Why come here
A place worth making time for
Featured on CCTV's A Bite of China season 2 and treated locally as a benchmark old-school beef-tallow house; 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.
What it actually tastes like
The broth is fried from Shizhu chilli, Hanyuan 花椒, beef tallow, Pixian broad-bean paste and old ginger, and it is as oily, salty and numbing as Chongqing hotpot gets. Offal-forward menu, bone-in cuts, and brain (脑花) served soft in a gentle corner cell. Old-school houses like this usually run the red broth only - do not count on a 鸳鸯 split pot or a 清汤 clear broth, and ask before you sit down if someone in your party cannot eat chilli. One thing visitors hear about and worry over: the traditional 老油 practice of straining and reusing the tallow between tables, which gave the broth its depth. It is now regulated and licensed restaurants are required to use fresh single-use base oil (一次性锅底), which is what a shop like this will tell you it serves.
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.
Before you head out
Maps, photos & reviews
Restaurants move, close and change hands. These show the live picture.