Is it a disco, ice cream parlor or nail salon? No, it’s a hotpot restaurant
“Please be patient,” a signboard says at the entrance of Haidilao Hot Pot Restaurant.
What strange advice for a restaurant to tell its customers, but perhaps it’s fair warning. For enormous patience is what you need to dine in this extremely popular hotpot restaurant in Taipei (where we were spending the New Year holidays), especially if you’re number 443 in line and the restaurant is still serving customer number 200.
The first try, my daughter Lisa lined up on New Year’s Eve at 5 p.m. and was given an estimated five-hour wait. After the holiday weekend, my other daughter Pia lined up at around 6:30 p.m. and got number 90. Not so bad. It meant we could probably be served at around 8 p.m. Of course, we weren’t going to miss this chance, so by 7:30 we already started waiting — or rather, sitting — in line (there were lots of chairs), outside the Haidilao branch in Taipei’s Q Square Mall. Meanwhile we were served free drinks and snacks by the ever-smiling, efficient wait staff.
What makes Haidilao unique is its whole new concept in dining experience. Once our table was finally ready, not a person but instead a robot with large, catlike eyes and a hint of a smile led us to our table. Dutifully we followed the robot to the tune of a marching band, as if we were walking in a parade. As soon as we were seated a server came to set the table with plates, bowls, napkins and chopsticks, all of which she retrieved from well-stocked drawers under the table. What a practical concept: no longer would the servers have to go back and forth from the kitchen to get the utensils because everything was within easy reach.
We also soon realized that Haidilao was more than just about dining. Glancing at the menu, we had to use our creativity — and imagination — to create our potential dinner. First there was the broth to pick (tomato, mushroom, spicy, or plain water), then the main ingredients (beef, pork, chicken, seafood) then the vegetables (carrots, cabbage, etc.) and other add-ons (tofu, mushrooms).
The choices were overwhelming enough, but it got even more so at the center of the room where a sumptuous buffet of sauces, spices and condiments awaited: smashed garlic, chopped chives, spring onions, radish paste, capsicum, pickled mustard, powdered peanuts, chopped coriander, minced pork, aged black vinegar, white vinegar, fried chili oil, sugar, barbecue sauce, and shiitake mushroom sauce. Choosing which ones to pick was like pondering the meaning of life.
After much deliberation, we decided on one order each of the tomato broth and the mushroom broth, plus two orders of the plain water so we could customize the flavor to our own taste. All were quickly poured into our segmented pot and were kept hot and bubbling by a heating element underneath. For our mains, we ordered boneless beef rib, USDA beef, lobster balls, plus corn, veggies and noodles.
Their method of serving the noodles was another novelty at Haidilao. They didn’t just bring the noodles to the table; they danced with it. While keeping in step with the fast-paced music, someone swirled, twirled and whirled a long rope of noodles until the noodles became the right texture and consistency, before dunking them into the hot, bubbling broth.
As for the dipping sauce, my first tentative try turned out to be a cross between bland and salty. Not so good. I then decided on a combination of the aged black vinegar, garlic, chives, coriander, and sugar. Mixed with a few spoonfuls of the simmering broth it turned out to be the perfect blend of sweet, sour and spicy, giving the beef a mesmerizing kick.
At the Singapore branch of Haidilao, said Lisa, customers tend to linger at the table, just as they seemed to do here in Taipei. That’s quite understandable because after slurping the rich broth and feasting on the beef, vegetables and seafood, there was so much more to enjoy: fresh fruits and milk tea sago were complimentary, as were the various flavors of Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
And just so customers don’t get bored while waiting for their tables, the restaurant has provided a corner where they can get a free manicure. Or, if they prefer, they can sit and relax in a massage chair, even sleep if they dare. A play area also helps keep restless kids busy.
We left the restaurant slightly dazed — did we just have dinner or did we just come from a disco? Were we at an ice cream parlor? Or were we at a nail salon? The answer is probably all of the above. One thing is certain: wherever in the world we see a Haidilao hotpot restaurant again, we’ll surely wait (patiently) in line, even if we’re customer number 250.
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Haidilao Hot Pot is now in the Philippines at Level 1 Entertainment Mall, SM Mall of Asia.
