Milo's 米罗缤纷意大利休闲餐厅
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
When friends repeatedly recommended Milo's to me I was very sceptical, but lately have been finding myself there more and more. Milo's is a local chain restaurant with characters from a certain Disney movie on the walls and menu. Our favourite branch is the one at Yanshikou, on the seventh floor...
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Saigon Lotus 阿玉莲西贡餐吧
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
Within moments of spying a mention online of a real Vietnamese restaurant in Chengdu, I was on my way over to check it out. Saigon Lotus is on the third floor of the Wanda Complex out on the east second ring. Once there, it took me a while to find the restaurant (in the back next to Early MBA)...
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Mi's Taiwan Xian Cao Tea 仙草密
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
The specialty at Mi's is xian cao, which translates into something like 'immortal herb' and is a familiar offering at most Taiwanese drink places. Xian cao is usually served as a cool brown jelly, and is slightly bitter so is usually sweetened or served with syrup or honey. At Mi's the xian cao...
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L'escargot 小小家
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
L'escargot is a gem of a cafe that has been open for a few months, located a couple of blocks south of the Zijing cinema complex in Tongzilin. The place is so small that if you walked by you might not even notice it, which would be a shame. Inside, it feels very comfortable and welcoming. French...
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Premier Court Western Restaurant 圣悦庭西餐厅
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
Hotel restaurants are often a good bet for when we have an appetite for something other than the local fare. We went to sample the lunch buffet at the Haiyatt (no, not that Hyatt) Garden Chengdu’s, Premier Court Western Restaurant on the edge of Chunxi Road. In very casual street clothes we...
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Red Sail Sea Hong Kong Restaurant 红帆海港式茶餐厅
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
Red Sail is billed as a, “cha can ting,” or a cafeteria that serves up inexpensive English and Cantonese fusion in an atmosphere that is uniquely Hong Kong . They often serve congee, macaroni soup, toast, sandwiches, fried rice, and noodle plates. Dim sum, sweets, and Hong Kong style drinks...
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Cool Hot 酷热
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
Hong Pai Lou Plaza on Jialing Road is beginning to come to life. The new Carrefour has been open for a few months now, and the smaller stores are beginning to get some traffic. It's just outside the second ring on the #1 bus line so it is easy to reach from just about anywhere. I dropped by the...
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Ami Vegetarian Restaurant 阿米素食
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
Unique in Chengdu, the recently opened, Ami, serves Western-style vegetarian food. The interior is elaborately decorated, but comfortable; with mostly booth seating that gives each table its own space. The servers are welcoming and well-trained. The short, bilingual menu emphasizes healthy food....
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North East Dumpling House 东北饺子馆
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
“Is it really the ears of a cat?” I asked the server who came out to translate. She replied that the cat ear noodles (mao er mian) were just in the shape of a cat's ear. The chewy, thumbnail-sized noodles come in a sauce of tomato, pork, and onion. They also come with a spoon, which is great...
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Huang Cheng Ba Beef 皇城坝牛肉馆
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
The sign outside reads, “one hundred years of history,” but besides that, this Xiaojiahe halal restaurant does not look like anything special. It's famous though, and always busy. Waiting customers often perch on stools outside, holding menus from which they scan and choose items with obvious...
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Shu Jiu Xiang 蜀九香
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
The first order of business in a hot pot restaurant is choosing the soup. This evening we opted for the half spicy and half mild soup (yuanyang guo). There were three heat options for spicy: mild (wei la), medium (zhong la), or extra hot (te la). We, like the Buddha, took the middle path. The...
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Le Sud 南方法国餐厅
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
“Here, you feel like you are in France,” writes the author of a local blog (in French.) The interior of Le Sud is reclaimed industrial chic, with metal chairs and tables painted bright red and purple and a banquette along one wall.
The vegetable soup from the appetizer menu was nothing...
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Tian Yuan Sha Guo 天元砂锅
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
'Sha guo' describes both a container and a style of dish - a clay pot that is filled with food and then heated, usually on top of a flame, before being served. Sha guo is very popular on rainy or chilly days, since the clay pots hold heat very well.
Tian Yuan Sha Guo is on the second ring...
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Xiao Tan Dou Hua 小谭豆花
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
The specialty of the house is dou hua, soft tofu. There is a plain version (bing zui dou hua) and a sweet version (hong tang dou hua). More interesting are the savoury versions: the san zi dou hua is topped with crispy strips of fried dough, the niu rou dou hua has spicy stewed beef, and the su...
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Wenshu Temple Vegetarian Restaurant 文殊院素斋
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
The art of Chinese vegetarian food has roots in Buddhist respect for living things. The cooking focuses on making vegetables, tofu, and wheat gluten mimic the texture and flavour of meat. The best examples of the genre present astoundingly realistic ‘meat’ dishes that also appeal in taste and...
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Kaffestugan 咖啡斯特嘉
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
There are many places in Chengdu to sit with a cup of coffee and your laptop. Kaffestugan is one of the most appealing. The Swedish café’s been opened for a few months now, and serves fresh roasted coffee that is ground and brewed to order. Rotations of beautiful art and photography line the...
