Restaurant rec

[galadhir]

Had an absolutely delightful meal with the family last night celebrating Son's new job. Son and Daughter had both told me that DH and I absolutely had to come to Mr. Wang's Chinese Hot Pot restaurant in Cambridge, so we took the excuse and went there.

The idea of the Hot Pot restaurant was that they have several different kinds of broth on the go all the time, and you go in and pick from a choice of ingredients to cook in the broth. You get a little basket, and once you've picked all your ingredients from the wall of drawers, they weigh your basket and decide if you're paying for a small, medium or large meal depending on the weight of the basket.

Then they tip your basket contents into your choice of broth and heat it until it's on the verge of turning into steam, and bring the whole thing over to your table, where you eat it with your choice of condiments (soy sauce, chilli oil, sesame oil etc.)

This is the list of things you can put in your broth:

Mr Wang hot pot menu

which again delighted me because there are lots of things there which I have never eaten before. So I had lotus root (in homage to Jiang Yanli's pork rib and lotus root soup), wax gourd, seaweed tofu, hot and sour noodles and gluten balls (along with some fried tofu, spinach, bok choi and coriander.)

Lotus root is really good, if you haven't tried it before! Crunchy like water-chestnut, but sweet like a cross between a carrot and a melon. 100% have that again.

I had the medium spicy broth, which I thought would be really hot on my first mouthful, but which then settled down to a lovely mellow glow. And I'd clearly chosen too many things because I couldn't finish my portion, so I got to put the remaining broth into a box and have the other half for dinner tonight (with some extra added udon noodles, broccoli and mushrooms.)

It's probably good that it's 45 minutes drive away or I'd be nipping down there all the time to get my meals, but I've already decided what I'm having next :)

Comments

[i_wish_to_remain_nameless]

I don't think I've ever had Lotus root but it sounds really good from how you're describing it.

[mistressofmuses]

Oooh, that sounds delicious!

[galadhir]

Well worth trying if you can get it. It's very complicated-looking as well, which adds to the experience :)

lotus root

[galadhir]

It really was, and a real mood raiser at the same time - you came away glowing and not just from the chilli :)

[mistressofmuses]

That's a great sign of a great meal! That warmth that has nothing to do with the heat of the spice!

[galadhir]

The lady in charge of the counter said that it took 62 hours to fully prepare the broth and I can believe it! :)

[i_wish_to_remain_nameless]

I've seen it used in east Asian cooking videos. I like waterchestnuts so I'll try and give lotus root a try if I ever get the chance.

[mistressofmuses]

Man, something coming together that long has to have incredible flavor, and it definitely sounds like it did!

[galadhir]

Absolutely! I'd love to be able to cook this kind of thing myself but I don't think I have the patience for that.

[galadhir]

👍👍 It's actually a lot like Yakon, come to think of it, but without the unfortunate digestive issues :)

[mistressofmuses]

Oh, same here. I struggle with things that need any sort of "all day" cooking. Something approaching three days of prep? Way more than I have the patience for!