Gong Jing Li Qiang Guo Yu 恭敬李炝锅鱼 & Live Fish Hotpot in Chinatown, Singapore

Famous Beijing’s Gong Jing Li Qiang Guo Yu (恭敬李炝锅鱼) chilli oil splashed fish & live fish hotpot in Singapore’s chinatown. They are popular for their live fish cuisines where you get to enjoy a poached fish topped with Guizhou Lantern chilli oil followed by a fish hotpot with 2 complimentary hotpot ingredients and 2 hand pulled noodles tableside. Also hot on their menu are their traditional xiao pang zi bao wang ( 小胖包子王) which are hand-cut sauce meat bun that they have been selling for more than 30 years in Beijing, China.

Gong Jing Li Qiang Guo Yu’s first Singapore outlet is a highly rated restaurant with a 4.9 stars on Google (accurate at time of publish) and has over 30 outlets in Beijing. They are conveniently located in Chinatown, Singapore with a short walk from Chinatown MRT station.

Gong Jing Li Qiang Guo Yu menu has the famous qiang guo yu, sour cabbage fish, steamed fish, tomato stew fish, assorted chicken dishes, xiang guo spicy pot, special seafood porridge, roasted lamb, spicy mao xue wang (without pig’s blood), a variety of stir fried bullfrog dishes, stir fried vegetables & meats, braised meats, handmade baos and soups. Pictured above is their most popular item on the menu – Gong Jing Li Qiang Guo Yu- in Guizhou chilli lantern pepper oil, sesame seeds & silky sliced fish.

From $29+, you can enjoy this live fish dish in 2 ways – Chilli Pepper poached fish and fish hotpot. Here’s how it works: Start by choosing your live fish – Seabass ($29+/ Small, $53+ / Large), Marble Goby ($38+/ Small, $73.90+ / Large) or Tiger grouper $96.80+. The chef’s recommendation is seabass for the Qiang Guo Yu cuisine. The chef will catch your choice of live fish from the tank.

The chef will knock out the live fish and proceed to dispatch the fish swiftly. The fish is then sliced and marinated with pepper, salt and their secret seasoning for 5 minutes.

The sliced fish is quickly poached in their secret stock followed by a splash of sizzling peppercorns & Guizhou lantern chilli oil. The secret to this Qiang Guo Yu is the special imported oil used to sizzle the chilli peppers and the use of live fish for the delicate, bouncy texture.

Here’s Gong Jing Li Qiang Guo Yu reviews after trying some of their dishes.

The Qiang Guo Yu fish is served in a covered casserole. When the lid is lifted, you will be engulfed in a cloud of peppery and fragrant crispy grassy aroma. I had the $53+ large seabass for this dish whereby the portion of the meat is double the small size portion. Each sliced fish is coated with a slippery glaze and very tender too.

It has an umami, subtle pungent numbing flavours and fresh tasting flavours from the chilli pepper oil. The sliced fish are well cooked with a springy texture, sweet moist meat and mildly soft, gooey gelatinous skin.

When you are ready to have some hotpot, you can request for the waitress to plate up the rest of the sliced fish and set aside. Using the remaining flavours of the fish, to make this casserole into a live fish mala hotpot. You can choose either mala or original flavour for the soup broth. The mala soup base is made with a cube of mala spices and some dry spices as well before your eyes. I chose the mala flavours as I am a fan of rich intense flavours when it comes to hotpot.

The result is a piping hot, rich mala hotpot. This 2 in 1 combo lets you enjoy the fresh flavours of poached fish with chilli and also a comforting hotpot concurrently.

For this Gong Jing Li Qiang Guo Yu live fish hotpot, you get to choose 2 choices of complimentary ingredients (out of 5 ingredients) & 2 hand pulled noodles to soak up the hotpot goodness on this special menu. The ingredient are tofu, cauliflower, baby cabbage, white radish and potato slices. You can also add on more ala carte ingredients such as shabu shabu meats, offals, seafood and greens starting from $2.10+.

They also house the popular hand-cut sauce meat bun from Beijing. Known for their piping hot fillings and traditional thin skin. They are famous in Beijing for more than 30 years for selling this hand-cut sauce meat bun.

This is one of the thinnest skin I have seen with piping hot filling & broth peeping through the skin.

Not forgetting the Mala hotpot with live small black fish (with various add-on ingredients. This live fish is named little black fish by those who love the fish for it springy, firmer texture. You can adjust the level of heat for this fish from the least spicy to the spiciest. The intense mala flavours and the heat makes this dish very addictive and makes you want to add on more ingredients to hotpot.

Sweet & Sour Pork From Old Hutong老胡同糖醋里脊 ($17.90+) is a sweet, candied bite with a crunchy crust over some very tender pork tenderloin. It is amazingly still crunchy even after some time.

Spicy Mao Xue wang 毛血旺($31.80+) has a myriad of ingredients such as prawn, octopus, beef tripe, beef louver, pork intestines, luncheon meat, konjac & potato. Unfortunately, this dish is missing the animal blood such as blood curds which are banned in Singapore. That is all forgotten with an umami explosion of textures and flavours.

Signature fried chicken 特色炒鸡($31.80+) is a Hunan style stir fried chicken with spiral green pepper & potato. The chicken is braised till super flavourful with soft melty potato and the peppery kick of spiral green chilli.