The Chongqing citizens like to enjoy the hotpot, which is noted for its peppery and hot taste, scalding yet fresh and tender. 

In addition to unitary viscera, different meat and vegetable, such as fish, pork, bean sprout and scallion, come to be used. So, there is a great variety of hotpots, including Yueyang Hotpot, Siwei (Four Tastes) Hotpot, Yashan Hotpot, Yutou (Fish Head) Hotpot and QuanYang Hotpot. 

There are many restaurants in Chongqing, though falling in different grade: high, middle or low, yet their prices are all very cheap. Chongqing is the 'hotpot shrine' well known all over the world. The special feature of the hotpot lies in the diversity of flavor: hot sauce, pepper taste, freshness and fragrance. However, once leaving the hometown, the hotpot will inevitably change its flavor. In such a case, it is only in Chongqing one could enjoy the genuine flavor of Sichuan hotpot, of which the most famous ones are Sanwu, Qiaotou, Laodongzi, Pangzima, Wuyi and Yishiyi. If you fail to have a try for this delicacy, your trip to Chongqing will be of no avail. 

The restaurants run by the privately-owned are boomed owing to their good service and their dishes with speacial feature. As a result, in the Nanshan district there appear a snack street noted for its Quanshui chicken, the duck cooked with beer, and at the foot of Gele Mountain there emerges a well-known gourmet zone noted for its offering Ciqikou's Fish with Beancurd, Tongnan's Tai'an Fish and Bishan's Laifeng Fish. 

Situated in the center of the city, Luohanshi is one of the key temples in China. Apart from convening a Buddhist ceremony at regular intervals, the temple runs a restaurant serving exclusively the vegetarian diet adopted for religious reasons. In spite of being similar to meat dish in appearance, the food is quite appetizing and, what's more, they are all far from greasy.
As for the local specialties, they are really too numerous to name, and the most famous of them are as follows: the Peach Slices of Hechuan, the Mihuatang of Jiangzhen, the Preserved Eggs of Yongchuan, the Fermented Beancurd of Zhongxian, the Hot Pickled Mustard Tuber of Fuling, the Yellow Peach of Tongnan, the Orange of Beibei, the Pressed Salteed Duck of Baishiyi and the Beef of Laosichuan.