It was one of those not very long transit but long enough that I would try to see if it's worth leaving the airport for a while. I landed in Chengdu at Tianfu Airport and to get to Chengdu City, it would take about 1.5 hours by train one way to where I wanted to get to. So that would give me around 2.5 hours outside of the airport and leaving enough time to get through immigration and security check. In addition, it is now visa free to travel to China for 15 days for Malaysian passport holders. I decided that it would be enough time to leave the airport for dinner and walk around for a short while. 

The plan was to check out Kuanzhai Xiangzhi (宽窄巷子) and have dinner nearby as the flight landed in Chengdu at 5:35 pm. To reduce what I needed to carry, I checked in most things and very ambitiously also checked in my cap and waterproof jacket. I forgot to check the weather forecast and arrived in a rainy Chengdu. 

The rain wasn't too heavy by the time I stepped out of Kuanzhai Xiangzhi metro station so I walked to my dinner stop - the first shop reviewed in Paul's post - 纯阳馆鱼香排骨面

The walk from Kuanzhai Xiangzhi station took about 15 minutes and fairly straightforward. I didn't get a picture of the shopfront as the rain got heavier and there were cars parked outside of the shop. Their menu now in both Chinese and English. I visited in April 2024. 

鱼香排骨面 is shown on their signboard so naturally that was the one I wanted. I really like chilli oil wontons (item 14) and usually would get that if I want wontons but after reading the review, I decided to get the steamed egg with ground pork (item 20) along with 'fish fragrant' spare ribs noodles (item 6). I don't think I would be able to finish 3 items by myself. 

The noodles were al dente and the soup broth were tasty and not oily. Steamed egg were silky smooth.

It was pouring after I finished my meal, so heavy that I had to wait under a shade even to walk back to the metro station. I decided to scrap my plan of strolling Kuanzhai Xiangzhi and went back to the airport. So my Chengdu transit stop was pretty much 'I went out and ate a bowl of noodles' but tasty noodles and steamed egg.