It’s hard to get good beef in Guiyang. For one, it’s expensive and cooks hesitate to throw away the fatty, tendon-y, gristly chunks you’d toss at home. Also, some people’s taste actually leans toward eating these bits, as they are considered more flavorful than lean muscle meat. Either way, if you’re looking for a good meal, head to this place.
The restaurant’s name translates to something like “Secret Recipe Claypot Beef,” and it looks like their secret may be use good beef. Whatever it is, it works. They serve up a spicy, beefy hotpot that will have you craving more.
Every visit to this place, we get the same hotpot. Their greens and beef hotpot (qīngcài niúròu /青菜牛肉) is the favorite. It’s a spicy, oily beef-fest in a pot.
If you want to double down, make sure to dip in the lajiao dip. It’s just toasted chili flakes, green onions and some salt, but when you add the broth from the hotpot it really pops. It’s a great addition to an already good meal. They do serve it with medicine root by default, though, so if you’d like to avoid that ingredient, tell them you don’t want it: búyào zhéěrgēn/不要折耳根.
Menu
The menu here is a handy checklist format. First, tick off the hotpot section I’ve indicated in red. That’ll get you the same hotpot pictured above. Note that it starts at 78 RMB, and has the beef already in it. The server will likely ask you quán niúròu ma/全牛肉吗? to make sure that you want all normal beef and not tendons, skin, innards, etc. Grunt in the affirmative to get normal beef.
Below that are things you can add to the pot. The numbered ones are go-to choices for lots of foreigners, but there are plenty more things that might interest you.
牛肉/niúròu an additional pound of beef
冻豆腐/dòng dòufu frozen tofu
金针菇/jīnzhēngū enoki mushrooms or needle mushrooms
面筋/miànjīn bread balls or gluten balls
土豆/tǔdòu potato slices
萝卜条/luóbo tiáo daikon radish
豆腐皮/dòufu pí tofu skin
二块粑/èrkuàibā sort of like slabs of noodle, they’re patties made with rice powder
瓜片/guāpiān zucchini slices
Get There
This restaurant can be found on Caijia Jie, quite close to the intersection with Minsheng Lu. From the beginning of the street, at Zhongshan Dong Lu, just walk along the left side of the road until you find this place. You’ll need to cross one small side-street and it’ll be four or five storefronts down from that.
TAXI (to the intersection of Caijia Jie and Zhongshan Dong Lu): 蔡家街，中山东路口
