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Hot Pot

I love trying new foods and new tastes and was eagerly awaiting trying the local favorite dining experience in Chongqing called hot pot. A number of the people from our group went on the first night with the group divided up into 'not so spicy' and 'super spicy'. I of course opted for the super spicy. As I mentioned already hot pot is more a dining style than a dish - it is similar to dining at a fondue restaurant. Each table has a gas burner and they place a double bowl onto each burner. The inner bowl contained a broth with some veggies, seafood stuff, etc as well as some mild seasonings. The outer bowl contained the hot stuff - in the case of the super spicy there appeared to be hundreds of peppers floating in the broth. Our CCAI reps Marie and Anita joined us - I know they both enjoyed the spicy food but they were also going to make sure we didn't mess up the cooking and get sick. Use the chop sticks to place the raw meat into the bowls - cook it the proper amount - use different chop sticks to remove the food or sterialize in the boiling broth. Marie did all the cooking at our table - we cooked bamboo, lotus root, potato, sausage, lamb, little eggs, - everything was great. Our CCAI reps were at each table helping us order the food, cook the food and explain everything as we went along. It is a great dining experience – after the food is cooked you can scoop the food with a ladle or chop sticks. The food is then 'rinsed in a combination sesamee oil and garlic - this cools the food slightly and gives it a little extra 'bam'. We went through several of the local beers in order to cleanse our palates between dishes. It was a great evening and the price per person was unbelievable – less that $12 per person. We had a small group that went back again – this time Eileen and Emma joined in on the fun. The reps had warned us that hot pot restaurants were not good for children due to the strong smells in the air – the manager of the restaurant helped watch Emma and strolled her around just outside the restaurant – a young boy also helped as his mom and dad ate near us. It is hard to describe this experience properly here but it is something I will never forget. The food was great, the people were great, and the memories even better. I posted this entry for 2 reasons - 1) I thoroughly enjoyed myself on both occassions and 2) I believe the dining style refelcts positively on Chongqing and the people of this area - if the most popular dining style affords the diners an opportunity to spend time together conversing, eating and socializing, that says something - the other part to note is how the manager stepped in to help us - there were so many of the Chinese people willing and wanting to be a part of this experience.