Introduction Of Chengdu City

　Along with Lu, Su and Yuet, Chuan cuisine is one of four well-known Chinese cuisines. According to current statistics, there are 4000 different kinds of dishes in Chuan and 300 of them are well-known ones. Chuan dishes can be summed up as “fine ingredients, refined combinations, skilled cooking and varied tastes”. There are 10 ways to cook Chuan dishes: deep-fry, sauté, quick fry, fry, steam, simmer, stew, grill, smoke, stirfry and roast. Chuan cuisine emphasizes “taste”, particularly “Ma” (Spicy) and “La” (Hot). Famous Chuan dishes include stewed shark fin, steamed jiangtuan, guoba squid, pocket bean curd, duck made with zhangcha, hot bean curd, duck stuffed with bean mud, fried chicken blood and shredded chicken in “funny” taste.

　Many of Chengdu's specialties originated as Xiao Ci, which means little eats or snack food. Snack bars used to be very popular in Chengdu. Those on the walk-side are great fun and will cost you next to nothing. Many snack places are falling due to the massive reconstruction work that is tearing down the neighborhood. There are two restaurants that you can't miss. The famous Pock-marked Grandma Chen's Bean Curd serves mapo Tofu. Soft bean curd is served up with a fiery meat sauce (laced with garlic, minced beef, salted soybean, chili oil and little peppercorns). Another place that is still doing strong is Long Chao Shou Special Restaurant. The beauty of this little restaurant is that it has sampler courses that allow you to dip into the whole gamut of the Chengdu snack experience. The 5 yuan course gives you a range of sweet and savory items, while the 10 yuan and 15 yuan courses are basically the same deal on a grander and more filling scale. In the recently years, there are always snack food fairs in the winter. If you line up several food stands on the fair, you will get yourself a banquet in stages.

　Hotpot can't be missed either. Although it is said to have originated in Chongqing, hotpot is very popular in Chengdu now. You'll see a lot of sidewalk hotpot operations in the older section of town near the Chunxi Lu market, as well as along the river. Big wok full of hot, spiced oil invites passers-by to sit down, pick out skewers of raw ingredients and make a do-it-yourself fondue. You pay by the skewer. During the winter months the skewered items on offer tend to be meat or 'heavy' vegetables like potatoes. In the summer months lighter, mostly vegetarian fare is the norm. This stuff is very hot, many outsiders can't take it, but they still love to have it a try.

　Like other big cities in China, KFC and McDonald's restaurants are easily found in Chengdu. McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Chengdu only a few months ago. Although it's been five years late, local people are still showing their great interests in it.