The people of Beijing are spoiled for choice when it comes to hotpot. Not only are there thousands of hotpot restaurants – possibly tens of thousands – in Beijing, but there are myriad variations of them. Individual, communal, spicy, lamb, seafood, or regional, we will cover your choices for hotpot available in Beijing.
First off, let’s review individual and communal hotpot options. Hotpot is traditionally a meal that is eaten family style. However, due to the cravings and demand of the Beijing public, individual hotpot has become an extremely popular option. The de-facto individual hotpot chain in Beijing is Xiabu Xiabu, with their claim to fame having been specializing in easy and inexpensive individual hotpot choices. Just because it’s individual hotpot doesn't mean everyone here is dining solo. In fact, couples and friends usually opt for individual hotpot because everyone can get the soup base they want. Communal hotpot on the other hand, is anything else that is not individual hotpot. That includes traditional Chongqing (Sichuan) hotpot, quick-cook lamb hotpot and anything else in-between.
At the top of the restaurant industry for service is none other than Haidilao, a 24-hour hotpot chain that is renowned for its reputation of above-and-beyond customer service. This chain has a wide array of soup base options from mild to spicy, tangy and tomato, as well as different vegetable, meat and seafood options to choose from. The majority of hotpot restaurants follows this model, offering all types of traditional choices, like lamb and beef to many types of tofu and veggies.
A type of traditional lamb hotpot found in Beijing involves the quick-cook lamb. Diners order platters of extra-thin cut lamb that is put in the boiling hotpot broth for a few seconds and is then ready to eat. Another famous type of hotpot synonymous with Beijing cuisine is exploding tripe. The tripe only figuratively explodes when cooked in the hotpot.
More popular in the past several years are chuan’r (kebab) and fish hotpot. The former has skewered meat and veggies placed in the spicy hotpot while the latter is just a seafood take on traditional hotpot. Another popular hotpot option is Yunnan style hotpot that specializes in imported-from-Yunnan fresh vegetables and protein options that are common with the traditional ethnic minorities from the southwest Chinese province. Yunnan style hotpot is the most radical departure from traditional Chongqing hotpot, where the soup bases are not spicy but instead highlight light but tasty and aromatic flavors of the fresh ingredients that come from Yunnan.
