Raspberry crispy pork, mozzarella fish balls & spicy mala hotpot at Yue Lai

To be honest, I am not a big fan of hotpot.

Let’s backtrack. My dad is a creature of habit. Once he discovers — and falls in love with — a restaurant, that’s it — that’s where our family will be eating for a very long time. When we were younger, it was Tian Tian Hot Pot (formerly along Arnaiz Street) that won his heart. So every Sunday night, we would have dinner there. I still remember to this day how the simmering pot would be split into two — spicy broth for my dad and I; and clear for my mom and younger siblings, which we would fill with watercress, sliced beef, pork, squid balls, fish balls, tofu and taro. (Tian Tian has since moved to the Atrium Building, and we have not been there yet.)

Perhaps it was these too-frequent visits that turned me off. Every time someone would say, “Let’s do hotpot,” I would shake my head and suggest otherwise. I refused to eat hotpot for years, and everyone thought I was crazy.

A FOOD GROUP ADVENTURE

Fast forward to Aug. 21. While the rest of the metro left for the long weekend, our “Love food!” group (we were formed over WhatsApp) ventured to Mabini Street in Malate to check out Yue Lai. It was recommended by my cousin Beverly, one of the most legitimate food persons I know.

I’ll admit that when I first heard “hotpot,” I almost flaked. But then when she said their a la carte was also really good and different from the usual Chinese restaurants, I changed my mind. Besides, I hadn’t had hotpot in a long time, so why not?

THE A LA CARTE

I had zero regrets. The Crispy Pork with Raspberry Sauce was so, so good. It may sound gross at first but think about it, the traditional sweet-and-sour pork has pineapples in it, and this is a rather interesting deviation. I was initially reminded of Michelin star Lei Garden’s (in Hong Kong) sweet and sour pork with strawberries, but I actually like Yue Lai’s raspberry one better — crispy fried pork with a tangy glaze that offered a mellow kind of sweetness.

A bite into the Fried Pipa Tofu, named after the Chinese pear-shaped lupe, revealed a silky-smooth sensation interspersed with ground shrimp — although piping hot. The Fried Prawns with Salted Egg were jumbo prawns almost the size of my palm — crunchy, frothy and aromatic. (Another cousin went the next day, though, and said their prawns were significantly smaller than ours, but still good.)

THE HOTPOT

Now it was time for the hotpot. For the sauce or dip, I like to mix soy sauce, sate, onion leeks, garlic and chili — some people like to add egg yolk (like www.jinlovestoeat.com’s Jin Perez). We opted for the mala spicy soup (a Szechuan broth made from Sichuanese peppercorn, chili pepper and various other spices). It packs a punch so opt for something else if spice isn’t your thing.

We ticked off watercress, tangho, Baguio petchay, sweet corn, golden mushroom, Angus beef short ribs, Angus beef rib eye, local fat beef, New Zealand lamb, sliced chicken, sliced pork, fish cake, fish bean curd (fish tofu!), egg noodles, handmade shrimp ball, squid ball, fish ball, shrimp dumpling, shrimp wonton, beef ball, mushroom ball and fried bean curd in multiple orders. We ordered so much that we had about four or five rounds (each) before everything that we ordered could be tossed into the pot.

My verdict? I realized what I had been missing all along. I am obsessed with spice and having all these ingredients cooked in the mala broth really amped the flavors. Special mention goes to their fish ball stuffed with mozzarella — I haven’t seen that anywhere! It’s unique — some people like it, some people don’t — but props to Yue Lai for being fun and adventurous.

Even if we felt like we were going to burst out of our jeans, we still made room for dessert. Pamela “Meya” Cortez of www.pepper.ph stuffed the last piece of masachi (glutinous balls that are like the Chinese version of the Japanese mochi) into her mouth and fell forward on the table: “I want to die” … possibly out of happiness — a feeling we all shared — amplified by the fact that despite having settled into a food coma, we forked out a reasonable P1,050 each — and we still had three  plastic bags of leftovers to take home!  TEXT & PHOTOS BY CHERYL TIU

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Yue Lai is located at 1668 Mabini St, Malate, Manila. For reservations, call 400-6491.

You can reach me at inbetweendeadlines@gmail.com, on my blog www.cheryltiu.com, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cherytliu or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/chertiu.