Amber Youyu opened in late 2017 and is the youngest hotpot restaurant on this list, but that doesn't hide the restaurant's excellence. Amber fish may seem like a cross-border product, but it is more like a business extension: the proprietor also operates the tea seed oil business, which continues to the hot pot ingredients, while the hotel business has accumulated experience in the service industry, and the Three Gorges Ecological Fishery Co., Ltd. is the main supplier of aquatic products for the store, which can provide certain scarce categories.
Hot pot is a joint dining mode, not suitable for serious dining occasions, the traditional fish hot pot is killed to order, the pursuit of feasting, it is more typical. Amber advocates a small pot for one person with a separate meal system, but it can take into account the flavor and the environment. There are no separate seats in the restaurant, and all seats are in private rooms.
The entrance corridor on the first floor is tortuous to effectively block the noise of the outside world, and the lobby can also fully experience the quietness. The negative 1st floor is the tea room, which has a spacious environment and a strong atmosphere of Chinese culture, which is the most suitable for negotiation and waiting for guests. The background sound of the guzheng in the patio is in line with the second-hand décor, and even discerning customers rarely complain about the store's old-fashioned furnishings. The box area is placed on the 2-3 floors, in which the environment is spacious and transparent, and the east is the most popular.
The choice of fish is linked to the flavor of the pot base. The specific categories of pot base are broth, sauerkraut, tomato, spicy, tom yum gong, and amber tea oil, among which sauerkraut and tomato soup pot are the best, and they have also won a good reputation. Compared with the typical hot pot base in Chongqing, the bottom of the six types of pot in the store is light, and the characteristic flavor of the fish will not be masked, so it is best to choose fish with a light fishy smell and delicate meat.
There are 9 types of fish in the store, and there is a wide variety of fish. The rock carp is the most recommended, and its delicate flesh can rarely find a rival in the southwest hot pot plate. This kind of "Chongqing specialty" once rarely appeared on the table, and was even included in the "Red Book of China's Endangered Animals", and the scarcity can be imagined. Although a breakthrough was made in 2003 in the artificial breeding technology of rock carp, it is still rarely seen on the dinner table. Growth factors are the main contributing factors, and rock carp are slower to monetize compared to common fish. The 4-5 (unit is a year, the same below) age rock carp only grows to 1kg-2kg/piece, and the more fatal disadvantage is that the growth is slow at the stage below 4 years old. In contrast, silver carp can grow into a 2kg-5kg jumbo at the age of 2-3 years, but due to its "earthy" smell, it is not the best target for amber fish.
The weight of the rock carp is about 2-4 catties per piece, and the (mass) size is similar to that of snowfish, green waves, cochineal, and river balls, all of which are cut into thin slices and put on plates. Among them, snowfish is not a marine fish, but a brachycephalic catfish farmed in freshwater, with many intermuscular spines, so it is not recommended as a main dish. Both the blue wave and the cochineal are considered to be native species, the former has few spines, does not have a heavy fishy smell, and has a rich fat near the fins and a fatty taste. Rouge is a rare species, but due to the maturity of artificial breeding technology, it can also be on the table, its intermuscular spines are more, many locals think that the taste is similar to Wuchang fish, the taste characteristics do not match the fame, and the cost performance is low. In contrast, the more common fish bones are very rare, but they are suitable for feasting.
The size of sea bass is about 1 kg per piece, and among all the types of amber fish, its taste and number of bones are modest, and few people are interested. The smallest fish is yellow and spicy diced and crucian carp, which weighs only 0.1kg/piece-0.3kg/piece, and it is recommended to choose yellow and spicy dice, which is one of the standard configurations of Chongqing fish hot pot. When there are a large number of diners, it is suitable to choose tarpon as the main dish, and the larger tarpon in the store can reach 4kg/piece-5kg/piece.
There are also finale items such as soft-shelled turtle and sea cucumber in the store, so it is best to make a reservation in advance if you have a need. In addition, there are also 28 kinds of vegetarian shabu-shabu (including mushrooms), which are well presented and the vegetables are fresh. Don't miss the freshly ground black tofu, its texture is hard and firm, and the soup is not easy to taste, but it can retain the bean aroma. There are only 5 kinds of meat shabu, and tender beef and fatty beef rolls have become popular choices, and the amount of single slices of dishes is larger than that of ordinary hot pot restaurants, and the satisfaction after eating is very strong.
Pot helmets, glutinous rice cakes, pot stickers, pumpkin pies, wontons, etc. are all specialty dishes in the store, which are suitable as "staple foods". If there is a need for drinking, there are more than ten kinds of braised vegetables and cold dishes to meet the needs of alcohol, and amber and fish can meet almost all kinds of dining occasions.
There are no obvious shortcomings in the restaurant's ingredients and dishes, but the speed of serving has become the biggest shortcoming of the restaurant, and some boxes on the third floor have poor air conditioning performance and are hot in summer. In addition, due to its own positioning problems, its meals are cost-effective.
