Do you know what Chinese Hot Pot is and where you can find
it in Paris?
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| Chinese Hot Pot simmering on tabletop stove |
Well, you’re not alone.
I didn't either. At least, not
before I recently went to one of WICE’s social events. You might not know this, but in addition
to classes, WICE also offers a variety of free social events
for members.
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| Stove tabletops |
hot and sunny days in April, seven of us WICE Members met for lunch at a small restaurant called Au Ciel, in the 11th arrondissement.
Chinese Hot Pot (also known as Chinese Fondue) is a
soup-like dish in which you cook all of the ingredients yourself, at your own
pace while you’re eating. It’s been
around for over 1000 years and can be cooked with various combinations of all
kinds of vegetables, seafood, meats, and noodles.
At the restaurant, the conversation started off easily with the
typical ex-pat conversation about where we all came from and why we had chosen
to live in France. Since most of us had
never met each other before, it was fascinating to hear each person’s unique
path to Paris. After ordering, the server
came to each of us, leaned over, and pressed some hitherto unseen buttons in
front of us to turn on our individual cooking surfaces. As newbies to the Chinese Hot Pot experience,
we hadn't realized that our shiny black glass table where we had been casually resting
our elbows on was also our stovetop.
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| Table overflowing with ingredients |
Next, we each received a large metal pot filled with a
savory broth, a plate of green leafy vegetables with uncooked noodles, a plate
of sliced meats, and rice. Once the
broth started to boil, we could add our
ingredients as we pleased and cook them
to our own liking. Mid-meal the server
came walking by with a humongous metal tea pot, stopping at every table. Now I’m
used to Chinese restaurants serving tea in small, dainty ceramic cups, so I
wondered, “Just how thirsty does she think we are?”
Actually, she wasn't serving tea at all. She was offering refills of the soup base
for all our hot pots. Because you let
the pot simmer the entire time that you’re cooking and eating, the broth slowly
evaporates. You need the broth refills to continue cooking
until you've had enough to eat.
By the end of this meal, I was stuffed. I’m definitely going to go back to try a new combination of ingredients from the extensive menu of Hot Pot choices. This WICE event
successfully delivered its promise of a good meal. As
an added bonus, I discovered a new neighborhood to explore and met some pretty
interesting people. How cool is that, for only 9€80 (the price of the lunch menu)!
Next time you’re looking for something different to do, try
one of WICE’s free social events.
Post and photos by Veronica Kugler