Eatery – Flushing – Little Fat Lamb Hot Pot

I don’t say the word “love” lightly but I love hot pot.

If you don’t know what hot pot is, check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot

I use to think at some point in my life, I need to move back to [Northern] China in order to boil goodies in spicy broth during every weekend of a cold winter day, until I discovered Xiao Fei Yang in Flushing.  Since then, I have been wondering whether it’s possible that New York might actually become a semi-permanent home.

This restaurant fulfilled my long-deprived indulgence.  Granted, I spent $20-$30 per visit, but I’ll gladly chuck out cash for this over 3 glasses of beer any day.

To start out: the soup base is strong enough for both the spicy and nonspicy, they put in garlics, scallions, dates, wolfberries and dozens of other real ingrendients (not powder, but herbal), allowing the flavors to exuberate fresh authenticity. I always get a mixed pot of both spicyand nonspicy, and I drink the nonspicy base as soup afterwards, it looks white, maybe it’s got milk in it?

Then there’s the sauce bar with choices including black vinegar, sesame base, jiu cai hua (not going to translate), sesame oil, and ten-something others.

The menu is just as multifarious: from sheep intenstines to a whole variety of fish balls and tofu stuff. My favorite, lamb, is always delicious.

This place gets crowded on weekends, I had to wait 45 minutes on a Saturday to get a table for 2.  But I also enjoyed their flat screens with Chinese music.  The owner seems to have an addiction for Frank Sinatr sang by an old Taiwanese talk show host.  This place also serves Lamb Skewers, but I recommend you buying these outside of the restaurant from street vendors. Oh, and of course tea comes free of charge!

Address:

36-35 Main St

Queens, NY 11354,

718-358-6667 (call to reserve!)

dip, eat.