Chengdu's new dining venues help visitors, residents chill out

Chengdu, famous for its leisurely and relaxed lifestyle, is coming up with new venues for visitors and locals alike to chill out.

In Chengdu, Kuixinglou Street has recently been transformed into a showcase of gourmet foods and art displays, becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city.

The street is no more than 100 meters long, but there are scores of restaurants specializing in Sichuan cuisine.

Many of the restaurants don't accept reservations. But, while waiting their turn to sample the authentic taste of Sichuan cuisine, foodies can enjoy local snacks sold in the street's various eateries, such as baked egg pancakes, sugar and oil fruit and ice jelly.

A variety of signature Sichuan dishes and snacks.

Along the street, some walls are decorated with spray-painted murals, which adds another flavor to the artistic atmosphere and wows people passing by. Many of them take photos of these murals and post on social media, making the street famous online.Artists and art lovers also like to visit Kuixinglou Street for its art-related displays, talks, salons, seminars, gigs, bazaars and cult movies shown in the Min Town Studio Community.

Western Chengdu, meanwhile, is home to one of the world's only museums dedicated to regional cooking culture - the Sichuan Cuisine Museum. The institution is a living showcase of the provincial cuisine and houses thousands of cooking-related relics unearthed in Sichuan.

There are more than 6,000 antique pieces related to Sichuan cuisine and even a large scale painting depicting the history and inheritance of Sichuan's fabled cuisine.

Zhang Huiqiang, associate curator of the Sichuan Cuisine Museum, said that the cooking class provided at the museum is popular, and the classroom is so big that more than 100 people can cook at the same time.

"Kung pao chicken and mapo tofu are the two typical dishes most visitors choose to learn. The dishes are simple to make - using common food materials and reasoning - but taste far from basic. That is the magic of Sichuan cuisine," Zhang said.

The museum is a 3A national tourist spot, a medium level in the current 5A rating system for scenic sites, and receives more than 400,000 visitors a year.

Almost every day, we receive foreign visitors coming to learn how to cook

Sichuan dishes under the guidance of professional bilingual specialists. The students come from around the world, including the United States, Mexico, Australia and Germany," Zhang added.

As well as cooking, tea plays an important role in the daily lives of people living in Chengdu. At the city's People's Park, many open-air tea houses are a perfect places for residents to relax, socialize and wind down after a long day.

China's centuries-old tea drinking past time, embodies the spirit of relaxation and finding that right work-life balance. All year round, residents can be seen enjoying their tea and making sure they get enough "me" time.