Neighborhood Restaurants – the Soul of Chengdu Cooking
It is said that neighborhood restaurants scattered in the back alleys of Chengdu played a vital part in the evaluation of UNESCO’s “City of Gastronomy” award.
Hidden in the streets and lanes of the city, snack bars emit savory aromas. And you can find such snacks almost anywhere. Vendors and peddlers carrying loads or buckets set up all over the place, come rain or shine. Every day, from dawn till dusk, the bustle of hawkers and the aromatic flavors of this street food entice passersby to stop and try.
The street chefs’ trade has developed over the years. At first, they would sell homemade traditional food. As their businesses grew bigger, they would expand their operation and open up small restaurants named after themselves or the name of the street where the restaurant was located. The most renowned snack bars in Chengdu include Lai Tang-yuan (Lai’s Glutinous Rice Ball) on Zongfu Street, Zhong Shuijiao (Zhong’s Jiaozi) on Lizhi Alley, Ma Hongshu (Ma’s Sweet Potato) on Jiaojia Lane and Zhang Liangfen (Zhang’s Bean Jelly) in Dongzikou.
Small restaurants also play an important role in promoting Chengdu food. These restaurants, often around 10 square meters in size, look nondescript, sometimes even a little shabby. Rather than putting out advertisements to promote their food, they build their popularity on word of mouth. They provide customers with authentic Chengdu flavor and use decent ingredients but charge low prices. For example, there is a small place called Hou’s Maocai in the center of Chengdu that only sells boiled and steamed vegetables at low prices. You can feed yourself well on a tiny budget while enjoying a peaceful and happy mood under the sycamore trees outside.
As the saying goes, “Good wine needs no bush.” There is a small, shabby restaurant in a suburb outside Chengdu that has been a stop for many tourists for more than 60 years. There are only three items on the menu – RMB 2.5 beef offal soup, RMB 1 rice flour-coated steamed beef and RMB 1 guokui (large, round, baked wheat cake). It is located near an ancient site and is only two square meters big. Yet the owner has worked for more than 60 years on this one project. He uses only fresh beef to make the dishes and sticks to the traditional food culture of his home. This makes his little place a must for anyone who comes to Chengdu for a dining experience.
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