Hot Pot, Pot Luck

For our supper last night we were determined to attempt the local culinary favourite, "Hot Pot" and armed with rudimentary directions obtained from the concierge we went in search of a local restaurant. After having walked past it several times we finally identified the entrance and after a little deliberation stepped inside, where we were promptly ushered into an elevator and sent up to the 4th floor. We had no idea what to expect and it had not escaped our attention that there wasn't an English sign in sight, everything was in Mandarin, but hey,we are in Beijing so whilst that shouldn't be a surprise - it does make for some nervous moments! The lift doors opened to reveal a hive of activity and what looked like a very trendy place to be. There wasn't a table empty and it all looked very modern and many of the locals were playing various board or card games whilst they ate.

We were led to a table and given menus which were completely in Mandarin, no pictures or English text. Gulp, this was going to be pretty scary! Seeing our nervous disposition and possibly even our rising horror, one of the waitresses took us under her wing and located a menu with pictures, we were saved! She didn't speak English, but started to prompt us as to what we needed to order. You see Hot Pot is a bit like a fondu, you select a type of oil or water base, which has vegetables and sometimes meat stock, then you select what you want to cook in it. The trouble was she was recommending frog and fish stock with Cow intestines and pork brains to cook inside. Oh crap, thought we. What the hell are we going to do now?

Whilst panic was setting in - we really, really didn't want to eat brains - I spotted what appeared to be an assorted mushroom and chilli base, then shortly after I spied what looked like lamb or beef and swiftly pointed it out to our friendly waitress. Phew I thought, but now what? We were proffered several empty bowls and glancing around at the other diners proved only to confuse us further still. What were all these ladles and bowls for? What was the proper etiquette? I had already drawn several laughs from nearby tables when I began to eat the spinach raw as I thought it was like a side salad, instead of dumping it in the vat of bowling mushroomy chilli water to cook. This time the wonders of the modern age came to our rescue in the shape of my Kindle reading device. I'm so very happy that I spent the few extra pounds for the 3G version as it works all over the world at no extra cost,so useful! We found Google translate and asked the friendly waitress if she would mind demonstrating for us, she chuckled and then took us step by step through the whole complicated process, helping us choose our various complimentary condiments and sauces, before eventually just cooking it all for us. It was lovely and we both thoroughly enjoyed it, if we have time we might go back for more later in the week and I feel confident we should be able to avoid the offal on our own this time.

The Hot Pot

The first tentative bites...

Relief! What a fantastic find!