Little Sheep     小肥羊    

I come over here for my dinner at around 9pm. The experience is terrible.

Firstly, I reserved a table for five at 8.30pm in the very first beginning and call to amend the time to 9pm just 5 mins after I made the reservation. However, the staff said she is not the reception and know nothing on it but she will inform her colleague. When I arrive at 9.05pm, the staff in the entrance said that my table reserved at 8.30 and late for 30mins already. This is unacceptable as I have already amend the time and confirmed by the staff. Finally I still get a table (table 155) after I wait for another 8 mins.

Secondly, the male staff that responsible to my area is totally unacceptable. His attitude is bad and always show long face to us. Everytime we ask for something e.g. drink / food, he will ignore us or response with a very very very bad manner.

Thirdly, we called to the manager to complain in the restaurant and ask the manager come to see us to show apology. Unfortunately, the so call " Manager" never show up and I don't see any improvement from the staff even I make such complain.

I WILL NOT SUGGEST THIS RESTAURANT TO ANYONE AND SURE WILL NOT COME AGAIN!!!

We usually visit Little Sheep once a month for good bargain and food. However, its good reputation will soon be spoiled. The booking system is always rejected the booking of small table of less than 4 persons. Many customers feel unwelcomed! The amount of free portion of sheep slices is cut down and full of fat. Soup is not as tasty as previous time. Last but not the least, in October, 'all-you-can-eat' was inclusive tea charge and nuts, besides 10% service charge. This time (in November), unfortunately, it is not the same anymore without any prior notice. We found the bill increased and asked the waitress if it was right. The cashier eventually said the restaurant policy had changed that tea charge and nuts were exclusive in dinner. We thought it was tricky on frequent visitors. Meal is no longer money for value. We don't highly recommend this restaurant. Please think twice before visiting Little Sheep.

Little Sheep is a chain of Mongolian Hot Pot restaurants, whereby you choose the soup base: spicy, non-spicy or a bowl split down the middle with half spicy and half not. We opted for the half and half. We also opted for the all you can eat buffet, which included all you can drink (non alcoholic) and a few beers.

I was told that the soup uses meat broth and is loaded with different types of “Chinese medical restorative materials” which was full of flavour. The spicy soup, is similar to that of the non-spicy, the main difference are chilies and chili oil. It was incredibly spicy, so for those who do not have a reasonably high tolerance for chili, do not cook your food here. I would suggest you let it simmer in the non-spicy soup, and then ‘dunk’ it in the spicy soup to get that spicy flavour. The spicy soup was seriously spicy!

We ordered HEAPS of food! Different types of wontons, balls, beef, pork, lamb, vegetables, mushrooms, and tofu. I have to say, the beef and wontons were outstanding and were my favourite. The lamb was my least favourite, but that’s because I am not a lamb fan!

Unlike most of my friends, I prefer a la carte rather than all-you-can-eat, especailly in hot pot house and Japanese restaurant. Since this dinner was paid by my friends, I follow them. With the option of all-you-can-drink of $10, the average bill was about HK$185 per head.

We chose the 鴛鴦鍋. The hot side was not that hot but the clear side was too clear for me. We tried over 70% items on the list. The most impressive foods are 肥羊粉, 羊肉, 墨魚滑, 基圍蝦, and 蝦膠油炸鬼. The shrimp was unlimited offer and the quality was surprisingly "not bad"!

Since we arrived there at 18:30 and their staff briefing was finished about 18:45. Thus, the food was started to arrive our table almost 18:50. Don't worry, there was one type of spicy appetizer available for customer at the enterance. So, we can start with those cooked food.

My first and the last visit was 2005 (or 2006). My memory of the hot soup base was much hotter than this visit's. The only same thing of this restaurant is the smell stick on our outfit for over 3 days.....

For the uninitiated, Little Sheep is a chain of Mongolian Hot Pot restaurants with the central premise that you chose a soup base, which bubbles away violently like a witch’s cauldron on a hot plate at your table, and you order a bunch of raw ingredients to cook (yourself) in the soup. For my most recent visit, I was fortunate enough to be in the company of Cantonese speaking friends, so we went for the ‘all you can eat’ buffet (menu only in Chinese at the TST branch) – subject to a two hour maximum sitting. It worked out at a little over HK$200 per head including a few beers each (750ml Asahi for HK$22), which is decent value, in my view. Top tip: your clothes tend to absorb the cooking smells so don’t get too dressed up.

For the soup base the options are spicy, not spicy, or a bowl split down the middle with half spicy and half not. We opted for the half and half. The soup uses a meat broth (presumably mutton) and is loaded with “dozens of Chinese medical restorative materials”. I identified ginger, whole nutmegs, garlic cloves, and maybe coriander seeds, but there’s a myriad of other ingredients. The spicy side is laden with dried chillies and chilli oil, but otherwise appears broadly the same. Top tip 2: the spicy side is pretty spicy! I have a reasonably high tolerance for chilli but when I (probably rather foolishly) drank some of the ‘hot’ broth, it really took my breath away.

There’s not too much to be said about the raw ingredients apart from that they appear to be decent quality. Paper thin slices of beef and mutton dipped in the soup take seconds to cook and are delicious. Lobster balls are sweet and pleasing. Mushrooms are great because they soak up plenty of the delicious broth. Various Asian greens – pak choy, buk choy etc, are as you would expect. For me, the most enjoyable aspect of this kind of restaurant is the ‘interactiveness’ of it. There’s something deeply satisfying about having several plates of raw food that you cook together as a group. And fishing around the murky bowl for that illusive mushroom that you’ve seen floating to the surface every now and then, or that lost fish ball that you know is hiding somewhere, is all part of the charm.

It is a shame that there’s no English menu for the two-hour buffet. For those brave enough to go for it regardless and blindly select dishes from the Chinese menu, be aware that you may find yourself with dishes that will challenge you. Duck’s intestines taste slightly gamey but with the texture of squid – not wholly unpleasant but a little unusual. Bitter melon is exceptionally bitter – not among my favourite vegetables. And I can only describe cubed pig’s blood as savoury metallic panna cotta!

With the coupon from Openrice, me and my boyfriend go for the last, luxury hot pot in Spring!

Most of the dishes are of small portion, so we are able to try a lot of different dishes~ My favorite is the quail egg (is it? the small bird egg which is white and black in color)! kind of rare My BF's favorite is the chicken wing in beer.

We are not "Sheep meat" lovers, coz we both dislike the special taste of sheep meat. However, the sheep meat here is quite delicious

And the Soup here is the soul of hotpot. The Spicy Soup is very exciting, one should never miss it~