Chen Mapo Doufu Restaurant

The original Chen Mapo Doufu Restaurant on Xiyulong Street near the city centre has been serving the dish that bears its founder's name since 1862. The mapo tofu here is made with beef (not pork, as in many imitations), uses house-made doubanjiang from Pixian, and comes with a generous coating of ground Sichuan peppercorn that leaves your lips tingling pleasantly for an hour.

The restaurant is large and cafeteria-like — no atmosphere worth mentioning — but the food is exactly as it should be. Order mapo tofu plus a bowl of white rice, a plate of fried greens, and a bottle of beer. The meal will cost very little and be among the better things you eat in Chengdu. On Xiyulong Street off the Wenshu area.

eating out restaurant
A story
Mapo tofu was invented in 1862 by a woman named Chen Liu, wife of the owner of a restaurant near the north gate of Chengdu. She had a pockmarked face (mapo literally means "pockmarked old woman"), which was not considered a selling point but became the dish's name nonetheless. The recipe — silken tofu in a sauce of doubanjiang (fermented broad bean and chili paste), ground beef, and Sichuan peppercorn oil — was so good that the restaurant became famous across Sichuan. The sixth-generation descendants of Chen Liu now run the original restaurant on Xiyulong Street.