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Sardinia Pizza 撒丁比萨
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
Like most customers at Sardinia, we usually order pizza, but this time we felt like exploring more of the menu, which seems too large for such a little restaurant. On this trip we ordered a salad and hamburger on top of the obligatory pizza.
After waiting long enough to finish off two...
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Swensen’s 双胜冰淇淋西餐厅
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
The crowds on Chunxi Road on a sweltering weekend can take a lot out of you and an ice cream break is a perfect pick me up. If you do not feel like standing in line at Dairy Queen or dropping hundreds at Haagen-Dazs, Swensen’s ice cream may fit the bill. Swensen’s is a chain that started in...
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Xu Lao Ba Yuan Zi Noodles 徐老八原汁面
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Susan Johnson (more chengdu)
This noodle joint on Xin Nan Road is right around the corner from the Number Seven Middle School, the most reputable in the city. At lunchtime and after school lets out, the blue and white uniforms of the privileged post-90’s crowd swarm the place, and the staff is quite adept at getting...
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Jia Chang Wei Chuan Cai Guan 家常味川菜馆
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Some restaurants exude all the scents and subtle visual aspects of local home-cooked fare, right down to the cutlery, the grit on the floor, and the script of the hand-written menu. Others just taste right. Jia Chang Wei, or “Home-style Flavors” may not look much like the traditional...
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Xiyu Fengqing Xinjiang Restaurant 西域风情新疆风味餐厅
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
There are some restaurants in Chengdu that tend to receive a level of foreign patronage disproportionate to their actual quality. This can be attributed as much to ignorance as to convenience: if you’re only around for a short while, it’s easier to just stick with what you know. As natural as...
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Yulin Shan Zhen 玉林山珍
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Last month we introduced you to lamb soup hotpot, one of numerous varieties of hotpot that don’t include all that Sichuanese pepper so often associated with the capital of Spice land. In fact, hotpot, a Chongqing export, only became popular in Chengdu in the 1980s (at least, according to one...
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Huang Shan Zhenxin Bao Dian 黄山真心包点
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
A friend once described baozi—those rotund, steamed little dumplings stuffed with various fillings—as the “poor man’s jiaozi,” the latter being, of course, the non-fluffy, common Chinese dumpling popular in the country’s northeast. Being the baozi devotee that I am, I found such a...
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Vera Napoli Pizzeria Bar 那不勒斯餐吧
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Chengdu, foreigners commonly decry, is lacking in authentic Western cuisine. Despite its seat as one of China’s culinary centers—home to some of the most long-running, highly refined cooking traditions and countless unique dishes—what is it that makes the city incapable of dishing out a...
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Fangcao Pin Wei Xuan 芳草品味轩
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Of all the great dishes in the Sichuan oeuvre, perhaps the one I most pity vegetarians for not being able to enjoy is twice-cooked pork. Fish-fragrant (yushang) eggplant is just as delicious as its sliced pork cousin, if not better, given eggplant’s remarkable ability to absorb surrounding...
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Fu Rong Ye Beer 富蓉夜啤酒
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
As we all know, wintertime in Chengdu is cold. And, without central heating, many outsiders find it bone-chillingly so.
That’s why you’ll find that when it’s freezing outside, locals love to gather around large steaming pots of gut-warming heartiness. But hotpot’s not the only potted...
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Jin Han Gong Korean Restaurant 金韩宫
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
There are a number of reasonably authentic Asian restaurants in the Chunxi Road area, many of them within the Isetan and Ito Yokado malls. Just around the corner is Jin Han Gong, located next to a Brazilian barbeque, whose moderate prices and central location will be enough for those shoppers...
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Grandma Wang’s Buckwheat Noodles 王婆荞面
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Buckwheat, or “qiao” (荞), is the world’s highest elevation domesticate, grown near the Tibetan plateau in northern Yunnan. Beyond being the namesake of the most popular of, “The Little Rascals,” it’s also well known through its use in Japanese soba or Korean naengmyeon cold noodles....
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Old Maid’s Shuangliu Rabbit Head 双流老妈兔头
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
There are certain things that people who have lived in Sichuan for a while ought to try. Rabbit head is one of them. Now, as your faithful guide, we consider it our duty to bring you all the richness and diversity of this region’s most colorful cuisine. So consider it an act of devoted...
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Peter's Tex Mex Grill, Kehua Branch 彼德西餐店
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What is Pete thinking?? (txgrl)
As a foreigner living in China for the past few years I feel like maybe I give 'foreign' restaurants a little too much credit sometimes..
coming from Texas I could not be more disappointed with a restaurant that name's itself after my home state..
Each time I have gone there my food has not...
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Yi Xiang Feng Jia Chang Wei Noodle Shop 一相逢家常味
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
The Sichuanese possess a unique local tongue. For those who study or speak standard Mandarin, the constant vowel changing and tone permutations leave outsiders in a suspended universe of half-comprehension and regular befuddlement. Such was the case when I asked for the specialty dish at Yi Xiang...
