Joining Soga Shabu Shabu in offering hot pots is the aptly named Mini Hot Pot, located on Park Street near Copps. In case you’re not familiar with the concept, a boiling pot of water sits on your table, and you add various ingredients, such as meats and vegetables. After your item cooks, you pull it out and eat it in your own bowl, usually filled with sauces.
Many differences. First, “mini” is ubiquitous here. The space is tiny, and the tables are so small that your ingredients are brought out in a cart and parked next to your table. (At the fairly large Soga, everything fits on your table.) The raw meat is frozen, not thawed, which disrupts the temperature of your pot.
Sauces and noodles are located in a self-service buffet instead of at your table. The sauces are critical to adding flavor to your otherwise bland meats and vegetables (I enjoyed mixing chili sauce and Mongolian sauce). The ramen was tasty, but the Vietnamese noodles absorb sauces better.
You get one main ingredient (e.g. beef, chicken, seafood) with your hot pot, plus other ingredients such as fish balls, bamboo shoots, Chinese sausage, spinach and even Spam (which was surprisingly edible after being boiled). Additional ingredients include mussels ($2.95), tripe ($2.95), sweet potato ($1.95) and scallops ($2.95).
Portion control. The lunch special-sized hot pot ($9.95), along with 1-3 extra ingredients, is enough to feed 1-2 people. Full-size hot pots range from $12.95-$18.95 and feed about four people.
In addition to hot pots, you also can order typical Chinese restaurant dishes, such as orange chicken and sesame chicken, at lunch time for $5.95 (includes an egg roll and fried rice).
Mini Hot Pot is open every day for lunch and dinner.
Tags: Chinese, south side
