The scenes of several protagonists eating hot pot and drinking beer in the air-raid shelter in "Hot Pot Heroes" are impressive, and after the movie was released, the bomb shelter hot pot has also become the first stop for many foreign diners to experience in Chongqing. Dongting Hot Pot opened in 1989 and is the first hot pot restaurant in Chongqing to open in an air-raid shelter.
The air-raid shelter of the cave pavilion is larger, the main hole is tens of meters long, and there are two auxiliary holes interspersed on the side, and the shop will line up the dining table from the entrance to extend inward, and the narrow hole is filled. The air-raid shelter is dimly lit, and the old-fashioned tungsten light bulbs placed in the store illuminate the cave slightly yellow, full of 90s atmosphere, and the hot pot of each table rises from the pot, floating in the cave for a long time, not only overflowing with fragrance, but also adding a bit of hazy beauty to the cave pavilion.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the people of Chongqing relied on nearly 1.1 million square meters of air-raid shelters to escape the repeated bombing of the Japanese army. In the 80s and 90s of the 20th century, the air-raid shelters left after the war were transformed into underground garment cities, shops, cool spots, activity rooms for the elderly and various restaurants, which not only rejuvenated commercial vitality, but also became a unique cultural memory of Chongqing. Zhongshan 3rd Road, where the Dongting is located, was once the core area of the Anti-Japanese War, and there are still a large number of memorial venues located here, including the Chongqing People's Auditorium, the China Three Gorges Museum, the former residence of Soong Ching Ling and the Democratic Party History Exhibition Hall.
Compared with the previous hot pot restaurants, the dishes in Dongting are not excellent, most of the ingredients are fresh goods purchased by the boss from the vegetable market every day, and the types are only the most common dishes of Chongqing hot pot. Mangzi meat is the old meat slices of other hot pot restaurants, the thickly cut plum blossom meat is fat and thin, and the meat will not get old after boiling for 20-30 minutes, but will add more flavor. Pickled pepper beef is wrapped with beef shredded ginger and pickled pepper rolled, and then wrapped with a tribute vegetable, the smoothness of the beef and the crispness of the tribute dish are well matched. Slippery balls such as shrimp slippery, shrimp dumplings and crab meat are not recommended to be ordered, as the ingredients have too much starch and have a poor taste.
Although the cave pavilion has been installed with air conditioning, the air circulation in the cave is poor, and the smell of hot pot is permeable, and the clothes from the inside to the outside will leave a strong smell of hot pot. The cleanliness of the restaurant also needs to be improved, and the floor is seriously slippery, so diners need to be extra careful when walking. The service staff is mainly middle-aged women, and although they are not enthusiastic, they are quick to move and meet the needs of customers. Parking around the hot pot restaurant is inconvenient, so it is not recommended to drive there.
The popularity of the bomb shelter hot pot originated from "Hot Pot Heroes", but in fact, the filming location of this movie is the old classmate crooked hall hot pot in Nanping. The old classmate crooked restaurant hot pot is set up in the air-raid shelter like the Dongting hot pot, but the taste is not as good as the Dongting hot pot, and it will not be repeated in the list, and interested diners can go to experience it by themselves.
