Restaurant review: 8 Pots in Tsim Sha Tsui – pungent Taiwanese-style hotpots
Budget restaurant chain’s first Hong Kong outlet serves eight versions of smelly dish that is a hit in Taiwan. If you like stinky tofu, pig’s blood or medicinal flavours in your hotpot, you’ll love this
Kimberley Road in Tsim Sha Tsui is known for its Korean restaurants, but a new shop’s pungent smell is even stronger than that of barbecued meats. Hotpot restaurant, 8 Pots offers eight versions of the smelly hot pots which are famous in Taiwan. The shop was opened by three local youths who are big fans of the Taiwanese delicacy, and they brought the franchise, which has 40 outlets in Taiwan, to Tsim Sha Tsui.
The broth is made in the same way that was created by 8 Pots in Taiwan, with a base of sha cha sauce cooked with cow bones and vegetables. Ingredients such as cubes of pig’s blood,pig intestines, quail egg, black pudding and stinky tofu are added to each hotpot.
The hotpot is 80 per cent cooked when it arrives at your table. Each hotpot costs HK$98 (including a drink) at lunchtime and HK$108 at dinner and is served with a bowl of rice.
We liked the house special hot soup with sliced pork, clam, vermicelli, mushroom, tomato and other ingredients. It has a savoury flavour, and it’s not nearly as pungent as the street food delicacy of stinky tofu.
