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| - My dreams have come true....finally a GOOD hot pot place in the Phoenix area!! (Shabu shabu in chandler is just plain crappy) When my parents dragged me to this place, I thought it would be another Asian hole in the wall place with unimpressive decor and ok to good food for cheap (you know Asian parents). Driving up to the location didn't help my expectations either - Tien Wong being located behind a cheap Chinese food buffet in a dimly lit plaza. I was so surprised!!
The place is so chic - some place I would love to take my friends that might be intimidated by Asian food. As for the food - also very delicious! We ordered the herbal house broth. We asked the waitress how spicy the spicy broths were and she described it as "on a scale of 1-10, it's an 11". So enter at your own risk! (we also asked a table next to us how spicy it was...they said incredibly spicy) If you want to take a taste, you can try to order the ying yang broth (half and half). I incredibly enjoyed the herbal broth and it brought out what I love most about Asian food - a medley of complex yet delicate flavors and numerous spices. In your broth, you have a series of aromatic spices such as anise, along with some flavors you would see in Asian desserts - such an aesthetically pleasing and interesting mixture that goes very well. The unfortunate thing is a lot of the flavors are diluted when they refill your broth with a general broth from a pitcher (given to all tables).
Now what to order...I highly recommend beef tongue. I've had it several places, but this is the first time I've seen it in the Phoenix area and quite delicious here, too! Beef tongue is one of those things that sound like you would never think to be good, but then you fall in love with it. It's very easy to eat! I also enjoyed the shabu shabu beef and ribeye. For noodles, you MUST get the udon. I'm pretty sure there's not too many people out there that don't love udon, and it goes especially well with hot pot. I also recommend the 5 spiced tofu...I seriously need to know how to flavor my friend tofu like this...and the fried mushroom tofu. For those unfamiliar with Asian food, for veggies I recommend bok choy, enoki mushrooms, and white mushrooms. For dessert, the green tea cheesecake was very nice to end on, although nothing to be wowed by.
What's best about this place? $5 for unlimited broth. Each place ~$5 of less for a very good portion. It was $18 per person for a 4 person that included 2 desserts (green tea cheese cake and strawberry cheesecake...$6 per place i believe). They also give you sugar cane drinks after you pay your bill! All in all, delicious, fun, clean and chic hot pot place. Great for groups, although I'm not sure if it's good for 2 people just because the portions are large so you could really only order 2-3 items. Will be taking my friends here, but this time for some Sapporo to go along, too!
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