The mala fire of Sichuan — numbing peppercorn, dried chilli, fermented bean paste and the wok hei of a screaming flame — codified in the city that defined Chinese restaurant cooking. Chengdu is the recognized birthplace of the Sichuan canon and home to China's first cuisine college.
A UNESCO City of Gastronomy and home to China's first culinary college, where you tour the chilli and Pixian doubanjiang markets then learn mapo tofu and twice-cooked pork over a real wok flame.
BirthplaceLiving sceneMeccaVerified schoolsHeritageHong Kong's government-run Chinese Culinary Institute teaches Cantonese and pan-Chinese technique to a recognized diploma standard, the closest thing to a formal Chinese-cuisine credential.
Living sceneVerified schoolsGold credentialThe old Silk Road capital is the place to learn biang-biang hand-pulled noodles, roujiamo and the wheat-and-cumin northwestern table beside the Muslim Quarter.
Living sceneHeritageI'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.
If a place dodges these, that's your answer. It costs you nothing to ask, and it tells you everything.
This is the short version. The full method is here — the six questions, in order, for any craft anywhere.