Through the hustle and bustle of the valley, you can find a tastefully decorated aesthetic Chinese restaurant eagerly waiting for your presence. Located at a slight turn in the streets of Naxal, Kathmandu. Once one enters their premises one can be greeted with an authentic Chinese experience, proudly living for its name: Hao Pin HotPot.
This modern establishment is a sight for the sore eye with lots of Chinese light lanterns around, paintings, sculptures, flower pots adorn the halls of this picturesque restaurant. Everything about this place screams China. Not only are the decorations pleasing to the eyes but also the tall trees as a background and varieties of shrubbery placed in every corner add more to its beauty.
The restaurant is very spacious with an array of seating options inside and outside of the two-story building. With soothing Chinese melodies playing in the background, the place has everything anyone needs to have a relaxing mandarin experience.
While waiting for the owners, the staff there handed us a menu and pamphlet where we were asked to choose and tick the veggies and meats that we like to be served next to our soup.
“Hao Pin is a family restaurant. I felt the need to open this restaurant when I went to China for my bachelor's degree. There I found this interesting concept of HotPot which we don’t find in any Chinese restaurant in Kathmandu Valley,” informs Mr. Norbu Tsering, the owner of Hao Pin HotPot
“Unlike the traditional big fat pot, we offer you your own small pots because like Mandarin we Nepalese don’t feel comfortable eating our food from the same pot. I personally also think this a good way to prioritize good hygiene plus one can enjoy their own hotpot according to their personal preference,” he adds.
As we were having a conversation, we were informed that our tables are set and ready to consume. We were welcomed with a big table filled with varieties of vegetables, meats, seafood, rice, noodles, dipping sauce which we made as per our taste, and of course our separate soup pot as per our preference. With just a glance one can find out all the raw ingredients are fresh. My mouth started to salivate as I got to see the grand feast eagerly waiting to be devoured. My sister who is pursuing cooking as her profession, once told me that before tasting a dish one must smell it. After appreciating the heavenly aroma of different spices merging with each other in a unique way we dined in.
When asked what the plans are for summer as the scorching heat is starting to know its arrival, Mr. Tsering says, “I don’t want to label hotpot as only a winter dish. Chengdu, where I studied, is a really hot place but people still go out to enjoy this dish even though I did. It is slowly getting hot here still people haven't stopped ordering for hotpot and we also have other cuisines which are more like cold dishes and also getting a lot of positive feedback”.
We also got a chance to talk with the sous chef Mr. Saroj Tamang. When asked how they make this dish and what makes them different from the rest apart from the separate pot concept, he says, “We separate more than half of our time to prepare the hot pot soup approximately it takes us 7 hours to prepare it and all of our spices are imported straight from China that’s the reason why it is different from others and also you can find a slight difference when tasting our hotpot”.
Personally, I am a huge fan of soups. Growing up, I got to enjoy lots of soup dishes as my aunt works in a Korean Restaurant. Before coming to this place I had set my bar too high and the hotpot here did not fail to cross that bar. Dipping each veggie, seafood, and meat in the self-made dipping sauce and savoring it is heavenly.
Contact Details
Location: Naxal, Kathmandu
Phone no.: 980806499
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