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A taste of Chongqing

Zhou Shixiong Hot Pot (Jiefangbei flagship)

周师兄大刀腰片火锅（解放碑直营店）

A modern Chongqing chain built on one dish: pork kidney cut into broad 'big-knife' slices, dipped in the pot for seconds and eaten crunchy. The Jiefangbei flagship is the easiest serious hotpot for a visitor to reach, sitting in the Sunshine Constellation building on Minsheng Road a short walk from the Liberation Monument. It is slick and well staffed rather than grungy and old-school, which makes it a sensible first hotpot. Learn the technique here: tripe, duck intestine and kidney go in the boiling centre cell held in your chopsticks for seven to fifteen seconds only - the local instruction is 七上八下, 'seven up, eight down', meaning you lift and dip about fifteen times and then eat it. Leave it in and it turns to rubber.

¥78–110 per person≈ US$12Yuzhong district, 9 Minsheng Road, Jiaochangkou. Chongqing Rail Transit lines 1 and 2, Jiaochangkou station (较场口), exit 6B, per Chinese guide listings.
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Why come here

A place worth making time for

Known nationally for its 大刀腰片 big-knife kidney slices and for turning a single cut of offal into a brand; 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.

  • Big-knife pork kidney (大刀腰片)
  • Hand-stripped fresh duck intestine (生抠鲜鸭肠)
  • Fresh duck blood curd (鲜鸭血)
  • Top-grade abattoir tripe (特级屠场毛肚)
  • Hand-made sweet-potato sheet (手工苕皮)

What it actually tastes like

Kidney tastes mineral and faintly of urine to palates that have never met it - that is normal and the crunch is the point. Beef tallow broth, heavy chilli, strong 花椒 numbness, and a lot of offal: intestine, tripe, kidney, blood curd, and brain (脑花) if you want it. The oil film means food stays dangerously hot in your bowl.

Allergens in this kitchen

sesamesoygluten/wheatfishpeanut

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.