Best hot pot in Beijing

How to eat hot pot, the many regional varieties and our top restaurant picks

The hot pot is one of Asia’s oldest methods of cooking and is still a popular choice for a night out in the city. Time Out gets to grips with the many different regional varieties and shows you where to find them.

Types of Hot Pot



Hot pots in Beijing offer a massive variety of flavours, many unknown outside of China. The cooking base is the most important component – it’s the foundation of the flavour, and versions include fragrant Thai curry, fire-spiced Sichuan chillies and peppercorns, raging hot oil, and the lightest drinkable broths.

Our new favourite uses zhou (congee, or jook), that warming rice porridge, as a delicious base. The best part is that all of these flavours can be found within the city rings.

Cooking with fire is a primeval act of survival. The concept of huo guo, or fire pot, couldn’t be more simple: a single pot, liquid, some vegetables, possibly meat or anything locally available, and fire.

Arguments prevail over whether hot pot originated in Mongolia or Sichuan, but both versions are loveable. Fire is one of the Five Elements (along with wind, water, earth, metal) and a fundamental part of the balance of life in Chinese belief.

Unbeknownst to many, the basic broths are often prepared in line with traditional Chinese medicine. Dried red jujube dates, sweet goji berries, bitter medicinal roots and fresh ginger add flavour and depth to bland broths while slipping in health benefits as a bonus. Add a host of dipping sauces to accentuate and embellish each bite and the flavourful possibilities are endless.

Northerners say ‘shuan yang rou’, the local parlance for swishing or ‘rinsing lamb’ in boiling liquid – a term that applies to all forms of hot pot whether you order lamb or not.



In the south, hot pot is often a light broth with natural flavours. Unlike other regions, sesame paste doesn’t preside. Instead, cooked food is dipped in a sauce of beaten raw egg enhanced by soy sauce and a Taiwanese chilli paste called ‘shacha’ with its misleading ‘Barbecue Sauce’ label. The viscous sauce coats just-cooked food, giving it a cooling effect, body and more substance.

Sichuan is considered the motherland for hot pot thanks to the numbing effect of their native peppercorn and liberal use of red chillies. Common poaching liquids are straight oil-based chilli, while others combine a soup with a spice-laden red floating slick. Malatang, one of the great street foods, are multi-coloured and shaped skewers of anything and everything, lined up like soldiers simmering in a steaming vat of spicy, seasoned liquid. It’s also one of the best cheap eats around.

Yunnan wisely makes great use of their abundance of mushrooms, creating a terrific broth for vegetarians (provided the broth is water-based). In Yunnan, a timer is often set on tables with a mandatory wait for the mushrooms to boil, essentially voiding any potential hazards. The result is a mind-blowing mouthful of flavour.

Celebrated Vietnamese cookbook author Andrea Nguyen describes ‘fire pots in Vietnam being mostly eaten during evenings with broths made from beef, fish, goat and oxtail. In Saigon, a favourite is made from mudfish, a type of perch that is fermented to create a funky flavour with bits of pineapple and lemongrass.’

The Singaporeans call it ‘steamboat’, offering massive buffets of ingredients, while Cambodia and Thailand hot pots use their own local flavours and vegetables in kindred spirit.

Japan offers iron pots of simmering broth called nabe, but options such as shabu shabu, and its sweeter cousin sukiyaki, are all one-pot soupy dinners meant to be shared.

Korea boasts a colourful but bland version in a traditional funneled pot similar to the copper pots found in China. However, their chigae is an example of the many types of soups and stews, including anything from tofu and clams to kimchi.

Hot pot can stretch its span as long as the last strands of a cheesy fondue. ‘Fondue Bacchus’, named after the Roman wine god, is sometimes called Fondue Chinoise, after its wine and broth base. In Switzerland, fondue bourguignonne is a popular way of eating cubes of raw meat that have been fried at the table in a pot of hot oil. These fondues are winter chalet food and their dips are usually condiments from mustard to mayonnaise, to Béarnaise.

Cooking your own food at the table is a great communal dining experience and a relatively inexpensive way to spend an evening with friends. Throughout the city, the more you look, the more you’ll find.

How to eat hot pot in Beijing...

The variety of offerings is perplexing to even the most percipient diners. Selections are reasonable, so try something different each time.

Most restaurants offer a mixed vegetable basket or meat selection, which gives value for money and a rainbow of choices. Tofu and other starches including mung bean noodles are great sponges for soaking up flavour.

And don’t forget the wan or spheres of hashed protein, often how fish and seafood find their way to the table.Wise up in cheaper establishments and be warned that some meatballs can have a texture as if they bounced off the courts of Wimbledon, so avoid them unless you’re in a reputable safe house.

Choices of meat on a menu can befuddle a butcher. Inner Mongolian lamb and finely marbled precious Japanese beef are the holy grails on most menus, and in the case of beef, there is a difference in texture and flavour, but always at a price. Considering the costs range from ridiculously cheap to astronomical, keep in mind three things:

The meat will be boiled in a broth, probably longer than well done.

