chengdu is featured in my Chengdu food tour video below.

One of the great things about Bashu Dazhaimen Hot Pot is the lively atmosphere and authentic Sichuanese atmosphere. This famous hot pot chain has locations throughout Chengdu, with lineups at each location every night, it’s that popular! It’s also very clean and great for hot pot first timers. The hot pot oil is so fragrant and full of Sichuan peppercorns, giving you an amazing mouth numbing kick!

Make sure to order one of Chengdu’s most famous iced desserts to go with your hot pot, the hongtang bingfen 红糖冰粉. It really helps keep you cool! Combined with Chengdu’s famous soy milk, weiyi 唯一, and a dipping bowl full of vinegar, garlic, and sesame oil, you can beat the spiciness of the hotpot and enjoy!

If you’re staying in the south or have tried the other hot pot joints, you can come to jiugongge. This relatively small hot pot joint serves some incredibly delicious hot pot. It’s fun to watch the beef lard slowly melting and the pot becoming redder and redder. I love the nine sections as well, you can separate your meats and vegetables.

This restaurant is one of the few places in Chengdu that I’ve found with a really traditional feel, something harder and harder to find in China as it’s developing so quickly. This place is as much of an experience and a food destination. The first time I came, I was so excited to find it and couldn’t stop snapping photos of the area! Not too many tourists know about it at this point, except for the occasional Chinese tourist. The cuisine is delicious here too!

Located down an old road with traditional Chinese neighbourhood buildings with no traffic, this location has a really special feel to it.

The coolest part is how a lot of the food is self serve – there is no menu, it’s served by bike! The food is loaded onto the back of a bike and then run from the kitchen to the restaurant. If you are fast enough, you can grab it right from the bike, or you just walk into the open restaurant and see what is on the table fresh from the wok. You grab it yourself and then pay afterwards. Some notable items include:

1. Fried yak meat with ginger and fresh green chilies (牦牛肉 maoniurou)
2. Extremely fatty steamed spicy pork with pumpkin and rice flour (粉蒸肉 fenzhengrou)
3. Pig brain + tofu (豆腐脑 doufunao)
4. Yellow or white liangfen jelly with chili oil (黄凉粉 huangliangfen or 白凉粉 bailiangfen)
5. Spicy river fish in fermented spicy broad bean paste (豆瓣鱼 Doubanyu).

There is a ton of selection. The best part is choosing whatever looks best and watching it come out from the kitchen on the back of a bicycle! After you’re finished eating, you can explore the little Sichuan tea houses to the side and sip a traditional cup of green tea with the locals.

Mingting restaurant is one of Chengdu’s most famous “fly restaurants”. With hundreds of fly restaurants throughout the city, often in houses that are nearly  crumbling over, and said to have questionable standards of cleanliness (the busy and famous ones actually aren’t that bad), Mingting is always ranked #1. Just like visiting Chenshi liangfen up in the north of Chengdu, coming to Mingting is a MUST. In my opinion nowadays it can barely be called a fly restaurant. It’s become so famous and has cleaned up so much that it’s more of a “wanghongdian” viral restaurant. But that’s a good thing. The flavour is still the same and you can sample so many different authentic Sichuan foods without fear. If you’re brave, you can order Mingting’s most famous dish, their doufunaohua 豆腐脑花, also known as pig brain and tofu. I was so hesitant at first. Now, after 5 years in Chengdu, I don’t think twice about slurping down a whole pig brain in one go. It’s actually very delicious!

Another famous dish to try is their delicious green chili and Sichuan peppercorn with rabbit, Xianjiao tuding  鲜椒兔丁!

You can also enjoy one of my favourite rice noodle dishes in Sichuan, the fensi lianbai  粉丝莲白. Rice noodles fried with cabbage is somehow extremely delicious!

Another special Sichuan dessert you can order is the hongtang ciba 红糖糍粑. Sweet sticky rice is deep fried in sticks and covered in an ultra sweet dark molasses. They are so delicious and satisfying! If you’re traveling to Chengdu, make sure to come to Mingting to try out a bunch of these dishes!

