One often wonders what hotpot restaurants do to attract business on warm days. The need for fresh seafood has prompted some eateries to diversify their business by offering sashimi dishes.
Main City in Kowloon City is one of these places. While the menu is filled with essential hotpot ingredients such as beef and vegetables, there is also a good selection of sashimi delicacies. The Hokkaido lobster ($138 for three) was simply wonderful.
For the hotpot, there were a dozen soup bases available and we opted for a combination of Chiu Chow and coconut ($50 for two). The Chiu Chow was a clear but delicious broth made from fish, dried shrimps and dried bean curd. The coconut soup overwhelmed the taste of some of our ingredients, but was nonetheless interesting.
As for what to put in our hotpot, we decided on relatively simple choices. The US prime beef ($50), which came in wafer-thin slices, was fresh and delicious while fish slices ($50) were also of good quality. Of the combination of cuttlefish, beef and fish balls ($50), the cuttlefish version emerged as our favourite, with diced water chestnuts adding bite.
We also enjoyed the fish dumplings ($40), which comprised a minced fish filling in a thin, chewy wrapping. The highlight of the evening came when our portion of fresh shrimps (seasonal price) arrived on skewers, still struggling for their lives
Things were easier with the vegetarian choices, such as bamboo piths ($38), dried bean curd sheets ($38) and seasonal vegetables. We rounded the meal off with egg noodles ($20), which was excellent with the soup. Dinner for three, including drinks and service charge, was $936.