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A taste of Chongqing

Lao Tongxue Waiguan Hot Pot (air-raid shelter hotpot)

老同学歪馆火锅

A 洞子火锅 'cave hotpot' - a restaurant dug into one of the wartime air-raid shelters that honeycomb Chongqing, in the Yanyu Road underpass near the Jiangnan Sports Centre. The city built 282 public and over 1,500 private shelters against Japanese bombing in the late 1930s and early 1940s; the abandoned tunnels turned out to be cheap, and naturally ten degrees cooler than the street, which is why they became hotpot halls. This one was the main location for the 2016 film Chongqing Hot Pot.

Price not confirmedNan'an district, Yanyu Road underpass near Jiangnan Sports Centre. Metro station not confirmed.
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Why come here

A place worth making time for

Known as the filming location of the 2016 film Chongqing Hot Pot (火锅英雄) and as one of the city's best-known cave hotpot rooms; no award confirmed from a primary source.

The house favourites

What to order

Point at the Chinese. Staff will understand it even where the menu has no English at all.

  • Beef tripe (毛肚)
  • Duck intestine (鸭肠)
  • Luncheon-meat and spam slices (午餐肉)
  • Duck blood curd (鸭血)

What it actually tastes like

Red beef-tallow broth, heavy chilli and 花椒. Add the cave itself: no natural ventilation, so the chilli-laden steam hangs in the air and your eyes and throat will feel it before the food arrives. Offal-heavy menu. Your clothes will smell of it for days. Assume red broth only in a cave room; if you need a 鸳鸯 split pot, choose one of the bigger branded houses instead.

Allergens in this kitchen

sesamesoygluten/wheatpeanut

This is the kitchen, not one dish. Woks, fryers, blanching water and utensils are shared in almost every Chinese restaurant, so for a serious allergy treat the whole premises as the unit rather than ordering around it.