The Boiling Pot Heats Up Courtyard 4 With Mouthwatering Cajun Eats

It may not look pretty, but that’ll barely even register once you open your mind and dig into Boiling Pot’s delicious Cajun-style eats. Served in no-frills plastic bags brimming with flavorful lemon pepper, garlic or five different levels of spicy “buiyah” sauce (say the last one out loud, there you go), the restaurant’s juicy, mouthwatering servings of seafood will exceed your expectations.

For now, the restaurant (which recently opened in Courtyard 4 next to Home Plate) serves up lobster and crab for RMB 238 per pound, though that may go up a bit in winter, depending on seasonal prices (they attribute that price to the markets in Boston from which they import their lobster, and the Alaskan markets from which they source their crabs). Regardless, it's worth it, especially the plump lobster, which had a fluffy yet firm texture that left our taste buds tingling as we donned our plastic gloves, took up our scissors and crackers, and set to work at breaking through the shells to get at all that deep-sea goodness. If you haven’t guessed by now, this is not a place that’ll impress a first date, but rather a spot where you’ll bring your loved one to revel in a delicious mess together, gleeful and guilt-free.  

The owners have a good sense of humor, writing up a juice menu with each freshly squeezed drink named after the ailment its ingredients should cure, according to Chinese medicine (carrot, apple, and pineapple juice being called “depression”; pear, celery, pineapple, and carrot dubbed “arthritis”; and, best of all, the watermelon, apple, pear, and orange getting the winning “kidney stone” moniker). Don’t let any of that put you off – each glassful we tried was delicious, and seemed to use fruit that was about as fresh as the restaurant’s eats. And RMB 28 per glass isn’t a bad price, either.

The restaurant also has a pop-up menu with burgers, individual-sized pizzas and other standard grub for around RMB 30-50 each. The hot dog is a standout, measuring at least a foot long and loaded with slices of bacon and other ingredients, but its appearance outweighed its taste. Same goes for pretty much all of the pop-up menu, which is all well and good, but pales in comparison to the true draw: the juicy, flavorful and fresh boiled Cajun seafood unlike anything else we’ve had in Beijing.

Boiling Pot’s décor features many of its menu’s hallmarks. It’s simple, with a few nautical flourishes like boats and captain’s steering wheel pictures here and there on its brick wall. But the place is otherwise very much bare-bones. After all, there’s no real need for further flourishes or gimmicks – like plates or something other than plastic bags, for instance – when the food’s this good.

The Boiling Pot
Daily, 11am-1am. Courtyard 4, Gongti Beilu (Next to Home Plate)
工体北路4号院机电院内

Photos: Courtesy of The Boiling Pot, Kyle Mullin