Skip to content
A little preparation. A much better adventure.Independent travel advice · Made for China
Save your trip
Menu
Book your trip

A taste of Inner Mongolia

Zecheng Ice-Boiled Lamb

泽成冰煮羊

A specialist in the ice-boiled lamb hotpot style, where ice cubes and raw lamb go into the pot together and cook down into their own broth. Fried lamb heart is the other thing to order. Popular with locals rather than tour groups.

¥90–160≈ US$13Beside the north gate of Juhaicheng Area 1, Daxue East Street, Saihan District.
Plan your meal Open map

Why come here

A place worth making time for

A popular Hohhot ice-boiled lamb restaurant at around ¥97 per head; a modern local format, not an awarded institution.

The house favourites

What to order

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

  • Ice-boiled lamb (冰煮羊)
  • Lamb ribs (羊排)
  • Sand leek (沙葱)
  • Hand-cut lamb for the pot (羊肉片)

What it actually tastes like

The broth is drunk plain as the pot cooks and tastes strongly and purely of sheep, with no spice at all. Sand leek, a grassland wild allium, has a pungent raw-onion bite.

Allergens in this kitchen

gluten/wheatsoydairysesame

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.

Get to know the menu

Local specialities to try here

Ice-boiled lamb 冰煮羊Clean and sweet rather than gamey, with a light broth that tastes of lamb and onion and nothing else.