Kuching Hot Pot

Last nite, Nee went out for a wild girls' nite out. I was left alone at home to fend for myself. (NEE: Poor baby! Complaints a lot hor). I had leftover butter prawns & leftover Salted Vegie Duck soup, which still tasted excellent - cos I was really hungry & it was a rainy evening. So while I was eating the leftovers, I thought about Nee & her girlfrens at Sahara eating BBQ Pork Ribs & the whole range of meat galore. We'll blog about that one day.(NEE: Hmmm wonder if he is missing me or the food!

Inside the Hot Pot

Anyway back to Hot Pot. It's a claypot specialty shop where everything comes inside a claypot except the drinks. The place is located near Kingwood Inn & it's directly across the road from the KMC swimming pool.

I do not know why people cook in clay pot. Of course clay pots have their purpose. I guess it can achieve a higher temperature & is able to keep things hot for a longer time. But I was thinking more like where did claypot cooking come from, and I suspected that it could have originated more from practicality rather than creativity. Meaning, they could have come from the clay age, so it was more of convenience rather than the ingeniuity to use it for certain effects. And maybe as time goes by, it came to be used only for certain things. But having said all that, it's just a guess. Don't bet on it cos I tend to be very shallow about anything to do with cooking.

So Nee & I had our Friday lunch at Hot Pot. We took a look at the menu and ordered the most interesting sounding drink - Papaya Lemon drink:

I think it came only with papaya colour cos all we tasted was orange. FAIL.


This was our table number. I was beginning to worry that it's an indication of things to come. The drink was a bad start, maybe the worst was to come.

The shop's specialty was Lamb claypot. So we ordered that.

Lamb with spices and herbs (House Special) ~ Small RM8/pot. This dish is strongly recommended by the very clean looking Taukay who actually dresses like he works in the office. The lamb claypot is good! Very herby and spicy, and the lamb taste blend in beautifully. However, Nee would prefer if they can kind of strain the herbs and spices out a bit more. (NEE: I keep on biting into those peppercorn, chillis & celery, and the soup should be slightly thicker. Maybe I am expecting stew.)

Assam Curry Fish Meat ~ Small RM10/pot

We had a choice of fish head or fish meat. Apparently they cook the sauce first then add the fish before serving. Spicy and sourish, fitted to be called assam. But we find it slightly on the artificial side like those packet assam curry premix. Fish is fresh though like they claimed. None of those fishy smell.

Beancurd ~ Small RM5/pot. Very so so. Just oyster sauce, cornflour thickened and pour onto a piece of tofu, topped with lettuce.



Generally, we would rate this place about 6.5 - 7/10

Food 38/60 The lamb is good and the rest is very common and not exactly so well cooked. There must be a reason why people cook in claypots and in this case we don't see the reasons cause all food are cooked separately in normal pots and transfer to claypots. So only selling gimmicks!

Enviroment 11/15 The place is very clean. Decoration minimal.


Service 12/15 Food comes fast enough. And the Taukeh friendly enough and patient enough to explain his products. Good!

Price 8/10 Not expensive considering there is fish and lamb.