China: First hot pot in Chengdu

By the time we had settled down, it was already 3.30pm. So, the plan was to look for a nearby restaurant which was within walking distance. The temperature was around 10ºC and we were glad that we had escaped from the hot weather in Malaysia. It was hitting 38ºC in Malaysia at that time.


This was the hotel we stayed, Jin Jiang Inn.


This was taken after we crossed the traffic lights in front of the hotel.


One little stall by the roadside caught our eyes and we bought a pack of peeled water chestnuts(RMB10) from the owner.


We truly enjoyed the walk in such a cool weather, something which was not so possible in Malaysia. And in 5 minutes, we reached our destination, San Zhi Er Hot Pot Restaurant(三只耳火锅). San Zhi Er and many other famous restaurants was located at Yu Shuang Rd(玉双路).


Click to enlarge the menu


This restaurant was the pioneer for cold pot fish(冷锅鱼). Thed name was given because the hot fish was served in a cold pot. I studied that Sichuan's hot pot was normally very spicy. To be safe, we ordered two different stocks, the red stocks(红锅) and the white stocks(白锅).

Once the pot was served, the waitress prepared the dipping sauce for us. She did that by adding the fish stock to bowls with crispy bean, raw garlic and spring onion. Since we ordered two different stocks, we had two different dipping sauce, spicy and non-spicy sauce. :)


We finished 2 catty of fish in both stocks(1 catty=600 gram). If you were to ask me which was better, I would think both was fabulous. The fish was caught from the aquarium and prepared upon order. Therefore the freshness of the fish was guaranteed.


Other dishes that we ordered were: sour and spicy fern root noodles(酸辣蕨根粉), san zhi er platter(三只耳拼盘) and meat slices(大刀肉片). The platter was a combination of smoked pig's lean meat, pig's belly and pig's ear.


The only uncooked dish we ordered was the meat slices. So, the waitress helped us to turn on the fire and we helped ourselves to the plate of meat slices.


Pancake with wild vegetable(野菜煎饼) was also a recommended dish in the web. Thumbs up for this dish, definitely a dish not to be missed.

The bill for 4 came to a total of RMB137, reasonable priced. It was definitely one of the good meals we had in Chengdu.

San Zhi Er Hot Pot, Yu Shuang Branch 三只耳火锅玉双店
25 Yu Shuang Rd 成华区玉双路25号
Remarks: For other branches, please refer to here.