Beijing Dining - Beijing Hot Pot

City Guide - Beijing - Dining
For the cold weather, Hotpot is the favorite of Beijing people. From the quantity and quality of Beijing Hotpot Restaurants, we may conclude how Beijing people love it. There are basically two kinds of hotpot restaurants in Beijing: Mongolian style and Sichuan style. The staple of both types of hotpot is mutton (yáng ròu). The meat is usually sliced frozen so that it curls up into a tube shape. Then you place the meat into the hotpot, which is a copper pot containing a boiling soup base. After a few seconds the meat is cooked and you dip it into a sesame butter sauce. The verb describing the action of cooking the meat this way is called 'shuan'. Other shuan-ables include beef (féi níu), frozen bean curd (dòng dòu fǔ), Chinese cabbage (bái cài), bean sprouts (dòu miáo), and glass noodles (fěn sī). Spicy Sichuan hotpot has a soup base which can be described as either super spicy or mildly radioactive, but the pot is often divided into half spicy, half non-spicy soup pots. The soup base for Mongolian style is not spicy, and usually consists of some vegetables and seafood.

Restaurants of hotpot
Tian Yi Shun
Chinese name: 添一顺（tiān yī shùn）
Everyday, the restaurant is crowded with hotpot lovers. The boiling soup is delicious, with tangy hot flavors, and the mutton is fresh. Sheep's backbone stewed in the pot is extremely delicious.
Average Cost per Person: CNY40
Recommended Dishes: Sheep's Backbone
Tian Yi Shun (Yiheyuan Branch)
Location: No.88-11, Beisihuan Xilu, Haidian District
Tian Yi Shun (Wukesong Branch)
Location: No.9, Fushi Lu, Haidian District

Golden Paddy
Chinese name: 金稻谷（jīn dào gǔ）
The hotpot served here is highly praised for its genuine Sichuan flavor. Cold Pot Fish is the recommended dish. The big pot is brought in with a cooked fish which should be eaten first. After that, the waiter will pour some soup into the pot and boiling it. Then, you can put some mutton and vegetables into the boiling soup for a short while and dip them into various sauces.
Average Cost per Person: CNY45
Recommended Dishes: Cold Pot Fish
Location: north of Bldg 713, Section 7 of Jinsong, Chaoyang District

Flaming Phoenix
Chinese name: 火凤凰（huǒ fèng huáng）
The restaurant offers the hotpot with bullfrog, braised chicken and rabbit meat. It has lots of hot flavor.
Average Cost per Person: CNY70
Recommended Dishes: Bullfrog, Braised Chicken
Flaming Phoenix (Xinzhongjie Branch)
Location: No.50, Xinzhong Jie, Dongcheng District
Flaming Phoenix (Dongzhimen Branch)
Location: No.15-8, Dongzhimennei Dajie, Dongcheng District
Flaming Phoenix (Dewai Branch)
Location: No.18 A, Deshengmenwai Dajie, Xicheng District
Flaming Phoenix (Yonghegong Branch)
Location: No.62 A, Yonghegong Dajie, Dongcheng District