Laogedou — Restaurant in Chengdu

This restaurant has been on the "must-eat" list for 2022, 2023, and 2024. It’s a recommended spot for those who want to try shredded eel.

🌶️Local Shredded Eel This is the star dish in the local review app set menu. The chef can’t make it non-spicy, only mildly spicy. Luckily, the mild spice here is true to its word, at spice level 1 on a scale of 1-10. The owner explained that the earthy taste of the eel needs spice to mask the fishiness. However, anyone who has tried the famous Huaiyang dish, “sauteed shredded eel,” knows it doesn’t use chili, yet the eel is still tender and flavorful, without any muddy taste. As I often say, a chef who can only cook with chili is like a gamer who can't play without cheats. Chili is not truly a flavor—it’s a sensation. Using it to mask the fishiness of the eel is like burying your head in the sand. The real ingredients that remove fishiness are ginger, vinegar, or cooking wine. Anyway, the flavor of the shredded eel here is pretty good, and those who don’t like spice can tolerate it with one eye closed.

🍲Garlic Sauteed Bamboo Leaf Greens This is also a local specialty, with many rests displaying it as a signature dish. The seasoning is decent, but as a carnivore, I found the taste lacking; it’s more suitable for “herbivores,” with a strong grassy bitterness and fibrous texture between the leaf veins (those with less sensitive taste buds might not notice it).

The term “Yuanzi” seems to have multiple meanings in Sichuanese. In “jiuniang yuanzi” (fermented rice balls), it refers to glutinous rice, but here, it means pork meatballs! Non-pork eaters, beware ⚠️.

The restaurant provides free hot water, and the service is quite professional. Although there are no-smoking signs, enforcement is weak. Some inconsiderate customers still carry lit cigarettes through the room, bothering other diners! It’s well-known that smoking is harmful, increasing cancer risk, especially secondhand smoke. I hope staff will directly stop or fine such people when they see this behavior. Maintaining a clean, civilized dining environment starts with everyone.

A "must-eat" restaurant may not deliver an amazing experience, but it generally won’t disappoint. The set menu here is enough for 2-3 people and might even be...

好吃好吃好吃。一定...