The other day, Seth and I felt like we were getting into a bit of a food rut here in China. You can only eat the same 3 things for dinner a certain number of times (noodles, salad with chicken breast, and dumplings) before you start to go a little coocoo-bananas. So when I got home from work on Thursday, I had made up my mind that we were going to try this “hot pot” thing that everybody talks about. We had it once in Charleston, but have been too shy to try it here, on account of not knowing literally anything when we walk into a restaurant. The task is just too daunting sometimes. Yes, we have phone translation apps and people are usually patient, but when you’re hungry and lost, it can get frustrating to do the mental math of communication when we are still at a 6-month-old level of Chinese. (It’s actually a really good analogy. People stare at us and say things, and we smile and laugh. We point at what we want, cry when we’re hungry, and sometimes feel like our only option is to poop our pants in public. Metaphorically speaking, guys.)

Anyway I sat down and found a video on Youtube that described how to eat at a hotpot restaurant, watched it, and dragged Seth out into the unknown to accomplish my goal. After misreading the Chinese map, taking the subway to a stop away from us, walking 3/4 of the way back to our apartment, and then going into a restaurant and failing to communicate with the waitstaff, we walked out disappointed and hungry. “Let’s just go to the McDonald’s down the road,” I told him. “It’s a Chinese McDonald’s so that’s still different, right?”

Seth had one more ounce of strength left before giving in to Micky D’s and summoned it up. “Let’s go to the mall and see what’s in there.” Then I remembered a rotating bar of food that we had seen in a nearby mall (one of about 3 million in Shenzhen) and suggested we try that. It was like a rotating sushi bar, but it looked like it had ramen. We walked in and realized it was a make-your-own-personal-hotpot restaurant. For about $8 per person, you can sit down for an hour and cook food in your personal bowl of broth to your heart’s content.

The way I understand it: hotpot was originally developed in the Sichuan province, where it gets really hot in the summer. The reasoning is that when you eat hot food, you sweat out the heat and it cools your body down. But it’s also very nice to have in the winter.

So the way it works is this: first, we chose our own broth out of about 7 options. Seth chose a mushroom based broth, while I got the green chili. Then we paid about $9 per person, and agreed to leave within 90 minutes. Before those 90 minutes are up, all bets are off! It’s all-you-can-eat! We sat down, and a server immediately brought us room-temperature bowls of the broth we ordered. They take those 90 minutes seriously.

While the broth was heating up, we made our way to the sauce station. This place had it ALL: sesame sauce, chives, cilantro, soy sauce, vinegar, fresh garlic, chili garlic, chili sauce, chili oil, sugar, etc. In the end, my sauce came out tasting like what you might eat in a Thai restaurant. At least, this time it did. Who knows what I put in there.

 

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When we got back to the bar, our soup was boiling, so it was time to select our mixins. The bar was like a dreamland for both of us.

We used our tongs provided to select the meat/tofu/mushroom/potatoes/egg that we wanted from the bar and put it in the broth. Then when it was cooked, we took it out with our chopsticks (or the slated ladle), dipped it in our delicious sauce, and stuffed it in our faces. To Seth’s delight, the rotating bar was also stocked with spring rolls, Chinese doughnuts (not covered in sugar like in the US), and little bean cake cookies (better than they sound). Also on the bar were fresh fruits to cleanse your palate — guava, watermelon, and pineapple — and pitchers with water in them.

Seth and I learned that this water was not for drinking. It’s for refilling your soup bowl as the hot water boils off. We learned this because he poured some into a little sauce bowl (we were getting dehydrated from all the spices and sweat) and a server came over to us a bit horrified, indicating that he should pour the water in the bowl. Then she led him to the water cups and cooler. Phew!

At the end of the meal, while Seth was still filling up on meat (does he have a tapeworm??), I put some sweet potato starch noodles in my bowl and topped of the meal with those. We left after about an hour, and they gave us back $3 for not staying the whole 90 minutes. What?!!? It was so great. So, so great.

Overall, it was one of the best decisions we’ve made in China so far. I highly recommend this experience. We have already gone back for another meal. I’m also taking a girlfriend there later this week for a girls’ night. I have a feeling that Seth will lurk in the shadows eating all the spring rolls. Again.

If you’re in Shenzhen and you want to know where this place is, I’m going to include a map. I don’t know the name of the restaurant or the mall where it is. I just know that it’s on the second floor of the mall at this red star that I made, in Shangmeilin.

So that’s all I have to say about that! Yay for delicious hot pot!