One bubbling pot, no rules, and a spice question they genuinely mean.
There is a pot of broth bubbling in the middle of the table, and dinner is your problem now. That is the deal with hotpot (火锅, huǒguō): raw meat, vegetables, tofu, and noodles arrive at the table, and you cook them yourself in the simmering soup, fishing pieces out when they are ready and arguing about whose turn it was to add the beef.
It began as cold-weather survival, a way to keep warm and eat well when winter set in across China. Somewhere along the way it turned into a ritual — slow, communal, built for talking. You do not rush hotpot. That is the point.
Milan has quietly become a serious hotpot city. You no longer need a flight to Chengdu to get the good stuff. Here are the spots worth your evening.
Shoo Loong Kan Hotpot
Via Carlo Farini 21, Milano — Zona Farini
Google Maps · Website: shooloongkan.it
Born in Sichuan and now running more than 900 locations worldwide, Shoo Loong Kan landed in Milan as the brand’s first Italian flagship. The reputation arrived before the restaurant did, which is why the tables fill up with people chasing the genuine article: traditional southwestern Chinese cooking, generous with the spice, built on beef tallow and flavors that do not whisper. A word of caution on the heat. When they ask how spicy you want it, they mean the question.
Little Lamb Hotpot
Via Paolo Sarpi 8, Milano — Zona Sarpi
Google Maps · Facebook: littlelamb.sarpi
If Sichuan is a case for chili, northern China makes the case for lamb. Little Lamb is where the meat lovers go. The broths here are aromatic rather than aggressive, easier on the tongue, and the lamb is sliced thin enough to cook in seconds and go tender the moment it hits the soup. This is the order for a grey Milanese evening when you want comfort and nothing to prove. Besides the original Sarpi location, you can find them on Via Bernina, over in the Maciachini area.
Wagyu Oh
Via Bramante 35, Milano — Zona Sarpi
Google Maps
In Chongqing, hotpot is not an occasion — it is a way of life, eaten at all hours, breakfast included. Wagyu Oh brings that conviction to Milan and refuses to soften it. The broth comes loaded with chili and the mouth-numbing tingle of Sichuan peppercorns (花椒), that cold electric buzz the Chinese call málà. There is no diplomatic version here. It is intense, it is honest, and it is not for the timid.
AYCE price: €25 lunch / €33 dinner.
Mao Hotpot
Via Giuseppe Giusti 41, Milano — Zona Sarpi
Google Maps · Instagram: @mao_hotpot_milano
Mao Hotpot runs a clever remix, splicing northern and southern Chinese styles into one meal. The room reads rustic and traditional; the format is anything but stiff. Thinly sliced meats come to your table, but for vegetables and skewers — the southern touch — you get up and raid the self-service fridges yourself. Part hotpot, part treasure hunt.
AYCE price: €24.90 lunch / €29.90 dinner.
Yuanzi Hotpot
Via San Gregorio 6, Milano — Zona Porta Venezia
Google Maps · Website: yuanzihotpot.com
Yuanzi (院子) means “courtyard,” a nod to the first location in Zara. From there the brand has spread to Porta Venezia and Navigli, carrying a carefully composed look that photographs as well as it tastes. The all-you-can-eat formulas earn the attention: solid ingredients, broths that stay balanced instead of shouting, and a room that lets you settle in for the long haul.
AYCE price: €23 lunch / €32 dinner.
ChaoHotPot
Via Giovanni Battista Niccolini 35, Milano — Zona Sarpi
Google Maps · Instagram: @chao_hotpot_milano
The name is a postcard from home: Chaotianmen (朝天门) is the old gate where Chongqing’s two rivers meet, and Chao is shorthand for the city’s most uncompromising style of hotpot. ChaoHotPot brings it to Milan without a translation layer: a deep, brick-red málà broth thick with chili and Sichuan peppercorn, beef tallow at the base, and the low roar of a room that takes its spice seriously. Come with people, order the tripe and the fresh-sliced beef, and pace yourself — this is the real Chongqing register, not a softened export version.
BeiYuan Hotpot
Via Giovanni Schiaparelli 1, Milano — Zona Centrale
Google Maps · Instagram: @beiyuanhotpot_centrale
A short walk from Centrale station, BeiYuan (北园火锅) is the second act of a brand that built its following at its original Maciachini location. The room is modern, bright and unusually polished for the genre, but the draw is the broth: a rich, balanced beef-tallow base you can push as spicy as you dare, with mushroom and tomato options for the rest of the table. Marbled beef, fresh seafood and bouncy handmade noodles do the dipping, and a generous DIY sauce station — garlic, sesame paste, chili oil, coriander — lets you build your own. Expect roughly €30–40 a head and to leave properly full. We reviewed it in full here.
Yangguofu Malatang
Via Paolo Sarpi 5, Milano — Zona Sarpi
Google Maps
Not quite hotpot — its faster, cannier cousin, malatang (麻辣烫). Yangguofu is a giant of the genre, some 5,000 outposts scattered across the world. The mechanics are the appeal: you grab a bowl, walk the wall of fridges filling it with whatever you want, pay by weight, and hand it over to the kitchen, which cooks the lot into one spicy, slurpable soup. Ideal for a solo lunch, a quick one between errands, or the last stretch of the month when the budget is running thin.
Have you tried any of these spots yet? Let us know your opinion, and do not forget to bookmark chinatownmilano.it for more Asian food stories, restaurant guides, and hidden spots around the city and follow us on social media @chinatownmilano.it.
