The "One-Person Hot Pot Combo" features richly flavored spicy broth and hearty bone broth—delicious for just around 200 NT dollars!

▲ Affordable prices don’t mean compromising on spicy hot pot—the broth and ingredients are all top-notch. (Photo / Reporter Huang Kexiang)

Reporter Chen Ziying / Taipei Reports

As autumn draws to a close and winter approaches, there's no better time to enjoy a hot pot feast to warm the body and soul—and the broth is truly the soul of any hot pot dish. Located near the Jing'an MRT Station in Zhonghe District, New Taipei City, this hot pot eatery operates as a small-pot style eatery but offers a wide variety of flavors. Cooked via the “kiln-fired pot” method, its signature spicy hot pot is brewed with aromatic medicinal herbs, delivering a bold, spicy, and deeply flavorful taste that locals praise as having "excellent value for money."

"Its broth is very rich—you can tell it’s been simmered for a long time. The value for money is really high!" said local resident Ms. Jiang. Li Zhengwei, deputy manager of Lao Xianjue Kiln-Fired Pot Direct-Operated Store, explained that although most mid-to-low-priced small-pot hot pots offer rather ordinary broth, the brand’s founder, a former five-star hotel chef, aims to be a “pioneer in the hundred-yuan hot pot scene”—that is, offering delicious broth even in budget-friendly hot pots. Together with chefs Liang Enying and Xie Changxuan, he developed three types of soup bases: spicy, bone, and kelp, which then evolved into a variety of choices.
 
▲ The "kiln-fired pot" is cooked right at the customer’s table, preserving the essence of small-pot dining. The choice of cookware, flavors, and ingredients all show great care. The photo shows their signature Lao Xianjue Spicy Hot Pot. (Photo / Reporter Huang Kexiang) 

Li Zhengwei said that this signature spicy hot pot follows traditional methods, slow-simmering over a low flame with over forty kinds of Chinese herbal medicines. Since most of these herbs are of a warming nature, even though the broth turns a spicy red, it goes down smoothly without being overly harsh. For the spice level, fresh ginger, garlic, lantern peppers, and Dahongpao peppercorns are stir-fried over high heat, then simmered gently with fermented broad bean chili paste to create layers of fragrance, richness, numbness, and heat.
 
If the broth is the soul of hot pot, then duck blood is the essence of spicy hot pot. The well-marinated duck blood, served in whole pieces, bursts with juices upon biting, and when paired with braised offal sides like beef tripe and pork intestines from the shop, the satisfying taste comes not just from the affordability but also the delicious cooking.



▲ The centrally kitchen-prepared and delivered duck blood is richly marinated and bursts with juice when bitten; beef tripe and pork intestines are Q-textured and bouncy. (Photo / Reporter Huang Kexiang)

Another popular broth at the shop is the “Bone Marrow Broth.” Li Zhengwei explained that it uses fresh pork leg bones, which are slow-simmered over a low flame for ten hours to create a rich texture and release the aroma of Chinese medicinal ingredients. Don’t assume that an affordable small-pot hot pot doesn’t offer a “Yin-Yang Pot” option—founders have thoughtfully prepared it so that customers who love both types of broth can enjoy them without spending too much.


▲ Small-pot hot pot also comes in a Yin-Yang Pot style. In addition to the spicy broth, the other half can be paired with various options such as kelp, bone, sesame, satay, tomato, or pickled vegetable. The photo shows kelp paired with spicy broth. (Photo / Reporter Huang Kexiang)
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[Lao Xianjue Spicy Hot Pot] – Zhonghe Nanhua Branch
Address: No. 26, Nanhua Road, Zhonghe District, New Taipei City
Phone: (02) 2243-7977
Business Hours: Monday to Sunday, 11:30 AM to 11:00 PM (last order at 10:00 PM)

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