You know when a bunch of food bloggers go out to dinner together, the spread is going to be epic. After an event in Cambridge, Kim, Leah, Fiona and I went out for an all you can eat hot pot dinner at Shabu and Mein. Side note, they also have an all you can eat buffet for lunch from 11am- 4pm for $35.95. So you pick your soup base and then you pick everything you want to add in, from meat to dumplings, veggies and noodles. Not in the mood for hot pot, no worries, they have bento boxes, ramen and small plates also available.

I love hot pot, it’s such a social way to have a meal. Have you ever done hot pot?

Shabu and Mein

148 1st Street, Cambridge, MA

www.shabumein.com

Open Sunday – Thursday 11am – 9:45pm

Friday – Saturday 11am – 10:45pm

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Little Q Hot Pot is one of Leah’s favorite places to go with her family, so I was excited to try it out with her and have her show me the ropes of what they like to get when they do hot pot.

Not familiar with hot pot? They have special tables where they bring out a dish of boiling broth and you cook your own add ins. There are multiple flavors of broth to choose from and add in meat, seafood, vegetables, and noodles.

So the broths, here are your choices: Mala, Mongolian Veggie, Black Bone Chicken, Summer Cooler, Herbal, Seafood, Curry Beef, or Chinese Miso. Pick from USDA Prime Rib Eye, Boneless Short Rib, High Choice Lamb, Shrimp, Flounder Filet, Chicken Breast, Egg Dumplings, Fish Cakes, Mushrooms, Bok Choy, Asparagus, and the list goes on and on. The Chinese food is authentic and delicious. I pretty much ate myself into a food coma, you just don’t want to stop it’s THAT good. Not into hot pot? No worries, they have all your regular favorites on the menu as well.

Where do you love to have hot pot?

Little Q Hot Pot

196 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA

http://www.littleqhotpotma.com

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The place is like an extension of a home – there are drawings taped to the register, photos and memorabilia.

We started off with some gyoza. Lightly pan fried, these dumplings were really tasty.

We also had the kimchi pancake. I wish that there was more of a bite to this dish, as the raw kimchi was SO tasty.

Korean meals come with complimentary little side dishes: tofu, anchovies, bean sprouts, tofu, kimchi etc.

The anchovies always freak me out a little….

Chicken Bokum- really lightly breaded and fried chicken, something like a General Gao’s chicken, with a sweet sauce.

The Okdul bibimbab- rice, veggies and some beef served in a hot pot-you mix it up with the house sauce, which isn’t too spicy, and I have to say that the best part of this dish is when you get close to the end and you have the crunchy rice that has been cooking away while you’ve been eating.

And the ever favorite of mine, bulgogi- marinated beef with a side of white rice- DELICIOUS!

At the end of our meal they brought these out with the check….not sure what they are, but they are so yummy. I was nervous to try it, but it ended up being this cold creamsicle flavored drink. Yum! This place is certainly worth the trip out to Arlington.

Manna House

9 MEDFORD ST, ARLINGTON, MA 02476 USA
781.648.8878

http://www.mannahouse-cuisine.com

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I always drive by this place and it is always SUPER crowded! One Sunday evening we decide to stop in for a bite. There’s a small lot in the back for parking…because parking on the street almost never happens. After we circle the block three times we end up lucking out with a spot right out front.

Because who doesn’t love a little black fungus with dinner? So the inside is pretty plain, there are Christmas decorations still up, so apparently, it is Christmas all year round here. There are tons of seats inside, whether it is at tables or at the bar area.

Asian hot pot cooking, you pick your broth and it heats up at your table. We did chicken and pork.

We start with the gyoza appetizer, which come out pretty quickly. We devoured them in about 3.2 seconds. When you order, you choose a meat, and a carbohydrate, udon noodles, vermicelli noodles or rice. Every order comes with an assorted veggie plate consisting of: corn on the cob, mushroom, leafy greens, tofu etc. You can order other veggies a la carte.

We ordered the chicken and the USDA prime rib. The meat is shaved super thin and brought out to the table like this:

Start adding the veggies and the meats to the boiling broth and everything cooks up!

The meal was good. My hold back on saying that this place is great is that I am weird about cooked meat…I want to make sure that everything is cooked through, and with people throwing raw chicken in with the communal soup..I felt weird about that. And the meat came out this grey color which was a little creepy for me. It tasted yummy after I got over myself…but still. A fun place to go and have an interactive dinner-it is wildly popular with the Asian community here. Go try it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

http://shabuzen.com/menu.html

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