If there is one food I miss from when I lived in China, it is definitely hot pot. It looks like I'm not the only one because 100 degree was teeming with customers when we visited.
100 Degree is a hot pot buffet. $28.80 gets you a pot with broth (4 choices) and access to a huge variety of hot pot fillers (e.g., meat, veggies, seafood, tofu, eggs, noodles... you name it, they have it), sauces to dip food in, non-alcoholic drinks (winter melon tea was a sight for sore eyes), hot dishes (e.g., veggies in oyster sauce, salt and pepper squid), dumplings, spring rolls, plain and fried rice and ice cream. Phew! In other words, make sure you go in hungry.
If you are a hot pot newbie, the concept is actually pretty simple. You tell the waiter what broth you want in your pot, pay, go to the buffet and pick up whatever you want to chuck in the pot, wait for it to boil, fish it out and let it cool for a bit, then dip it in some sauce and voi la, you're good to go.
The restaurant is licensed, so you can pay extra for wine, beer or sake. The staff were really helpful, especially when the pots started bubbling all over the place. Don't worry - if your table isn't a complete mess after eating hot pot, you're probably doing it wrong.
I confess I'm not actually a huge fan of buffets because I have a hard time controlling my gluttonous tendencies and invariably end up feeling ill. My bad. Close on $30 is pricey enough to make me feel inclined to pig out, especially since we weren't eating any of the meat/seafood. I thought the soup bases were ok but was disappointed the hot and spicy soup base wasn't actually spicy (1 out of 5 on the chilli scale for me). However, this place gets a definite thumbs up from me for providing tonnes of foods like lotus root and several kinds of mushroom and beancurd-based products which I haven't seen since I was in China and miss desperately. It was hot pot and it was good!
If you're like me and in great need of a hot pot fix or are just looking to try something a little bit different, give 100 Degree a go. read more