Chongqing's centre is alive with canteens and food stalls, and at meal times, already busy side streets and markets become obstacle courses of plastic chairs, low tables and wok-wielding cooks. Local tastes lean towards Sichuanese small-dish assemblies - perfect for solo diners - in which dumplings, pickled vegetables, fish, fowl and offal figure strongly. Look for snake beans with ginger, tiger-skin peppers, braised frog or spareribs, and " pearl " rice balls. Chongqing is where Sichuan's hotpot originated, and residents are certainly dedicated, tucking into them even during the sweltering summers. A variation here is that the raw ingredients arrive on plates, not skewers, so the pots are divided up into compartments to prevent mixing. Night tables along Bayi Lu are popular - fix prices per plate first. Chongqing Beer is the local brew, served in squat, brown-glass bottles. A KFC overlooking Jiangfangbei, and the hotels, are your best bets for non-Sichuanese fare.

Hot pot - is the most famous and favorite dish in Chongqing. Chongqing local people consider the hot pot a local specialty, which is noted for its peppery and hot taste, scalding yet fresh and tender. People gather around a small pot boiled with charcoal, electric or gas filled with flavorful and nutritious soup base. You have a choice of spicy, pure and combo for the soup base. Thin sliced raw variety meat, fish, various bean curd products and all kinds of vegetables are boiled in the soup base. You then dip them in a little bowl of special sauce. Be careful since the spicy soup base is burning hot.

First eaten by poor boatmen of the Yangtze River in Chongqing area and then spread westwards to the rest of Sichuan. Now is a very popular local flavor and can be found at every corner of the city. There are a great variety of hotpots, including Yueyang Hotpot, Four Tastes Hotpot, Yashan Hotpot and Fish Head Hotpot. If you are adventurous enough, you can basically cook anything with hot pot, e.g., pig's brain and duck's kidney.

Chongqing people love their hotpot, especially when the weather is steamy. The fire dances under the pot, the heavily oiled and spiced soup boils with hazy steam, and the people are bathed in sweat. Although hotpot can be found wherever there are street vendors or small restaurants, chongqing Hot pot has the greatest variety and is known for its delicious soup base and dipping sauce.