Dan Dan Noodles

Dan dan noodles are the quintessential Chengdu street food, available at dedicated noodle shops throughout the city. The Chengdu version is dry (not soupy like the Chongqing variant) — thin noodles tossed in sesame paste, chili oil, and Sichuan peppercorn with a small amount of ground pork and ya cai (Yibin preserved mustard greens). It is simultaneously rich, nutty, spicy, and numbing.

The best versions are found at specialist noodle shops that serve little else: look for a short menu, a queue at lunch, and tables occupied by locals reading their phones. Zhong's Water Dumpling shop in the Jinli area also serves excellent dan dan noodles alongside its famous zhong shui jiao (dumplings in chili oil). A serving costs almost nothing.

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A story
Dan dan noodles take their name from the carrying pole (dan) that street vendors balanced on their shoulders, with a pot of broth hanging from each end. The vendor would walk through the city, stopping to cook a serving for anyone who paid. The dish became a fixed restaurant item only in the 20th century. The Chengdu version uses a dry sauce rather than broth — sesame paste, chili oil, Sichuan peppercorn, preserved vegetables, and ground pork — and is served in a bowl barely big enough for a single portion, making the appropriate response to order two.