chinese hot pot

i went to a chinese hotpot place for the first time on saturday.

i was pretty disappointed after my friend's hearty recommendation... the whole place stank of raw fish, condensation was dripping on us and into our food from the ceiling and i'm not too cool with using the same chop sticks to handle raw fish, meat, chicken and then cooked fish, meat, chicken. i asked for another pair and got laughed at. all those frozen, cheap, fatty slices of meat, spam and tofu. actually apart from the king prawns the spam was the tastiest thing there.

everything ends up tasting the same with the same soup and sauce combos. i left feeling hungry and slightly grossed out.

i prefer to have a variety of amazing cooked dishes brought to the table to share.

it's weird that most chinese places are independent shops. there's no mcdonalds of chinese food.

chinese food, though undoubtedly tasty, is dirty as fuck.

this felt like mcdonalds tbh. cheap and didn't fill you up.

i also splashed some fine merino in greasy soup

  On 1/25/2010 at 4:31 PM, keltoi said:

chinese hot pot

I thought you were referring to this:

http://www.techspeakblog.com/2010/01/how-can-i-access-restricted-blogs-while.html

you build the flavour yourself right? so it is your fault it was shit.

I hate hot pot too, esp.when there's seafod because it always fucks up the broth.

  On 1/25/2010 at 5:41 PM, Benedict Cumberbatch said:

you build the flavour yourself right? so it is your fault it was shit.

we ordered everything available to us so i worked with what was there, and tried countless combinations...

  On 1/25/2010 at 5:49 PM, Yegg said:

I hate hot pot too, esp.when there's seafod because it always fucks up the broth.

exactly. everything tasted the same after a couple of rounds.

and imo boiling isn't the best way to cook seafood anyway (or anything else for that matter) .

  On 1/25/2010 at 5:10 PM, chaosmachine said:

it's weird that most chinese places are independent shops. there's no mcdonalds of chinese food.

Well there's the growing in size Panda Express, and Manchu Wok for corporate americanized chinese chains. There's the Lee's Sandwiches which is a great Vietnamese chain, and other chains like Sarku Japan for other asian cuisines that exist in the franchise/chain form. So maybe not quite a "McDonalds" due to the fact none of them are nearly quite as huge, but there are modified versions of asian foods that have been placed in the same structure.

why would you want to eat at an "asian food" chain though? Utterly shit food. At least with mcdonalds I have no expectations of it actually being good.

Anyways, that hotpot, how could it taste bad man, look at the bowl, it's shaped like a yin-yang. That's so asian!

the one we had wasn't shaped like a yinyang.

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:25 PM, keltoi said:

the one we had wasn't shaped like a yinyang.

Well there's your goddamn problem. It's all about the feng shui.

i told you i was a hotpot noob

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:07 PM, Glass Plate said:

  On 1/25/2010 at 5:10 PM, chaosmachine said:

it's weird that most chinese places are independent shops. there's no mcdonalds of chinese food.

Well there's the growing in size Panda Express, and Manchu Wok for corporate americanized chinese chains. There's the Lee's Sandwiches which is a great Vietnamese chain, and other chains like Sarku Japan for other asian cuisines that exist in the franchise/chain form. So maybe not quite a "McDonalds" due to the fact none of them are nearly quite as huge, but there are modified versions of asian foods that have been placed in the same structure.

Don't forget General Joe's Chopstix (their spelling)

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:24 PM, chenGOD said:

why would you want to eat at an "asian food" chain though? Utterly shit food. At least with mcdonalds I have no expectations of it actually being good.

Ask Chaosmachine, I was simply answering his pondering.

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:24 PM, chenGOD said:

why would you want to eat at an "asian food" chain though? Utterly shit food.

Sarku is delicious and so is Lee's!

But really only certain dishes can translate into fast food well.

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:07 PM, Glass Plate said:

  On 1/25/2010 at 5:10 PM, chaosmachine said:

it's weird that most chinese places are independent shops. there's no mcdonalds of chinese food.

Well there's the growing in size Panda Express, and Manchu Wok for corporate americanized chinese chains. There's the Lee's Sandwiches which is a great Vietnamese chain, and other chains like Sarku Japan for other asian cuisines that exist in the franchise/chain form. So maybe not quite a "McDonalds" due to the fact none of them are nearly quite as huge, but there are modified versions of asian foods that have been placed in the same structure.

The very first Manchu Wok was located in my home town :)

Random fact: Taco Bell is actually named after the founder, Glen Bell.

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:53 PM, Yegg said:

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:24 PM, chenGOD said:

why would you want to eat at an "asian food" chain though? Utterly shit food.

 

 

Sarku is delicious and so is Lee's!

 

But really only certain dishes can translate into fast food well.

dumplings! (done right dumplings are amazing fast food)

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:31 PM, Glass Plate said:

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:24 PM, chenGOD said:

why would you want to eat at an "asian food" chain though? Utterly shit food. At least with mcdonalds I have no expectations of it actually being good.

 

Ask Chaosmachine, I was simply answering his pondering.

rhetorical question...:)

Thai is the best . I think this place in Annapolis maryland called lemon grass makes the most AMAZING satay with peanut sauce. Wow is it good

  On 1/25/2010 at 7:15 PM, chaosmachine said:

  On 1/25/2010 at 6:07 PM, Glass Plate said:

  On 1/25/2010 at 5:10 PM, chaosmachine said:

it's weird that most chinese places are independent shops. there's no mcdonalds of chinese food.

Well there's the growing in size Panda Express, and Manchu Wok for corporate americanized chinese chains. There's the Lee's Sandwiches which is a great Vietnamese chain, and other chains like Sarku Japan for other asian cuisines that exist in the franchise/chain form. So maybe not quite a "McDonalds" due to the fact none of them are nearly quite as huge, but there are modified versions of asian foods that have been placed in the same structure.

 

The very first Manchu Wok was located in my home town :)

 

Random fact: Taco Bell is actually named after the founder, Glen Bell.

who just died.

I was really hoping for a Taco Johnson