Just wanted to chime in to one of our latest meals at Dragon Beaux. I noticed on their website that they had this winter melon hot pot. I was intrigued and decided to give that a shot (okay I just like winter melon…). Rather than souperman’s set menu, we opted for a la carte.
Just starting off our meal, a few extra condiments were brought to our table.
First was the savory green onion soy sauce.
In a platter of four, minced garlic, hot sauce, satay sauce, and hot oil.
Anywho, our wintermelon appears. Essentially its a wintermelon that is cut in half with the top portion carved.
After a roiling boil, we were served a bit of the winter melon soup. The soup is on the herbal end with a chicken base (some red dates and goji berries are within the pot). I thought it was tasty, but definitely not the same as a double boiled wintermelon soup. The flesh of the wintermelon is not ready to eat, and well since its pretty much raw, didn’t absorb the flavors of the broth.
As an appetizer, we ordered the scallop siu mai. I thought it tasted the same as the lunch time meal–quite happy with it. Dim sum is available during dinner time, but is a little more limited than lunch.
Starting off on the more vegetarian end, we have soft tofu, napa cabbage (I do wish they were chopped differently) and a crown daisy. The veggies looked pretty fresh and each added their own sweetness to the broth. The tofu was mainly a great flavor absorber haha.
Wasn’t quite sure what cobia was, so we just ordered it. Relatively firm flesh, it was quite easy to overcook. Taste wise, mmm… I thought it was on the blander end even with the chicken broth base. Ended dipping it with a little soy.
Next up we ordered a steamed oysters with garlic (there are live oysters for hot pot, but we just opted to try their steamed dish). With the addition of the seafood soy sauce, I really enjoyed the oysters cooked (wasn’t a huge fan of raw oysters but I do occasionally eat them). They tasted quite fresh!
For our meat selection, we went with the regular prime rib and the kurobuta pork. I thought both meats were quite good though I didn’t think they were anything special either.
Honestly I really like the fish and shrimp paste. Just scoop a little out and when cooked the blob will float to the top. Both the fish and shrimp pastes have a seasoned taste and a good bouncy texture (more so than the cuttlefish).
The cuttlefish had a softer consistency compared to the shrimp and fish surprisingly (usually I tend to think squid/cuttlefish as chewy).
The soup was definitely getting more flavorful, but you can see that the wintermelon flesh at the top still isn’t ready. One of the employees proceeded to cut the wintermelon into smaller pieces and that’ll eventually cook.
Next up we tried the Australian wagyu. The marbling looks a little better than the prime rib, but I enjoyed the prime rib a bit more. There was a stronger mmm… I can’t really say gamey smell, but a little stronger scent.
Next up were some fresh shitake mushrooms. Quite nice and definitely a different flavor than the dried shitake mushrooms.
Coupling the fungal journey is the enoki mushrooms.
Adding one more to the seafood journey, we have mussels!
For a last round of veggies, we went with watercress.
At the end, with the wintermelon cut up (and another round of tofu to soak up the flavor), the soup was quite good!
Some complimentary sesame balls to end our meal (wish they were hot though).
Overall, I would say Dragon Beaux does a great job on the seafood/veggie hot pot side. I don’t have any issues with the meat, just thought seafood dishes were better. Regarding the wintermelon, I’d just order the slices of wintermelon next time. It looks awesome, but the wintermelon itself makes the hot pot smaller and more difficult to maneuver. The top portion isn’t practical to eat unless you cut it, and since the soup wasn’t really made with the winter melon in mind doesn’t add any additional benefits that I can think of in terms of taste.
