London: Hot Pot - A Thai-Chinese Sensation Has Come To China Town

I arrived in the UK in 1975 living and worked in London.  I fell in love with London right from the start frequently shopping and eating in London's China Town.  Over the years I have seen many changes in London especially on the food front and China Town also part of the SoHo district is no exception.

A very new restaurant, very different to others on Wardour Street is Hot Pot and I was invited recently to eat there with two other London bloggers.

I arranged to meet fellow bloggers Fiona and Roma at Hot Pot early one evening.

Each table has a convection hob set into the table - one hob for up to four persons. The staff will continuously turn it up or down as your broth simmers.

Some larger tables are available as well.

It is a slightly different way of eating but the staff are really helpful and there are cards on the tables to assist you in ordering and then in cooking your chosen ingredient in the broth.

Basically at Hot Pot you pick a broth from a selection including one for vegetarians.  If you want you can also have a split pot which is what we did as Fiona wanted the spicier broth.  While we waited we started with a couple of appetisers.  We had Har Gu - prawns steamed in rice paper

and Goyoza - little pork dumplings with a dipping sauce.

Then the broths came - check out those little chilies in the hot side broth!

You pick the items you would like to cook in your broth from a wide selection.

We had Wagyu Beef - which has been called the best beef in the world and is any one of four Japanese cattle breeds who are predisposed to the intense marbling and high percentage of fat.

A Mixed Seafood Selection, salmon, squid, scallops, mussels and prawns which was very ample and more than enough for the three of us.

Mixed Vegetable Selection - an absolutely amazing selection of vegetables to pop into the broth.  This and noodles would make a great vegetarian lunch dish.

Marinated Pork sitting pretty on the plate and if you want you could always throw the carrot and the lettuce in the hot pot!

Ho Fan Noodles - I love these thin but wide noodles.  I often have them in my favourite Chinese restaurant just down the road and they also fry really well.

With your pot of broth simmering away you add the ingredients allowing cooking time - it's a fun way to dine, sharing a communal cooking pot, having a couple of drinks and enjoying each other's company.

There is a sauce bar at the back of the restaurant where you mix your own dipping sauces.  There is a menu to give you some suggestions or you can be creative and make up your own as simple or complex as you like.

And then of course there is the dessert! First of all we had the Pandan Pancakes. Pandan is a long, straight and thick leaf often called the vanilla of South East Asia. Here the pancakes are made with juice extracted from the leaf which give a green colour and a delicate flavour.  The filling was a sweet and crunchy coconut mixture. The pancakes were served with home made vanilla ice cream.

We were then brought a selection of the other ice creams.  The three flavours were Matcha Green Tea, Thai Tea and Coconut.  It was funny because we all had a different favourite. Mine was the middle one, the Thai Tea ice cream.

The next time I am in London's China Town I will have to stop and think if I want my traditional Chinese or go again to Hot Pot.  If you get the chance I would definitely recommend you give it a try.

I was invited to review Hot Pot. I was not required to write a positive review.  As always all opinions and photographs are my own.  No photographs may be reproduced in any form without my written permission.