The dining room is quiet and plain, and people at the bar are hunched over focusing on the task at hand, a bubbling pot of soup, lifting bright green vegetables and thin noodles from a fragrant liquid and then dipping into small bowls of green onion-flecked sauce.
Steamy and filled with light, this restaurant is just a few blocks east of campus next to a deserted fountain, yet it seems practically undiscovered by students. At $7.95 for lunch and $12.95 for dinner, this is a can’t-miss all-you-can-eat opportunity to fill your hungry belly.
Fresh, healthy and accommodating all diets, a visit to Hot Pot City is actually fun. This is a do-it-yourself soup experience where you choose the broth and graze a well stocked bar for all the ingredients and seasonings.
Choose one of a dozen seats at the bar, and you’ll have a choice of seven fragrant broths. Pick a simple one for the first visit, like the basic ma-la. A concoction of Chinese herbs, the clear stock is a perfect blank canvas for all of the goodies you’ll add to it.
Broth is referred to as “stock” by many kitchen professionals. Walk back into the far recesses of the kitchen, and you’ll find a gargantuan pot slowly simmering away. A great stock takes time, the right combination of ingredients and a steady hand. Turn the heat up too high and the liquid will emerge cloudy.
Vegetarians and carnivores alike will find a choice on the menu to suit their preference. A vegetable stock can be particularly hard to master, and with several to choose from, these hit the mark.
Remember that the end product is a cooking liquid, so these stocks will be delivered on the bland side, to please everyone. There will be ample opportunity to customize and season your own.
Spicy broth options are clearly labeled on the menu. Korean style Pao-cai contains chunks of the crunchy pickled cabbage, kimchee, and red pepper. A Thai broth is a bit fiery, but is balanced with a squeeze of lime.
There are no bad choices here, except perhaps Xiang-cai, flavored with preserved egg. “This thousand-year-old egg,” the server will tell you if you try to order it, “is not recommended for the first time.” Its sharp and peculiar taste will overwhelm everything that goes into the pot, apparently.
The server brings each person his or her own tureen, which sits atop a portable burner, maintaining a continual simmer. Ask about the broths, or for some instruction about how to move on, and you’ll get great feedback. You’ll finish lunch feeling like an expert.
After ordering your broth, get up and move to the bar, where meat, seafood and especially vegetables are set out to peruse. Here you’ll find a plethora of raw meat–so vegetarians, move on to the second half of the bar.
Marinated chicken thigh meat, thinly sliced pork and beef meatballs are among some of the more ordinary choices. Beef tendon and tripe were available on a recent visit, as were whole prawns and whole small blue crabs. Dinner tends to offer more seafood, with fish balls and surimi.
Two kinds of Chinese tofu are available all the time. One is frozen, which changes the texture, allowing it to soak up much more liquid. Spinach, napa cabbage, pea shoots and three kinds of noodles are all mainstays. Long stems of cilantro will lend their bright flavor to your soup, and broccoli, mushrooms and thin slices of neon orange pumpkin are bountiful.
Fill a plate high with veggies and use a liberal hand with the greens. They will shrink down to practically nothing when added to the broth.
Next assemble a dipping sauce. A reliable standard is equal parts soy sauce and vinegar, finished with a sprinkling of green onions, sesame oil and fresh ginger. You’ll find citrus-y ponzu sauce, sesame paste, Taiwan-style barbecue sauce and a myriad of others to work with. The server will put one together for you if you’d like. Use these ingredients, too, to make your broth more flavorful. Everything tastes better with lots of fresh garlic and ginger, right?
Now it’s time to eat. Put meat or tofu in the pot first, keeping in mind that cooking times vary. Add some veggies and be ready to fish them out quickly with the wire basket provided. You’ll get a bowl to transfer cooked food into, before dipping into the sauce and eating.
Since raw meat may enter into this experience for some, a word of caution: don’t use your chopsticks to get raw meat into the bubbling liquid. Use the strainer basket. If you do use your chopsticks, no worries. Just give them a stir in the hot broth. The high temperature will kill any unwanted bacteria in a jiffy.
Go back for more, and mind the sign about waste–excessive food waste will result in a charge of $10 per pound for needlessly discarded food!
Hot Pot City1975 S.W. 1st Ave. Serving lunch and dinner daily
To find Hot Pot City, head east from campus on either SW College or SW Hall Street. At 4th Ave., walk between the Fourth Avenue Building and the Engineering Building and pass through the Lovejoy Fountain courtyard. You’ll see the restaurant right in front of you.