At the table
Share the cooked fish with rice. Separate the flesh carefully from bones and leave the whole dried chilies and peppercorns aside if you prefer.
Fish pieces may contain fine bones. Take small bites and check each piece; the sauce and oil may be very hot.
Fish species and seasoning vary. The classic version is spicy; tomato and other milder versions also exist. Ask which style is being served.
GET TO KNOW THE DISH
What goes into it?
Explore some key ingredients below. Preparations may use additional seasonings and ingredients.
Fish species and seasoning vary. The classic version is spicy; tomato and other milder versions also exist. Ask which style is being served.
Typical ingredients
Recipes vary by restaurant.
How does it taste?
Savory, spicy and numbing, with a tangy note from pickled ginger and chili.
- Chili heat
- Texture
- Tender, moist fish chunks with skin and bones, surrounded by an oily aromatic sauce.
- How it’s made
- Fish chunks are seasoned, cooked in a sauce of pickled aromatics and chili-bean paste, then finished with hot chili-and-Sichuan-pepper oil and scallion.
Fish species and seasoning vary. The classic version is spicy; tomato and other milder versions also exist. Ask which style is being served.
A CONNECTION TO PLACE
Origin & regional roots
Associated with Chongqing.
About this regional connection
Chongqing: Chongqing municipal and saved official menu sources associate the named fish tradition with Bishan District; this is regional association, not exclusive origin or current seller availability.
Ask if they have it first
请问你们有璧山来凤鱼吗？
Do you have this item?
A LITTLE SOMETHING TO READ
Story & history
A roadside fish turned into a town's calling card
Lai Feng's fish restaurants turned a stop on the old Chengdu–Chongqing road into a destination. The named dish gained wider notice in the 1980s: in 1981, reporter Du Yu praised the fish he ate at Lai Feng Food Shop in a newspaper article and suggested the name “Fresh Fish, Delicious”; calligrapher Yang Xuanting wrote those characters for the shop sign. By 1993, the town had more than 160 restaurants using the Lai Feng fish name. After the expressway bypassed Lai Feng in 1995, the street lost traffic and many restaurants later gathered near Qinggang's exit.