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2016-05-24
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If there's anything that unites Americans, and so little does these days, it's our proclivity to take something that does not have cheese on it, and to put cheese on it. How then could I, who bleed red, white, and blue cheese sauce, pass up the opportunity to have cheese hotpot? How indeed! Indeed, how could America have fallen so far behind in the worldwide cheese race to have not been the first country to invent cheese hotpot? And don't give me fondue! Fondue is cheese bread. Be serious here.
Indeed, how could America have fallen so far behind in the worldwide cheese race to have not been the first country to invent cheese hotpot? And don't give me fondue! Fondue is cheese bread. Be serious here. Hong Kong has invented something truly special, and I'm glad to have been a part of it. So like other chicken hotpot places, they bring you out a pot with the chicken in it, you eat that chicken (eat that chicken, o lord-a yes I do, eat that chicken...), then they fill the pot up with broth-- in this case CHEESE broth-- and then you run it regular hotpot style.
As you can see, this is the cheesy chicken. We got half of a chicken, because for 6 people we wound up getting two hotpots: the cheese and the spicy Sichuan one. Here's some chicken in my bowl. Everyone at the table was pleasantly surprised at how not horrible it was. In fact, the chicken was reasonably tender and the cheese was like coagulated nacho cheese. By "nacho cheese" I mean that gooey-at-room-temperature fake stuff you get at the ballpark in the States.
Obviously there are bone shards everywhere, stabbing you in the gums and cheeks and trying to worm their way down your asophagus. It's a Chinese restaurant, for crying out loud. But again, it was surprisingly good. Here's the pot after they poured in the bright orange cheese sauce. The floating thing is an onion. I don't know exactly what's in the broth, but my guess is chicken broth and nacho cheese. Here are two examples of things cooked in cheese broth. First, instant noodles-- kind of like mac and cheese but much more brothy and less strongly cheese-flavored Second, here's a shrimp dumpling. This was cooked toward the end of the meal and as you can see, the cheese has kind of coalesced into a thick skin. The spicy chicken hotpot was more standard. The general view was that it wasn't very spicy, but that it did have a fair bit of Sichuan numbing peppercorn. This chicken was also very tender, and there was plenty of meat. I personally liked the chicken hotpot we got at K Lok in TST better. This is some sauce they poured in with the chicken: not the same as the broth. And here's the spicy hotpot with the spicy broth. This is very orange-ish too, but it is not cheesy. I will say, however, that there was quite the interesting flavor combination in my bowl, where cheese and Sichuan peppercorns mingled. Who has the greatness and vision to invent... Sichuan ma la cheesy chicken hotpot? God, I hope someone. Hotpot is best with things that really soak up the broth. No, not bread! I told you to shove the fondue! I mean tofu puffs and mushrooms and lettuce and cabbage. Mushrooms Lettuce Cabbage Assorted dumplings are always a wonderful roulette game to play at hotpot. Have I got shrimp, pork, or vegetable? Have I cooked it long enough to kill the deadly bacteria? Only by eating it shall you find out.
One thing I knocked K Lok for was their dumplings. I had two of these (shrimp and pork) and I liked them both. I can't read what this says, but I'm glad it was on my placemat.
So here's my view of this place. The cheesy chicken was surprisingly good, but y'know, there are better ways to put better cheese on better chicken, so it was only OK in the end. The cheese broth was not very good, and maybe the worst hotpot broth I'd had. So I was wrong, it wasn't a great invention. Great in many ways, such as how greatly it thumbed its nose at the gods, but not great taste-wise. I spent most of the meal eating from the other pot.
And the other stuff was OK too. Not as spicy as I like, and not as flavorful as some other places I'd been to, but I got a good meal out of it.
I'm not saying you ought to go here. If anything, you ought not to. But it's an experience, and it is pretty fun, even if ultimately not all that yummy.
Other Info. :
No English menu, but the staff are friendly and very helpful.
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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