Hometown Hotpot & BBQ [Manhattan]

Regional Dining Discussions New York City
1

A group of us ventured out for hotpot & bbq perfectly timed for a cold, wet day.

Overall a great experience, with only a few minor nits.

There were a choice of 7 broths, with the option of individual pots and shared pots. We got individual pots to account for dietary and spice variations, covering chicken, herbal, tom yum, curry, and ma la.

The broths were delicious, and getting a flavored broth made the dipping sauces somewhat unnecessary.

The options for meat, seafood, and vegetables were quite extensive, and of good quality.

The service was mixed, from very good to missing in action. They took the order in a very organized way in two parts, for two sides of the table, but that did not translate through to service, where everything got delivered to the closest side of the table without information of what was what. Several things never showed up, some of which we reminded them of, but again some never made an appearance. But food was aplenty. The restaurant was full, so it was a bit manic, but I thought they did quite for all that, other than not serving each side of the table what was ordered after deliberately taking the order that way.

Dessert was a tiny bite of vanilla soft serve and a bite-sized piece of chocolate cake, which were a perfect palate cleanser.

@small_h @SteveR @JenKalb @rrems

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8 Likes
2

Interesting. Do they have multiple hot plates at each table?

3

Yes, you can see two in the second picture. It’s pretty much par for the course now. The last three hot pot restaurants I’ve been to have personal pots.

4

You cool kids.

5

Every so often, I like to post the wrong photo or restaurant name just to’ see who still has their wits about them. Is this a bold artistic statement on the nature of hunger, or the aftermath of a very optimistic salad :rofl:

Where’s the food?

6

I didn’t take pictures, and I am very annoyed with myself.

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7

Well, it was giant platters of raw meat and greens, small plates of raw seafood, and bowls of assorted things like fish balls. Not very pretty after dipping in boiling liquid.

But mostly, I was starving.

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8

That makes two of us!

9

Where is @DaveCook when we need him!

10

Here ya go @vinouspleasure – looked pretty much like this except the manicures :joy:

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11

it was a good first essay at the genre tho i kept wondering where all the food I wanted to eat wound up - it wasnt anywhere near me. I would not order all the hotpot meats again - I thought the grilled meats were better, and I would not order the ma la soup again - except with a split pot where I had a choice of soup flavors vs a single flavor. I would order more seafood and fewer dumplings. I would carefully compose a soup as I saw other patrons do in my bland hotpot - those looked great. thanks Small H for turning me on to the fish paste which cooked into cool little dumplings. - that was fun! and thanks to all the attendees for their company!

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12

I only tried 2 of the hotpot meats – lamb and beef – and they were both good. I agree on the composition aspect – had I been more thoughtful, I would have had a more balanced meat / seafood / vegetable / noodle pot. The curry broth was delicious at the end, and it was too bad I had no tummy room to drink more of it, or add some noodles!

13

For hot pot, I try and use the veggies and such to build up the stock. I get a bunch of mushrooms, onion, green onions, and garlic off the sauce bar, fish paste, etc. until I get a flavorful brew. Then I go in with the meats.

14

That curry broth was the only time I’ve thought hotpot broth was worth eating “straight.” Even after cooking a ton of stuff in my pot on various occasions, I’ve never found the broth worth consuming. I usually get an herbal or spicy broth.

1 Like
15

I was thinking about that later. I did add scallions and cilantro to the broth. But I think the curry started out very flavorful, so not much else was needed — no dipping sauces even. Reminded me of the curry noodle soups at places.

16

I usually go for the pickle cabbage broth if I am choosing just one. MaLa is my second choice. Lately, there have been a lot of places that offer MaLa mushroom mix!

17

they offered something called vegetable broth at this place, not pickled cabbage - I like dishes with pickled cabbage broth - do you think this is the same or different?

18

I do not think vegie broth would have a pickled cabbage. Down here in Baltimore, most offer both. And HMart has 5 gallon buckets of veggie broth, mushroom broth, beef broth etc powders in suspicious lockstep with the various broth offerings.

One of our favorite Hot Pots offers pickled cabbage broth and then has 2 or 4 different sour pickles on the buffet line. I add so much pickle that it inadvertently protects my broth for poaching by my lovely wife. Her tolerance for pickles, like her ability to ingest MaLa is good compared to hoi polloi, but not in league the league of chili heads.

19

probably the same here - no stockpots bubbling all morning…

20

I liked the place well enough, although I thought that the seafood & vegetables were, overall, better than the meats. One of the issues with cultivating a soup was that, for those of us whose broth kept boiling out, the replacement was water.