Xiao Mu Deng Traditional Hotpot Review: Chongqing Ma La Hot Pot With Unique Ingredients At Chinatown

Their interior seemed to be styled just like every other shop we’ve walked past: Chinese decor, Chinese lanterns, and rows of tables fixed with an inbuilt hot pot stove. One defining feature was the emblematic wooden stools, known as xiao mu deng in Chinese, used. Food at Xiao Mu Deng Traditional Hotpot We kicked off with the soups that came in a dual-cavity yuan yang pot.

Pork Bone and Spicy Soup ($15++) was our choice. Then came the question of spice level for the spicy soup. Above that, the ma la would mar the taste of any elements you put into the broth.

As the liquids boiled, a light herbal fragrance emanated from the pork bone soup. It was delightful to have such a gentle tasting, as it neutralised the ferocious heat from our spicy soup.

While waiting for the other items to be served, we were ushered to a fridge lined with various vegetables , placed on either a white plate ($3) or green plate ($4) . It was rather refreshing to see only one of each selection displayed, breaking free from the typical horde of items stacked haphazardly in most ma la shops. Mesmerising streaks of fat ran through every morsel of meat, which made the beef appear so much more alluring.

A few quick swishes in the boiling soup permitted the meat to retain its natural juices. Biting into it, pockets of fat burst in an explosion of beefy taste.

What upped the anté were shimmers of ma la oil that clung onto the beef. They impart a rich meaty savour to the soup and yet, absorb the essence of its cookery liquid.

As it cooked, the fat and cartilage were rendered, leaving us with a fall-off-the-bone parcel of meat. Seeing Fried Bun with Condensed Milk ($5++) on their menu, I knew we had to get them.

Dunking them into the soups made for a good conduit of briny and spicy flavours, while dipping them in a pool of condensed milk confers a silky, milky sweetness I absolutely adore. Ambience at Xiao Mu Deng Traditional Hotpot The furnishings here took me back to the days when I was in China for an exchange trip. It must have been the wooden carts, grey brick tiles and endless tracks of Jay Chou serenading customers in the background that made it feel so authentic.