The amazing hotpot was introduced to Beijing by the invading Mongols (after they managed to hop over the wall) in the 13th century and it’s been here ever since. And I can see why. It’s great fun, delicious and interactive.
Of course, we had an especially lovely waitress helping us but, even without her, the experience would have been pretty amazing. As it was, with her help, the experience was superb and made up for the fact that we didn’t get to the Kung Fu show we’d planned to see but couldn’t because of some pretty awful taxi drivers.
Here is our waitress. Mirinda took this photo as she was making our noodles for us. She stretches them out then twists them then stretches some more before, finally, dropping them into the broth. It’s a pity she’s not smiling in this photo because she had an amazing smile.
Our waitress makes fresh noodles
But that’s getting way too far ahead.
The first thing that happens is you are handed a menu with different sections in it. Our waitress helped a lot with this though her English was only slightly better than our Chinese. Though, I’d read about hotpots and knew not to order the spicy one as it is rumoured to strip the flesh from unsuspecting mouths.
So, the first thing you order is the broth. This starts at plain water and then goes up to the fiery one. I picked the second from the top (gingo) knowing this would at least have some flavour.
Next comes the dipping sauce. We went for sesame, mainly because we couldn’t work out what the others were.
Then you choose your meat, careful to avoid things like lambs pizzle and anything from a donkey. One of the beef items was called ‘beef eye’ and Mirinda was a bit concerned this actually was a cow’s eyeball but, with her wonderfully tinkling laugh, the waitress mimed that it was the eye fillet.
So, chicken and beef sorted, we then moved on to vegetables before finally asking for noodles.
The next thing that happens is the waitress brings to the table a big pot which sits over a gas burner in the middle of the table. Into the pot goes a big central thing which allows the broth to just bubble around it. The waitress throws a load of stuff into the broth and we wait for it to boil for a bit.
Then, taking our chopsticks, we dunk a bit of, very thinly carved, meat into the boiling broth, hold it there for a moment or two then dunk the now cooked meat into the dipping sauce before eating it.
Fantastic! Delicious! Great fun. The whole process is repeated, basically with everything. The waitress almost told me off for eating the bean shoots raw but I told her I preferred them that way which she conceded was just a crazy Western thing.
Things like potato and the noodles have longer in the broth but, basically, you cook everything quickly and for yourself. The three of us (and the waitress) had a marvellous time.
A rare photo of the two of us – thanks, Sarah
So, my recommendation is to go for the hotpot!
