One-day Panda and Sichuan Cuisine Cooking Tour

The first stop is Panda Breeding and Research Center, home to nearly 50 giant pandas and red pandas. This beautifully laid out park is about 10 kilometers (six miles) from downtown Chengdu, with excellent walkways to various open enclosures of pandas.

It is best to go early in the morning to see the pandas feeding at around 9:30 am when they are most active during the day. There is also a small theater in the center where you can watch a 20-minute video to learn about the research and breeding of the giant pandas.

Enjoy lunch at a popular local restaurant. Have a short rest during the private 1-hour drive to Sichuan Cuisine Museum.

When you arrive at the Sichuan Cuisine Museum, the museum’s bilingual guide will take you to the tourist center. You will start your Sichuan dish experience journey by tasting one of the famous Sichuan snacks and touring a series of tourist areas.

Visit the Classic Collection Hall to learn about the evolution of Sichuan cuisine. In the Raw Material and Tools Display Area, enjoy yourself by picking organic vegetables and experiencing the traditional manufacturing techniques of making Pixian chili bean paste. Have a look at all kinds of processing tools and make chili powder using a pestle from the Qing Dynasty.

The professional guide will teach you how to cook three typical Sichuan dishes so that you will gain firsthand experience of Sichuan cuisine cutting skills, control of heat, cooking processes, and some secret tips for food presentation.

Enjoy the features of Sichuan food via the senses of sight, smell, taste, and touch. The head chef will make comments on your dishes and show you the correct way to eat authentic Sichuan dishes.

While tasting the dishes you have cooked, you will be served free fruit, red wine, Chinese herbal alcohol, and tea.

You will receive the “Rookie Master Chef” certificate signed by the chef and take home with you the “secret” recipes of the dishes you have cooked. After waving your museum guide goodbye, your tour guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel in Chengdu City.