Chengdu Heavenly Plenty Snacks (成都天府小吃) in Flushing's Golden Shopping Mall

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[Photo credit: Lingbo Li]

Well, if Fuchsia Dunlop likes it, that has to say something about a Sichuanese restaurant, right? Serving up all the spicy classics of the region is Chengdu Heavenly Snacks, whose menu covers must-order traditional cold appetizers like fuqi feipian (translated by them as XO tongue and tripe) along with its belly-warming bowls of boiled beef in fiery sauce and ma po tofu. The region's cooking is characterized by fearless use of chili oil and the inimitable Szechuan peppercorn—fried fragrant, or ground to an aromatic powder—sprinkled liberally for its unique numbing, tingling sensation.

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Worth ordering here is the previously mentioned tongue and tripe dish, as well as another classic cold appetizer: spicy diced rabbit with peanuts (ma la rabbit's meat). In a previous post on this worthy food tour stop, we noted that the "Heaven Chicken" melds the fire of red chili oil with meltingly tender chicken. If you're deathly afraid of food that comes in pools of red oil, this probably isn't the place for you.

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Menu Vocab

Even though there's a well-organized English menu, I noticed quite a few ambiguities with translation. I've made an effort to include some editorial notes, but keep the following in mind:

Where there's "fun," there's rice noodles. "Ma la" refers to the unique numbing and heating sensation from the local Sichuan peppercorn.

Address and directions

Stall 31 (in the basement, the first stall on your left coming in through the Main St entrance with the aqua paint job.)
41-28 Main Street
Flushing, NY

English Menu

An English menu is available, so I've retyped it here for reference purposes. Where I felt their translation is unclear, I've made notes to clarify.

Noodle ($3-5)

Dan dan noodle
Chui shao noodle
Beef noodle, rice noodle
Rib noodle
Sausage noodle, rice noodle
Sliced beef noodle, rice noodle
Duck soup noodle, rice noodle
Cheng Du cold noodle
Hot and sour sausage fun (editorial note: "fun" should be translated as "rice noodle.")
Hot and sour beef fun
Hot and sour vegetable fun
Wonton with chili oil sauce
Dumpling with chili oil sauce
Hot and sour wonton with chili oil
Wonton
Hot pot noodle fun

Appetizers ($3-8.50)

XO tongue and tripe (editorial note: frequently translated as "tongue and tripe in spicy sauce" or literally as "husband and wife sliced lung")
Ma la beef tendon
Ma la rabbit's meat
Sliced pork with minced garlic
Spicy sliced pig's ear
Spicy shredded intestine
Tian fu chicken
Bo Bo chicken
Roast beef
Zhang Cha duck (editorial note: tea-smoked duck)
3 shredded salad
Cucumber salad
Dire tofu with peanut （editorial note: "diced" tofu)
Cabbage with chili oil
Chuan bei liang fen (editorial note: northern Sichuan style liang fen - a bean jelly noodle)
Cooked cold noodle
Intestine country style
Cheng Du cured meat
Ma la sausage


Sauteed ($5-10)


Spicy twice-cooked pork

Hot pepper with shredded beef

Dire tofu with shredded pork (editorial note: diced tofu)

Hot pepper with intestine

Ma po tofu

Chicken saute dire chili (editorial note: diced chicken)

Fish with hot and spicy sauce

Boiled fish with fiery sauce

Boiled beef with fiery sauce

Sauteed vegetables

Shredded potato with hot pepper

Back to the food map

Explore other Golden Shopping Mall basement spots

Or head upstairs and explore the first floor



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