cook: lunar new year hotpot

Technically the year of the horse celebration ends March 3rd (tomorrow), and so my friend, Cybil and I got together to clink glasses for a happy lunar new year at a hotpot restaurant I’d never visited before. Cybil chose the herbal stock while I chose the traditional spicy. For proteins, I knew I wanted lamb, and Cybil said we should include pork too.

I'm all about the vegetables, and I liked this variety of napa cabbage, chrysanthemum greens, corn, red bell pepper, and kabocha squash.

 

Cybil also said we should add a seafood, and I like mussels. For a starch, we chose regular noodles.

 

What I liked about these noodles is that they remained al dente for a while in the broth.

Cybil also ordered her favorite wood ear mushrooms, which I also love. 

 

We had so much food leftover after stuffing ourselves.

The restaurant even packed our broth. And even though it was not buffet style, I thought the meal was a good value and would totally return.