Chengdu, the ancient gateway to the southern Silk Road, has long been a magnet for visitors who love food. Rabbit head at Jinli Old Street. (Photo: Mike Peters/China Daily)
Chengdu, the ancient gateway to the southern Silk Road that took traders all the way to India, has long been a magnet for visitors who love food and traditional teahouse culture.
Sichuan's most famous hot stuff includes the spicy pockmarked bean curd most famously served up by the restaurant Chen Mapo Tofu since 1862. Kung-pao chicken, another staple, has become a global favorite. Fast-food versions of this classic dish are so prevalent, in fact, that it's a surprise hit when you get a proper plate of the stuff in Chengdu, where it would be a scandal to serve up something mediocre.
Freshness rules in this agricultural breadbasket of China, and the succulent chunks of chicken, fresh rounds of green onion, sweet carrot cubes and those killer peppercorns come together in a mix of flavors as complex as a Bach fugue.
We enjoyed perhaps the best kung-pao chicken we've ever tasted at Shunxing Ancient Teahouse, where the lightly applied sauce was both pleasantly fiery and slightly sweet. The dish stood out in a stellar crowd, as our group of about a dozen eager diners enjoyed an armada of small plates on a big round dining table that seemed as wide as the sea. There was boiled fish in a chili sauce (shuizhu yu), boiled and stir-fried pork with salty and hot sauce (huiguo rou) and a fine version of mapo tofu－all were served with a little less firepower than usual since half of our group were children. There were also spicy noodles.
The array of dishes was a reminder of the flavorings and seasoning that come from all over the province: soy sauce from Zhongba, Baoning cooking vinegar from Langzhong, special vinegar from Sanhui, fermented soy beans from Tongchuan, hot pickled mustard tubers from Fuling, chili sauce from Chongqing, thick, broad-bean sauce from Pixian, and well salt from Zigong.
It was also a reminder of the laid-back lifestyle of the region: This was not a meal to be eaten quickly, but to savor with a few friends (and a few beers).
The teahouse and restaurant is a monument to taking it slow. You can enjoy a leisurely meal while watching a Sichuan Opera show, which includes the famous face-changing performance, and also stroll the art gallery with beautiful statuary, ceramics and artifacts such as rabbit snares that go back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and even earlier. A hallway lined with watercolors of local life scenes from the 1960s is particularly engaging.
The teahouse is housed in a modern building, but the intricate wood carvings, artwork, lighting and flooring all reflect traditional Sichuan teahouse design.
If you go
Jinli Old Street
No 231 Wuhou Hall Street (to the east of Wuhou Hall),
Shunxing Ancient Teahouse
Shawan Road, 3/F 258 International Exhibition Center. 028-8769-3202.
