Whenever my Singapore friends come to visit, a Hong Kong hotpot is never far from their list of things to do. I have to say, before I moved to Hong Kong, my knowledge about what makes a good hotpot dinner was woefully inadequate. And then I went to say that New Star Hotpot is the best place to have hotpot in Hong Kong.
Oh, the atrocity!
I have misled you, my dear readers. But since then, I have been to many, many more hotpot places and if you are to ask me now where to get a good Hong Kong hotpot, I can tick them off with my fingers.
But the point of this blog post isn’t as much to tell you where to find good Hong Kong hotpot (there are simply too many of them). I would like to share with you some of the most unusual ingredients I have came across that were used in hotpots here. This is, of course, relative. If you come from a city like Taipei with a strong hotpot culture, this list shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. Yet if you are a Westerner visiting Hong Kong, then let’s just say what I am about to tell you can be quite an acquired taste.
#1 Geoduck
That’s quite a strange name for a shellfish. Geoduck is a species of very large, edible, saltwater clam originated from North America. It’s can taste rubbery and chewy, yet surprisingly exotic especially when dipped in the Hong Kong hotpot sauces.