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Tongguoju 铜锅居
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Split-level restaurants, as opposed to multi-storied joints, are quite a rare sight in Chengdu. A split-level of the class and sleek angles of Tongguo Hotel Restaurant are even rarer.
Its unique lay-out, combined with excellent high-quality, reasonably priced Sichuanese cuisine, and a refined...
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Fujian Shaxian Xiao Chi 福建沙县小吃
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Some dishes are synonymous with certain regions and ethnic groups like the Lanzhou-pulled noodles and the Hui, lamb kebabs and Uighurs, and Beijing duck and well, Beijing. But there’s one such food that doesn’t receive nearly the attention and fame it undoubtedly deserves: Funanese-steamed...
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Ice Palace 冰宫
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Urban exploration. The phrase is more synonymous with hipster nerds getting their kicks by sneaking into fenced-off, former munitions factories, than with quality dining, but in the mysterious city of Chengdu, anything can happen. Think of the surprise on our earnest faces when a local friend...
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Jia Jia Yan Qin Restaurant 家家宴亲
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
This unpretentious restaurant serves up classic home-style Sichuanese fare that is sure to satisfy any appetite, without disemboweling your wallet. Its convenient location on the same street as the Loft hostel and Morning bar makes it an ideal spot for pairing with other attractions on this...
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Tea Garden 茶园餐馆
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Many sayings and idioms leap across languages well. Chinese, which has never been short of such handy nuggets of wisdom, tends to so with most. So, when visiting the far more rugged, and far less touristy, Qingcheng Back Mountain, make sure to, “ru xiang sui su,” or, “do as the Romans...
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Wu Wei Restaurant 无味饭店
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Home-style or “jiachang” cooking, is the heart of a good culinary school. Sure, you can have your escargot, your fertilized duck embryo, your snake hotpot on a special occasion, but when fork comes to knife (or, perhaps more appropriately, when stick comes to stick) what you eat on a mundane...
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Thailand Shark Fin Restaurant 泰国鱼翅馆
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
For a region that so does loveth the spice, it is somewhat ironic that the local version of “curry” dishes are as limp and bland as a Szechuan beef served in Kansas City. So it was with some trepidation that we tried the beef curry at the elegant, semi-upscale Thai Lin restaurant, located...
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Ama Tibetan Restaurant 阿妈藏餐
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Tibet is a place that inspires many image: it’s distinctive version of Buddhism and their vivid prayer flags and monk robes, the equally distinct wildlife, not to mention its breathtaking scenery. Such things quickly leap to mind. Rarely, however, does its food. Ama Tibetan Restaurant, near...
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Korean Cook-up (Hanguo Banfan) 韩国拌饭
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
The search for a great, affordable bibimbap, that classic Korean claypot dish of rice, meat and vegetables that has satisfied lunchers on the go from Seoul to Seattle, has gone on for quite a while in Chengdu. With some of the more established Korean restaurants upping their prices to 20-30RMB or...
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Old Courtyard Restaurant 老院子中餐馆
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
A lot of family-run restaurants in Chengdu serve up marvelous food, yet lack any real character. If you’ve been here any length of time, you’ll know what I’m referring to: unadorned walls, nondescript tables with plastic tablecloths. After a while, it leaves you craving some genuine...
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Leanna’s Bakery 莲娜西点坊
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
There are some things that Chengdu chefs, no matter how much training they have received in Westerners’ perplexing eating habits, struggle to do well. Pizza, with a few exceptions, is a classic case in point. Salad, a dish that in many ways runs contrary to the fundamentals of Chinese cooking,...
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Bellagio Café 鹿港小镇
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
A Taiwanese chain with branches in the usual mainland haunts, Bellagio is a typically smooth affair, offering a hip, though refreshingly unpretentious, dining experience at mid-level prices. While its extensive Guangdong/Taiwanese-leaning dishes are consistently tasty, it’s the restaurant’s...
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Harbin Boiled Dumplings 哈尔滨水饺
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Ahh, dumplings. There’s something tangibly magical that happens when you wrap meat and vegetables in dough. Tim Wu, a leading cyberspace and, apparently, dumpling authority, describes what he calls the “magic ratio” between protein and carbohydrate, a line that good sandwiches, sushi and...
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Taste of Yibin 味道宜宾
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
One point that is not made enough about Sichuanese cuisine is its great diversity. Traveling around the province, specialty dishes seem to pop up as often as town names, so that the food they eat in say, Zigong, is significantly different from that in Chengdu. So it is with Yibin, a city four...
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Tianyuan (“Farmland”) Vegetarian Restaurant 田园素食
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Sichuan, indeed much of Mainland China, remains a part of the world where the concept of vegetarianism remains vague. We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve been asked, “But is chicken alright?” or we’ve clearly ordered vegetarian dishes that come out slathered in a pig’s ass. In...
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Tiantian Restaurant 天添饭店
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
There are a handful of Sichuanese restaurants that receive almost too much of the foreign community’s patronage, and far too many deserving alternatives that continue to go without. Tiantian is such a place, but not necessarily to their loss, though they’re certainly not suffering from a lack...
