Best Burgers in Chengdu: Where to Look

The best burgers in Chengdu are concentrated in Jinjiang District, around Taikoo Li and Chunxi Road, the city’s main shopping area, and south of the centre in Wuhou District, where Tongzilin and Yulin have long been the neighbourhoods for bars, cafés and Western food. The Hi-Tech Zone, full of offices and young workers, is the third area to search.

Chengdu was named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2010, the first in Asia. Its cooking is defined by mala, the numbing heat of Sichuan peppercorn combined with dried chillies, which runs through hot pot, mapo tofu and dan dan noodles. Daily life moves slowly: teahouses in People’s Park and around the Kuanzhai Alleys stay full in the afternoon. When a burger kitchen here borrows from local cooking, Sichuan peppercorn and chilli oil are the ingredients to look for. A classic American-style burger is easiest to find in Taikoo Li and Tongzilin.

Burgers in Chengdu: key facts

• Neighbourhoods to explore: Taikoo Li and Chunxi Road (Jinjiang), Tongzilin and Yulin (Wuhou), and the Hi-Tech Zone.
• Local flavour: mala, the pairing of Sichuan peppercorn and dried chilli.
• Local specialty: hot pot, mapo tofu and dan dan noodles.
• Currency: renminbi (CNY), with menus priced in yuan and bills settled by phone.
• Getting around: the Chengdu Metro; Chunxi Road station, on Lines 2 and 3, is the stop for Taikoo Li.

Every guide we publish on Chengdu is dated and lists only venues, addresses, prices and ratings we could verify. For other cities, browse our burger restaurant guides by city.