last pot

I was really excited about going to Chengdu and no, not only for the pandas.  Every Chinese friend we have has talked to us about visiting Sichuan Provence and how amazing and spicy the food is there.  Amazing and spicy?  I’m in!

I wanted to try as many of the specialties that I could while there, but because of our limited time and hectic tour schedule, we really only had one chance at dinner Saturday night.  One person in the group insisted on organizing dinner, meaning we didn’t get much of a say about where we were going for dinner. And guess what??

Yeah, another Chinese hot pot.  Oily and gross. 

I did discover that it wasn’t anise in the previous hot pot and actually the Sichuan pepper- which to me tastes like  spicy anise with almost a numbing feeling in your mouth when you eat it. 

See those green berry-looking things hanging there?  Those are Sichuan peppers. Word to the wise-  if you don’t like anise - you won’t like these.

Anyway, I am on a total strike from any further hot pot meals in China. 

not-pot

I adored hot pots in Japan.  Well, except for that whole “sea pig” incident. 

A boiling pot of water, thinly sliced beef, vegetables, maybe some udon noodles and a little dipping sauce and you have yourself one yummy and also healthy meal.  I totally plan on getting a table top unit when we get home.  And have a kitchen.

We went to hot pot in Hohhot (yes, it does rhyme- I think) and I was not impressed…

Although I did like the whole concept of a spicy pot, I hated (read: really freaking hated) that they put anise in the water and it was oily. We had beef and lamb and it just wasn’t that great to me.  The noodles they gave us took about 10 minutes to cook and were too gummy.  The pot was also a mile away from each seat (and I’m not considered short here) so cooking was a laborious  up and down nightmare. 

Also, there were these weird fish balls that really grossed me out…

I’m sure we’ll try it again before we leave, but so far- I am not impressed.

sea pig

Friday night's lesson: Not all hot pots are created equal.

3 of us had decided to split another hot pot at dinner on Friday night only to be told by the waiter we had dragged outside to the menu board that the hot pot we craved was actually served next door. No worries he seemed to indicate and brought us a photo of another hot pot.

It seemed suspiciously filled with a strange array of seafood, but we went with it.



Veggies, seafood, tofu, pork and some other unidentifiable items came to the table heaped in a big pot. We kept asking for the water, but were assured that was all we were getting. After much debate, sneering and questioning it did finally cook down.

The Spaniard really had an issue with the pork and seafood being in the same pot, but I assured him as all good Southerners know- pork = flavor.

In the end the “sea pig” didn’t win our hearts, but it was much better than we had expected.

hot pot of goodness

Perfect midnight dinner? Apparently the answer is hot pot.

We had our first hot pot experience at a restaurant we came across in the Meguro area. We went with the pork and added some soba noodles to round out the meal.





They were both beyond delicious.

All I can say is get ready for some hot pot dinner parties at the V’s house when we move back!