Pick-N-Mix Hot Pot

Remember the pure, unfiltered joy of a pick ’n’ mix counter? Scooping up fizzy cola bottles, foam bananas and those weird Jelly Belly beans that tasted of regret? YGF Yangguofu Malatang Chinatown has taken that exact concept, swapped the sugar for savoury fixing , and turned it into an all-you-can-regret custom hot pot experience.

You grab a plastic bowl the size of a small paddling pool and go full supermarket sweep along a glittering wall of over 100 ingredients. Beef rolls, fish balls, cheese fish tofu (yes, that’s a thing and it’s life-changing), enoki mushrooms, lotus root, mini youtiao, noodles of every nationality… It’s like a Chinese version of the pick ’n’ mix, except instead of a sugar high you get a slow-building nuclear reaction in your face.

Then comes the broth decision. Classic herbal beef bone (rich, comforting, and still capable of violence). Sweet-and-sour tomato. Herbal mushroom. Spicy & sour tom yum. Or the peanut butter spicy dry mix for those who want their hot pot to double as a satay-flavoured cry for help. Hand it over, watch the kitchen wizardry, and minutes later a bubbling cauldron of your own chaotic creation lands on the table.

There’s a vast DIY sauce station too, because apparently the broth alone wasn’t enough of a threat. Garlic, chilli oil, sesame paste, coriander… go wild. You’ll leave smelling like a Sichuan street stall and grinning like you’ve just robbed a sweet shop. 🧄 🌿