Before we left on the China trip,my mom told me that Beijing was known for it’s hot pot. My mom occasionally set up a hot pot at home when she didn’t really feel like cooking and we did the same on frigid days back up at Cornell University. It was pretty cold and rainy when we landed in Shanghai,so when our family friend asked me where we wanted to go eat,we didn’t hesitate to suggest hot pot. Not exactly Beijing hot pot,but it satisfied our cravings until the real thing 
This place was an interesting experience. It seemed like a pretty popular hang out spot for the locals as it was absolutely packed with what looked like college students or recent graduates. If you’re looking for a quiet more intimate experience,this is definitely not where you’d want to be. The restaurant is pretty much one big cavernous rooms with smaller private rooms off to the side. This place is set up for family style hot pot so all you have is one large communal pot. What’s nice is that if you’d prefer two types of broth,they’ll add in a divider so that the two don’t mix. When ordering,you place orders for the type of meat,the type of sides,and the sauces. I was a little disappointed that the place didn’t have a open sauce bar like many hot pot places do. The two broth types that we ordered were fish,which had actual fish carcasses in it,and a spicy broth. One thing to note if you do find yourself in a restaurant in China,when the menu notes that something is spicy,think of it as at least twice the spiciness level of something labeled as spicy in an western style Chinese restaurant. We were pretty impressed with the rich flavor in the broth but nothing else really struck us as amazing other than the sheer quantity of stuff you get for cheap.
[...] Nan Hua Huo Guo [...]