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About Hotpot in Beijing

2004/07/13

Just like the capital’s culture, Beijing cuisine has absorbed and been influenced by many of the flavours of China’s regions.

Chinese cuisine in general has the four distinct regional cooking styles of Sichuan (Chuan) to the West, Canton (Cantonese) to the South, Shangdong (Lu) to the East  and Jiangsu (Huaiyang) to the North and the cuisine of Beijing brings together these contrasting styles.

In Beijing you can find menus from around the world including Spanish, French and Italian restaurants that are well-established, and Japanese, Indian and Thai outlets, that are also very popular with local Beijingers.

About Hotpot

When autumn hits Beijing and the weather cools, hotpot becomes a firm favourite.

There are essentially two kinds of hotpot restaurant in Beijing: Mongolian and Sichuan style, the staple of both being mutton.

Spicy Sichuan hotpot divides into half-spicy, half-not while the Mongolian hotpot is not spicy, and usually consists of vegetables and seafood. The pot itself is made of brass, with a wide outer rim where charcoal burns to heat liquid. Once boiling, the stock is used to quickly cook a range of ingredients. After a few seconds the meat and vegetables are ready to eat and dipped in a smooth sesame butter sauce that is delicious and incredibly filling! Sichuan hotpot can be very spicy but always delicious.

Tips
  • Restaurants in Beijing usually do not require tips or a service charge. Some expensive restaurants will charge 15% service.
  • Opening times usually 11am-2pm and 5pm-10pm
  • Menus written in Chinese, so be warned: bring a friendly translator!!
  • Do not worry about getting the chopsticks right first time: practice not perfection!!
  • Do observe some of the taboos associated with eating in China.

 



 
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