Say Gou Gou Guo Away to Winter Chills With This Korean-Style Hot Pot Restaurant

Just because winter is set to be a bit warmer than usual this year doesn’t mean it's not a great time to go out and expand your hot pot horizons. Fortunately, the latest restaurant to grab our attention is not yet another Haidilao, but the Korean-style restaurant Gou Gou Guo in the Xingfucun neighborhood. 

Tables are set with the stainless-steel tableware that is common at Korean restaurants, along with a rather lengthy menu in which all ten pot options have one thing in common: they are all about presentation. This may rob diners of the Chinese-style hot pot experience of dropping all the ingredients into the soup themselves – the fuwuyuan will also happily help you cook your selection, should you wish – but what you lose in terms of hands-on experience you gain in satisfying presentation.

Pay close attention to the menu, because while they all look similar, there are three different kinds of pots available: soup-based hot pot, skillet, and stir-fry dishes. Soup hot pot are available in both small and large serving sizes, with plenty of meat-heavy options and while none of them are completely vegetarian, the seafood (RMB 188 large, RMB 158 small) is safe for pescatarians with its shrimp, scallops, mussels, and octopus.

Meat-eaters might also enjoy skillet stir-fry pots (available in large size only) like the marinated beef skillet (RMB 148) or the pork belly skillet (RMB 108) that rather resembles bacon breakfast with kimchi.

A number of intriguing Korean tapas are also available, from the cheese kimchi pancake (RMB 26) to the spicy chicken feet (RMB 48), but these seem to serve more as sides to the potted meal than as dinner unto themselves. The fridge is stocked with plenty of soju and rice wine (this wouldn't be a Korean restaurant without it, after all), as well as a few extra beer and wine options including ice-cold Asahi on tap.

One notable difference between Gou Gou Guo and other Korean grills around town is that it does not embrace a dark and dingy atmosphere, but instead positively gleams with bright white wall tiles and stylish decor. The staff are also incredibly amenable and happy to oblige any individual modifications to your meal. Those elements make it a fine addition to the once again increasingly vibrant Xingfucun dining street.

Gou Gou Guo
2/F, Bldg 5, 1 Workers' Stadium North Road, Chaoyang District
勾勾锅：朝阳区工人体育场北路1号5号楼二层

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Images: Anna Pelligrin Hartley, Joey Knotts, Dianping