Zi Fei

Zi Fei (Not One's Self) treats dinner as theater: lanterns, incense, a dining room styled like a Ming scholar's retreat, and waiters who introduce each course like an act of a play. The kitchen, though, is deadly serious - Chengdu's best chefs run the stove, and the tasting menu rewrites Sichuan classics with modern precision.

It is the restaurant to book for a once-in-a-trip evening, and the staff will pace the whole performance for first-timers: from a ceremonial first tea to the numbing-spicy finale. Prices are high by Chengdu standards and worth every yuan.