Chongqing Food Restaurants

3 min read

Sichuan cuisine’s history can be traced back to the Qin and Han dynasties，and became a major school of cooking during the Tang dynasty.When chili peppers were introduced to China during the Qing dynasty，Sichuan cooking developed into the modern spicy feast.

As Chongqing lies in the heart of China’s chili belt，local dishes are not for the timid tongue.Chongqing’s specialty is the addition of the Sichuan peppercorn，which produces a numbing heat，hence many dishes have the prefix mala，meaning numb and spicy.

Many restaurants will tone down the spice count for tongues that have yet to be initiated.

The most famous Chongqing dish is a spicy hotpot called mala huoguo，a cauldron of red，bubbling soup in which diners cook raw meats and vegetables.The longer itsimmers the spicier it gets and the custom is to save the leafy vegetables for last.Watch out-they pick up all the spices.If this sounds a bit too much，many restaurants also serve a yuan-yang hotpot（yuanyang huoguo ）with one side red and the other a clear chicken broth.Many street vendors sell a cold noodle（liang fen）topped with cucumbers and drenched in a spicy sauce then sprinkled with chopped garlic.Barbecue（shao kao）is a popular way of cooking and can be less spicy.Small rice dumplings in a hot soup（shancheng xiaotangyuan ）are usually filled with sweet sesame paste.

A traditional chinese wedding in Chongqing.This is a new fashion in nodern China.

Chicken is cooked in a variety of ways and two popular dishes are spicy chicken（lazi jI）and a spicy chicken appetizer（koushul ji）that’s served cold.

Chongqing’s spring chicken（mineral water spring，not the season）is a local specialty.

It’s so good there’s a whole street（nanshan quanshul jI yitiaojie）dedicated to serving it.The chickens can be found by Nanshan Park at Huangjueya in the Nan’an District other goodies to look for include simple noodles（dandan mian），Sichuan five-spiced beef jerky（laosichuan wixiang niurougan）and huge pomelos（liangping you）.

Wuyi Lu is locally known as hotpot road and has numerous options.Along Bayi Lu by the Liberation Monument is a food market（jiefangbei haochi yitiaojie）that teems with vendors selling everything from noodles to barbecue.

RESTAURANTS

Chongqing Hotel

Specializes in southern cuisine like barbecue（jidexiang kaorou）and tofu with egg yolk（danhuang doufu bao），they have monthly specials like guoba yuzai and qingsun xiangla zaitu.

235Minsheng Lu，Yuzhong District

24 hours

Chongqing Little Swan Bayu Restaurant

Great all-you-can-eat hotpot spot，and especially good is their“son and mother”hotpot（zimu guo ）；also has medicinal soups made from soft-shelled turtles（jiayu），tortoises（gui），black chickens（wuji）and spring pigeons（ruge）.

Lunch is RMB 48，dinner is RMB 58 not including alcoholic beverages or dipping sauce；there’s also a 10% service charge.

6/F，New Chongqing Square，22 Minzu Lu，Yuzhong District

11 am to 9：30 pm

Fuling Laozihao Feichangguan

Tasty Sichuan treats.

Gaosuntang

8 am to 2 pm，5 pm to 9 pm

Lao Sichuan Restaurant

All kinds of beef，including a very thinly sliced spicy dengying niurou mala shredded beef（mala niurousi）and ox-tail soup（niuwei tang）.

186Minzu Lu，Yuzhong District

10 am to 2 pm，4：30 pm to 9：30 pm

Waipoqiao