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Unless you’re jetting off to a tropical island this winter, there’s no escaping the chilly weather. But what better way to warm up than over a tasty, bubbling pot of broth? Layer up and hit one of these top hot pot spots in Hong Kong!
Real Legendary Pot is the answer to all of your late-night hot pot dreams. Besides being able to eat until 5am, there are also private rooms for a side serving of karaoke with your meal! The owner himself is a huge lobster fan, so he decided on making the seafood broth fresh every day to maintain the high quality of taste and flavour. A whole Boston lobster is used for the Deluxe Lobster Pot ($388), as well as prawns, other seafood, and a whole bundle of vegetables all stewed together for over three hours. Once you finish cooking your meat and seafood, be sure to save some space before you wave the white flag, as clear noodles are served alongside the broth to soak up all the delicious soup and you don’t want to miss out on a bowl!
Real Lengendary Pot, 1/F, Paradise Square, 3 Kwong Wa Street, Mong Kok | (+852) 2511 1993
Nowadays, people are focusing more and more on leading a healthy lifestyle, so hot pot restaurants have had to shift their focus to spotlight the quality of the ingredients used in their soup broths. Hot Pot Land promotes a wholesome lifestyle with their signature Half-Half Healthy Pot ($158), with broths such as a beeswax tofu soup that use ginseng and goji berries and a spicy Sichuan red soup served next to it. That way, you can be healthy and satisfy your spice cravings at the same time, getting the best of both worlds!
Hot Pot Land, locations vary | (+852) 2336 1098
We are true fanatics of beef, so when we heard that there’s a trendy hot pot restaurant specialising in beef, hysterical doesn’t even begin to explain how excited we were! 616 Hot Pot serves the best hot pot meats and all the cuts sourced from local cows. The best thing about this particular restaurant is that the different cuts are carved by hand, so we can almost guarantee that every time you eat here, there will be a cut that you have never heard of before. Some of the cuts are so rare that there are only five servings a day, and once that runs out, the plate is removed from the selection counter just like a modern-day butcher. They even have a chart on the wall to teach you how long you should cook each cut for!
616 Hot Pot, locations vary
Hailing from Taiwan, 8Pots present eight authentic hot pot flavours from the kingdom of fruits, as well as seasonal flavours to surprise their regular guests. Everyone must know their House Special Hot Soup ($112), made with a variety of seafood and huge blocks of stinky tofu. Stinky tofu is an acquired taste; you either love it or hate it, but you can’t deny how the smell of stinky tofu in the restaurant will remind you of the night markets in Taiwan. There are also other traditional Taiwanese flavours, like their Taiwanese Spicy Hot Soup, Cheese Milk, and more. Make sure to bring your mates with you so that you have an opportunity to try more flavours!
8Pots, locations vary | (+852) 2885 7867
Drunken Pot has got to be the trendiest hot pot place in town at the moment. Veering away from traditional hot pot condiments, Drunken Pot puts a modern twist on all of their dishes. Their signature Drunken Pot ($328) can be separated into multiple sections for you to taste different broths in one go, which is always great for if you’re dining with indecisive friends. Their signature meatballs are remoulded into cute figures, such as Hand-Made Drunken Ducklings ($88) and Happy Penguins ($88) that somehow seem to elevate the taste as well. With such great presentation for their dishes, they are on the pricey side of hot pot meals, so be prepared to splurge!
Drunken Pot, locations vary | (+852) 2321 9038
Solid. Just solid. This is your regular, run-of-the-mill hot pot place that you can’t go wrong with. There are no special bells and whistles or surprises, just solid broth and fresh ingredients. If you’re looking to satiate your hot pot craving, head to Him Kee.
Him Kee, 1–3/F, Workingfield Commercial Building, 408–412 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay | (+852) 2838 6116
If you’re looking to impress a date or take a client out, then Budaoweng in iSquare is definitely the way to go. Located on one of the top floors, it has an amazing view of the skyline, with fresh ingredients and delicious soup bases to boot. We also enjoy their broths on offer are really quite unique, such as tortoise, which we’ll bet you’ve never tried before.
