A few hours ago, Katherine and I took a stroll down to the Shek Tong Tsui district in search of a particular restaurant which serves hot pot. (There are many, but Katherine specifically remembered this one from her time as a student at Hong Kong U.) We found it...
It's actually a bit like an open-air food court (under a roof, but not fully enclosed). There are a number of little restaurants and a shared seating area, but waiters and waitresses still come by and take your order, bring the food, bus the tables, etc. Anyway, on to the food...
The name "hot pot" refers to the boiling pot of broth that sits on the table. You choose the kind of soup base you want, then order everything you want to cook in the soup (seafood, meat, veggies). The ingredients come raw, you drop them in yourself, and everyone around the table must keep track of how long everything has been cooking (to make sure things aren't under/overdone). Because the experience is so warming, hot pot is most often enjoyed during the winter. Today it was about 50 degrees out, which is pretty chilly for Hong Kong, so it was perfect.
Our first ingredient: live shrimp...
I could've taken a short video clip to show you that they were still wriggling, but I thought I would spare you that visual evidence. Once the soup base was boiling, we dropped them in...
Note the split nature of the pot. We actually ordered two different broths to try, and this special pot is used to accommodate both simultaneously. After a little bit, the shrimp were ready to pull out, peel, and eat...
By the time we finished our shrimp, the rest of the food arrived...
Yeah. It was a lot. ;) I'll take you through each plate, one-by-one...
Frog. Not frog legs, mind you - the whole frog. Well, frogs to be more precise (probably 3 or 4), who were all alive moments prior. Once they are cooked they look like...
...a bowlful of froggy goodness. It is actually quite tasty, you just have to eat it carefully because of the tiny bones. I don't really think it tastes like chicken so much as it tastes like...frog.
Fish, squid, and beef balls (ground meat, flour, and seasonings packed together). I absolutely love these things when they are made well (and sometimes when they aren't).
Enoki mushrooms and watercress.
Marbled beef, thinly sliced.
Slabs of tofu.
The restaurant serves a lot more than hot pot, actually - including live seafood dishes. I took a quick shot of the seafood tanks to give you an idea of tonight's choices..
And a close-up of one...
The rather long fish that is resting on the bottom of the tank is actually a baby shark. They had quite a few available for ordering.
Welp, I think that just about covers our evening. When you come visit us, you'll definitely get the hot pot experience, and I'll make sure to save a little frog for you.
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2 comments:
Well...! I think I would enjoy this experience if we make a vegetable soup!
Ohhh, you know you want some frog and some shark.
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