You might find it funny, but one of the things I always like to order whenever we come here to Happy Lamb Hotpot at Pacific Plaza are their grilled meat skewers.
Yes, I know you're supposed to order the ingredients- to cook with their hotpot- and which we do, but my goodness me, their grilled meat skewers are so good.
When it comes out all cubed so cutely with the perfect blend of spice and marination wrapped all over the meat, when it comes served all warm and hot and crispy yet without any taste of greasy oil on your palate save for the slight numbing sensation from the mala, you know it's either the skill of the chef, or there's gotta be something with their grill, their oven, or whatever it is they use to make these.
The portion's not small either.
What we ordered this afternoon was either lamb, or beef.
Which of both it was, I cannot recall, but on each little cube, there was that little bit of fat, that right portion of meat, and a marination of herbs and spices rich enough to satisfy.
At future times however I'm pretty sure it won't be just the grilled skewers we'll order.
Chances are we'll be reserving some space for their dumplings too.
Small, cute, easy to eat, easy to pick up with chopsticks, these steamed meat-filled dumplings have become my new favorite here at Happy Lamb.
To some of us they might not seem anything unique- one can order dumplings at just about any mainland Chinese restaurant at just about anywhere- but these cute little babies reminded me of the self-wrapped, homemade dumplings the tenants of my grandfather's house used to make when they remained in the country during Chinese New Year.
One tenant hailed from Dalian.
The other, from Jilin.
And so even though the Cantonese in me likes her wantons and her shuigaos, after having had the original, I refuse to do guoties or jiaozis from anywhere else except those made by folks from Northeast China.
The skin just hits different.
That doesn't mean that I leave out the meats though.
Of course not.
This afternoon we decided to have an order of beef, an order of pork belly, an order of lamb and a bowl of lettuce- because I love the soft, mushy texture of vegetables after cooked in hot, flavorful broth.
Also we ordered small.
The portions here at Happy Lamb are known for being extraordinarily huge, and after having made the accidental blunder of ordering a Large size the first time we ate here, we weren't doing it again.
One thing I love about service of beef here is probably the aesthetics.
Don't laugh.
It's actually quite important.
There's a difference, see, when the meat comes to you fresh, cold, and prettily laid out.
Not to say that other places don't do theirs good, but I'm quite the sucker for presentation- they whet the appetite- and even though I like hotpot buffets, I'm not a fan of seeing raw meats (which I'm afterwards going to cook and eat) being dunked into their containers at the buffet station in an overly-functional, uber-practical manner.
It alters the art of eating, and whilst I'm not expecting smoke from ice kind of flair, the way my order of meats are laid out do make me appreciated both as a diner and a customer.
Perhaps that's why I like it much when the glass platter of thinly-sliced, fresh, ice-cold beef comes served to the table not just symmetrically laid out, but over a bed of ice (and a little flower in between).
And I like it when their pork belly slices come all neatly rolled up and placed on the platter in a way that makes picking up each piece an easy charm.
We had a great time this afternoon attempting to lift off each half-frozen slice from the next slice without destroying the beautiful arrangement.
Sometimes we managed to do it.
Sometimes we needed greater skill.
The joy of hotpot lies in the spirit of cooking and eating, cooking and eating, and I loved being able to alternate between picking up one slice, dunking it in the broth, waiting, stirring it around, waiting some more, then finally eating it.
Pace is important when it comes to hotpot portions like these, and I loved being able to keep the cooked meats on my plate whilst having the soup broth- with big lettuce leaves swimming about inside- in my bowl on its own.
Just one thing though.
I wish I could remember just what broth it was that we got.
Might have been a herbal collagen broth.
Full of rounded flavor, full of taste, I'm guessing it was made with pork stock, plus a host of other ingredients like red dates, nuts, and whatever it is we oft find in a TCM herbal selection.
Whatever it was, this soup was the kind of soup that made you want to drink bowl after bowl regardless of what it was, and which would only be made better with whatever you'd cooked.