No Hot Pot, But Chow Town Had Other Plans!

It was Saturday once more and we had reached the end of another day with that eternal question staring us in the face.

“So, what are we having for dinner?”

This time there was hardly any discussion.

We just got into the car and headed out.

My wife had spotted a new place called Chow Town that served Hot Pot, and that was what we were going to have.

Simple.

Or so we thought.

As we approached Chow Town, the entrance itself looked like it had been lifted straight out of a Jackie Chan movie. I half expected someone to come flying through a window, roll over a table and disappear into the kitchen!

Then we entered the restaurant and things got even more interesting.

For some inexplicable reason, the interiors reminded me of a Railway Dining Car.

An Oriental Railway Dining Car, to be precise.

I can't quite explain why.

You'll get it when you visit.

Anyway, we settled down and asked for the menu, ready to embark on our Hot Pot adventure.

And that's when we were told:

“Hot Pot is not available.”

Apparently, only Chinese Cuisine was possible that evening.

Well… we were already there.

So, Chinese it was!

We decided to start with Chicken Manchow Soup, one-by-two, followed by Pork Tangra Style Dry Chilli.

For the main course, we ordered Mixed Pan Fried Noodles, Chicken Japanese Egg Rice and Chicken Hot Black Bean Sauce.

We also wanted something to drink.

Unfortunately, they had run out of cold drinks.

Clearly, this was not going to be a completely straightforward dinner.

But one of the ladies serving us disappeared for a while and, after some effort, managed to come back with one bottle of Thums Up.

One!

Naturally, we took it.

At this point, we had figured out what was going on.

We had arrived at yet another restaurant practically at the moment it had opened its doors. In fact, Chow Town was only three days old.

Three days!

So the little hiccups were understandable. Stock, menus, kitchen operations, service routines — all the things that eventually become second nature in a restaurant were obviously still finding their rhythm.

But there was something else.

The ambience was nice.

And the people were even nicer.

So instead of judging a three-day-old restaurant by the standards of a three-year-old one, we decided to give them a chance.

And I'm glad we did.

The Chicken Manchow Soup arrived first.

And it was really good.

Two bowls of thick, steaming soup packed with chicken and vegetables, accompanied by crunchy fried noodles that provided exactly the texture they were supposed to.

It was a promising beginning.

Then came the Pork Tangra Style Dry Chilli.

Delectable.

The pork was beautifully flavoured and the chilli gave it just the right amount of punch without overwhelming the dish.

Now we were getting somewhere.

Then the main course arrived.

The Mixed Pan Fried Noodles, Chicken Japanese Egg Rice and Chicken Hot Black Bean Sauce were laid out before us, and suddenly our failed Hot Pot expedition had transformed itself into quite a substantial Chinese feast.

Everything was sumptuous.

Everything was delicious.

But what really caught my attention was that the dishes didn't simply taste like generic versions of Chinese food that one encounters everywhere.

Each one had its own flavour identity.

Their interpretation of these familiar dishes had a character of its own, and that made the meal particularly interesting.

The noodles had their own taste.

The Japanese Egg Rice had its own personality.

And the Hot Black Bean Sauce had a flavour that was distinctly different from what I've encountered elsewhere.

So, despite starting the evening with one plan and discovering that plan wasn't going to happen, dinner turned out rather well.

In fact, the meal and the service were delightful.

And as we finished, we had already decided that we're definitely coming back.

Next time, hopefully, the Hot Pot will actually be available!

And we'll explore some of the other Asian offerings as well.

For a restaurant that had been open for just three days, Chow Town had made a rather promising beginning.

Sometimes you set out looking for Hot Pot and end up discovering something else entirely.

And on this Saturday night, Chow Town had definitely given us enough reason to come back for a second helping.