Chengdu part 2

We loved 錦里 Jinli in Chengdu so might, I thought it warranted a long post all by itself. Definitely the best street food 小吃 I've had since I left Hong Kong, and it was a bit ridiculous how happy we were leaving the place.

Jinli is basically a gentrified historic district, a tourist attraction next to the Wuhou Temple and Shrine in Chengdu, but it has been done so sympathetically and with so much thought, you'd think you weren't in China (Lijiang should take note on how to make your town look interesting). The district is chock-a-block with little shops and stalls, but no two seem to sell the same thing, and there was definitely a lot 風味 about the place. I'm not a shopping person, but it was a joy to walk around here.

But we had come here for the 好吃街, wonderfully named 'Tasty Street', and again, no two stalls seemed to serve the same thing. We really regretted having a big breakfast back at the hotel, but we still more or less tried everything the street had to offer. Far too much to put on here, I include only the yummy/interesting things to eat. (If you're going to visit, definitely don't try the 張飛牛肉, there is an entertaining 張飛 lookalike outside, but the expensive 牛肉 is a waste of calories).

We were still in search of the perfect bowl of dan dan mein, and found a place which specialised in it as well as 蕎面 buckwheat noodles- most of the places had English translations which were so bad that I include for entertainment value:

The buckwheat noodles were pressed from fresh straight into the pot, but still lacked the chew that we were expecting - all round a little disappointing:

But the dan dan mein was pretty good here - definitely the best we've had in Chengdu, but still not as good as that gorgeous bowl I had in Lijiang:

Keeping in spirit with looking for things made on the spot, we found a little stall making 波絲糖, which I've seen translated as beard candy before - basically very fine shreds of sugar wound together - very moreish even for unsweet people like me:

There was one stall which permanently had people queuing outside, and also had gold plaques commemorating its awards, and this probably was the most Sichuanese thing we ate (definitely the most mala), 綠豆涼卷 and 豆腐連子:

Away from the street, we also had a disappointing sit-down meal at a proper cafe. But we did try their 棒棒雞, Bang Bang Chicken, always the dish which caused giggles when I worked in Chinese takeaways in my youth. I actually no recollection of how they cooked this back in takeaways, but I know I've never really eaten it before - very 香, a mixture of sesame with the typical mala flavours:

Actually, we all agreed the very best thing we ate was not actually Sichuanese, but instead were the Uighur lamb skewers which are available everywhere you go - or more accurately, the red powder (probably a mixture of chilli, paprika, and MSG we agreed it was) that dusted it on top. We were always way too excited about eating them to actually take a picture first though - but imagine big chunks of lamb, with a nice layer of fat, deep fried, then roasted, then dusted with the magic powder. Mmmmm - I might actually go and find some more before I head to the airport...