Hotpot hot spot

Hotpot restaurant Wang Gang Bo boasts an authentic Chongqing-style hotpot restaurant flavor. [Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily]

The city has more than 20,000 hotpot restaurants which own 50,000 franchises around the country, according to the Chongqing Hotpot Association. So it is not hard to find a Chongqing-style hotpot restaurant in Beijing.

But if you want to try an authentic one, Wang Gang Bo is a good place to start.

"The restaurant's name gangbo comes from the Chongqing dialect which means to chat," says Feng Li, the co-founder of the restaurant.

"We hope our guests enjoy chatting with friends while they eat hotpot."

The restaurant is located to the north of the Liangmaqiao embassy area.

For a meal for five to six people, the average cost per person is around 120 yuan ($18).

"We don't adjust our flavor to cater to local diners, if we did, we would lose our uniqueness," says Chen Jun, the main chef at the restaurant.

Chen has been working in hotpot restaurants for nearly 15 years, and he came to Wang Gang Bo's Beijing branch when it opened last year.