I'd been dying to go to this particular chain Hai Di Lao (海底捞) for a while - rumours of good quality base soups and ingredients, plus impeccable service - but news of ridiculous queues at all of their restaurants always killed the urge. Finally, somebody had the foresight to book and so I made it to their dubiously lime-green hotpot table. I've always had a penchant for spicy hotpot, but usually you spend far too much time trying to fan out the flames in your mouth, so this time we wisely opted for a non-spicy mushroom soup base to focus exclusively on the eating.
Highlights were their speciality beef (remains tender no longer how much you cook it) and my personal faves: duck's blood (freaks a lot of people out, but is actually very good for you + tasty), the cow's stomach (ditto) and enoki mushrooms. You can make your own dipping sauces here but most people stick with the good ol' Beijing favourite - a type of thick sesame paste, which I augmented with some chilli and coriander. All in all, well worth the hype. The restaurant is apparently open 24 hours, ready and waiting to satisfy all those midnight hotpot cravings. Kebabs pah!
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