China World Mall's Beef Hot Pot Can Satisfy Your Sichuan Hot Pot Cravings All Year Round
It’s been a while since our most recent hot pot phase – the one that followed a wave of openings such as Little Faigo, Eight Hot Pot, Coucou, Black Knight, Celadon, and Yijiaren. For some of us, hot pot is an all-season food, but winter is certainly best suited for it. With winter on our doorstep, our hot pot senses were tingling. We found a new spot in the CBD: Beef Hot Pot, located on the sixth floor of the shiny new wing of the China World Mall.
The place is very “CBD”: fancy, modern, dark decorations using a lot of metal, industrial-style warm lights and relaxing booths. The original broth, called Koufulai (口福来), originated on Sichuan's Leshan in 1907. The owner, in addition to being a hot pot master, was also a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. According to company lore, he used to boil all the unused parts of the cow together with herbs to give to those who were poor and sick. Once this life-giving broth became popular, he opened Beef Hot Pot. This new restaurant in Beijing is their first branch outside of Sichuan province.
The signature of Beef Hot Pot is their half-spicy, half-original broth. The original herbal broth (RMB 78) was delicious and flavorful – the secret is that they use over 90 kg of beef bones with over 60 herbs and spices to boil the broth on a day-to-day basis, as explained by the staff. The spicy side was rich with authentic Sichuan flavors (read: burning spice), given that the ingredients are air-freighted directly from Sichuan. This broth is also enhanced by different herbs and laozao (醪糟, sweet and fermented rice) to bring some sweetness and to balance the hot chili and peppercorns.
To stimulate your appetite, grab the traditional Sichuan pickles (RMB 18). The daikon and carrot slices were crunchy and freshly made. And the chili oil! We wish we could smuggle a whole jar of it back to the office. There is a wide selection of beef, with nine-second beef (RMB 58), chuck (RMB 98), Australian 100 days grain-fed rib eye (RMB 135), and Australian wagyu M9 beef (RMB 268).
Apart from the beef, the snow konjac (RMB 38) is also something a little different: Originating in Sichuan's E’meishan region, it is yam that has been buried in the snow, with a soft and spongy texture, that goes well with the herbal broth. Unlike most other styles of hot pot, for which you must dip the meat and vegetables in abundant majiang (sesame sauce), Sichuanese hot pot requires no additional sauce after cooking in this broth. Especially the beef coming out of the spicy broth which had a moreish, sadistic element; it hurts, but all you want is more.
As for the cold dishes on the side, the poached chicken in chili oil (RMB 58) was the winner. The chicken was juicy and the chili oil accented it beautifully, both in taste and look, and was floating in a splash of white sesame and gongcai.
To round the meal off, we tried the deep-fried rice cakes (RMB 28, 红糖糍粑, hongtang ciba), which was amazing and so terrible in different ways:
1) they are deep-fried
2) they have a crispy crust
3) the rice cakes inside are goopy and steaming hot
4) they come covered in melted brown sugar
… Our slim figures don't stand a chance. We used up all of our willpower just convincing ourselves not to order another plate or two.
The service was remarkable, and the Sichuan Laoying tea (老鹰茶) did a good job at taking away the burning and numbing sensations from the spicy broth. Amazingly, we didn’t notice any unpleasant hot pot smell on our clothes after the meal, either. Beef Hot Pot generally has queues outside during meal times, so we recommend you book ahead of time.
Beef Hot Pot
Daily 9am-10pm. NL6002, 6/F, China World Mall, 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District (8535 1185)
尽膳口福：朝阳区建国门外大街1号国贸商城北区6层NL6002
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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: Margaux Schreurs, Tracy Wang