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Junhongji Spicy Crab and Shrimp 俊宏记香辣蟹爬爬虾
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papa xia (silhouette)
I haven't been to the place before but judging from your description and the pics, I think the shrimps you're talking about are called Mantis Prawns.
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Da Dong Bei 大东北
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Friends often remark that when eating out in Chengdu, they find themselves craving “something different.” After a while, they say, there’s only so much fish-fragrant eggplant they can take, and soon enough, they find themselves making a beeline for the nearest Western comfort food. But for...
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BBQ Fanwo BBQ 饭屋
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Sometimes, you just want a burger…and pizza, and club sandwiches and piles of spaghetti to boot. But, if you’re as price-conscious as say, a foreign student who does restaurant reviews on the side, you’re not always excited about forking out 30-40 RMB to do so at Peter’s or Grandma’s...
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Chongqing 258 Zhengchang Cai (Fangyou Hui) 重庆258蒸常菜(坊友会）
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Located along a nondescript strip of South Dianxin Street, just north of Yulin and not far from the intersection of the 1st Ring and South Renmin Road. It would be easy to pass by Fang You Hui without giving it a second glance. This would be a shame given its stereotypically humble charm and the...
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Great Palace 大海湾酒楼
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Dim Sum, Yum Cha, Xiao Chi…call it what you wish, but it’s natural to bemoan the city’s lack of those perfectly proportioned nibblies when you’re this far from Guangdong or Hong Kong. But, having tried out a number of mediocre dim sum restaurants around town, Great Palace’s classy,...
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Desibao Deutsch Bier Mahlzeit/Tersberg German Restaurant 德斯堡＊啤酒餐吧
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Wanda Plaza, located in the southeast of the city off the second ring road, was completed last year and is by now a bustling, glittering parade of Chengdu’s modern and upward mobility. Its third floor features a wide variety of new restaurants, offering localized versions of various...
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Chi Wei Xian Restaurant 翅味鲜
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Northeast of Tianfu Square is Tai Sheng Nan Lu, also known as “cell phone road.” Away from the packed commercial strip there are a tidy collection of restaurants, including Chi Wei Xian, a lively, round-table establishment wholly characteristic of Chengdu.
Passing through the bustling,...
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Ruxuan Seafood 如轩
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
For many foreigners, whose ideas of “what Chinese food is” are based on the cuisine served up at Western Chinese restaurants, arriving in Sichuan may prove somewhat disappointing. Ruxuan Seafood, just south of Computer City, offers up reasonably good Guangdong and Sichuanese dishes at...
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Namaste Indian Cuisine & Bar 亚非拉-娜玛什蒂印度餐吧
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Located opposite the Shamrock is Namaste, a long-serving Indian restaurant and music bar. It’s not difficult to see why Namaste has proven so popular over time. Though its reasonably authentic northern Indian cuisine is cheaper than the nearby Tandoor, Namaste’s main draw is its atmosphere....
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Lao Ma Chao Shou 老麻抄手
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Thanks for correction! (M.Hiew)
Hi Pepper,
Excuse my mistake. I was not aware of the distinction. Thanks for letting me know. Also, love the blog!
-Mark
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CSC (Country Style Cooking) 乡村基
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
The native fast food market is growing in China, and, if you crave the convenience of a big, illustrated English menu you can point at but can’t bear to order another burger, Country Style Cooking offers painless, affordable and attractive local standards.
During a busy weekday lunch hour...
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Caribbean Restaurant 加勒比餐吧
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Mark Hiew (more chengdu)
Wanton soup: a staple of Chinese cuisine in the Western world, but not so in Southwest China. For those wandering whether a dish found on menus in, say, New York, can crossover successfully in Chengdu, make a stop at a “Lao Ma Chao Shou” for wantons whose delicious universality crosses...
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Houcaller Beefsteak 豪客来牛排
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Monica Liau (more chengdu)
This chain has several locations around Chengdu and boasts having the “best beefsteak.” The critic in question has always been skeptical of these claims but was starving one day in the relatively restaurant-free area around Tianfu Square at 2 o’clock. So against her gut feelings of...
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Fiesta Thai 非常泰国风味餐厅
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Monica Liau (more chengdu)
Thai food is pricey, so you want to make sure you are getting quality for your buck. Fiesta Thai can offer that, plus a convenient location on Linjiang road, behind the bus station.
One weekend, I entered the warmly lit restaurant with my “partner in dine”, cold and ravenous. In the dining...
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Fresh River House (southern gate) 河鲜馆(南门店
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Monica Liau (more chengdu)
Picking out upscale Chinese restaurants is tough. I have been to endless expensive dinners where food comes out beautifully arranged, primped and pretty, but the flavors often suffer. For a restaurant to impress business colleagues or a date on all fronts (food, atmosphere and service) try Hexian...
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Youyou Japanese Restaurant 悠游居酒屋
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Monica Liau (more chengdu)
SoHo on North Kehua Road boasts two Japanese restaurants, but if you’re in the mood for good quality sashimi and sushi in addition to the standard tempura, grab yourself a seat at Youyou Japanese. We love sitting at the bar, where you can watch the chefs professionally slice, dice, toss, daub,...
