Anthony Bourdain in Chengdu, TianTian restaurant

One of the restaurants that Anthony Bourdain visited in Chengdu is the local spot called Tian Tian restaurant. It is always packed and offers very well executed home style dishes. The highlight of the restaurant is a duck marinated in a sauce refined over a year, reminding me of the similar style of the 3 year old Mole sauce at Pujol, Mexico city.

The location is very convenient and in the middle of YuLin district, beside the US consulate general. This store’s renovation is nothing fancy but offers very well executed home style Sichuan dishes.

The highlight - Roast duck in marinated sauce. 冒烤鸭
According to the head chef, few dozen spices used in Sichuan hotpot are added to a stock of duck bones and boiled and refined every day for over a year. Every day, the stock is boiled, fresh bones added, further refined and concentrated, freezed and then ready for the next day. The result is an extremely complex duck dish. It is salty, a little sweet, fragrant from the different spices and little crispy from the skin and crunchy from the green pea sprouts. Wonderful dish and is a must try.

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 marinated duck preparation station

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 boiling station where duck is boiled with bean sprouts

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 famous marinated duck

Below is eggplant wrapped in meat paste then fried. It is crispy and soft all at once.

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 fried stuffed eggplant

Staple Sichuan dish - Beef stewed in potatoes. The potatoes have been stewed long enough that the highlight of the dish is not the beef.

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 stewed beef and potatoes

Baby cauliflower quick stir fried in smoked meat and onion.

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 baby cauliflower

Freshwater eel in sichuan peppercorns. This is a spicy and numb dish.

Marinated beef intestines in chili oil. This is another flavor explosion.

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 beef intestines in chili oil

Crispy pork ( fried cartilage ) then stir fried with long beans. The texture of the dish is a highlight, crispy and fragrant.

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 pork cartilage with long beans

Kidney with vegetables, notice how the kidney is sliced until it looks like scales. It requires a lot of prep work, slicing the kidneys at 45 degree angle twice. This is done to expose the maximum surface area on the kidney to cook it faster and get the flavor into the kidney.

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 kidney stir fry served with cucumber

Sichuan smoked meat stir fried with green peppers. The Sichuan smoked meat is a famous dish that is made from pork belly and seasoned with many spices. While is is dried, it is smoked with pine branches and the pine oil and smoke gives the smoked meat a special aroma and color. Once it is ready in a few weeks, it is then thinly sliced and stir fried at high temperature.

TianTian restaurant 天添饭店 sichuan smoked meat with green pepper stir fry

Place to search for in Baidu / Gaode map: 天添饭店 (玉林东街店)
Address ： 玉林东街16号附18号(省体育馆/美领馆/四川大学/小酒馆)
Phone： 028-85574180 028-85556339
Hours：7 days a week 11:30-14:00 17:00-21:30