Xiaolongkan Hot Pot — Restaurant in Madrid

We hit the jackpot…. Well actually Hot Pot 😁 Me and my husband have recently moved to Madrid on 01/01/2024. There are many different restaurants here and I’m looking forward to try them all.… After a few different Spanish restaurants I needed my Asian fix. I was over the moon when I discovered Shoo Loong Kan or Xiǎo Lóng Kǎn (lit; Little Dragon Ridge) Hotpot. Originally from Chongqing, made popular in Chengdu, Sichuan province. 🙌😁🙌

I had the pleasure of dining in Xiǎo Lóng Kǎn in Chengdu, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Geneva and NOW, in Madrid. From humble beginnings, Xiǎo Lóng Kǎn celebrates its 10th years in 2024, and achieved “opening 1,000 outlets worldwide by 2020”.

The taste of the two different broths (mushroom and Sichuan spicy) are very authentic to what I have experienced in Chengdu. We had fresh and delicious assortment of vegetables, mixed mushrooms, thin slices of Angus beef, another beef slices, cod fish slices, beef tripe, prawn balls, but the only let down was beef balls. It was tough and chewy. However, everything else was fantastic. I’m just being honest in my review.

We were served by Juan, and also later by Zǐ Qì (forgive if I mispronounced) aka Arne who both spoke English and was very helpful. But later we had several servers with great personalities, helpfulness, kind and happy manner. This friendly and helpful waitstaff was our highlight of the evening. We could have light conversations, learning about each other and they were all very interesting. Thank you for making the evening a great experience.

Decor was also very welcoming. I love the large entrance door with beautifully painted Ménshén (Door God/Gatekeepers) to welcome the guest. Inside, it was spacious and lively with red lanterns fills the decor. I felt like being back in Chengdu. A+ for a great night, and...

First of all, I would like to praise the professional knowledge and patience of the individual staff at Xiao Long Kan. Secondly, I want to thank Oscar for his enthusiastic reception and friendly attitude, providing us with attentive and thoughtful service. His smile and greetings made us feel very welcome, as if we were dining at home. He is also very knowledgeable about each dish on the menu, and gave us many useful suggestions. He also explained in English the origin and usage of each seasoning and ingredient, which helped my friends who had never tasted hot pot to better understand the essence of hot pot cuisine. Especially when he found that some of us couldn't use chopsticks, he proactively provided us with knives and forks, which touched us deeply and allowed us to better enjoy the food. Overall, his service is truly first-class. His enthusiasm, professional knowledge, and attentiveness made everyone very satisfied. We will come back to this...

Hot Pot 🫕 (olla caliente en castellano) es una experiencia gastronómica diferente 😃

Se trata de una olla 🫕 bastante grande donde hierve ♨️ caldo de hasta 3 sabores diferentes🍅🍄🌶️. Por otra parte, eliges (de la carta) los alimentos 🍄🦐🥩🍝 que quieres cocinar en el caldo, existe muchísimas opciones en la carta📜 En la carta te indican el tiempo ⏱️ de cocinado ♨️ de cada producto, algunos son de 10 segundos y otros de varios minutos (tallarines).

Recomiendo 😉 pedir la olla con los 3 sabores 🍅🍄🌶️ya que el precio es el mismo y así pruebas todos😃 Si al final tienes un sabor preferido y el caldo se agota más rápidamente no pasa nada, los camareros van rellenando las ollas con caldo gratuitamente 🫖

Cositas a saber para novatos: Si no eres muy amante del picante 🌶️ pero te apetece probar el caldo picante ☝️, tienes que añadir las siglas MPP (muy poco picante) en la carta 📜, no todos los camareros avisan. Yo no lo tolero mucho, pedimos MPP y se podía comer notando el gustito picante👌👏 La olla es "refill" 😂, lo que significa que cuando queda poco caldo (porque los alimentos lo absorben o por la evaporación) pasa alguien con una especie de tetera 🫖 grande y rellena de forma gratuita😀 Las servilletas 🧻 están guardadas en los cajones de la mesa, de nada 😂 Se puede pedir cubiertos 🍴 sin problema, no es necesarios sufrir con los palillos 🥢 toda la comida si nos sabes usarlos bien 😅 Además de los postres 🍰 que aparecen en la carta 📜, existen algunos postres gratuitos como algo de fruta🍉 (cambia según el día) y flanes 🍮 Todo esto se encuentra en la nevera que se encuentra cerca de la entrada. Cuando sacan la olla el camarero te trae un cuenquito con salsa de cacahuete 🥜 y otro de aceite de la casa 🫒 para que lo mezcles con los alimentos que pidas. Debes saber que hay muchas más salsas gratuitas en la zona de la nevera de las postres (cerca de la entrada). Nosotras nos enteramos cuando fuimos a por los postres y no pudimos probar otros 😢

El únicos "pero": Si eres un poco alto (1.75m) no sabes casi en la mesa, son bajitas, las piernas chocan contra el tablero de la mesa. La digestión fue un poco regulera, puede ser cosa mía que era la primera vez que comía Hot Pot.

📝 Admiten reservas por WhatsApp 📲, muy cómodo. Pero debes saber ‼️ que solo aceptan reservas con una semana de antelación. Sienten las disculpas (referencia que solo entenderás si has intentado reservar con más de una semana de antelación 😉). Recomiendo reservar, fuimos a finales de junio y estaba todo lleno.

Está bien la experiencia, la recomiendo...