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Cacaja 印度菜菜
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Monica Liau (more chengdu)
Nestled in the same complex as Highfly Pizza, next to the Sofitel Wanda, Cacaja Indian is easy to miss, but worth the visit. One Saturday night, we found ourselves wedged into a back corner table. All the other tables were full of diverse and animated clientele. The interior itself is ornate and...
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Paulaner Braühaus Restaurant 普拉那啤酒坊餐厅
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Meg Young (more chengdu)
Craving sausage? The Paulaner Braühaus at the Kempinski Hotel in south-central Chengdu will not disappoint. From curried sausage to the Munich, from Bavarian sweet mustard to the Nurnberger paired with sauerkraut, this little slice of Germany means business. To experience the most “classic”...
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Lanzhou Noodles 兰州拉面
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Monica Liau (more chengdu)
Do you know which one I’m talking about? In Chengdu, it’s hard to sort through the thousands of restaurants that pop up on every block with that telltale sign advertising Lanzhou noodles. However, there is a reason that the cuisine is popular, and some Lanzhou restaurants do stand above the...
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Huan Tian Zhai Guizhou Restaurant 欢天寨贵州风情酒楼
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Monica Liau (more chengdu)
Banners proclaiming “Eating no sour food for 3 days, makes you walk forward on weak legs!” and “Try our dog meat” hang exuberantly from the ceiling of Huantianzhai Guizhou Restaurant. For those of you looking for Chinese food that diverges from the Sichuan hotpot steeped in numbing spice,...
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Sapporo Ramen Kikusui 菊水烤肉和拉面
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Monica Liau (more chengdu)
The luxury Isetan Department Store poses an unlikely place to find good deals on meals. However, on the seventh floor you’ll find Sapporo Ramen Kikusui (菊水烤肉和拉面) which offers high-quality northern Japanese cuisine in a minimalistic atmosphere and a menu with pictures, but no...
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Talk restaurant 话.尚美
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Monica Liau (more chengdu)
Talk restaurant advertises its 88 RMB set business lunches in several magazines across the city, but, leery of fusion cuisine (Talk boasts Sichuan and French Flavors), I didn’t decide to invest until a friend mentioned that she loved the place. As a vegetarian, she is on a first name basis with...
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Red Sun Seafood 红太阳烧烤海鲜
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
This little seafood shack looks like almost all the other seafood shacks in the area. It's pure function. There are some crammed tables and little chairs, and the expected debris of messy eating. Red Sun, however, sticks out. Unlike the other shacks, it's always full of Chinese diners- a good...
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Ponti's 波提斯意大利餐厅
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
Before I went to Ponti's, I'd started to forget what European-style fine dining was like. It's hard to pull off here. It's not that you can't train Sichuan’s chefs to cook European food, but the service etiquette and customs are profoundly different, and given the high turnover rates of wait...
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Shu Fu Jia Yan 属府嘉筵
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
To those accustomed to eating with their eyes, a lot of Chinese restaurants look bland. Shu Fu Jia Yan, alas, is cut out of the same cloth as a million other restaurants in town as far as ambiance is concerned. It’s big, it’s got fluorescent lights, round tables, no music or dancing monkeys,...
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Hooters 猫头鹰餐厅
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
For those not familiar, Hooters is an American chain restaurant that hires large-breasted, flirtatious waitresses, dresses them in orange short shorts and tight tank tops, and sends them forth to serve you their famous chicken wings. The chicken wings serving as a handy excuse to those who need...
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8 Trees Wine Bar 八棵树
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
To be honest, selling western-style red wines in China has always been a tough sell. The 8Trees Wine Bar, therefore, deserves a degree of approval just for trying. It also deserves credit for its dark wood interior, hand-painted paper lamps, and the window in the floor that looks down on the wine...
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Desir French Restaurant 滴意 - 法式餐厅
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
It’s difficult to understate how beautiful this restaurant is. Tucked away in the hip new refurbished Kuan Alley north of Tianfu Square, Desir combines a traditional Chinese layout and architecture with western touches in the furniture, the lighting, and the glass windows. The place is laid out...
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Highfly Pizza, Binjiang Branch 高飞咖啡
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Bill Stranberg (more chengdu)
Out near the Shangri-La a treasure trove of restaurants are opening up. One of which is the new High-Fly Pizza, three stories of pizzeria glory. The whole place has a pastel-colored, country home feel. The staff is warm, friendly and eager to please. The menu ranges from pizza to pasta to tuna...
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Yipin Douhua Restaurant 一品豆花风味庄
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Bill Stranberg (more chengdu)
Some good friends of ours were regulars at this Dou Hua joint’s old shop. A classic, crusty hole-in-the-wall restaurant that’s somehow incredibly delicious. When you walk in to the new location, the staff seems to beam with pride. When we took the pictures they’d gather around the camera...
