This happened yesterday, Friday. After having prepared my meals for a few days in a row, it was time to take a break. What to eat?
After scrolling through the list of eateries on Grabfood (one of my favorite pastimes), I thought Hotpot Kitchen@1 Utama sounds interesting.
I have always thought that "hotpot" means steamboat but apparently not. The first time I read about this type of "hotpot" was on Claire's blog. For this "hotpot" you pick your greens and proteins and the kitchen will stir fry it for you. The selling point here is the level of spiciness that you can choose for your hotpot meal.
I was interested in the Beef Set but unfortunately it was not available. So I selected from the Chicken Set. I chose Set B because of the chicken breast in Set A.
As for the spicy bit, I had to google to find out exactly what is the difference in the level of spiciness between the Spicy Extreme, Spicy Dynamic and Spicy Fragrant. From what I read, Spicy Fragrant is the mildest. And then there is the Unique Platter-Non Spicy, for those who cannot tahan the heat.
I chose Spicy Fragrant and as for the size, I chose single. Since I was ordering lunch, why not get another portion for dinner?
I selected the Pork Set D and decided on non-spicy just to see how it tastes without the chilies.
You can also add on stuff if you want.
Carbs are in the form of rice, yee mee, udon and instant noodles.
Additional vegetables will set you back RM4.24 while ...
... extra proteins will cost you RM6.36.
I didn't add on anything and cooked my own rice.
The food arrived in the rain, piping hot.
Very curious to see how it looks like.
Ohhhh...like that!
I had the Chicken Set for lunch.
I transferred the contents into a plate.
There you go. The chicken is deep fried with five spice taste. The potato slices were slightly undercooked. Overall, it was quite salty (I was very thirsty afterwards), with smoky aroma from the mala and the spicy level I chose was tolerable.
It is not a taste that is to my liking, although I found it edible. Honestly, this hotpot is not quite my thing. I satisfied my curiosity and it gave me an idea to cook my food like that for food prep (with my preferred flavor) in what my Malay friends would describe as pakat lebur-lebur aje - just chucking everything together in the pan hah..hah...
Portion wise, I was happy as it was quite big for one person. This could be easily shared by two small eaters.
Now, let's deal with the pork version, non-spicy.
As you can see, it is pale because got no mala. Looks like very little but on a plate you can see the actual volume.
Contents pretty much the same as for the chicken version except for the Taiwanese sausage (the reason why I chose this set).
When I tasted this non-spicy version, I found it rather pleasant. The seasoning was very mild unlike the mala version which was too salty. I prefer this non-spicy version.
With this I conclude that all the heavy seasoning goes into the mala paste. And yes, I enjoyed the Taiwanese sausages which were savory and a little sweet.
Actually this hotpot food is not bad since it has proteins and lots of vegetables with some processed food thrown in.
With this I conclude that all the heavy seasoning goes into the mala paste. And yes, I enjoyed the Taiwanese sausages which were savory and a little sweet.
Actually this hotpot food is not bad since it has proteins and lots of vegetables with some processed food thrown in.
But if anybody wants to meet up at a hotpot restaurant, I won't say no lah, but I would prefer of you picked Chili's wahahahaha!!!
Oh my!! I would choose unique platter for kids and spicy fragrant for myself.
ReplyDeleteIt might be to your taste :)
DeleteI wouldn't know what mala tastes like as all I know is that it's super spicy. I wouldn't dare order mala in the first place...but now that you say it's also salty, I lagi don't want. I've had moments like that when you know something's not for you but you can't quite describe it. For me that would be Taiwanese sausages...I don't know why but I've never taken a liking to them.
ReplyDeleteI can see why you thought about doing your own version coz that plate with a little of everything looks very much like something that would come out of your food prep...got pork belly, got Chinese cabbage, got broccoli, got sausages, got onions, got tofu, got peanuts. ^_~
Oh goodie, I see you've changed back your blog archive to like before. Ooo, I actually wanted to tell you that it's much easier to search for old posts this way. Coz the for the current month (eg. May), you can't click on May to see a summary of May's posts. You have to click April first and then go back to click May.
DeleteI can guarantee with 100% certainty that you would dislike this mala hotpot food hah..hah... It is nothing exceptional, just hot and spicy. The non-spicy one was lacking garlic and needed a bit more salt. No more for me, that's for sure.
DeleteI know what you mean about the blog archive. I thought the new one looked neater but I tested it and asked myself, if I were a reader, which would I prefer? So like you said, the previous one is more "reader friendly" for searching past posts. So I switched back!
DeleteThis is one type of place that I veto say no even when my lunch group wanted to eat there. I will ask them to go ahead without me because I don't think just by stirfrying the vegetables are soft enough for me. I prefer blanched or steamed vegetables. I thought you would have chosen the spiciest option.
ReplyDeleteLOL! No wonder no mala hotpot in your WG posts. Actually the veges were soft, I think they braised it a little.
DeleteAnd I think I could very well just toss those vegetables together to get them cook so there is no art and no skills no secrets to this cooking style. Their selling point is their sauces and I don't like sauces so that is why I am so strongly against eating at these type of eateries and I told my friends no, you all go ahead when they suggested going there once.
DeleteThank you for your detailed review of the dishes which helped to confirm that I made the right decision not to eat at these type of eateries forever.
ReplyDeleteYou won't like it for sure. This is my last mala hotpot.
DeleteAre all these mala hotpot dishes and food more like china type of food. Not into those though. Find them salty and oily.
ReplyDeleteYes, China food not to our taste.
DeleteThis reminds me of mala mala restaurant. The veggies & meat are charged by weight. Same style of cooking with mild to spiciest level.
ReplyDeleteI read about the weighing of ingredients. If I am not wrong, the Hotpot Kitchen also does it like that if you eat-in.
DeleteNot a fan of Mala and not a fan of Taiwan sausages. "Mala" in our local Malay dialect means "all the time" in a not so nice way. E.g. if you eat all the time, people will say, mala ajak makan, sik kerja lain! (do nothing else)
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteSELAMAT HARI RAYA!!! bestla entry ini.. done follow u, follow me back :) http://acuyuhan.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletePeminat movies, ya? LOL!
DeleteI bought a packet of this hoptpot Mala sauce and cooked my own hotpot and the verdict was it's not to my liking as well. The main reason is most probably I don't like Mala at the first place :P
ReplyDeletehah..hah...at least you tried it.
DeleteYes, I was confused over what hotpot meant too.
ReplyDeleteIn some cases it is steamboat and in some it is this mixed fried food.
Delete