Before heading to Chongqing, I did my homework on the local cuisine, scouring through countless guides.
But my companion, a seasoned foodie from Chongqing, simply turned off my phone and said, “Forget those guides. They’re all wrong.”
He took me on a personal food tour, navigating the narrow alleys for authentic flavors, leaving me utterly amazed. 
“These hidden gems that locals keep secret, how could any outsider ever find them?”
From the bold flavors of street food to the addictive Chongqing noodles, the delicate bean curd rice, the tender pig’s trotters, the spicy and aromatic skewers, the elusive Chongqing BBQ, and the must-have summer treats like ice jelly and cold shrimp…
In Chongqing, there’s no room for an empty stomach. There’s a lot to explore, so bookmark this for later.
Chongqing Noodles
Forgive my bluntness, but most Chongqing noodles outside of Chongqing are just a pale imitation.
It wasn’t until I arrived in Chongqing that I tasted the real deal! No wonder my Chongqing colleagues say the first thing they do when they return home is not eat hotpot, but noodles.
“Only when you eat noodles does your stomach truly settle back in Chongqing.”
Chongqing noodles are another iconic dish of the city, spreading across the country like Sha County snacks or Lanzhou pulled noodles. They grow wild in this city, demanding and uncompromising, yet so delicious that they win over even the most skeptical palate.
The noodles here are often made with alkaline water, which helps preserve the noodles in the humid climate and gives them a more resilient texture.
The key ingredients for the noodles include Yibin pickled vegetables, Fuling pickled mustard tuber, sesame paste, soy sauce, scallions, ginger water, lard, and peanuts, all topped with the soul of the dish: chili oil. The noodles need to be chewy and smooth, the vegetables crisp and fresh.
They should be fragrant without being greasy, spicy but not overwhelming.
Many Chongqing locals believe the best noodles are right under their apartment, not worth traveling far for.
However, every noodle shop has its unique recipe. Different chili blends are used to enhance flavor, color, and heat, with precise proportions, the grind of the chili, and the temperature of the oil all being crucial elements in determining the taste.
If you’re clueless about where to eat, we’ve compared 10 well-known Chongqing noodle shops and picked out a few that are worth a mention.
🏠 Luo Er Hu Noodle Shop
📍Near No. 6 Fu Hong Road 💰11
While each shop has its own highlights, my favorite is Luo Er Hu Noodle Shop. If I could only do one thing in Chongqing, it would be to come here for noodles without hesitation.
Their spicy sauce is incredibly refreshing, and there’s a subtle detail: their peanuts are roasted to the brink of burning, giving a more complex and explosive flavor.
The noodles are both numbingly spicy and fiery hot, making it the spiciest place I’ve tried (proceed with caution if you can’t handle spice). I was eating so fast my lips swelled like sausages, but I couldn’t put down my chopsticks.
As I huffed and puffed, I couldn’t help but slurp up the noodles, only realizing Chongqing noodles’ deadly charm when I calmed down after finishing the bowl.
The noodles are soaked in a half-soup of special chili oil, making them smooth, fragrant, and spicy, with the vegetables crisp and perfectly complementing the noodles.
🏠 Wu Wei Feng Noodle Shop
📍No. 8-6 Xuefu Avenue 💰14
This noodle shop only opens at night, in Chongqing you can wake up with noodles and fall asleep with them.
They are extremely popular, with long queues for their noodles. The shopkeepers seem to add seasonings at random, but they actually use spoons to measure for consistency.
We ordered a bowl of spicy noodles and a bowl of fragrant spicy noodles. The spicy noodles were numbing with a rich, almost burnt aroma, while the noodles were chewy and smooth, more intense than the fragrant spicy version.
The fragrant spicy noodles were slightly less bold, but the layered chili flavors were just as impressive, with a smooth oiliness and a refreshing spiciness that made my forehead sweat slightly.
The “luxury version” of the noodles is the pea and sauce noodles, featuring whole peas and a sauce made from stir-fried pork and soybeans.
In Chongqing, the peas should be whole yet tender, providing a contrast in texture to the noodles, and their fresh bean flavor pairs harmoniously with the rich sauce.
🏠 Super Li’s Bench Noodles (Main Store)
📍No. 41 Chaoqian Road 💰19
They have no seating, and on rainy days, there are not even stools. You buy your noodles and take them to the hotpot shop next door for a drink before eating, but despite the inconvenience, countless customers still line up. There must be something special about this place.Their noodles are light and fragrant, with thin, soft noodles, and a spicy, numbing flavor.
The pea and sauce noodles have a nutty aroma from the peanuts, offering a complex and layered taste that makes you want to eat more and more. In Chongqing, the key is to mix the noodles thoroughly! Blend the toppings and noodles together for a harmonious mix, ensuring every bite is flavorful.
🏠 Yi Mao Specialty Beef Noodles (Jiefangbei Pedestrian Street Store)
📍No. 7 Fireworks Bureau, Heping Road 💰32
Are you there? Can you help me check out how delicious their beef tendon noodles are?
Because this dish is somewhat niche in Chongqing, few tourists know about it, but locals love their beef tendon noodles.
The tendon meat is freshly cut every day, braised for a couple of hours in the evening, and kept warm overnight. When sold the next day, it’s still simmering on low heat.
The flavor is deeply infused, and although the meat is cut in large chunks, it’s so tender it melts in your mouth. The noodles are thick and chewy, and the crisp, refreshing bamboo shoots complement the meat perfectly.
Although Chongqing’s terrain is winding and circuitous, its cuisine is a straight shooter, aiming to deliver the deliciousness directly to you without any pretense or disguise, just straightforward and sincere.
Chongqing’s character is candid, which can be seen in its straightforward marketing tactics when it comes to naming dishes. For example, what is known as “Yangchun Noodles” in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai regions, is simply called “Small Noodles” in Chongqing, which is quite adorable.
