Livin' In The Chonx

Gan Guo 干锅 (Daping Map)
• 15-20/small pot (2-3 people); 25-30/large pot (3-4 people)

Gan Guo literally means dry pot, but don’t let the name deceive you, the pot is filled with oil. Here is how it works, you choose the ‘flavor’ you want—usually your choice of meat or various things that locals consider meat like pig elbows and intestines, then the chef cooks it up with an assortment of spices, afterwards freshly cut celery, peppers, potatoes, bean sprouts go into a pot of oil and the chef tosses the meat on top and brings the pot out to your table where it sits over a small flame to keep everything bubbling and hot.

• Gan Guo @ Olympic Stadium: Locals travel across town to find the Gan Guo restaurants in this area. There should be a few different places along the street near the entrance to the Industry College campus C (工学院C区)
Bus Tip: 大公馆(奥体中心东)
Light Rail Tip: 谢家弯 (Xiejiawan)

• 319 Gan Guo: This tiny one room affair has many return customers. What puts their place a notch above the rest is that they use good quality beef (none of that stringy, cartilage fat that other places try to pass off as meat), and they use the perfect balance of seasoning to create what is best termed “slow burn.” In the beginning you cannot tell how spicy it is, but the more you eat, the more your mouth feels like it is on fire. Luckily they also sell cheap cold beer. Order the Niu Rou Gan Guo 牛肉干锅

Bus Tip: 石油路 Located on Cha Ting Bei Lu (茶亭北路), the road just west of Petroleum Road (Shi You Lu)