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Zhulouxiang Maocai Family 竹篓香冒菜世家
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
When I first saw the sign, I assumed “Mao” food referred to some ethnic group. Well, if people who love to eat things stewed up in big brothy bowls of garlic and pepper could be said to comprise an ethnic group, I’d like to think I’m part Mao. Otherwise, it’s just a particular kind of...
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A Unique Skill of Cooking Lobster 龙虾一绝
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
I have to admit, the main reason I went to this restaurant was because of the name, lit up as it was on a jolly yellow sign looking over the placid, tree-lined, and, dare I say, funky-ass West Yulin Road. It arrested my progress and provoked contemplation. Lobster in Sichuan?
Well, no. What...
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Little House Café and Bar 小房子
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
Not to be confused with the Little Bar (either one of them), the Little House is distinctive mainly for its fabulous location on the Ruiming walking street, which is one of my favorite places to hang out when the weather gets warm. As the general local populace turns out consistently and in force...
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Matsuzaka Japanese Restaurant 松阪日本料理
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Bill Stranberg (more chengdu)
Chances are you’ve walked right by this place many a time without paying it a moment’s notice. Matuzaka is a stone’s throw from the American Consulate, a place that happens to be an area of heavy foot traffic. But a Japanese place? By the consulate? Really?
Really. Here’s how to find...
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Salut 萨露西班牙-加泰蓝风味
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
It’s not saying much to say that Salut is the best Spanish tapas restaurant in Chengdu, because it’s the first and so far the only. Chengdu got lucky enough to not only get a tapas restaurant at long last, but also to get a pretty authentic one. The Gazquez brothers, Pepe and Agusti, are two...
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Huaxing Jian Dan Mian 华兴煎蛋面
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Bill Stranberg (more chengdu)
A certain amount of faith should be placed in a restaurant that names itself after a specific dish. Jian Dan Mian is such a place. Despite its one remarkable dish, there’s a bit more going on here than one might suspect. It is nestled into the south end of Yulin road, making it merely a few...
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Green Heart Forest BBQ 绿心林烧烤
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
On the one hand, it’s not particularly difficult to find places that will sell you grilled goods on sticks in Chengdu, or anywhere else in China for that matter. That said, quality varies, yes it does, as does the degree of risk you take.
The Green Heart Forest Barbeque is comfortably...
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A're Tibetan Restaurant 阿热藏餐
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Bill Stranberg (more chengdu)
Three floors of culture await you just across the street from Wuhou Temple. In fact, that’s where you should start. A’re is located smack-dab in the middle of what has become known as the Tibetan District. And that’s fitting, too, seeing as A’re is in fact Tibetan. Before sitting down to...
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Zoe’s Barbeque 爱舍西餐
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*** (more chengdu)
Bottomless coffee. One more time: Bottomless coffee, and its only 10 kuai. If that didn’t hook you, try the Zoe’s Skillet, or pick something off their vegetarian menu. The feel is laidback with a staff eager to learn your name. Come enjoy the food, just don’t let the wooden flute covers of...
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Lily Shadow’s 睡莲花影西餐厅
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*** (more chengdu)
This restaurant serves modern Japanese/Italian fusion food. The ambience is soothing and quiet, and the wine bar is stocked with reds from all over the world. The food is good and worth the high price. English menu available.
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Namaste 亚非拉印度餐吧
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*** (more chengdu)
Come here when in a relaxed mood. There’s no need to rush a satisfying meal. Namaste puts up a good fight for the name of best Indian food in Chengdu. But that’s not our job to decide. It’s yours. As long as you can get a taxi, Namaste’s centrally located eatery is a breeze to get to.
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Mutt’s Nuts
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*** (more chengdu)
Mixed reviews from great to “mutt’s nuts.” But hey, this is a place people love to talk about, so don’t necessarily trust the haters. People are picky about pizza. We suggest you try it out, and see if it fits your taste. English menu available.
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Café Z 蓉咖啡
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*** (more chengdu)
If any restaurant in Chengdu is worth paying the money for, this is the place. Its buffet starts at RMB128 net/ person for lunch, while breakfast (147RMB), dinner RMB148 net/ person (Mon.-Thu.), and weekend dinner buffet RMB188 net/ person (Fri.-Sun.) are more expensive. That said, this is an...
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The Sultan 苏坦土耳其餐吧
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*** (more chengdu)
The only Turkish restaurant in town, and as far as we can tell, the only hookah too. The staff is friendly, and there’s a room full of pillows. Don’t be surprised to find people dancing. English menu available.
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Tandoor 腾都儿印度餐厅
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*** (more chengdu)
The food and ambience is created fresh daily. The Indian chef takes good care to make his food deliciously authentic. Things can get up there (40+RMB), but it’s worth the great food and service. English menu available.
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Yang Yang Restaurant 杨杨餐馆
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Pete Sweeney (more chengdu)
Yang Yang Restaurant may be the perfect mix of authentic and accessible. It’s accessible because it is right in the middle of the hopping Wuhou District, near the US Consulate, and because it has an English menu. The spot is great, located down a cute yet well-marked and easy to find alley a...
