We always joked when we chose the place for hotpot meals, more often we go for quantity rather than quality since it made little difference to us as long as the food is plentiful. But recently we did try two hotpot restaurants that offered both and more.
First of those were Haidilao. This Mainland China-based chain known for its "interesting" customer services landed in Hong Kong a few years ago and now has grown with 3 branches around town. They seemed to be surprised when we told them it's our first ever visit to this popular hotpot chain, but then they went on explaining in details of the many services they offer. Some of them were thoughtful like the playroom for kids with monitoring camera so adults can focus on eating, or the snacks and drinks on offer while customers wait for their table; but some seem a bit odd, like the free manicure service one could use in the middle of the meal - don't ask me why - or the cuddly soft mascot toy that they offered to "sit across at the table" as "companion" for lone diners. (cute but a bit sad at the same time).
Back to the food. The a la carte menu was listed in a tablet but they were patient to explain everything to you if you looked lost or prefer to interact with human instead. A few choices of soup base were available - we went for the red hot chili and the pork bone soup for contrasting flavors. I wouldn't say they have an extremely long list of food items available compared to many other places in town, but it's adequate. The beef short ribs was decent with generous portion, while the meatballs seem to be a bit small. My favorite part was the noodles, which not only they were hand-made but they did it table-side by an acrobat throwing and tossing the dough and turned it into thin threads of noodles a la minute. I am willing to pay just to see the guy perform the act.
It's slightly pricier than I thought, but we did have quite a lot of food and drinks. Service was a bit over-the-top i would say, but you can't quite fault them of trying too hard to please and it was certainly entertaining.
When? November 3 2019
Where? Haidilao Hot Pot, 2/F 26 Kimberly Road, Tsimshatshui, Kowloon
Web:
www.haidilao.com
The next day I had hotpot dinner yet again, this time at Dong Lai Shun at The Royal Garden hotel in TST East. Not a hotpot specialist per se as they were equally known for fine execution of Northern Chinese dishes, but they were also famous for their
Shuan Yang Rou, or mutton hotpot, well suited during the winter season.
Hotpot here is definitely on the fancy side of the spectrum, especially they put us in the private room with three pots of different soup bases all placed on the same table, including mushroom, coconut and chicken, and Sichuan spicy soups. We wanted to take a photo with all food placed on the table before we start, but there were so many that our dining table couldn’t even fit everything that’s on our menu.
Of course, mutton is one of the key attractions here, and this evening we were served a few different ones, including the meat from Mongolia as well as the mutton meatballs, or the tofu puffed stuffed with minced mutton meat and chili sauce. The meat has a mild gamey flavor and very tender. A pair of seafood dishes were served, and I thought the Sichuan spicy soup was perfect for both the razor clams and giant clams for the combination of chili taste and the umami flavor from the seafood.
A few types of meatballs and dumplings were also served, and my favorite was the simple tomato and egg dumplings and also the shrimp meatballs that shaped like a shrimp. We finished with a few vegetable dishes, including the pair of turnips (red and white ones) plated like giant flowers, and handmade noodles in tomato and spinach flavor served with the Northern-style soybean chili sauce. I love the dessert here – the cold sweet soup of winter melon, Osmanthus and konjac worked best to counter the heat from the red hot spicy soup, and the mini pineapple pastries were neat, like a deep-fried mantou with sweet filling.
After all these, perhaps we should skip hotpot for a while... or not.
When? November 4 2019
Where? Dong Lai Shun, Basement 2, The Royal Garden, 69 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui East, Kowloon
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