In January 2019 I had a chance to experience a classic beef hot pot in Guangzhou. Beef hot pot is a very popular cuisine in China and I was fortunate enough to have the company of two local friends that introduced me to the inner workings of a beef hot pot dinner.
The visit
My friends selected a very popular establishment called Chao Fa Beef Shop (潮发牛肉店). We had to queue around ten minutes before getting a table.
The menu was very detailed and allowed to choose specific cuts. We ordered a nice assortment of cuts.
The first step of the dinner was to wash the plates in hot tea, a typical tradition in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
The tea was also good to drink!
The second step of the evening was to get to the dip sauce station and mix your own sauce.
Above is my personal dipping sauce, mildly spicy.
Beef came on platters thinly cut. Everything was really fresh.
The meat would be positioned in a colander and dipped in the boiling hot pot. Each time it would be dipped only half a second, quickly retracted and the cycle would be repeated half a dozen times until the meat was cooked.
I was particularly impressed by the fact that each cut tasted remarkably different. I guess this was also function of the freshness of the beef provided in this restaurant.
A special dish was the beef balls pictured above. The meat of this balls is freshly prepared every day: it is grounded and hammered until it is finely pulverized.
The beef ball had a very fine texture and were impressively dense. Kind of beef squared. I particularly enjoyed them with the sauce.
We also tried some cow innards. This dish was won. Upon check in, we were given the chance to participate in an instant lottery.
I also drank coconut milk from a popular brand (celebrating 30 years in business).
The check
No check because I was a guest in this dinner.
The dinner was highly enjoyable. The beef was all excellent and I really appreciated to try so many different flavors by sampling different parts of the cow. The beef hot pot in China is a very interesting food experience.
Where in Guangzhou:
Name of the restaurant in Chinese: 潮发牛肉店
115-12 Changxing Road, Tianhe District
In Chinese: 广东省广州市天河区长兴路115-12 邮政编码: 510640