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Peterpan Italian Restaurant 彼德潘意大利餐厅
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Bill Stranberg (more chengdu)
A few things have come out of Modena, Italy that you might have heard of. Do the words Ferrari, parmesan or balsamic vinegar ring a bell? All of them come from Modena. Well, have you heard this? A little bit of that prolific city has found its way to Chengdu. News to you? That’s why you’ve...
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Hokkaido Japanese Restaurant 北海道日本料理
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*** (more chengdu)
The taxi problem around here isn’t something we have to talk about. We’ve just got to wait for the subway to be finished. People in higher places busy their time with solving the problems. And what do we know? We’re no traffic-ologists. Anyone can spot a problem, but solving it is a...
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Vegetarian Lifestyles 枣子树素餐馆
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Bill Stranberg (more chengdu)
It seems to be the bane of the vegetarian that the phrase “I don’t eat meat” is always erroneously interpreted as “I eat a little meat, just small pieces, no big pieces please.” Here’s the real hook of Vegetarian Lifestyles: This place is Vegan. They mean it too. There are a few...
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Red Tomato Pizza 红番茄美食屋
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Bill Stranberg (more chengdu)
While Chengdu is not without decent pizza options, Red Tomato Pizza is a singularly welcomed new addition. Located down a charming alley off Ke Hua road near Sichuan University’s west gate, the place at first appears to be yet another alluring hole-in-the-wall, except for the warm pumpkin paint...
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My Humble Home 玉楼寒舍
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*** (more chengdu)
We’re all about having great food in whatever atmosphere it comes from, but it is nice to eat in a place that eases the eyes as much as it eases the stomach. Look for items not found on most menus here. English menu available.
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Yulin Chuan Chuan Xiang 玉林串串香
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Bill Stranberg (more chengdu)
Easy access classic Sichuan food and much cheaper than your average hot pot place. And, despite all that, they manage to offer good quality service. Don’t speak the local lingo? Good, because you don’t need to. Walk straight up to the food and pick out what you want.
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Grandma’s Kitchen, Kehua Branch 祖母的厨房
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*** (more chengdu)
Come here to pick from a nice selection of cold sandwiches. Aside from those, the menu is enormous, ranging from the aforementioned all the way to kobe beef. We’d suggest you stick with the cold sandwiches. English menu available.
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 "Milo's")
 "Milo's")
 "Saigon Lotus")
 "Saigon Lotus")
 "Mi's Taiwan Xian Cao Tea")
 "Mi's Taiwan Xian Cao Tea")
 "L'escargot")
 "L'escargot")
 "Premier Court Western Restaurant")
 "Premier Court Western Restaurant")
 "Red Sail Sea Hong Kong Restaurant")
 "Red Sail Sea Hong Kong Restaurant")
 "Cool Hot")
 "Cool Hot")
 "Ami Vegetarian Restaurant")
 "Ami Vegetarian Restaurant")
 "North East Dumpling House")
 "North East Dumpling House")
 "Huang Cheng Ba Beef")
 "Huang Cheng Ba Beef")
 "Shu Jiu Xiang")
 "Shu Jiu Xiang")
 "Le Sud")
 "Le Sud")
 "Tian Yuan Sha Guo")
 "Tian Yuan Sha Guo")
 "Xiao Tan Dou Hua")
 "Xiao Tan Dou Hua")
 "Wenshu Temple Vegetarian Restaurant")
 "Wenshu Temple Vegetarian Restaurant")
 "Kaffestugan")
 "Kaffestugan")
 "Sardinia Pizza")
 "Sardinia Pizza")
 "Swensen’s")
 "Swensen’s")
 "Xu Lao Ba Yuan Zi Noodles")
 "Xu Lao Ba Yuan Zi Noodles")
 "Jia Chang Wei Chuan Cai Guan")
 "Jia Chang Wei Chuan Cai Guan")
