Chengdu places to eat?

[Josh2007]

Hi. I arrived back in China a couple of weeks ago. I am living near Sichuan University. Is it me or has China shot up in price? I have been to China before, and I ate each time for around 20-30 yuan. Now, where I live, all the eateries, especially near Sichuan University are extremely expensive. It seems that they do a spot of decorating and then double the price. 2 people can have a meal for 150 yuan!!! I wanted to say, "no, I don't want a season ticket, I just want to eat today!" I have found no nice places to eat near Sichuan University that are not 2 or 3 times the price I expected. Can anyone of you guys give some recommendations?

[melonqq]

I don't know what you eat,but actually the price was rised up this year before.

Did you heard that before?Sichuan is the land of abundance"天府之国"，and Chengdu's refection is very delicious and famous in China.

Anyway,you know,the food in China was cheap enough.You can make some native friends and get good advises from them.

Hehe,best wishes!

[kevin89]

Just wanted to tell you that you are being totally ripped off mugged or robbed by any .other name. I don't know which university you are at but if it is the one on renminlu walk north on renminlu for about quarter of a mile till you come to the river.

at the bridge turn right down a street that follows the river. about 400 yds you will come to the highfly cafe where you can get decent food or a western style meal for about 30 remin bi

If you want chinese carry on walking for about five minutes you will come to the Jiao tong fandian "The traffic hotel" the hotel restaurant is reasonable and food is good. average meal about 40 renmin bi with a beer. Also if you want something even cheaper there is a coffee shop attached to the hotel just past the gate and you can get a bowl of curry or whatever for about 6 renmin bi there is also a thai restaurant attached to the hotel.

I think you are being given the special waiguoren menu always check the price on the menu before you order. Chinese students would never pay those prices because a chinese student could eat out on 150 renmin bi for about two weeks.

I hope that was helpful for you

[rdferg]

Just spent the weekend in Chengdu and never spent more than 70 for two people--and everywhere we ate was around the uni. I go to Chengdu for the Western food (cheese:wink:) so can' t really comment on the Chinese but...

I'd second the Traffic hotel if you're looking for a relaxed western atmosphere with a cool little coffee shop. Or try Peters Tex-Mex. You can get lunch there for less than 30

You might also think about only ordering cha or water with your meal. Drinks at some of the bars and restaurants were as expensive as the food (15 yuan for iced tea?!!).

There are also lots of good street food in that area that shouldn't be more than a yuan or two per item (fresh hot naan bread, baked sweet potatoes, meat kakabs).

good luck!

[muyongshi]

Is it me or has China shot up in price?

You are not dreaming about that for sure. Chengdu's prices have gone up a lot but everywhere else has to to a certain extent. The disease caught by a lot of pigs not to long ago caused a price hike here outside of the big city. But in direct relation to your situation, the prices in Chengdu have gone up by astounding numbers and I only eat in the small cheap places anyway.

[Wairen]

Good God man, where and what are you eating? I'm also currently attending Sichuan Daxue, and it's a bit expensive at the Western places if you order expensive meals, but you've gotta to work to get the price up that high.

Do you know where Bookworm is? In case you don't, go from Sichuan Daxue to Ren Min Nan Lu, and turn South towards the second ring road - Bookworm will be off the street a bit on the right. It's only a couple blocks from the second ring road - hook a right after passing Zoe's, when you see the sign for Tandoor. Bookworm sells a taxi booklet for twenty kuai that has a number of good places for both foreign and local food.

Still, there are a number of small restaurants that still dish out a bowl of noodles or some jaozi for under ten kuai.

[hunxueer]

around chuan da's west and south gates is notoriously a crap place to find good, inexpensive food (i work opposite there and everyday it's the same question: what to eat?). anyway there are some smaller jiaozi shops and noodle stands tucked away in corners, you've just got to find them. that stretch of kehua bei lu is mostly western-food-heaven (or hell); try heading north of computer city on xinnan lu or going to some of the places inside the university campus. good luck, and pick up a copy of chengdoo citylife magazine, free at pretty much any western-style establishment you can think of in the city.

[Josh2007]

I previously lived in Kunming, where the food situation is excellent. A lot of choice of good Western places to eat for 20-30 yuan all down Wenlin Jie. Chengdu is very lacking in cheap Western food. I have been to Binjiang Zhonglu as recommended, and there are some cheap places there, but the taxi fare there and back would make that option more of a drag. The cheapest way I can eat is actually to order up food from my property management company. There is a lovely Indian place called Namaste on Renmin Nanlu, where 2 people can eat well for about 130 yuan. I go there now as a treat every 1-2 weeks.

Have people in Chengdu seen a place i n kehua beilu called Sabrina's Country Store? The Heinz baked beans have just gone up from 8.80 yuan to 9.50 yuan. Honestly, I would never pay 60p for a tin of beans in the UK (although these items are often loss-leaders in UK supermarkets).

What to eat is a daily problem for me in Chengdu, which it never was in Kunming.

[hunxueer]

are you looking exclusively for western food? probably the best in terms of quality to quantity to budget ratio are zoe's bbq on renmin nan lu and i guess peter's on kehua, though i find their portions to be excessive. maybe grandma's/sunflower, but avoid red brick, casa mia, vanilla sky and all the places in tongzi lin if you don't want sky-high prices. mutt's nuts pizza and sandwiches are decent.

also it's really easy to take the bus from sichuan uni to binjiang zhong lu.

namaste's food is nice (esp. if you're vegetarian as i am) but i've found their service to be sorely lacking on more than one occasion, add to that their botching of several professional relationships with musicians/artists they've wanted to cooperate with and i'm not particularly keen to go there.

[Josh2007]

Where are Zoes and Peters? Can you site Zoes in relation to Namaste and Peters in relation to Grandmas/Vanilla Sky? Thank you.

[hunxueer]

sure. zoe's is just south of namaste, across that intersection where there's all the construction and the a+ club, on the same side of the street. green wood exterior i think.

peter's tex mex is a few doors north of the sichuan uni west gate, north of vanilla sky and i believe right next door (or very close) to grandma's/red brick. bigg(ish) balcony out front.

also most of the buses on kehua bei lu around there, like 55, 49, 76, 6, 8, all go straight up xinnan lu, and from there it's like a 20 min walk to binjiang zhong lu, or you could also transfer to the 13. there's probably a direct bus but i can't think of it now.

and i mentioned it before but really at any of those places you can pick up the chengdoo mag; it's got a map in the center and addresses in chinese and english for most current restaurants, bars, etc. in the listings.

[liuzhou]

Is this really a thread about Western Food?