Naturally, with the view and premium produce, Budaoweng runs on the more expensive end of hot pot places, but it’s worth it. We specifically recommend their scallops, which are delicious, while the slices of fish are one-of-a-kind and their beef—well, we don’t even have words to describe them! Here’s a pro tip: make a reservation for 7.30pm and ask for the window seat to catch the Symphony of Lights that starts at 8pm.
Budaoweng, Shop 2301, 23/F, iSQUARE, 63 Nathan Road | (+852) 2152 1166
Established in the 1960s, this famous restaurant is one of the only places in Hong Kong that still offers coal-burning hot pot. The unusual-looking contraption has a chimney in the middle of the pot where the coals burn to heat the broth. Of all the ingredients on the hot pot menu, they are most famous for their thinly-sliced lamb and beef. As a bonus, because they serve Northern Chinese food, they are also famous for their Peking duck. Give it a shot to mix up your hot pot and hopefully have a glimpse into how things are done up North!
Tai Fung Lau Peking Restaurant, 29–31 Chatham Road, Tsim Sha Tsui | (+852) 2366 2494
Sometimes when you’re really hungry and craving hot pot, it’s best to go for an all-you-can-eat option. We’ll be upfront with you: the quality here isn’t the best you can find in Hong Kong, but it’s definitely good enough to settle the craving. Depending on when you go, price ranges from $150 to $190, and it’s extra for sauces (around $9), premium broths, and more ingredients. We would recommend the Pork and Mushroom Balls, Crystal Custard, and BBQ Pork Dumplings. Psst: it’s even cheaper if you’re seated after 9pm!
Tack Hsin Restaurant, locations vary
Yep, it’s just like it sounds—you cook your hot pot ingredients inside a winter melon! Large winter melons are cut in half, deseeded, put it in a tall pot, and filled with a simple broth for our hot potting pleasure. The awesome thing about this is that because winter melon can ‘cool’ your body, eating it this way can help to negate some of the ‘hot’ effects of hot pot. This hole-in-the-wall place is so hole-in-the-wall that it can’t even be found on OpenRice! It’s the type of restaurant that will just break out more tables and spread into the side alley as patrons come to get their fill. So grab your winter coats and head over to try this unique version of hot pot.
Winter Melon Hot Pot, Poplar Street and Tai Nan Street, Prince Edward
In the past four to five years, chicken hot pot has really taken off, but rumour has it that the first restaurant to serve it was in Hung Hom. So what is it? A half or whole bone-in chicken is cooked in spices (usually of the numbing variety), along with other herbs, and then brought out to your table for consumption. You eat the chicken first and then add broth to the pot to continue along to the hot pot part of the journey. The broth becomes super tasty over time and your ingredients absorb most of the flavour.
We recommend the BB spice level (you can pick different levels) because we find it to be just spicy enough to get our senses tingling, but not overwhelming. Hands down, one of our favourite hot pot ingredients here is the fried fish skin. It has a thick coat of batter, which makes it super, super crunchy. We also love the variety of balls available here, which include squid ink, lobster, fish, black pepper beef, pork and mushroom, cheese, and crab roe, just to name a few.
66 Hot Pot, 16 Pak Po Street, Mong Kok | (+852) 2363 8466
Along with other innovations, fish hot pot has become a trendy thing to do. This is definitely different to the others, as the fish is roasted first, and then put in a long, shallow pan (imagine a baking sheet deep enough to fit a whole fish) with the broth. In this variation, you can also pick the flavour of the broth, and our favourite is the Pickled Vegetable Soup. It’s different from the chicken hot pot because you can simultaneously eat the fish and hot pot with the broth at the same time. We found it a little harder to cook the ingredients because the pan is shallow, and so doesn’t always allow the piece of food to be completely submerged. However, we definitely recommend the Pork and Mushroom Balls, and Sweet Corn.
Happy Family Restaurant, G/F, 119 Ivy Street, Tai Kok Tsui | (+852) 3486 6286
Having lived in Hong Kong, Beijing, and London sure is a fun fact whenever people try to guess Ching’s accent. She loves switching between all these language channels and her “mother tongue” is just determined by how many drinks she’s had for the night! She loves movies, travelling, and exploring cities, from hidden alleys to gourmet dining, so feel free to hit her up if you need any suggestions for dinner!
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