 "Xiyu Fengqing Xinjiang Restaurant")
 "Xiyu Fengqing Xinjiang Restaurant")
 "Yulin Shan Zhen")
 "Yulin Shan Zhen")
 "Huang Shan Zhenxin Bao Dian")
 "Huang Shan Zhenxin Bao Dian")
 "Vera Napoli Pizzeria Bar")
 "Vera Napoli Pizzeria Bar")
 "Fangcao Pin Wei Xuan")
 "Fangcao Pin Wei Xuan")
 "Fu Rong Ye Beer")
 "Fu Rong Ye Beer")
 "Jin Han Gong Korean Restaurant")
 "Jin Han Gong Korean Restaurant")
 "Grandma Wang’s Buckwheat Noodles")
 "Grandma Wang’s Buckwheat Noodles")
 "Old Maid’s Shuangliu Rabbit Head")
 "Old Maid’s Shuangliu Rabbit Head")
 "Yi Xiang Feng Jia Chang Wei Noodle Shop")
 "Yi Xiang Feng Jia Chang Wei Noodle Shop")
 "Tongguoju")
 "Tongguoju")
 "Fujian Shaxian Xiao Chi")
 "Fujian Shaxian Xiao Chi")
 "Ice Palace")
 "Ice Palace")
 "Jia Jia Yan Qin Restaurant")
 "Jia Jia Yan Qin Restaurant")
 "Tea Garden")
 "Tea Garden")
 "Wu Wei Restaurant")
 "Wu Wei Restaurant")
 "Thailand Shark Fin Restaurant")
 "Thailand Shark Fin Restaurant")
 "Ama Tibetan Restaurant")
 "Ama Tibetan Restaurant")
','韩国拌饭','345','340') "Korean Cook-up (Hanguo Banfan)")
','韩国拌饭','345','340') "Korean Cook-up (Hanguo Banfan)")
 "Old Courtyard Restaurant")
 "Old Courtyard Restaurant")
 "Leanna’s Bakery")
 "Leanna’s Bakery")
 "Bellagio Café")
 "Bellagio Café")
 "Harbin Boiled Dumplings")
 "Harbin Boiled Dumplings")
 "Taste of Yibin")
 "Taste of Yibin")
 Vegetarian Restaurant','田园素食','345','340') "Tianyuan (“Farmland”) Vegetarian Restaurant")
 Vegetarian Restaurant','田园素食','345','340') "Tianyuan (“Farmland”) Vegetarian Restaurant")
 "Tiantian Restaurant")
 "Tiantian Restaurant")
 "Junhongji Spicy Crab and Shrimp")
 "Junhongji Spicy Crab and Shrimp")
 "Da Dong Bei")
 "Da Dong Bei")
 "BBQ Fanwo")
 "BBQ Fanwo")
','重庆258蒸常菜(坊友会）','345','340') "Chongqing 258 Zhengchang Cai (Fangyou Hui)")
','重庆258蒸常菜(坊友会）','345','340') "Chongqing 258 Zhengchang Cai (Fangyou Hui)")
 "Great Palace")
 "Great Palace")
 "Desibao Deutsch Bier Mahlzeit/Tersberg German Restaurant")
 "Desibao Deutsch Bier Mahlzeit/Tersberg German Restaurant")
 "Chi Wei Xian Restaurant")
 "Chi Wei Xian Restaurant")
 "Ruxuan Seafood")
 "Ruxuan Seafood")
 "Namaste Indian Cuisine & Bar")
 "Namaste Indian Cuisine & Bar")
 "Lao Ma Chao Shou")
 "Lao Ma Chao Shou")
','乡村基','345','340') "CSC (Country Style Cooking)")
','乡村基','345','340') "CSC (Country Style Cooking)")
 "Caribbean Restaurant")
 "Caribbean Restaurant")
 "Houcaller Beefsteak")
 "Houcaller Beefsteak")
 "Fiesta Thai")
 "Fiesta Thai")
','河鲜馆(南门店','345','340') "Fresh River House (southern gate)")
','河鲜馆(南门店','345','340') "Fresh River House (southern gate)")
 "Youyou Japanese Restaurant")
 "Youyou Japanese Restaurant")
 "Cacaja")
 "Cacaja")
 "Paulaner Braühaus Restaurant")
 "Paulaner Braühaus Restaurant")
 "Lanzhou Noodles")
 "Lanzhou Noodles")
 "Huan Tian Zhai Guizhou Restaurant")
 "Huan Tian Zhai Guizhou Restaurant")
 "Sapporo Ramen Kikusui")
 "Sapporo Ramen Kikusui")
 "Talk restaurant")
 "Talk restaurant")
 "Red Sun Seafood")
 "Red Sun Seafood")
 "Ponti's")
 "Ponti's")
 "Shu Fu Jia Yan")
 "Shu Fu Jia Yan")
 "Hooters")
 "Hooters")
 "8 Trees Wine Bar")
 "8 Trees Wine Bar")
 "Desir French Restaurant")
 "Desir French Restaurant")
 "Highfly Pizza, Binjiang Branch")
 "Highfly Pizza, Binjiang Branch")
 "Yipin Douhua Restaurant")
 "Yipin Douhua Restaurant")
 "Zhulouxiang Maocai Family")
 "Zhulouxiang Maocai Family")
 "A Unique Skill of Cooking Lobster")
 "A Unique Skill of Cooking Lobster")
 "Little House Café and Bar")
 "Little House Café and Bar")
 "Matsuzaka Japanese Restaurant")
 "Matsuzaka Japanese Restaurant")
 "Salut")
 "Salut")
 "Huaxing Jian Dan Mian")
 "Huaxing Jian Dan Mian")
 "Green Heart Forest BBQ")
 "Green Heart Forest BBQ")
 "A're Tibetan Restaurant")
 "A're Tibetan Restaurant")
 "Yang Yang Restaurant")
 "Yang Yang Restaurant")
 "Peterpan Italian Restaurant")
 "Peterpan Italian Restaurant")
 "Hokkaido Japanese Restaurant")
 "Hokkaido Japanese Restaurant")
 "Vegetarian Lifestyles")
 "Vegetarian Lifestyles")
 "Red Tomato Pizza")
 "Red Tomato Pizza")
