Good hotpot

Joined: May 13, 2011
Posts: 14
4

Went to their Sanlitun branch last week and was impressed by this Sichuan Hot Pot chain that i'd heard so much about. The first thing that struck me was the great service. I arrived before my friends and had to wait for a table - while waiting the fuwuyuan brought drinks, fruit and had a special waiting area set up complete with Chinese checkers and other games. It didn't take long for a table to become available and the service staff were helpful, but not too intrusive, in offering advice about what to order. We ordered a half/half or yuanyang pot and the spicey ingredients were added to the soup in front of us from a pre-prepared plastic sachet - i guess they do this so the customer knows that they're not eating from reheated pots of broth?
Anyway, the food was fresh and tasty - with a good selection of ingredients - though - like every Sichuan/Chongqing Hot Pot restaurant in Beijing, they didn't have any Peanut Milk (huasheng nai) - which really helps in taking a bit of an edge off the spice and is a very popular accompanying drink down south. It was a little pricey, but I recommend it to anyone looking for a Hot Pot restaurant that is cut above the ordinary.