Pots of flavor to be found at Beijing’s Ao Ba Nian
Spicy hotpot’s broth is usually only for boiling ingredients, but at Ao Ba Nian Hotpot restaurant, the soup is also for sipping — and it’s quite tasty.
In Chinese, the character is commonly used to refer to cooking something slowly over a low flame. The in the restaurant’s name also refers to the long, slow-cooked broth that forms the base of its hotpot.
Taking its cue from hotpot restaurants in Taiwan, Ao Ba Nian focuses on homemade base soups served alongside a handpicked selection of high-quality ingredients, including a number of specialties from Taiwan.
Any hotpot restaurant is only as good as its broth. Ao Ba Nian has taken this maxim and made it a focal point by using ingredients, such as the bones from pork and chicken and wild mushrooms that are slowly simmered for more than eight hours to release every ounce of their flavors.
According to Ao Ba Nian’s Beijing branch manager Huang Wei-feng, it took the chefs years to develop a signature soup base that was both spicy and drinkable.
“We needed to find the right balance,” Huang says.
The menu currently offers several different hotpot bases, including assorted mushrooms, golden dried scallops and preserved Chinese cabbage and pork, as well as a spicy beef shank and a pepper-dried scallops and chicken-soup hotpot.
This ensures that there is something for every palate, from spice lovers to those looking for more delicate flavors. Diners can also choose a split pot with two different bases.
“All the varieties can be drunk, and we encourage diners to taste the broth before boiling the ingredients,” says Huang.
From thinly cut slices of rib-eye steak with just the right amount of marbling, to organic pea sprouts cut and harvested from their tableside growing container, the ingredients are also high quality.
has another meaning — to endure. Established in 2006 in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, Ao Ba Nian literally means “enduring for eight years”, a moniker chosen because it opened eight years after the owner had established his first eatery, Ludingji.
The Beijing branch of Ao Ba Nian, opened in 2018, is located in Sanlitun’s trendy Taikoo Li North area.
It’s a two-story space with wraparound floor-to-ceiling windows. The design is said to be inspired by the shape of hotpot caldrons.
According to Huang, however, what really sets Ao Ba Nian apart from its competitors in Beijing is the selection of traditional Taiwanstyle hotpot ingredients. “For example, the spicy hotpot is served with duck blood and tofu prepared in the traditional Taiwan style. Diners can enjoy unlimited refills of them throughout their meal,” he says.
Fish-roe dumplings, known as “lucky bags” in Chinese, feature premium Alaskan cod roe wrapped in tofu skin and tied into purse shapes. Once cooked, the dumplings have a toothsome texture and a strong seafood flavor.
The homemade deep-fried tofu skin is popular. It arrives at tables in crisp sheets that soften in the hotpot, taking on the flavor of the soup.
A selection of such Taiwan-style street snacks as salt-and-pepper pork ribs and deep-fried dough sticks are also served at the restaurant.
To pair with the hotpot, a pilsner beer has been brewed exclusively for Ao Ba Nian by Mod Craft-beer Taproom. The beer, called Shaung-8, is a classic Pilsner with a crisp, mildly sweet flavor and a light, golden color.
“For nondrinkers, we offer a selection of Taiwan-style bubble and fruit teas,” Huang adds.