If you want to try some luxury fine dining in Chengdu, Yuzhilan is the place to be. Chef Lan has trained for over 35 years and has truly mastered the art of fine Sichuan cuisine at his home kitchen in Chengdu. Kung Pao lobster, the world’s thinnest hand cut noodles, Superior abalone, sea urchin, birds nest soup, Sichuan truffles, caviar, and eel are all available for your tasting. A reservation is a must, so your best bet is to either get a Chinese friend to call and help you, or go there one day earlier and hope for the best.

Compared to other 5 star hotels in Chengdu, you get much more value here and the food is way better. A maximum of 3 or 4 groups of people can dine at once in this intimate and quiet environment. It feels like you’re entering another world! The whole experience is so peaceful and quiet and deep in Chinese culture!

Expect to pay at least 1500 RMB per person. If you want to splurge, this is worth it!

You can watch the full video of eating at Yuzhilan below:

If you want to eat a whole roast Sichuan lamb in Chengdu, you need to come eat at Bashu Yijue Kaoquan Yang. Here, the whole bbq lamb is slathered in the most aromatic Sichuan chili oil from your dreams! It’s best to tell them a day in advance how many people you want to bring. This well let them prepare one for you. Otherwise, you can try your luck and hope they have an extra lamb going. If the language barrier is a problem, you can ask the front desk of your hotel in Chengdu to help you make the call.

Chengdu is famous for rabbit. You can eat it in stir fry dishes, hot pot, dry pot, and here in Yulin in the South of Chengdu, BBQ Style. This joint features a huge row of rotating rabbits that are covered in a thick sesame and chili oil and then pulled apart by pliers and covered in even more chili sauce, peanuts, and spice mix. They are actually quite satisfying to eat. And right beside the BBQ station, there is a dispensary for rabbit heads too!

I must say, it’s a little bony. But that’s the way people like it here. There is still lots of flesh, but you’ll be pulling it of with your teeth.

Chengdu is not very famous for it’s seafood, but it’s still something you need to try when you’re here, because it’s truly unique and delicious and something you can’t get anywhere else. If you want to taste the best street style seafood, you can go to the downtown wholesale fish and seafood market in Chengdu and buy some fresh seafood like lobsters and crabs, and then walk across the street to one of the 24 hour seafood restaurants to cook it for you. I recommend asking them to cook the seafood Sichuan style for you, “chuanwei 川味”. This is all in spicy chilies and onions and Sichuan broad bean paste. I ordered a big lobster and crab from across the street!

This one is super delicious! We found a delicious 4 layer Sichuan meat and seafood tower in Chengdu that’s worth trying! It’s composed of Sichuan frog, chicken, beef, and shrimp and crayfish. All 4 layers are cooked in Sichuan “mala” spicy and numbing style. The flavour is spicy, fragrant, numbing, with a kick of cumin! Super delicious!

The Guokui stuffed flatbread is a truly marvellous street food in Chengdu. It’s my go to snack if I’m craving that oily and crispy crunch on an empty stomach. One guokui can fill you up and leave you smiling. You will see this all over the street in Sichuan, but you have to go to the right place, because a bad guokui has no satisfaction!

Dough is rolled out into long oblong strips and then a spiced meat paste is spread over top, almost like a Turkish lahmacun or pide. The meat paste is crucial. At a good guokui joint like the one in this self guided Chengdu food tour, the meat paste is abundant and they are almost always served hot and fresh!

You can watch my favourite video about the Chinese street food below.

If you’re visiting Wenshu temple and trying the sweet water noodles, this stuffed pita is very near. You will recognize it by the long lineup. The owner Mrs. Yan is extremely passionate about the quality and makes the best stuffed guokui in town. There are a few varieties to try. My favourite is the spicy beef guokui – niurouguokui – 牛肉锅魁,  along with the cold white jelly noodle guokui, the liangfen guokui – 凉粉锅盔. Both are fabulous!

