Chengdu

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Wenshu Temple Vegetarian Restaurant

In the grounds of a monastery and run by monks. Offers a huge selection of traditional vegetarian dishes, including some containing imitated meat.

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Namaste/Afila

Specializes in Indian and Nepalese cuisine, particularly tandoori and curries. Great for vegetarians and omnivores alike.

Steamed buns

Sold for breakfast or lunch from street vendors throughout the city. Yacai bao 芽菜包 is a local Sichuan special variety you are unlikely to find elsewhere and typically contains some mixture of Yacai 芽菜, a type of preserved vegetable, and potentially some meat. Other typical fillings include beef, red bean paste, mushrooms, green vegetables or pork. Three buns cost around ¥1 or larger buns cost ¥1 each as well. A container of soy milk 豆漿 dou jiang is about the same price.

Yulinchuanchuanxiang

Cheap and fast hotpot variety. This is a help-yourself style meal, go to a backroom and choose your own kabobs. Stick the kabobs into a hotpot soup, and have them boil. Pull them out and enjoy. Large kabobs are ¥1, and small ones are ¥0.1 each. Expect to be full for less than ¥25. There are both spicy and non-spicy variations. There is a large selection of meats, vegetables, and other add-ins. Beer is available in large bottles and sweet soymilk Dounai is also served.

Lanzhou Lamian

A bowl of noodles starts for about ¥4, and reach a maximum of ¥7. Varieties include egg, lamb and beef. Other dishes are reasonable in price as well. Breads for 1 kuai a piece, and Mutton Kabobs 羊肉串 go for 1 kuai per stick. Da Pan Ji 大盘鸡 is a great choice if eating with a group. Usually offered in small or large sizes, a small size will cost about ¥40 and feed 3 or 4 people. A large order might cost about ¥60. This dish includes chicken, potatoes, onions and other vegetables in a moderately spicy sauce. Can eat with bread or noodles to make a great meal.

You will find no shortage of delicious and fiery Sichuan food in Chengdu. Most of the food is quite spicy, be sure to specify whenever you order: non-spicy 不要辣; búyàolà, a little spicy 微辣; wēilà or 'old' very spicy 老辣; lǎolà. If you are not accustomed to it yet, a bottle of sweetened soy, almond, peanut, or cow milk, or something else sweet will work much better than water to quell the fire. If you are used to the hottest of authentic Indian or Thai food, the level of spiciness in Sichuan food should be no problem at all. However, Sichuan food also makes heavy use of Sichuan pepper 花椒; huājiāo, which looks like but is not a true peppercorn, and causes your mouth to become somewhat numb. Sichuan pepper is added in most spicy dishes. If you can eat spicy food but do not like Sichuan pepper, you need to order so 不要花椒; bú yào huājiāo. However, Sichuan pepper in addition to causing numbing has an important citrusy taste that it adds to foods and authentic Sichuan tastes bank on the play between the flavours of both Sichuan pepper and chili peppers, and it is strongly recommend you at least try the authentic versions with the Sichuan pepper before deciding for yourself.

The spiciest food in Chengdu is hotpot also called steampot or steamboat, although the tradition originated in Chongqing, so it is not really Chengdu food. Sichuan hotpots are basically a big pot of soup and spices simmering in a hole in the middle of your table. Patrons choose from a large selection of meats, vegetables and other add-ins. Most popular include: lamb, mushrooms, beef, tofu, quail eggs, potatoes and various others pork, green vegetables, fish balls, carrots, and even pig's brain! You can choose spicy pot or non spicy pot. With spicy hot pots, unlike eastern hot pots, the soup is NOT for drinking; instead, fish out your cooked items with chopsticks do not fish the liquid out with a spoon, it is too spicy even for locals to drink; the fished out vegetables will be spicy enough, dip them in the small bowl of oil provided to each person, and enjoy.

You may also find the local food too oily or too salty for your taste, and may want to advise your server accordingly.

There are also a lot of weird local snack type of food, such as spicy dragon prawns look like very small crayfish; 麻辣龙虾, spicy snails 香辣田螺, Chongqing duck neck 九九鸭脖子, Bangbang chicken 棒棒鸡, spicy rabbit meat 二姐兔丁. These ones are so delicious and you must try them. But you need to ask a local to take you to the right place. Quite often you will find that the small restaurants and shops offer the most delicious and cheapest food. If you want to find even cheaper food options, street vendors are the way to go though the Chengdu police have been doing their best to extinguish this long tradition and you may have trouble finding them these days. Serving everything from barbeque 烧烤 to steamed breadrolls馒头, they are a cheap and offer a great option for a quick bite to eat.

If you are less adventurous but still like Chinese food, or just tired of Sichuan food, there are a number of Cantonese and Hong Kong restaurants, including Lei Garden near Shangri-la Hotel.

There are a number of stalls and hole in the wall type places all over town. Food here is dirt cheap, expect to pay no more than ¥8 for a meal, and the quality is good. Things to be on the lookout for are spicy bowls of breakfast noodles, 担担面; dandanmian, double cooked pork 回锅肉; húigūoròu, and dozens of dishes coated in "málà" the Sichuan chili spice famous the world over.