Hong Kong's Top Hot Pot Spots This Winter
Wynna Wong goes in search of the winter’s best hotpot spots. Photos by Chris Luk.
Red faces, steamy pots, noisy laughter and a smell that hangs around for days afterwards. Yes, it’s that time of the year again—hotpot season! Not that the summer weather ever stopped us, but now we’ve got a legitimate excuse.
Shing Kee Noodles
Sha Tin’s Siu Lek Yuen neighborhood is frequented by students of the nearby university for their great local restaurants and cheap prices: and Shing Kee is right in the middle. The entrance is hidden and unassuming but once you walk in, the space is surprisingly vast. Their décor is the most surprising, though—recycled glass bottle chandeliers, a bookshelf in the center stacked high with comics, a photomontage wall on the left, tribal masks hanging from the ceiling. Opened in 1956, the restaurant is now run by the third generation of the family. The current boss, Ar B, does noodles by day and hotpot by night. While the atmosphere is what most people come for, try their unusual soup bases too—pig soft bone soup, for instance.
Shop 5, Lek Yuen Estate Market, Sha Tin, 2692 6611.
Old Man Hot Pot
Opened in 1991, Old Man Hot Pot is a family-run restaurant that’s famous within the Hung Hom neighborhood. Don’t expect fancy décor and molecular cuisine here; it’s all florescent lights and rough service. The boss Mr Lau and his helpers are your typical, very local restaurant staff: loud, a little impatient, passionate and extremely friendly once you get past their rough edges. Typical ambience, atypical ingredients: if you’re feeling really adventurous, try the marinated cockles, to be eaten raw, or the limited-in-stock pig hamstrings—do not eat these raw. Remember to book in advance, because they’re always busy.
25-31 Cooke St., Hung Hom, 9089-7732.
Spicy Stanley
A 10-minute walk from the nearest Olympic station and located in the middle of a pedestrian-only street, Spicy Stanley can be a little hard to find, but the journey is worth it. One side of the restaurant is bright red with cute graffiti from local artists, while the other part takes a relaxing seaside beach theme. Owner Mone Ng and his staff personally visit the market daily in search of the freshest ingredients, and if there’s anything in particular you’re craving that’s not on the menu, call before 3pm and they’ll prepare it for you—within reason! The stars of the show, however, are the restaurant’s soup bases. They’re made with real ingredients, not artificial flavorings, under a strictly no MSG policy, and served in Staub cast-iron pots. Try the broth made from tender beef brisket, vegetables and V8—yes, the juice! Or try congee with your choice of seafood: by the end, the congee will have soaked up all the goodness of your hot pot ingredients and you can start a whole new meal. Also worth mentioning is the summer menu, available from March. The winter melon soup base contains an entire melon. Refreshing—and filling.
G/F, 4 Tit Shu St., Tai Kok Tsui, 3998-3128.