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Hot Is The Pot, The Pot Is Hot

One of the most shocking things people find about me,
is that I'm not a fan of Chinese food at all.
{I sure am exciting, yeah?}
I mean, I like a good egg roll and a big bowl of 
Panda Express's crack orange chicken as much as anyone else,
but just like we know that "shrimp hamburgers with a side of curry rice" 
isn't real American food (ahem, KFC China), 
we know that stuff ain't the real thing.

This has become a slight issue because, as you know, I'm smack dab 
in the middle of real China for a very real two months. 

My solution? Hotpot. Hotpot, I can do. Hotpot, I love. 
Sure it's still technically Chinese food, but it's truly a cuisine of its own, 
and one of my favorites. After spending many a summer in Nanjing, 
I've hit just about every major hotpot restaurant in town, and then some. 
I already have plans to visit my old favorites next week, 
but first, here are two new kids on the block:





Because AoMenDouLao isn't exclusively a hotpot restaurant,
its actual hotpot, which is primarily seafood-based, was really pretty standard,
but quite delicious nevertheless!





HaiDiLao, translated literally to mean "Scooping The Bottom Of The Ocean,"
was a winner in my book - great broth, good pickings (bacon in hotpot = brilliant),
and excellent service. We were there for maybe two hours, and: our waitresses
knew our names, took RBX over to the babysitting service, gave us band-aids and
a few back-scratchers, gifted RBX with a few wind-up toys, a great discount, 
and even hired a mask-changing entertainer to perform for us. 
I think this kind of "ask, and you shall receive" service mantra 
is a very large part of the reason why the line into 
the restaurant wraps around quite a few times!

Moral of the story: I'm hot for hotpot. 4evah.

10 comments

  1. this looks wonderful! caroline, your blog is fabulous!
    xx

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  2. Ok wow, this looks realllly yummy!!

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  3. want me to bring you some snacks?

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  4. this looks like such a great get together with such delicious food :)

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  5. I have never heard of hotpot (just when I thought I was soooo cultured, LOL!). It looks delicious...wow!!!!

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  6. This looks wonderful! Your trip seems so cool, I'm jealous. Love your blog.

    http://unesplendidvie.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. I LOVE hotpot! One of my favorite meals with extra ponzu sauce!
    xoxo

    www.cakeandcouture.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. I LOVE hotpot! One of my favorite meals with extra ponzu sauce!
    xoxo

    www.cakeandcouture.com

    ReplyDelete

your comments truly make my day! :)
thank you!

xx Caroline