Ancient hotpot, modern cuisine

Sichuan hotpot dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) when it was first created in a small town along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Local boatmen cooked a kind of spicy soup with vegetable, meat and hot peppers to help them in the humid, cold weather.

Over hundreds of years, hotpot evolved to become a major Sichuan cuisine.

There are more than 2,000 hotpot restaurants in Chengdu and every restaurant has different recipe for the soup base.

Major kinds of soup base include traditional butter, clear oil, porridge, clear soup and cold fish.

The dipping sauces are usually made of sesame oil with garlic and green onion.

People can put any meat and any vegetables including potato, lotus root and tofu, into the pot.

For those who don't like chili, porridge hotpot and clear soup are mild with house special dipping sauces.

Mandarin Duck hotpot with half spicy and half clear soup base often satisfies a range of tastes.

If you go:

Traditional butter hotpot:

Shu Jiu Xiang

Address: 116 Century City Road, Hi-Tech Zone

Telephone: 028-85186989

Price: 90 yuan per person

Clear oil hotpot:

Hot Space

Address: 15 South Yulin Road,Wuhou Zone

Telephone: 028-85547222

Price: 70 yuan per person

Porridge hotpot:

Nan Zhou Bei Mian

Address: Zishan Walking Street, Wuhou Zou

Telephone: 028-85188744

Price: 60 yuan per person

Clear soup pot:

Zhen Yi Lan Ting

Address: 99 Youpin Avenue, Qingyang district

Telephone: 028-61358999

Price: 300 yuan per person

Cold pot fish:

Chai Men Fish Restaurant

Address: 6-16 Hang Kong Road, Wuhou Zone

Telephone:028-87733580

Price: 200 yuan per person