Chuan Chuan Xiang
串串香 · Chuànchuàn Xiāng
🌶
📍 Easy to find in Chengdu
Chuan Chuan Xiang is hot pot's more casual, more fun sibling. Everything comes on bamboo skewers — beef, chicken feet, tripe, mushrooms, tofu, vegetables — and you grab a handful, dip them into a shared boiling pot of chili broth, and eat them straight off the stick. At the end, your bill is calculated by counting the skewers. It's cheap, it's social, and it's everywhere in Chengdu.
📖 History
Originated in Chengdu in the 1980s as an affordable street food. The name literally means 'fragrant skewers'.
🍽 Where to eat it:
Shu Zhu Liu (蜀煮流) and Sixi Chuan Chuan (四喜串串) are local favorites. Yuanyuan Chuan Chuan Garden is great for late-night eating.
Shu Zhu Liu (蜀煮流) and Sixi Chuan Chuan (四喜串串) are local favorites. Yuanyuan Chuan Chuan Garden is great for late-night eating.