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| - Love this place. If you can't tell, my standard for Chinese food is how well a restaurant can do in the SGV in LA. And this restaurant would do quite well.
The owners are very friendly. The menu is lacking in English explanations, but they are more than happy to explain to you how the menu works. One side of the menu is lunch and one side of the menu is the regular hot pot menu.
If you've never had hot pot, the idea is a pot of broth is placed on your individual hot plate. You put raw veggies, thinly sliced meat, tofus, and whatnot into the simmering pot of broth. Wait for it to cook, then fish it out with your chopsticks or spoon, dip in some sauce and enjoy. If you've ever had the entree fondue at Melting Pot, it's that idea, but hot pot came first.
For the hot pot menu, you can either order a soup base (5-6 different flavors including a mushroom broth, a szechuan spicy broth, and a spicy thai broth), and then pick the "side orders" you'd like to have for your hot pot, like meats, vegetables, tofus, etc. The soup base is about $5, and most of the side orders are about $2. But the better deal is the combo. With the combo, you have your choice of soup base, along with a particular meat, and it comes with a combination veggie plate that includes a variety of items like spinach, napa cabbage, tofu, enoki mushrooms, lapchang, corn, fish balls, and more. The combo is only $15 at night, and I believe they have a lunch special version for $10. There's also an all vegetarian combo, which you can order with a mushroom broth.
The sauces are on the side, and they're plentiful: minced garlic, cilantro, green onions, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, peanut sauce, fermented tofu sauce, oyster sauce, etc. There are also eggs and noodles for the end of your hot pot, but I didn't get a chance to partake because I was so full.
The broth was so flavorful and delicious. I ordered the Szechuan spicy broth and it was certainly spicy. If you're not a spice person or only like a little bit spice, I wouldn't go with this one. Both my dining partner and I really enjoyed this meal. The service was fast (they keep the broth ready, and you do much of the cooking yourself), and very well priced. They're a bit of a trek being on Park Street, but they are well worth it.
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