Flying solo in Chengdu made eating in restaurants out of the question. It is impossible to order a decent meal for one at a proper Chinese restaurant, not cost effective and such a waste! As such, I spent most of my time eating snack foods or 小吃 － small eats as the Chinese so fondly call them. Chengdu has a huge variety and I made it my mission to try them all. For the most part, I think I succeeded. I went with a list and checked everything off, plus a few other things I found while wandering around. Here are the sweet ones, tomorrow, we move onto savoury!
This snack below was everywhere on all the snack streets but I was disappointed. The Chinese make deep fried nothing look so delicious but really it was devoid of any flavour. Fun to look at though!
The Chinese answer to the humble crepe? Spread very thinly in the pan but only cooked on one side, they fold it in half which makes it very thick in the middle, almost like a pikelet. It came savoury or sweet, here it is sprinkled with sugar and black sesame.
This was a personal favourite and a Chengdu specialty. NanGua Qiu or literally "Pumpkin Ball." A sweet pumkin filling between two cookies and covered in sesame seeds. Very greasy but very delicious! Crunch, gooey filling, sweet but not sickly. Perfect.
This one I picked up at the local 7/11 to eat on the bus trip to the Bamboo Sea. One: I was intrigued to see a pre packaged pikelet in China. Two: I cannot say no to anything with red bean paste filling! Basically two pikelets smushed together with red bean paste in the center. However, on a four hour bus journey complete with Chinese karaoke, it tasted pretty good!
Fresh coconut milk was the perfect antidote to a hot day in the Chunxi shopping district.
This juice/tea also seemed very popular among the girls out shopping. Pear and a Chinese type of prune thing. Very subtle flavour like iced tea.
Here have Pineapple Beer. I kid you not. Discovered this in Xi'an- Yifan's friends prefer it to actual beer. Non alcoholic, at first it tastes just like a pineapple flavoured soft drink but a definite "beer" taste lingers in your mouth afterwards. Very strange but not altogether unpleasant.
Finally, we have Tian Shui Mian or literally sweet water noodles. Though I suppose these would be traditionally considered a savoury snack, I've put them in with the sweets because that is just what they are. They don't look very appetising but the sauce was incredible. Very sweet with hints of peanut, sesame, sweet chilli.... delicious!
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