Going by the humble English moniker ‘Hotpot Paradise’, Ding Ding Xiang has, since 1998, been dispelling stereotypes of hotpot restaurants as noisy, crowded and likely to leave your hair smelling of Gui Jie gutter oil. When owner Huang Xin first launched the chain she resolved to keep the format easy and cheap while, at the same time, making the experience feel high-end, fashionable and a little bit different.
With a new branch open in Sanlitun’s Taikoo Li, she’s obviously doing something right. The restaurant’s latest installment is a spacious affair; elegant interior design and furnishings, with warm service to boot. It’s the sort of spot you might find groups of celebrities trying to prove that they’re just like the rest of us.
Still one of the chain’s kitchens’ most important innovators, owner Ms Huang is passionate about food and each new addition to the menu must, we understand, gain her discerning approval. The freshness of ingredients is clearly high on the priority list, as demonstrated with the assorted vegetable platter (RMB55), a hearty balance of leaves and shoots. Careful attention has been paid to the size and thickness of the vegetables to ensure optimal cooking time.
And unlike other similarly-priced restaurants where the hotpot base is oily, overbearing and kept for days, the soup here is fresh and edible. Once you’ve finished slurping on it, be sure to grab a shaobing (RMB4 and made to the formidable Ms Huang’s own recipe) which is generously sized and full of sesame flavor, inside and out.
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