Chongqing Hotpot: The Basics

Chongqing hotpot is a style of Chinese hotpot built around a bubbling pot of beef tallow and chili oil, and it is one of the signature foods of Chongqing, China. Locals call it lao huoguo — "old hotpot" — to distinguish it from the lighter, broth-based hotpots found elsewhere in the country. It is not a single restaurant or a ticketed attraction; it is a regional cooking tradition served in thousands of hotpot restaurants across the city, from street-corner joints with plastic stools to multi-floor halls that seat hundreds. For visitors, eating Chongqing hotpot is less a sightseeing stop than a hands-on introduction to how the city eats.

Where to Find It

Chongqing is a direct-administered municipality in southwest China, and hotpot restaurants are everywhere — in the central districts of Yuzhong, Jiangbei, Nan'an, Shapingba and Jiulongpo, and in the older neighbourhoods along the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. There is no single address to give, because the dish belongs to the whole city. The densest clusters for visitors are around Jiefangbei and Hongya Cave in Yuzhong District, and along the Nan'an riverside, where many restaurants have outdoor tables facing the water.

Getting there is straightforward. Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport has direct flights from major Chinese cities and a handful of international routes, and Chongqing North, Chongqing West and Shapingba railway stations connect the city to Chengdu in about an hour by high-speed train. Once you are in the city, the metro reaches all the central districts, and taxis and ride-hailing are cheap and easy to find.

How the Tradition Developed

Chongqing hotpot grew out of the city's river life. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, boatmen and dock workers on the Yangtze cooked cheap cuts of meat and offal in a shared pot of spiced broth over a charcoal fire, eating straight from the water they worked on. Beef tallow, chilies and Sichuan pepper were added to make the broth rich and warming in the damp river climate. Over the twentieth century the practice moved from the docks into restaurants, and the split "nine-grid" pot — a divider that lets different ingredients cook at different speeds — became the standard. The dish spread across China in the 1980s and 1990s and now has a following in cities worldwide.

What Goes Into the Pot

There is no fixed menu, but a classic Chongqing spread usually includes:

  • The base: beef tallow melted with dried chilies, Sichuan pepper, ginger, garlic and fermented bean paste, sometimes with a milder clear broth on one side of a divided pot.
  • Meats: thinly sliced beef and lamb, pork, chicken, and offal such as tripe, duck intestine and beef aorta.
  • Vegetables and tofu: lotus root, potato, winter melon, lettuce, enoki mushrooms, dried tofu skin and blood tofu.
  • Dipping sauce: usually sesame oil with garlic, sometimes with vinegar or cilantro, to cool the heat.

What to Try First

The nine-grid pot. Ask for a divided pot and you get a gentle introduction: the centre grid boils hardest and cooks raw meat fast, while the outer grids hold gentler heat for vegetables and tofu. It is the easiest way to eat hotpot without burning your tongue on the first bite.

Duck intestine and tripe. These are the cuts locals order first, and they are the real test of a good pot. Duck intestine cooks in about fifteen seconds — dip it, lift it, eat it — and beef tripe