‘Tis the Season to Eat Hot Pot
Lisa Cam – Food & Travel Editor
Wow! Lowest temperatures in 60 years? What’s going on Hong Kong? Short of taking a hot shower again and again it’s hard to keep warm in this chilly, wet weather. Well, Hongkonger’s favourite way to keep warm is to huddle around a stove and cooking their food in hot soup and eating it while it’s still scalding.
I know, I know, what restaurant makes you cook your own food? Well if you’re willing to accept paying top dollar for restaurants who don’t cook it at all (that’s right sushi snobs!) then what’s wrong with one where you cook it yourself? I selected a few hot pot places – one for different moods – for you to warm your insides and out…
Drunken Pot – New kid on the block
How creative can you get with boiling food in a pot? Drunken Pot has taken up the challenge. It sucks when you’re the only one at the table who wants to Sichuan spicy broth and now there’s not two, but a pot that’s divided into four sections! Yes four! This way everyone can have their choice.
There are new and exotic broth choices such as clams and chicken in sake with coconut, what’s more there are also individual pots available for lunch. Served sukiyaki style, these gems are stuffed with all kinds of deliciousness such as lobster, kurobuta pork and more.
Restaurant 1, 2/F, 8 Observatory Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2321 9038
Budaoweng Hotpot Cuisine – High life on the cheap (er)
This franchise has many locations but the one in iSquare offers hands down the best views of Victoria Harbour. For an all-day restaurant which offers yum cha around lunch time, this place has a lot of special deals such as 40% for entry after 9:30pm on weekdays. The beef and dumpling selection is superb.
The meat and fishballs are handmade and not only that, to capitalise on the fresh produce coming through the kitchens every day, the sashimi choices are a good deal too.
23/F, iSquare, 63 Nathon Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2152 1166
Fire Well Hot Pot and Seafood Restaurant – Hole in the wall
Plastic chairs and wooden tables spilling out onto the street is the general theme here. What’s great is the owners have an “in” with the wet markets and get first dibs at some pretty awesome seafood such as big-ass geoducks and giant fish jaws that have the most supple and meaty flesh. Seating is cramped and ventilation is poor and you walk out smelling like grease, but sometimes there’s no better way to hot pot!
419 Queen’s Rd W,Western District, 2547 4508
Lisa Cam is the Food & Travel Editor of Time Out Hong Kong, where the restaurant reviews are honest, independent and paid for by the publication. When she’s not eating, tasting or writing, Lisa tends to her baby boy and cook tried and true recipes from sticky old recipe books at home. She also loves to travel and you can keep tabs on her via instagram @c9andthecity or reach her on Linkedin.