Chengdu's recommended small shops

Chengdu, which often sits on the list of the happiest cities in China, is well-known for its "slow" lifestyle. You can play mahjong with the elderly in People's Park, indulge in hotpot and skewers for days. But Chengdu offers more than that. You can taste various international cuisines here without saying much. The emerging trendy shops are popping up like mushrooms after rain. You may want to try various flowers and plants to calm yourself down, or find a coffee shop, tea house, or bookstore to match the rhythm of the city. Of course, you may just want to spend some money at the integrated stores.

Coffee like this

"Spacious and comfortable white café." URBAN PICNIC is entirely white, with a whole wall of clean, transparent floor-to-ceiling windows. The white space is even more transparent and bright in the sunlight, pure and warm. However, the white here is not monotonous. The cute graffiti on one white wall in the shop is interesting and thoughtful. Just a little further inside is the white bar counter, with a red professional coffee machine, Ferma E61, becoming the most eye-catching decoration in the shop. Currently, there are only a few simple varieties of coffee beans, but the flavors are enough to bring surprises.

Mi Mi Garden

"Romantic garden-style bookstore inn". On the exploration road of Sansheng Township, there is a garden inn with a bookstore as its element. It has a large and beautiful courtyard, with birds singing and flowers blooming in all seasons. When the weather is good, you can have afternoon tea in the courtyard, and your mood will become beautiful and pure along with the clear blue sky and white clouds. The blue and white tones create a romantic and fresh atmosphere. This inn has a unique feature, which is that it has no extra fancy gimmicks, but instead has over ten thousand books. The book-loving owner hopes that even under the heavy pressure of busy life, people can still remember to nourish their souls.

Together·Steam Hotel

"Steampunk-themed hostel." It is a youth hostel established by musicians, architects, and aircraft mechanics, with a music theme. We have renovated a 1960s old house located at 30 Wuhou Temple Street, within the Sichuan Chemical Industry Design Institute. It takes a 5-10 minute walk to Wuhou Temple and there is a bus stop, Nanjiao Road Station, right at the doorstep. In addition to being an accommodation space, it is also a cultural exchange platform and a way of life. The guitarist of the renowned rock band Sound Toys is the owner of the steampunk hostel, so there are often various music events here. Many well-known independent musicians have performed and lived here.

"The Feast of Shu"

The restaurant has a vintage tea house style, with blue chandeliers, wooden tables and chairs, and light blue dishes, creating a Republic of China British atmosphere, very artistic. The head chef of the restaurant is a renowned chef with many honors, and every dish is made with ingenuity. The crystal lettuce wrapped in sesame sauce is rich and flavorful, tender and fresh; the dancing salmon is ingeniously crafted, dipped in Sichuan-style sauce, novel and unique, with a rich texture that is memorable; the DIY pork liver is made with attention to detail, with a delicate and spicy taste, crispy and refreshing, and delicious to the extreme.

Octopus Kitchen

The boss of Octopus Kitchen is a cool girl from Yantai, Shandong. She has a strong name called Lion. Lion's family has been in the restaurant business for over ten years. She wanted to bring the taste of her hometown to Chengdu, thus Octopus Kitchen was created. Upon entering Octopus Kitchen, you will be greeted by a wall-sized octopus themed mural. The owner personally designed a fierce red octopus and a mighty lion, creating an interesting contrast. The boss is a fan of Junji Ito, so the restaurant also has many violent manga illustrations in the style of Junji Ito. The recommended dishes are Argentine red shrimp and iron plate squid king. To describe how big the shrimp and squid are, it's not an exaggeration to say "the shrimp is as big as a hand, and the squid is as big as a face". The red shrimp is tender and chewy, and it's best to eat it as soon as it's cooked to preserve its original flavor. The squid, after being grilled on an iron plate and served with Yun Gui chili sauce and Northwest dried chili, is incredibly fragrant and mouth-watering. It's spicy to the point that it makes your nose run, and it's simply addictive.