Don’t slip on the shrimp*

The food blogger crew strikes again! A group of us decided to go to Xiao Wei Yang in Deira for some Chinese hot pot. Essentially, we get the boiling broth and we throw all the ingredients we want in…and eat!

After foraging for parking (yes, it felt like foraging), I finally stuck Guido (yes, my car has been christened; thanks @MaliZomg) in a slot and huffed and puffed my way over the the bright red sign (a good sign already!) that marked the restaurant’s exterior

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First word of warning: the waiters and waitresses don’t speak a lot of English. It took me a few minutes to ask them where my foodie crew was; when sign language and random broken English succeeded, I was shown into the private room.

Those who had already arrived had ordered the scallion pancakes, and boy, did we scarf them down. Sort of like an Indian paratha, it was hot and thick and yummy. I’m not sure, but we may have ordered two helpings. Or three. Or was it four? I don’t know. PILE THEM ON BABY!

But when the time came for ordering the main course, everyone heaved a sigh of relief because we had a secret weapon: Elaine (Ms Scribblelicious)! She had been there before, and knew Mandarin, so we told her what we wanted and she did her mojo.

Elaine marking all the items we wanted on a list

Now I’m going to apologize because I can’t remember what these were called, but they were nice too!

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IT’S HERE, IT’S HERE! The hot pot is here! We took the yin ang yang pot, one side was the mild broth, the other spicy. They had to be placed on the electric stove thing to boil, pop and crackle.

The veggies arrived, as did the seaweed, tofu and the impossibly pink looking beef. I mean, LOOK AT THAT BEEF!

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We started throwing things in with gusto.

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What the hot pot looks like with all the stuff in it:

This lamb cooked thing… which we didn’t have to throw in the hot pot.

I learned how to eat with chopsticks (let’s move on from the glaringly obvious fact that I’m 24 and I only learned this now)!

The neon crabs. Why were they so blue?! I didn’t eat this, so I can’t comment on it.

Shrimping it up:

And because we could, we ordered more beef!

Now the best part of the night: the awesome noodles.

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Most yummylicious part of the hot pot I should say!

The bill came up to AED 562/- for two hot pots, and an assorted amount of veggies, tofu, beef, shrimp, prawns, tea, and the starters. Which is excellent, because each of us had to pay about 60 dirhams I think, including the tip.

I liked the experience the place provided, and the staff were obviously amused by our enthusiasm for the hot pot and were very friendly, language barriers notwithstanding. With the food, the noodles and the starters were the best of the night. The beef was good, but I didn’t fancy much else. It’s also VERY messy. Our table looked, at the end of the night, like a group of starving humanoids (not even humans) had attacked the ingredients of the table, and decimated it successfully. Definitely worth a visit though; its a whole new world altogether!

*Title credit goes to Samantha (of FooDiva fame), who said that phrase after I, literally, slipped on a shrimp that had somehow found its way to the floor and was squished and flattened by my hot pot filled frame.