Hotpot: a harmonious get-together

Hotpot, Da Bin Lo, Shabu Shabu, Chinese fondue- all means the same thing. In Suriname, it started as a new concept years ago and their initial target market probably was the Chinese community, but through the years more and more non-Chinese locals have learned to appreciate this concept.

For those who are not common with this concept yet:

With hotpot, you get a pot of stock/soup base of your choice on top of a range in the middle of the table. You can order whatever ingredients you'd like to put in your soup/stock and you eat it with your choice of sauce.

In Suriname, the two most common sauces are the soy sauce and the peanut sauce. In New  York for instance, there is a sauce stand where you can create your own sauce.

To come back to hotpot in Suriname, hotpot restaurants has been popping up like crazy. In north, you have nearly one in every corner. In this blog, I'll mention 3 that I've experienced: Squeezy, Ma La Xiang and Lucky Twins.

Squeezy is, I believe, the very first hot pot restaurant. They used to be located at Combeweg and has recently moved to their new location at plutostraat, which is both in location and in building a way better choice.

What I like about this restaurant is that it appears very clean, has sufficient parking space and there are always guests.( to not feel awkwardly alone) Their portions are not that big, so you can order more choices. And for extra privacy, you can always ask for a room.

Ma La Xiang is on the other street of the bridge. I've remembered it as the first hotpot restaurant I've visited after a night out. It was already 2-3 o'clock in the morning, so most places were already closed and they were actually near closing, but we could still get served.

What I like about this place is their tofu skin and their dumplings. Their tofu skin is not so thin as the other places and their dumplings are home made, so you can guarantee a fresh batch. Their portions are bigger, so even if you might order the same dishes, the bill at the end will be higher.

Lucky Twins is more known for their a la carte menu, but they also have hotpot in their menu. Till now, they have not really been pushing this concept. For some time now, you can have the option to have your own single pot, which is more convenient for people, who doesn't like people touching their food. But maybe because I'm not used to going there for it, it kinda slips my mind whenever I feel like going for  hotpot.

This hotpot concept has a different feel to it. It kinda creates a harmonious get-together, where everyone can simmer their own ingredients in the stock. Some might not like the idea of everybody going in the pot with their own chopsticks, but that's why there's a ladle and a straining ladle to ease up getting your own stuff out of the soup. And however most people don't do it, but the soup is also for consumption. And with this, it's the more the merrier and the more dishes you can order.

To also get another point of view, I'd like to suggest a post from a fellow blogger:
http://www.jeanluc.sr/restaurant-suriname-squeezy-hot-pot-restaurant/