Over the weekend, we got a lot of fresh snow and we spent a little over an hour shoveling the snow off our driveway. My wife and I are not fans of being cold, so once we were finished shoveling, I suggested that we go and get hot pot for lunch. If you aren't familiar with what a hot pot is, it is basically a big pot of broth that you cook meats, vegetable and noodles in. It is one of my favorite ideas for a meal and it is the perfect meal for a cold winter day.
The hot pot that we normally go to was closed for some reason, so we had to find a new one. I checked google for the different ones that were open and checked the reviews to make sure that we chose a good one. Hot pot restaurants can be hit or miss when it comes to their service, so make sure if you are going to go to one, that you choose wisely.
It always sucks spending $25 or more per person for hot pot and then when you get there, the service is bad. Hot pot is usually all you can eat and you just order the different meats and stuff and have to wait for the servers to bring more meats and stuff out, and some places take forever to bring you anything and when they do, they only bring a tiny bit of meat out which forces you to order more and then play the waiting game all over again.
We found one nearby called Royal Hot Pot and BBQ. It had the best reviews and it was pretty new. When we got there, the atmosphere was totally different than the hot pots that we had been going to. Right when you walk in, they have a little area for you to take pictures to post to social media. It was a pretty cool idea because it is a great way to get people to post about their experience.
Right off the bat, I could tell that the vibe was going to be pretty cool in this place. The decorations were pretty cool.
The inside of the eating area was really cool and had a real nice "Asian look" to it. Most places here just have a few paintings or pictures of some Asian countries on the wall, but this place really made you feel like you have gone somewhere out of the US to eat. One thing I also pay attention to when I am eating at Asian restaurants is that I like to check to see how many Asians are there because if they choose to eat there over some of the other Asian places, it must be pretty authentic.
Whenever we go to a hot pot, I usually get one spicy broth and one that isn't spicy. I like to cook the meats and some of the veggies in the spicy broth and cook the noodles in the non spicy side. We ended up getting a mild spice flavor on one side and a Tonkatsu broth. The other places I usually go to doesn't have Tonkatsu broth, so it was cool to see this place offer it. The Tonkatsu broth is a bone broth made with pork bones. It is super creamy and has a real nice pork flavor to it. It was a perfect mixture with the spicy side and the meat endedup tasting amazing.
Speaking of the meats, check out this awesome dragon that they serve the meat on. The service was super fast and they brought out a ton of meat all at once. They also had a bunch of sides that are included in the price for lunch and we got an order of gyoza and egg rolls.
There are a bunch of self serve items as well, like vegetables and a few different seafood options. We don't like seafood, so we stayed away from all of that. Broccoli is something that I had never tried in hot pot before because it was never offered anywhere we went before, but it ended tasting really good cooked in the broth. I do wish the corn on the cob was a little bit bigger but they were still pretty good. All of the vegetables were super fresh and had a nice crunch to them.
Overall, Royal Hot Pot and BBQ is an amazing place to get some lunch and it was the perfect meal for a cold snowy day. We are definitely going to be choosing this place as our favorite hot pot. The service was great and we didn't have to wait long for anything. The wait for the gyoza and egg rolls was a bit longer but they were cooked fresh, so it was worth it.
If you are in the Salt Lake area in Utah, I would highly recommend checking this place out. Have you ever had hot pot before? The first time my wife and I tried it was in Thailand during Steemfest and we have been hooked ever since.
