Chengdu: Fire in the Kitchen

Well, that was quick -- or so it seems, anyway. We're back in Kuala Lumpur after ten days in Chengdu, more convinced than ever that this southwestern Chinese city deserves to be the next gastronomic "it" destination. (In March UNESCO awarded Chengdu the designation of City of Gastronomy.)

On this trip, thanks to an assignment Dave was working on, we had occasion to sample the food at a few of the city's finer (and more expensive) restaurants. We sat at beautifully laid tables, were treated to a few breathtaking presentations, and dined on some very well-prepared dishes.

I'm thankful for the opportunity. But those kind of places just aren't where our hearts lie.

This is what thrilled us when we visited Chengdu last January, what drew us back this time, and what has us already planning our next trip: a low-slung structure of unfinished bricks capped with a corrugated metal roof, on a quiet alley lined with iron rice bowl-era low-rise apartment blocks. Inside: a lone cook making magic one dish at a time.

His equipment: a single wok, a spatula and a ladle, and one burner.

Places like this are called "fly" restaurants. The term isn't much used outside of Chengdu, and it refers to the less-than-hygenic kitchens and dining areas of places like this. But we didn't find fly restaurant conditions to be any more distasteful than those at your average casual southeast Asian eatery or street stall. 

What fly restaurants do have is plenty of soul. These are the places to find real, honest-to-goodness jiachang cai (home-style cooking).

This is Mr. Zhang in his fly restaurant kitchen. Mr. Zhang prepared many meals for us; on some days we ate both lunch and dinner at his place. We hung out by Mr. Zhang's side, watching and listening and peppering him and his wife with questions. Mr. Zhang's been working his single burner for 11 years. He's a master.

Our first taste of Mr. Zhang's prowess:

 

La rou (Sichuanese pine bough-smoked and air-dried pork belly) with Chinese leek shoots and black beans, dofu gan (dried bean curd) with leeks, dried chilies, and Sichuan peppercorn, and qingjiao roupian, slices of pork stir-fried with fiery green chilies and garlic shards. Each dish was so deeply flavorful it could have stood on its own, accompanied by nothing more than rice.

And this was just Meal Number One. It only got better.

  

Comments

[Pamela]

Definitely my kind of food - looking forward to hearing more ....

[Marts Aziz]

Tofu is my fav, and they look soo good and tempting in the picture.

Craving for more. Thank you.

[carpetblogger]

you're KILLING me.

[Katy]

They look incredibly hearty and fresh – magic wok!

My English people would just tease "are you sure it's not 'fry' kitchen??" Referring to the standard joke of Chinese pronunciation of 'r' and 'l'. Are we having ‘flied lice’ (fried rice)then Katy, the sort of 'abuse' I put up with all the time here.

Are they just called ‘Fei Can Ting’(飞餐厅） in local term? Also what is the term for ‘Chinese leek shoot’?

Do they actually serve larou with all its fat on in fine restaurants I wonder?

[Katy]

Do they need licence to open up fly kitchen, I wonder. Reminds me of some Ayi I knew at the back of our house in Taipei. There were some problems but last time I went back in April, she is still there after 35 years!!

[Dave]

All the best food comes from small hole in the walls like this. I love the term fly restaurant. Nice.

[SKA]

Wow, your photos are simply incredible, the dishes seem to leap out
wanting to be sampled.

[foodbin]

the leeks are so skinny-i think it would taste even better with thicker pungent leeks.

[OysterCulture]

What an incredible looking spread, I've heard s much about Chengdu's food, but your photos really put it in perspective.

[Chris]

Wow, such an inspiration! I wouldn't have had the guts to try there hole-in-the-wall places, but am now planning to. Anthony Bourdain who was in town recently, said in all the years he has been eating-travelling, he has only been sick twice!

[Rita Reyes]

Those dishes look fantastic. Gorgeous photography.

Thanks for the great blog! I love it.

Rita
Gourmet Cookies

[Mart]

If only that was near my home..... If I may, I've been hunting around for a simple but powerfull wok burner for some time to create some wok hay. I'm in Europe and burners are sold here for silly prices if you can get them at all? Could you tell me (sily question) but what do wokburners cost on average in your part of Asia?

[angie]

my mouth is watering just looking at these dishes!

[The Turkish Life]

I'm with carpetblogger. Looks amazing... sigh!

[Yi]

Thanks for sharing. The dishes look delicious. On my last trip to Chongqing, China I had the same kind of stir-fried bacon my grandfather made.

[Andrew Palmini]

Awesome post. I studied in Chengdu for a semester and it was the most delicious few months of my entire life. Of all the cities in China, Chengdu and Chongqing are my favs. Great photos too, the bacon like stuff is called 回锅肉, twice cooked pork. Delicious.