Fellow foodies’ recommendation: 10 toppings to choose from — all-you-can-eat pickled cabbage and pork hot pot

Text & Photos /Shadow

Opposite the Chaozhou Xu Family Tofu Pudding we often eat, there’s a pickled cabbage and pork hot pot place that’s said to be highly praised. We invited friends to try it out over the weekend. Yihé Pickled Cabbage Restaurant has been around for about twenty years and is located in the densely populated Wujia community. There aren’t many online articles sharing this spot, but fellow diners who’ve been say it’s delicious and recommended we give it a try.

The interior decoration is classic and traditional, with tables, chairs, and even the window lattices on the walls reflecting Chinese style. It doesn’t feel like your typical large hot pot chain restaurant. The lighting is soft, creating a cozy atmosphere that makes you feel right at home.

The restaurant offers an all-you-can-eat dining style for NT$350 per person. The all-you-can-eat option doesn’t include all ingredients — a few items such as certain seafood are charged separately.

In addition to the store’s homemade yellow chive sauce, they also prepare some commonly used condiments like fermented tofu, chili sauce, and satay sauce, which you can adjust and add according to your personal taste.

The yellow sauce is the store’s special yellow chive dip, which has a slightly sour flavor. If you’re not used to this kind of dipping sauce, you can add other seasonings to balance the acidity.

The restaurant suggests not drinking the soup or eating the pickled cabbage right away. The broth has no added salt or MSG, so it gets better and tastier as it simmers with the ingredients. The recommended order for eating pickled cabbage and pork hot pot is to start with the meat — letting the meat juices and fats infuse the broth. Once the pickled cabbage absorbs the fat, it becomes less sour and astringent.

The squid balls, air-flown from Penghu, are of selected high quality. They have a bouncy texture and umami flavor — they’re really delicious, though it’s a pity there’s only one per person.

The meat slices have a good distribution of marbling, giving off a rich, fragrant oiliness that tastes sweet and delicious.

There’s only one type of meat slice available, but you can refill as much as you want. They have a generous amount of marbling and are thinly sliced, cooking through in just a few seconds.

The unlimited supply of vegetables is fresh, crisp, and tasty.

Frozen tofu, chicken sausage
All-you-can-eat ingredients like tofu skin, frozen tofu, meatballs, radish, instant noodles, and glass noodles are commonly seen options. The chicken sausage is a bit special — it actually tastes quite similar to regular sausage, but it’s interesting to see someone make it with chicken flavor. You can give it a try.

After the meal, each person gets a cup of plum juice, which is brewed from fresh plums. It has a sweet aftertaste and is very soothing, also aiding digestion.

To maintain quality, the restaurant is quite particular in certain aspects. Even when we dined later, the staff kindly reminded us and didn’t pressure customers to eat. They insist on using high-quality ingredients, which are also easier on the body. Compared to Liu Family’s pickled cabbage and pork hot pot, this version is less sour — not that it’s completely without acidity, but whether in the broth or the pickled cabbage, it’s not as sour as Liu Family’s, making it more acceptable to most people. For those who love pickled cabbage and pork hot pot but worry about the cost of à la carte, Yihé’s all-you-can-eat hot pot is worth a try. Recommended to everyone.

Yihé Pickled Cabbage Restaurant
Address: No. 365, Xinfu Road, Fongshan District, Kaohsiung City
Phone: 0912-171391
Business Hours: 11:30–14:00, 17:30–21:00

Kaohsiung Food Adventure Blog　Kaohsiung Foodies FB Fan Club