There is a great deal of delicious food along the Road to Shu. Chengdu is famous for its “little snacks” and hot pot restaurants (right bottom) and Xi’an for its Moslem dishes. But even in the smaller towns that lie along the road between these two cities, there are many wonderful restaurants with selections ranging from inexpensive vegetables to live fish (below left) which can be cooked up in a jiffy as either soup or steamed whole fish. There is a 20-page section describing these dishes and many others in the guidebook and you can order whatever appeals to you by simply pointing to the Chinese characters on the five page-listing of Chinese/English regional dishes. Chinese street food is also excellent, from duck slices wrapped in crepes for 25 cents in Xi'an (right top) to slightly sweet buns for 6 cents in Langzhong (right middle). Even hotel restaurants have quite reasonable food, with vegetable dishes for under $1; and if you patronize a restaurant several days in a row, the cook will generally start coming out to tell you what the best dishes are for that day (below right). Although dog meat is considered a delicacy in many parts of western China, don't worry that some shoddy cook is going to try and serve it to you instead of the beef you ordered. You will never eat it by accident as dog meat costs about three times the price of beef.
