Ever since we had the chicken rice lunch downstairs, we kept saying that we would want to go and try their hotpot place on the 1st Floor…
…but we never got down to doing it until that day, the day of the Mid-Autumn/Mooncake Festival.
We went early, before 6.00 p.m., in the hope that there would not be a crowd and we would be able to get a table as we did bother to make a reservation. I was thinking that since there are so many hotpot places in town sprouting out here, there and everywhere like mushrooms after the rain, if the place was too crowded, we could always try another one.
Luckily, there were tables available and believe it or not, there were others there already before us. If I am not wrong, the place was full by the time we were leaving – I don’t know whether that was because of the festival or they actually do enjoy brisk business like this every night.
My missus helped herself to three types of chili dip…
…which I did try but none was to my liking. None of them came near to what my missus makes herself at home.
For the hotpot, we picked the classic pork bone soup on one side and the tom yam on the other (RM15.00 for a pick of 2)…
…and for the meat, we had pork (RM10.00) and beef (RM12.00)…
…and premium lamb slices (RM20.00)…
My girl said that she could not tell the difference between the beef and the lamb and both did not stand out in any way so in future, we might as well just order the pork which we felt was the nicest of the three.
The so-called “fresh prawns” were expensive, RM28.00 for a set of 4…
…and I asked for two sets because I was expecting to get freshwater prawns (udang galah). To be frank, I felt these were way overpriced – I can easily get them at the shop near my house, roundabout 20 of them, this size or bigger, for around RM40 (usually RM45.00 a kilo). Had I known better, I would have given them a miss.
The Spanish mackerel fishballs (RM8.00)…
…were great and so were the shrimp and pork dumplings (RM8.00)…
I should have asked for two sets each of these two instead of the prawns.
The fresh red squid (RM12.00)…
…wasn’t all that cheap either, nothing to get excited about and something we would surely leave out, should we happen to come back here again next time.
The Hakka yong tao foo (RM15.00)…
…was all right and my girl loved their fresh tofu (RM4.00)…
– she said it was extra smooth and silky, nicer than the ones sold at the wet market in town. You may have noticed how they seem to qualify most items on their menu as being “fresh“, even the tofu. LOL!!!
The mushroom platter (RM8.00)…
…took quite a long time coming and that got me wondering why. I thought it would not need much preparation, just dump everything in a plate and serve…and we also had these Q-Q (curly) vegetables (RM5.00) and tang hoon/glass noodles (RM4.00)…
…too.
We just threw everything in, equally divided between the two types of broth and when it started boiling…
…it was time to dig in!
The tom yam soup was nice but way too spicy and too sour for me to handle – I guess the rest did not fancy it much either as by the time we had finished everything, there was still half left. The classic pork bone soup was really good, so “sweet” and bursting with flavours, so much so that it prompted my girl to remark, next time we shall just have the pork bone soup on both sides.
The total came up to RM183.00 (inclusive of drinks) for the four of us – we invited my sister to join us that night. That sure wasn’t cheap and we could have had our own at home for much less but at least, we did not have to do all the preparation and all the washing and cleaning once we were done. We certainly wouldn’t mind coming here again but I guess we shall just reserve it for special occasions.
HOTPOT CAFÉ is on the 1st Floor, right above TING KEE CHICKEN RICE (2.292362, 111.825681) which is located at No. 85, Jalan Kampung Nyabor, to the extreme left of the block of shops directly across the road from RH Hotel.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Ohh thats quite pricey specially those prawns. Here you can get a NZ$30.00 eat all you can with all of those proteins and vegetables (except the Hakka yong tao foo) you mentioned
Yes, VERY expensive. These hotpot places is the current craze, so many opening everywhere. We do have those steamboat and grill places, two, at least and eat all you can – less than RM30 per head. The meat and everything else are fine but pork-free and there is even a buffet spread – just don’t count on the seafood, the prawns are so small that they’re hardly worth the peeling! Lots of supermarket fish balls, imitation crab sticks, those things that I wouldn’t touch. All things considered I’d much sooner go to those…or have our own at home…with giant prawns!
the perfect meal for a cold, rainy evening 🙂 with so many hotpot restaurants nowadays in all our cities, i guess this really is comfort food for many people 🙂
Well, what I had to fork out for that dinner sure caused much discomfort!!! Can DIY at home with a whole lot nicer ingredients…at half the amount of money!
Oh , that is a pricey dinner. DIY at home is much more cheaper and somemore all the ingredients are easily available. Of all the things, the so-called fresh prawns are the most unreasonably priced. I don’t think it takes much time to do the preparation and cleaning up after the dinner.
I just bought a pack of those prawns this morning, RM43 inside…and there were 19 of them, much bigger than the ones we had that evening by one third, at least. My first experience and definitely the last! I cannot understand why people are willing to get fleeced like that! They complained to my face that I always blogged about Payung, SO EXPENSIVE, they said (as if it was MY fault)…and all these years, I never paid more than half, hardly ever over RM100 unless we went in a big group and ordered a lot. Just can’t understand the likes of those – blind or stupid or what?
Oh, this hotpot which is a steamboat. I thought it was those horrible mala hotpot that I tried and disliked. At least now you would know which to order and have a better experience next time.
I think we can ask for Mala soup but of course we did not as we don’t like it AT ALL – dunno what the craze is all about. Just because it is the trend in Taiwan, Korea or wherever everyone here will blindly follow…never mind that it is SO EXPENSIVE! SO STUPID!!! We did go to another hotpot place and had the Mala dry…and no, I did not enjoy it much, not at all. Don’t think we will bother to go to such places EVER AGAIN!
Hotpot meal is a nice change but could be rather pricey if counted based on kg. Long time we did not go out for hotpot. The last time we had it was in China. The so called famous Hai Di Lao hotpot. Not the best we had as mostly frozen. Not fresh stuff. Maybe because it was winter over there. Heard the Hai Di Lao in WM is better with fresher seafood. I still keep its VIP card, in case I could use it in the future. Lol.
Yes, that is why I avoid the steamboat places, mostly frozen supermarket stuff…and I just watched a Channel New Asia documentary on fish balls…plus I heard about the one here – they say they just throw all the fish in, never bother to clean, even those not so good already fish…to make the fish balls! Cheaper and nicer and safer/healthier to do one’s own at home.
Have not had any hotpot meal for ages. It does look tasty and I agree…pork is always better than beef and lamb. LOL 😀
The pork dumplings look adorable. I bet they are equally tasty.
Yes, they did look cute and yes, they were nice. I was only pissed off by the price of the prawns…and maybe the red sotong too.
Hotpot are generally pricey that is why i only have it once in a while, but the hai di lao hotpot in sg is doing so well. Beats me!
Oh? So it IS expensive generally then? Will avoid all from now on, older but wiser! Guess that one, the name alone is a crowd puller. People are such suckers for brands.
Gee, it has been a while since I last had hot pot. Always a good meal to enjoy with friends.
Yes, just that it is mighty pricey having it outside. Can have one at home with much nicer ingredients at half the price, actually.
I never knew what a Hot Pot was, until my daughter told me yesterday, that a friend of her got one 🙂
What’s in a name? We call it a steamboat, more or less the same thing. I guess the Japanese and Koreans (and Taiwanese) call it hotpot and they have their own very spicy soups for it so we do not get to see the name steamboat all that much anymore these days.