Yǐn yán: Zhào shì niú ròu, hóng tāng yī guō; gé gé yī lóng, bò he yí liàng. — The Zhao family beef, one pot of red broth; a row of steamers, one cart of mint.
Zhao’s Beef (赵牛肉) is Dianjiang’s signature meat dish and a non-heritage (非遗) local brand: beef — shin, tendon and lean — stewed in a clear red broth whose heat builds slowly rather than announcing itself, served at the flagship shop on Nanyang Avenue with the two correct accompaniments. The first is the 格格 (gége), the little bamboo steamers of coated, steamed meat that the Chongqing east shares with its neighbours; the second, unexpectedly, is a mint-leaf cool cake (薄荷叶凉糕), whose cold sweetness is the local answer to the broth’s warmth.
The broth is a spice stew, not a soup — order the beef by weight, not by bowl, and let the shin and tendon carry it. The mint cool cake is not dessert theatre; it is the traditional coolant and locals will tell you the bowl is incomplete without it. Lunch trade: arrive early, because the flagship sells out of the good cuts.
flowcloud would say that the county’s heat is engineered, not accidental — beef for the fire, mint for the after, and the steamers for everything between.
Where to find it: at the flagship shop on Nanyang Avenue; arrive early for the lunch trade, because the good cuts sell out. All checked October 2026.
Words and Names
赵牛肉 Zhào Niúròu — Zhao’s Beef, the non-heritage brand · 格格 gégé — the small bamboo-steamed meat dishes of eastern Chongqing · 红汤 hóngtāng — red broth · 凉糕 liánggāo — cool rice cake, here dressed with mint · 非遗 fēiyí — intangible cultural heritage