As the pot simmers, flavours heat up at Liu Liu
Walking with my dining companion along Walnut, between Main and King, I thought to myself that if there were a baby Chinatown in Hamilton, this little area would be it.
Lo and behold, we came upon Liu Liu, a hotpot restaurant. Though the weather has blessed us with plenty of sun as of late, it was mild the night we went and their hotpot ended up hitting the spot.
The restaurant is tucked into a narrow, two-storey building with a brick facade and an arched window with their logo on it: a little steaming bowl with an adorable face drawn on, cartoon-like.
Inside, the walls are clad in wooden panels, a modern version of my family’s living room back in the ’70s. Other features give the space a playful, almost funhouse effect: checkerboard floors, strands of tiny lights strung from the ceiling, mirrors here and there.
Long wooden tables with matching benches add a communal vibe. This makes sense, since hotpot, like its Swiss cousin fondue, is not meant to be enjoyed alone. The benches rocked a little as we sat, and could have been more comfortable. But perhaps that’s intentional, given the two-hour limit that diners are given.
Who could eat hotpot for two hours anyway, even all-you-can-eat? Depends on your appetite, I guess. But the menu has something for everyone, and outlines the ordering process, which is done by checking little boxes on slips of paper.
First, choose a broth: chicken, tomato, or spicy. I wasn’t feeling the tomato, but how to choose between chicken or spicy? I ended up not having to choose: the pots are divided down the middle, for variety or in case you don’t share the same tastes as your tablemate.
Level of spiciness was next, and here our server was very helpful. Spicy means quite spicy, she told us. We chose medium and it was perfect for us; but our friends, lovers of hotpot, ordered everything “hot.”
Then, a choice of four sauces (more detail later). But again, we didn’t have to decide. Newbie bonus: try all of them at no extra charge if it’s your first visit.
On to the lengthy list of ingredients, starting with proteins. Many common (lamb, fish ball, different iterations of tofu), some not (pork blood, squid feet), and some unexpected (hotdog, Spam). Then the veggies (cabbage, black fungus, and taro, for instance), and finally, a choice of starch (instant ramen, pita bread, glass noodle).
One could also opt, as we did, for a cold noodle appetizer, which came out soon after my Tsing Tao beer and my companion’s water arrived. The beer was simple, crisp and refreshing, which allowed me to focus on the food. The noodles, topped with chilies, green onions and cilantro, were fresh, savoury and spicy. I found myself wishing we had asked for two bowls rather than one, though I did manage to save some for my companion.
While we lapped up the cold noodles, the hotpot was brought to the table. On one side, spicy oil floated on the broth; on the less spicy one, bits of green onion bobbed to the top. Our server turned up the heat and soon there was steam rising between us as the broths got bubbling.
Just as we were finishing our appetizer, a plate of sliced beef tongue came out, vibrant red, looking like huge beauty heart radish slices. Along with that, another platter filled with cabbage, watercress, chicken heart, lotus root, pork ribs, frozen tofu, tofu skin, mushroom, ramen noodles and lotus root.
A plate of sliced pork emerged from the kitchen a few minutes later.
You can order as much or as little as you want, of course, but I think we got the perfect amount for two pretty hearty eaters.
I slid the ribs into the broth, turned down the heat just a bit and added some of the sturdier veggies. Then I picked up a slice of beef tongue with the tongs provided and swayed it back and forth in the broth until it was cooked.
We had a choice of dipping sauces: garlic oil, seafood sauce, Chinese barbecue sauce (similar to hoisin), or tofu peanut butter — a mild version of Thai-style peanut sauce. The garlic oil, and with a little of the BBQ sauce, were a good match for the beef tongue.
I tried most of the ingredients in most of the sauces, but especially liked using the garlic oil, which seemed to go with everything. For instance, garlic oil and peanut sauce went nicely with noodles and tofu. The seafood sauce went well with the watercress and lotus root.
The milder chicken broth gained flavour from the ingredients we added to the hotpot.
I preferred the spicy broth. As with the noodle appetizer, medium spicy was good for me. It gained depth as the evening progressed until, at the end, we eagerly sipped it from the bowl to cap the savoury portion of the meal.
Just one dessert choice: glass pudding, basically gelatin in cold water with what tasted like molasses underneath. A curious mixture, one that I did not entirely take to.
But we did spend more than an hour with the appetizer noodles and hotpot, and I could see how, late at night with a couple of beers and some buddies, two hours could easily slip away.