{"id":528875,"date":"2026-07-02T06:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T06:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/528875\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T06:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T06:30:12","slug":"chongqing-hotpot-review-delicious-regional-chinese-food-in-dublin-6-but-make-sure-you-read-the-signs-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/528875\/","title":{"rendered":"Chongqing Hotpot review: Delicious regional Chinese food in Dublin 6, but make sure you read the signs \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chongqing Hotpot <\/p>\n

\ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d7 <\/p>\n

Address: 121-123, Ranelagh, Dublin 6, D06 H7K6<\/p>\n

Telephone: 01 406 0264<\/p>\n

Cuisine: Chinese<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.chongqing.ie\/Opens in new window<\/a><\/p>\n

Cost: \u20ac\u20ac<\/p>\n

I should, perhaps, have done more research on Chongqing Hotpot before visiting the new restaurant<\/a> on Sandford Road in Ranelagh<\/a>, Dublin 6. The Chinese<\/a> characters painted on the wall behind me list the four essential flavour components of the cuisine: m\u00e1, the numbing tingle of Sichuan peppercorns; l\u00e0, the fiery heat of chillies; xi\u0101n, savoury freshness and natural umami; and xi\u0101ng, the deep fragrance released by slow-cooked spices. <\/p>\n

When our dual hotpot embedded in the centre of the table is filled with broth \u2013 mushroom on one side and medium-spiced chilli beef tallow on the other (\u20ac13.90) \u2013 I decide a taste test is a good idea. The broths are only beginning to heat up, which is fine for the delicious mushroom broth with lemon grass, but a tad premature for the beef, with its luminous amber slick of chilli-infused tallow pouring into my spoon.<\/p>\n

I have never experienced such an onslaught. Within seconds I am as red as the chillies and my cough is loud enough to summon emergency services. Our waiter comes to the table and pulls the sort of anime expression that says it all \u2013 eyes wide and mouth reduced to a tiny oval of disbelief \u2013 when he hears what has happened, then is kind enough not to point to the \u201cHow to Hot Pot Like a Local\u201d sign, which clearly advises: \u201cIf it\u2019s bubbling, it\u2019s ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eminent English food writer Fuchsia Dunlop describes her first encounter with the dish as a \u201cbaptism of fire\u201d, which makes me feel somewhat better, ignoring the fact that it was her first time in China and she didn\u2019t speak Chinese. She traces the origins of Chongqing hotpot to the Yangtze riverfront, where labourers made a meal of inexpensive beef offcuts simmered in chilli-laced fat. It is entirely possible that the \u201cplatefuls of unidentifiable rubbery things\u201d arriving at her table included thousand-layer tripe, duck blood, beef tripe, duck intestines, pork kidney and aorta. <\/p>\n

The menu at Chongqing Hotpot (the Dublin 6 version) includes these options but you\u2019ll also find thinly sliced beef, lamb, pork, seafood and a wide range of vegetables. The process is straightforward: pick a broth, choose your ingredients, wait for it to boil, cook each item for the appropriate length of time, dip it in the sauce and eat. Ordering is done on an iPad. <\/p>\n

Rather than the finely sliced beef which I\u2019m familiar with from Asia Market, the retailer, we opt for the premium marbled beef rib eye (\u20ac19.90) which is more than twice the price but considerably better, arriving stacked on a dome of bean sprouts. We swish it around in the chilli broth for about 20 seconds so that it is still tender, and dip it into the sesame-based Chongqing dipping sauce (\u20ac1.98 per person) which we\u2019ve made at the sauce station. Yes, making your own sauce from bowls of ingredients ranging from sesame paste to MSG can feel a little daunting, but four combinations are outlined on the wall.<\/p>\n

The vegetables on the mixed platter (\u20ac10.50) \u2013 which includes Chinese cabbage and greens, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes and lotus root \u2013 are cooked both in the mild mushroom and the chilli broths, the difference between the two immediately apparent. So too is the mushroom assortment (\u20ac10.50), which includes enoki, chestnut, oyster and black fungus mushrooms, the latter prized for their crunchy texture.<\/p>\n

\"Chongqing Hotpot:Chongqing\u00a0Hotpot: Tender pork slices, premium thousand-layer tripe, premium marbled beef rib eyes, handcrafted fish roe shrimp paste and crunchy alpine bamboo shoots. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien \"DualDual hotpot at Chongqing Hotpot. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien \"AA guide to making your sauce at Chongqing Hotpot. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien <\/p>\n

Six tiger prawns (\u20ac10.90) also take a dip in the mushroom broth, and this is the one time that we use the timer to ensure that we don\u2019t overcook them. They are a bit messy to handle as they\u2019re in their shells and incredibly hot, but this is a roll-up-your-sleeves sort of place, not somewhere you\u2019d wear your finest clobber.<\/p>\n

Neither is it a place for diving into the wine list, which is the same as in China Hunan next door. Both restaurants are owned by Ryon Wen and Ian Keegan, who are on a mission to bring more regional Chinese cuisine to Dublin. A pint of Tiger (\u20ac8) refreshes the man of my dreams, while I opt for jasmine tea (\u20ac8), hot tea with a meal being a long-standing Chinese tradition.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Beyond curry sauce and chicken balls: Chinese food in Dublin is at the top of its gameOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

We skip dessert (from the China Hunan menu) as we are thoroughly sated, but definitely feel the urge to return. Chongqing Hotpot is a fun restaurant, where the staff are extremely helpful in explaining dishes and the process for cooking them. Sharing food and the sense of community are very much what the ethos of hotpot is about. The food may be spicy, but if you proceed with caution you will discover the layered balance that is another fundamental characteristic of the cuisine.<\/p>\n

Dinner for two with two drinks was \u20ac85.66.<\/p>\n

The Verdict: Mouth-numbing and delicious Chinese food.<\/p>\n

Food provenance: Silver Hill Duck, Andarl Farm pork, chicken not free-range, Ocean Marine, Sysco.<\/p>\n

Vegetarian options: More than 20 vegetarian options.<\/p>\n

Wheelchair access: Fully accessible, with an accessible toilet.<\/p>\n

Music: R&B, Ne-yo, Frank Ocean, Mac Miller, Jhen\u00e9 Aiko.<\/p>\n

\"ChongqingChongqing Hotpot in Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien \"ChefChef Ran Yi at the pass in Chongqing Hotpot. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien \"FishFish roe shrimp paste at Chongqing Hotpot. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien \"CustomersCustomers at Chongqing\u00a0Hotpot. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chongqing Hotpot \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d7 Address: 121-123, Ranelagh, Dublin 6, D06 H7K6 Telephone: 01 406 0264…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12987,93,61,60,709,40695,5861,5863],"class_list":["post-528875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-dublin-6","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-magazine","tag-ranelagh","tag-restaurant","tag-restaurant-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}