I figured that dinner at Qin Shan Zhai justifies a whole entry by itself. Why?
1) Qin Shan Zhai Restaurant specialises in cuisine incorporating precious herbs. Lunch can cost up to 138 RMB per person.

2) Located at the heart of Chengdu city, a visit to this restaurant is a must. The address of the restaurant is: Chengdu Qin Shan Zhai restaurant, Marquis Wu Street, No. 247. The contact number is :0086-028-85098875.

(No, I was not paid to advertise them, I found the food to be delicious and hence I decided to spread the word, so if you do go to Chengdu, please book in advance. Especially for dinner. Quality control is so stringent that they only prepare food upon confirmed reservations to ensure the freshest ingredients are used and no food goes to waste.)

We had the herbal hot pot for dinner that night. Here's how the hot pot looks like:


Infused with at least 11 different herbs and spices and a fat duck to boot, the soup tasted heavenly. You can also see a plate of thinly sliced mutton. You cook the mutton in the hot pot by dipping the mutton slices into the boiling soup, as you would do in steamboats. Because the mutton is so thin, you need to hold it with your chopsticks while it is cooking, and the act of holding it is akin to brushing the meat against the side of the pot, which is why it is called "Shua Yang Rou" (brushing the mutton). Interesting. And in case you were wondering, no, the mutton did not taste funny. It tasted great!


Huge medicinal wine bottles on display. All brewed by the restaurant and we had one of the wines free flow, on the house. Cool. Tastes a bit like schnapps (which I tried in Copenhagen). Very strong stuff. Ugh. The small bowls under the wine bottles contained the different food which we were served with for the entire night.


This is the interior waterfall in Qin Shan Zhai restaurant. Absolutely beautiful. There's actually a dining area on the top of the waterfall, which creates a tranquil ambience for diners who want privacy. Me? I just wanted a picture of the scenery :P

I do not know how much the whole dinner cost, honestly, because it was all covered by the tour agency. But from the 16 different courses of veg and meat available, I think the price must have been quite high. Gulp!

Waiters and waitresses were extremely polite and helpful as well... very important. :)
Right, thats it for Qin Shan Zhai. After eating, me and my mom went to Parkson (yeah, they have Parkson Grand there) for some night shopping and I managed to grab a winter coat for approx. RM58. Such a steal! Thats the one I was wearing in my pictures taken at Emei Mountain. And in my favourite pink colour too! Wakakaka

Coming up next: Chengdu Part III- Dujiangyan Irrigation System, Dujiangyan City