Your choice of soup base will determine how much flavour you can actually taste.

Dipping your meat into a heavy sesame sauce will mask much of the prized flavour from an expensive cut.

The worst thing that can happen is to ruin a potentially good thing by overcooking it. And there’s no one to blame but yourself. So don’t let that leafy green boil to olive drab and ‘swoosh’ that paper thin slice of meat just until it turns from crimson blush to barely brown.

Each heaping plate of artfully shaved meat will cook to a final result of texture and flavour, something that can be tricky to discern. Avoid the pricier options unless you truly denote the difference. Save your money for a good juicy steak, but for cooking in the moat, opt for the cheaper cuts of meat and you’ll walk away both satiated and with deeper pockets.

Sesame paste is ubiquitous here in the north, but try other variations and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Some broths are so good the sauce becomes moot. And don’t forget the noodles (get the hand-pulled ones if you can), always cooked last, leaving a thickened drinkable soup at the end.

WE RECOMMEND

Guijie (Ghost Street) is a no-brainer with almost every other restaurant offering hot pot, but here are some known and lesser-known favourites to discover for yourself.

Haidilao

A favourite, and with good reason: heaven and hell divided moats, which are great; plus a secret chilli spice pouch and a milky broth that balance like yin and yang. Order the hand-pulled noodles – complete with a private hip-hop table dance.

2A Baijiazhuang Lu, Chaoyang (6595 2982). Open 24 hours. Meal for two around 160RMB (for other locations, see www.haidilaohuoguo.com ). 朝阳区白家庄路甲2号

Ding Ding Xiang (Hot Pot Paradise)

For posh white tablecloths and bling bling surroundings. You don’t have to share here thanks to fancy individual pots. Try their award-winning sesame bing.

Sixth Floor, Shin Kong Place, 87 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang district (6530 5997). Open 11.15am-10pm daily. Meal for two around 250RMB. 朝阳区建国路87号新光天地6层

Lemon Leaf

Tom yam, curry and other soup choices are on offer here, but we like the ‘benz’, a trio of drinkable soup bases. Order the minced shrimp in bamboo tubes and enjoy.

15 Xiaoyun Lu, Chaoyang district (6462 5505). Open 11am-10pm daily. Meal for two around 200RMB. 朝阳区霄云路15号

Chiansixianshige

Hands down the best of the lot and worth the trek to Chongwen. There’s a zoo of animals on the menu including rabbit, turtle and frog, but go for the wild mountain chicken and you’ll finish up with comforting porridge that melds all the good flavours in the end.

East side of Guanghe Lu (take the side road exit at Guangming Qiao), Dongerhuan, Chongwen district (6770 2288). Open 11am-10pm daily. Meal for two around 200RMB. 崇文区广河路东

Niu Xuan An (at the back of the Murayama meat shop)

This tiny secret of an eatery, behind the curtains of a Japanese butchery, fills up by 7.30pm with a savvy Nippon crowd. Skip the bland shabu shabu and opt for a curry or miso nabe or sukiyaki.

19 Xinyuanli Xi, Chaoyang district (6464 3383). Open 11.30am-1.30pm; 5pm-10.30pm daily. Meal for two around 150RMB. 朝阳区新源里19号

Dong Lai Shun

For classic hot pot options in traditional copper or cloisonnéfunneled pots, head to this chain and let loose. The pricey Yunnan mushroom and oxtail broth (188RMB) is fantastic, but base soups (from 20RMB) will leave your wallet sound.

12 Xinyuanxili Zhongjie, Chaoyang district (6467 3707). Open 11am-2pm; 5pm-10.30pm daily. Meal for two around 150RMB (other locations available). 朝阳区新源西里中街12号

Xiabu Xiabu

No one can argue about the merits of this counter-style eatery, given the convenience and price. Bargain-priced shareable combos make it a great lunch place for two.

Locations in almost every mall and food court in Beijing. Meal for two around 50RMB. 各大购物商场以及各美食广场均可见

GET THE GADGET

If you want to replicate the hot pot experience yourself, Dianmenwai Dajie is home to a small cluster of restaurant supply shops. Hot pots are priced from around 250RMB and come in stainless steel, traditional copper and fancy cloisonné. Keep in mind that these pots are heated; the optional funnel that works as a flue to control the heat is an additional accessory.

If you’re planning to make this at home, be sure you have an outdoor seating area, or well-ventilated space, and a heavy hot plate to shield your table from the heat.

You’ll need access to a charcoal grill to heat briquettes until red hot, then carefully transfer the coals to the pot. Most shops close by 5pm, so be sure to go early otherwise you could miss out.

For a simpler solution, any plug-in electric skillet will work and give the same cooking effect, although is obviously not as rustic as the traditional fire pot.