I came here for the novelty factor. I love styles of dining that involve moving trains, sharing, make-your-own-dish-options, and unidentifiable foods on small plates. Hot-pot is designed for people like me, arseholes who can't just order off the damned menu.
There used to be a really crap sushi train place on these premises and when they shut down, Go-In Hotpot entrepreneurially set up a Hot-Pot train. You don't want to floudner when you walk in, so this is how it works. You take a seat at the train, or at one of the booths with your group of friends (in my case just one other friend). From the menu you order your choice of hot-pot base - I would recommend going for something simple like a pork broth. You wanna let the flavours of mysterious meat balls and lotus roots emerge. Then you order a selection of meat/fish plates from the menu - these (thankfully) don't go round the train.
I stupidly chose the intense 'chicken and beancurd pudding' base. This was sort of like drinking a bottle of chilli oil. It wasn't bad, but I'd much prefer a lighter, clear broth. Anyway, so the waitress brings out your hotpot and sets it on a teeny-tiny little fire in front of you. Then you cook shit in it. Yeh, I know right? FUN. I would recommend going with a big group of people so you can order loads of little plates of thineys to cook in your pot. Or go with one other person, order way too much and blow a bit more cash than you intended (like I did).
Advice on cooking in your hot-pot: if you're running out of broth get them to do a little top-up with hot water. If you're cooking something that might get soggy quick, like delicate chicken balls, just hold them in the bubbling hot broth, don't let them swim off. Use your second bowl as a cooling area - your soup is like Mount Vesuvius right now you don't want to try and drink it straight from the flame. Get the lotus root - that that looks like sliced potato with big holes in it. Get the egg chicken dumplings - the wrapping is made of a wafer thin omelette. Imagine that! Oh and handmade noodles - trust me. read more