There isn't a shortage of good hot pot around the Eastside area, which makes this a tough market to break into. 151 Days competes by providing a dining experience rather than just a meal-- and yes, even beyond hot pot, which many consider to be an experience on its own--in a modern restaurant with a fantastic staff.
We got the $79 chicken coconut soup for a Sunday dinner. The restaurant was only about half full at the peak, which made for a pleasant experience. I saw most of the other tables order a la carte off the menu, which is a good indicator I need to come back and try the other food here as well.
The $79 dinner is really designed for two people, even though it doesn't really explicitly say it on the menu (before I had some friends try out the restaurant, I thought it might even be $79 per person, but this is not the case). You might be able to stretch it to three if you're light eaters, but this really is the perfect meal for a couple on a date.
The meal comes with a number of appetizers: a couple varieties of tofu, seaweed salad, for example. With the main attraction (I'll get to that in a sec) also comes potstickers and tempura shrimp, with the potstickers being a particularly generous portion. All of these items are good on their own and I would have no problem ordering them outside of the context of this set dinner.
But the thing you really should be concerned about is the soup: it's literally what the name of this dinner is derived from. It comes over a small, gas powered burner with what seems to be unlimited broth top-offs. Beside your soup is a three-tiered towered of various raw ingredients, from their signature chicken to a couple varieties of beef, to whole prawns and small filets of fish. On top are some greens, taro, and noodles. The wide variety of ingredients means there will be something for everyone, sans the vegans and vegetarians.
151 Days doesn't shy away from the ingredients they choose for their broth. They proudly proclaim the origin and quality of their chicken, whose bones and cuts fill your hot pot broth before you even put any of those raw ingredients in yourself. The broth is hearty and exactly what you crave on a cold winter day, or for hot pot aficionados like myself, even during the summer when the sun is out in full and you sweat like a madman. On top of all of this, 151 Days includes fresh coconut meat in the broth. Though the coconut does not soften with the heat and time, it provides good contrast to the meaty broth.
The experience here is top notch. The staff apologized for the long wait during some stages of the meal and made extra steps to ensure I was happy, which was above and beyond what they needed to do. After all, spending this kind of money on a dinner, I wanted to take my time anyways. They were friendly and attentive, and ensured that we had broth top-ups as needed.
Aside from the dinner itself, we also ordered the Seaberry juice. I've never heard of Seaberry before, but I can only describe it as a flavor combination of a tart cranberry with undertones of a carrot-orange juice. Definitely something I will get again.
At the end of the night, they carefully separated the remaining soup from the solids in to-go containers, which is more effort and care than most other restaurants will take with your leftovers.
Now, given all this high praise, why is this not a "5 star" experience for me? There was one cleanliness issue that I want to bring up with the manager separately so they can fix it for other customers in the future. And to be clear, this is not the fault of the staff at all, this is something the manager or owner needs to address. The restaurant is pretty new so I am a little surprised to encounter this problem at all, but based on the quality of the meal and service I received, it's not something that'll stop me from coming back, but I can't say that would be true for everyone. read more