Preparing a hot pot
We love hot pot and we know you do too. Although we also know that sometimes there are discrepancies when sharing it.
Spicy or not spicy? Pork, chicken or vegetable broth? don't despair, Hainao has arrived to solve all your doubts. Why? Because it is the first Chinese to offer individual hot pots. The fights are over!
First, a brief reminder of what is a hot pot . I know It is one of the most popular foods in China and consists of a hot pot with broth , in which the most diverse ingredients are cooked (boiled), accompanied by different sauces.
It started out as a poor meal in which you boiled what you had at home, be it herbs, offal because it was cheaper, vegetables, meat or fish.
Traditionally it is usually eaten in the center and from a giant pot and its circle shape symbolizes the union of the guests. That is why this restaurant is different, because, as is happening in China today, they intend to make individual pots fashionable, so that everyone can choose what they most want.
The ingredients to prepare a hot pot
**Hainao is the first restaurant in Madrid to present hot pots for one person**. A few months ago, the Chinese entrepreneur Jiajiahu and his partner yinjing chen , who officiates as head chef, opened this restaurant in the neighborhood of Chueca.
Both have been in Madrid for a few years and started working at Chan Street. At first, the idea was intended solely and exclusively for the Chinese who wanted to eat food "with a taste of home". while they were away from their country.
Now, they have decided that it was time to open their minds and make the Madrid public enjoy his fun and carefree proposal. And why not, to expand Chinese culture through gastronomy and educate our palates. because friends, the spring rolls and three delight rice are not authentic Chinese cuisine.
Hainao restaurant room
In Hainao the taste is purely genuine and homemade. The thing seems simple. First you choose the broth between four different flavors (mushrooms, tomato and vegetables, Thai hot sauce or Chongqing-style hot sauce, the latter for _'spicy lovers') _ for your personal pot, although it is best to order the yin yang pot with two separate spaces to be able to try more things.
Next, you dive into its menu to delight yourself among its more than 150 different raw ingredients. Arm yourself with your chopsticks and let each one cook for the necessary time, dip it in any of their homemade sauces and enjoy. Easy, right?
Hot pot, one of the most popular foods in China
The best? That it is rich and healthy. The vast majority of ingredients -more than 95%- are homemade. For example, they count with a wide variety of Chinese vegetables that they bring directly from a garden in Castilla y León.
There is a farmer specialized in planting Chinese fruits and vegetables that can hardly be found anywhere else. For example, one of the most typical vegetables in China, the tonjao (similar to our spinach), Chinese yucca, bamboo or lotus root. Without forgetting a whole section dedicated to the mushrooms and another to tofu.
Are you meat or fish? Here you can order for your hot pot fish such as sea bass, cuttlefish, squid rings or meats such as veal, Iberian secret, lamb or Chinese sausages . These come in some curious frozen rolls so that when you put them in the pot they don't fall apart.
Another of the most striking ingredients that you have to try yes or yes, is its prawn pate . Do not imagine a spreadable pâté, but a kind of paste that they get by mashing the prawns and putting them in a kind of tube, to then add to the broth and acquire the texture of meatballs.
Hainao's deconstructed hot pot
There is also a space for the 'casqueros' since they have more than 12 ingredients dedicated to offal between tripe, aorta, duck intestine, sliced kidneys or pig brains. They are usually always ordered with the spicy pots, as tradition dictates. "In China we are very symbolist, for example, if you eat chicken feet, you will run very well, if you eat a lot of pork, you will get fat...", says JiaJia Hu.
And you will ask yourself, how long do I cook each ingredient? For this they have dedicated a space in their menu with the approximate cooking times for each ingredient.
Once you have it cooked, dip it in any of their homemade sauces (seafood, sa-cha, sesame and peanuts...), let it rest a bit on the plate (otherwise you will burn your taste buds, like a servant), taste it and then tell us what you think.
You are warned that It's highly addictive...
Like in China but better
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
They also have some starters such as crispy bacon with sichuan peppers, edamame , cucumber salad, chicken with spicy sauce or ginger sauce and a very interesting proposal of drinks to accompany: Matcha milk tea , iced fruit tea or a chinese brown sugar rice jelly drink , among other.
WHY GO
Because you will like it and you will want to repeat it. Because it's fun, healthy and different, In addition, its creators are charming. If you have doubts, you just have to put yourself in their hands.
Hainao restaurant room
Address: Infantas, 6 See map
Telephone: 91 053 40 49
Schedule: From Monday to Sunday from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 7:15 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
Half price: 20-25 per person (each ingredient adds between 4 and 5 euros)