Little Lamb Hot Pot, Dubai - Conformity wrapped in Choice

Sheer choice and experimentation are the basic reasons why food is fun. It's why the world is so full of recipes, foodies, restaurants and food blogs like this one.

Xiao Wei Yang Hot Pot, aka 'Little Lamb' serves up a massive pan full of hot and spicy broth, and makes things more interesting by offering a very wide selection of raw ingredients which you can cook in the broth in any order. The tables are fitted with electric hot plates which keep the broth at a rolling boil, and gradually release more of the aromatic flavours of the chilli, peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves and other whole spices that dance around your little private cauldron. The brain-meltingly spicy hot pot broth is the flagship of the establishment, and was the main reason we were so excited to try it out in the first place. 

We ordered a few cuts of beef, meat balls, four different kinds of mushrooms, thick rice noodles, meat dumplings and a pile of freshly cut green vegetables. It's great fun to throw a handful of things into the pot, and then spend the next ten minutes fishing it all out again with your ladle or chopsticks.

But the variety doesn't end there. There is a smorgasbord of sauce ingredients available on a side table, which patrons are welcome to combine to create their own salty, sweet, crunchy or smooth saucy concoction. With at least a dozen possible ingredients, my mind goes into selection overload for a while, until I settle on a mixture of oyster sauce, peanut pieces, chilli oil, leek puree and freshly chopped coriander.

Lastly, there are of course there are a bunch of other short eats on the menu, for a quick meal or as a side dish to accompany the soupy star of the show. I try the grilled spicy lamb cojones, simply because I've never tried that part of an animal before. Mostly soft and flavoursome, with some sinewy bits here and there. Very tasty overall, and recommended.

The best thing about Little Lamb is that you have almost endless combinations of ingredients and condiments to play with, but everything you eat will be underpinned and enhanced by the intense, spicy flavours of the broth which bubbles away in the middle of your table.

RECOMMENDED

Little Lamb has achieved something which would equate to walking a tightrope between choice and conformity; Customers are almost required to order the staple spicy broth, but no two meals will be the same after that point.

Worth a visit. Or two.





The bill (for 3, but there was enough for at least 4):
1 x Spicy Hot Pot (large) - Dhs 38
1 x Plate of Rib Steak - Dhs 56
1 x Plate of Beef Sirloin - Dhs 28
1 x Plate of Beef Balls - Dhs 20
1 x Plate of Beef Dumplings - Dhs 18
1 x Plate of Cabbage - Dhs 13
2 x Plates of Shiitake Mushrooms - Dhs 24
1 x Mixed Vegetable Plate - Dhs 45
1 x Plate of Fresh Noodles - Dhs 12
1 x Green Onion Rice Pancakes - Dhs 12
1 x Lamb Cojones - Dhs 12
3 x Steamed Rice - Dhs 12
3 x Sauce - Dhs 15
2 x Large Water - Dhs 20
TOTAL: Dhs 325 (Approx. US$88)

Restaurant address: Dubai Marina, UAE. Right near the Habtoor Grand Hotel.

Al Mallah Cafeteria, Satwa, Dubai - arrive hungry, leave happy

Everyone needs to have a "local" - a place where you know that no matter what you order, it will be fresh, it will be good and it won't leave too much of a hole in the wallet. Al Mallah Cafeteria is so good that despite the 40 minute drive and the parking nightmare in Satwa, it might just qualify as our 'local'. 

They don't do 'fusion' and they don't do anything fussy. Their menu is representative of any Arabic cafeteria that you could find anywhere across the middle east. The difference is, what they do, they do REALLY well. The only difficulty is getting a large enough group together so you can try a little bit of everything!

We started with some classics - zataar and meat manakish. Manakish is not dissimilar from a pizza base, but rather than having a sloppy tomato base, it is coated in olive oil and traditionally topped with zataar, a middle eastern herb concoction of oregano, basil, thyme and other goodies which dance across your tongue leaving just the slightest hint of spice. We have eaten a lot of manakish in our travels around the region and these ones rate quite highly - it helps when the distance from the oven to your dinner plate is only about 10 meters!

We had only just gobbled down the manakish when the food arrive en masse. Hummus, mutabel, tabouli, fattouche, the freshest of fresh falafel and a mixed schwarma meat plate (half chicken and half "meat" - which meat...one is never sure). Are you salivating yet? We don't tend to order the meat at these types of places. A large cone shaped pile of meat rotating on a metal skewer just doesn't seem particularly natural to me and often gives you the 3am dry horrors where you wake gasping for water. Although a little salty, the meat was fresh and a guilty pleasure that went perfectly with our otherwise reasonably healthy meal.
 
Although slightly overshadowed by the excellent food, the drinks menu should not be ignored  (if you can find the stomach space!). The lime mint juice was a hit and the mango juice was a meal in itself.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Loved it, will love it again, and recommend that if you are in the area you give it a shot. Look for the green tent on Al Dhiyafa Road, Satwa (not far from the gelato shop).

The Bill (for 3 very hungry people with lots left over):

1 x zaatar manakish - 5 Dhs
1 x meat and cheese manakish - 7 Dhs
1 x hommos - 12 Dhs
1 x mutabal - 12 Dhs
1 x tabouli - 14 Dhs
1 x fattouche - 13 Dhs
1 x plate of falafel - 12 Dhs
1 x plate of mixed shawarma meat - 35 Dhs
1 x medium Mint Lime juice - 12 Dhs
1 x medium mango juice - 12 Dhs
1 x water - 2 Dhs

TOTAL: 136 Dhs (approx US$34)

Restaurant address: Satwa, Dubai. About 30 metres from the big roundabout with the fountain in the middle.