Juniper
There’s a hot pot restaurant not far from where I live and every night (especially on weekends), the place is packed with customers queuing outside and their cars parked on the pavement and everywhere else where they aren’t supposed to park leading to congestion on my way home. I’ve never been to that restaurant but often wondered what the appeal is as I’ve been informed that it’s quite expensive. However, dining at hot pot restaurants seems to be the trend and many hot pot restaurants make it easy to order as they provide sets for 2 pax and above. That way, you know exactly what your bill will be unlike if you order a plate of vegetables, meat, tofu, dumplings etc.
A few weeks ago, I was at Absolute Thai Hot Pot @ Mid Valley and they also have sets for 2 pax (Vegetables & Mushroom Set) @ RM57.90 and that includes glass noodles, celery, sweet corn, enoki mushrooms, Chinese white cabbage, oyster mushrooms, Shiitake mushrooms, green noodles, pumpkin slices and lotus root slices. If you want meat, you have to order separately and that adds to the cost.
The Mixed Set for 4 pax is priced at RM94 and that includes chicken breast slices, beef strip loin slices, seafood seaweed rolls, Absolute Thai seafood balls, fresh tiger prawns, fresh squid, eggs and more or less the same vegetables as in the Vegetables & Mushroom Set.
Even though there were only 2 of us, we ordered the Mixed Set as we figured out that it’d be more economical than ordering the set for 2 pax and having to order all the meats. The waiter asked us whether we wanted chicken or tom yam soup or both and of course we opted for both since just one soup would be so boring.
They provide chilli sauce and a basil sauce which was my favourite. I’m not sure if the Mixed Set is actually substantial enough for 4 pax but naturally it was adequate for 2 pax. The tom yam soup wasn’t that spicy, in fact it was rather mild for Malaysian palates.
We also ordered a plate of chicken wings which wasn’t very crispy.
Having tried Absolute Thai Hot Pot @ Mid Valley, I can say that it’ll be a long time before I have a yearning to return. Comfortable ambiance in which to have hot pot since you won’t be sweating away profusely but the fare is something I can get at any other traditional hot pot restaurant and the soups were nothing special.
