"For Chang" Hot Pot 火井火鍋海鮮飯店 (Hong Kong)

The sudden drop of the temperature recently not only increased my appetite for something hearty, it made me crave for something more! Right now all I can think of in my head at this hour is a bowl of instant noodles with a few slices of spam and one fried egg sunny side up. But the lazy side of me took over because it would take too much effort to make those at this late hour. The next thing that appeared in my mind is hot pot because all we need is a pot of boiling water or stock to be exact and some fresh raw ingredients. A good soup base is very important indeed for such a cuisine and recently I discovered a new personal favourite here at "For Chang" Hot Pot tucked somewhere inside the Western district.

Quality beef is often one of the most important items for any hotpot restaurant and "For Chang" certainly has no issue with this because their selection of beef more than satisfied my picky taste buds! Although full of marbles, the slices of beef retained the beefy flavors. Another item which is crucial for the survival of a hotpot restaurant has to be the soup base. We ordered the House Special and it was surprisingly addictive even though it looked like a pot of clear chicken broth with tons of various unrelated ingredients. The reality was that the soup was rather intense in terms of flavors with chicken feet, intestines, fried bean curds, tomatoes, fried pig's skin, celery and other common items like chili to enhance the already flavorful taste.

By adding more items like sweet corn or radishes to the soup during the meal, the soup gradually changed its flavors and became even more intense yet without overpowering the multi-layered flavors of the soup. Am I making it sound like very complicated? After all, it was just a big pot of soup with different items? Perhaps, but when you think about it, the sequence and what you put in there would result in a totally different soup at the end, you are creating a new flavors every step you make (or what others put in there as well). It was quite exciting to be honest and for this reason I enjoy hot pot not just during winter but whenever my stomach allows since I tend to over order in such occasions. Say hello to cold weather and give yourself an excuse to make your own soup! :)