As a Californian Chinese person who grew up on hot pot, the opening of the brand new Hotpot Spot was like a godsend. We made a booking, walked in, and when the hostess asked me if I had any questions, I proudly puffed out my chest and said "no".
Because. I. Freaking. Love. Hot Pot.
If you've never had hotpot before and you're looking to experience more aspects of Chinese cuisine, please don't be put off but the idea of needing to cook your own food. It is one of the best dining experiences EVER.
HOW IT WORKS:
STEP 1: Walk in, and request your broth. I recommend Szechuan spicy which actually isn't that spicy and you can pump up the heat if you so desired. For those in your group who are a bit more afraid of spice, you can get half-and-half where the broth is split between soothing vegetable or spicy. But please do try the spicy, as you can adjust the level between 1-5.
STEP 2: Order your fresh ingredients to put into the broth. Get PLENTY of meat, I recommend lamb and beef. Cut ribbon thin so it cooks within seconds and soaks up the heavenly broth. For noodles, the knife-shaved noodles are great.
STEP 3: Make a dipping sauce. You can experiment with what you like. I highly recommend trying traditional Chinese BBQ (Sha Cha) sauce. This is the bit that might put off newcomers, though I'm sure any employee there would be happy to design a sauce for you.
STEP 4: Put ingredients into the broth step-by-step. You don't need to be a professional chef to do this, just a general idea of how long it takes ingredients to cook. For example, put potatoes in at the start to let it stew. Because the meat is cut so thin, I don't even leave it in there as it will take literally seconds to cook to perfection.
STEP 5: Enjoy!
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Hot pot is one of the most wonderful dining experiences ever. Not just for the food, but the community of it where your group is just around a big pot of delicious soup. Oh, and the best part, drink the soup at the end after it's had all of the lovely flavours from your ingredients infused! read more