The dan honggao is a Sichuan style stuffed pancake that is fluffy and filling. And over the last few years, many old style push carts and stalls have closed down, making the last remaining stall in Gongrencun neighbourhood even more special than it already is. Here, they are made the traditional way with coal, and are offered with a variety of fillings to choose from, including cream, sesame, coconut, chocolate, many different spicy vegetables like radish, carrots, seaweed, minced meat, and more. This stall has been open for decades. It’s famous for it’s “strange flavour”  crepe. It’s delicious!

It goes great with a bowl of hongtang bingfen 红糖冰粉 super sweet Chinese soupy dessert. It’s really refreshing in the summer and cools you down immediately. The flavour is like a mixture between a slight Chinese medicine and brown sugar, and coca-cola.

It was a little hard for me to find the first time, but you will find it if you walk around the Gongrencun neighbourhood. It’s a neighbourhood with no car traffic in Chengdu. Once you’r close, you can show the locals the stall name and they will point you in the right direction, that’s how I found it the first time. The gongrencun 工人村neighbourhood  is also a very good location for photographs and sampling other street foods along the way, there is a lot of selection! This is where I tried the pig blood soup and sweet sticky rice balls here.

The best place to eat this amazing Sichuan snack is within walking distance to Kuanzhai Xiangzi tourist street and also close to the Chunyangguan noodle joint. It’s definitely worth walking over here after a bowl of noodles to try these delicious sweet sticky rice balls covered in a dark brown sweet molasses. They are nice and crispy on the outside and gooey and soft on the inside! There is always a lineup here!

Any Chengdu food guide would be incomplete without featuring feichangfen 肥肠粉. While the name is unsettling for those unused to eating organs, these sweet potato starch noodles with pork intestine are an integral part of food culture in Sichuan. Therefore, if you’re wanting to tick off your list all of the main foods to try in Sichuan, you will have to try feichangfen. Which brings us to the only place you should visit if you want to try them; Ganji feichangfen. This old joint in Chengdu puts out bowl after bowl of spicy goodness. First, the base chili oil and spice mix is prepared and covered in a strong intestine broth. Then, delicious sweet potato starch noodles are boiled and poured over top. And finally, some tied up pork intestines are placed on top. If it’s your first time, get ready for something you’re either going to love or hate! The locals here all love it! It’s worth coming on over to try!

Chengdu isn’t famous for BBQ kebabs, but there are many halal restaurants run by either Hui or Uighur Chinese that have delicious Northwestern Chinese style lamb kebabs. We found a delicious BBQ kebab and flatbread restaurant in Northwest of Chengdu that is worth the ride out. It’s about a 30 minute walk from people’s park or a 15 minute drive. Make sure to order a kaobing 烤饼 flatbread to sop up the meat and juice with. You can place your meat inside the bread and it’s so delicious! The restaurant has regular lamb kebabs (羊肉串 Yangrou chuan), Tripe (大肚 dadu), tendon (羊津 yangjin), and flatbread (烤饼 kaobing).  I personally always just order 20 kebabs and 2 flatbread.

Maocai and Chuan Chuan are two famous meals to have in Sichuan. They are very similar, but both worth trying, especially if you go to the right places. The concept behind maocai is simple, you choose raw ingredients that they boil them for you in a spicy broth, after which they are covered in more spicy broth and garnished with fermented black beans and green onions!

There is always a lot of selection. Just point and order what looks good to you, but at my favourite spot here in Chengdu, I always order around 10 or 20 RMB worth of beef and some tofu skin and then whatever else I’m feeling in the mood for. You can point at what you want. The bill should be around 40- 60 RMB for two people if you want to feast.

This place, known as “no name maocai” is the best place for maocai in Chengdu, opening at 10:30 and closing at 2. There is always a lineup!

Out of all the experiences you can have in Chengdu, or even in China, I recommend coming to a morning market the most. If you find a good morning market, it gives you the best possible cultural experience in China and also allows you to try some fun food too!

I’ve searched and searched for good market experiences in Chengdu and have found many that are fun but only one that is a super fun experience. The others are smaller and have a less crazy feel to them. I have made 3 videos so far about this one market, you can check out part 1 here: