If you haven't heard yet, China has a type of Restaurant called "Hot Pot" which is a lot like some of the fondue restaurants in the US. So by a lot I mean that you cook your food in a pot of something. Forget dipping your sour dough bread in cheese or your strawberries in chocolate though. It is cooking your meats and veggies in a boiling pot of chicken stock or spicy chicken stock, basically. Hey you get what you pay for!
A friend of ours (Sisi) was kind enough to take us to a very good (and cheap!) hot pot restaurant a while back, and we liked it so much we have been back several times since then. Our entire family of 5 can eat there and get very full for under 100 RMB (about $17). I am sick of not being able to order for myself so have translated almost the whole menu.
If you are going to be in China for any length of time it really pays to memorize characters of foods you like, and those you dislike for that matter. You can eat at much cheaper places and get really good eats if you are careful! So here are the details of our favorite Hot Pot place in Suzhou:
Name of the place: Dai Mei Can Yin
Location: Google Maps location HERE
Directions: It is on Lin Dun Lu in Suzhou, just take the Lin Dun Lu Metro stop and take exit #4, keep heading the same direction as you come out of the Metro (North) about 2 blocks. You will see a KFC (shocker right!.. they are everywhere!) on your left and the restaurant is on the 2nd floor right across the walking road on that corner with the KFC. You will see the name of the restaurant under the stairs as you go up to go into the hot pot restaurant.
The full menu you can download in high resolution HERE
It is a 3 meg file so you may want to take it somewhere to get it printed off in high quality with a decent printer on larger paper…. Or just keep the file on your phone or Ipad or something. Even if you don't go to THIS Hot Pot, chances are if you go to any hot pot you will have many of these same items on the menu and I believe this place is a chain too as I'm sure I've seen it in other locations.
I'm definitely going to be staying away from the large intestines (705) and duck blood (item 403). Paula does say she is interested to try #711, the pig brain. Yum!
Location: Google Maps location HERE
Directions: It is on Lin Dun Lu in Suzhou, just take the Lin Dun Lu Metro stop and take exit #4, keep heading the same direction as you come out of the Metro (North) about 2 blocks. You will see a KFC (shocker right!.. they are everywhere!) on your left and the restaurant is on the 2nd floor right across the walking road on that corner with the KFC. You will see the name of the restaurant under the stairs as you go up to go into the hot pot restaurant.
The full menu you can download in high resolution HERE
It is a 3 meg file so you may want to take it somewhere to get it printed off in high quality with a decent printer on larger paper…. Or just keep the file on your phone or Ipad or something. Even if you don't go to THIS Hot Pot, chances are if you go to any hot pot you will have many of these same items on the menu and I believe this place is a chain too as I'm sure I've seen it in other locations.
I'm definitely going to be staying away from the large intestines (705) and duck blood (item 403). Paula does say she is interested to try #711, the pig brain. Yum!