Mr Wang Hot Pot 王贵仁砂锅麻辣烫 — Restaurant in Cambridge

I visited Mr Wang Hot Pot which is specialised in Malatang, a common type of Chinese street food. Malatang is named after the key ingredient, mala sauce, the word mala referring to the sensation of spicy numbness in the mouth after eating the sauce. The sauce is primarily flavoured with Sichuan peppercorns, douban paste, and chilli peppers.

As I went in, the first thing that called my attention is the huge fridge full of ingredients like meats, sea food, vegetables and noodles. Then the sound, which was a cheerful atmosphere full of Asian people. To me, it means that the food is most likely to be genuine. I like it!

Before ordering, I talked to the staff as I didn't really know how the hot pot worked. They were very helpful, and took the time to suggest which could be the best combination based on their expirience and my taste. The best part of it was that he took his time to find the best for me.

Once you have your ingredients in a basket ready to pass it to the kitchen, you have to choose the soup for them. I chose the tomato soup, as they told me that it was one of their most popular ones. It was very tasty, and then I found out that it is slow- cooked for 10 hours!

Once it is served, you need to wait a bit as it is too hot to start! The smell was delicious and the flavour was divine and very comforting as the night is cold out side.

I strongly recommend the tomato soup if you come to Mr Wang Hot Pot and don't hesitate to ask for help as they are...

From the get go it wasn't the best Interior. I had poppins vibes. We were given the menus with no explanation and literally had no idea what or how to create our hotpot. After attempts of communicating we finally got there. Asked for drinks 5 times. Then actually ended up going in the fridge ourselves to get the drinks. Hopefully we didn't come off rude but we did ask a considerable amount of times and it is a heatwave. Wonderful selection of veg and meat/fish but the veg had better days. They even had frogs legs what a treat. Food came out fast and piping hot. With a free sauce section was great so we could chose if we wanted it spicey etc. Hygiene let it down massively. I went to the toilet after the chef and there was urine all of the toilet seat. There was grime everywhere and even the doors where filthy. They could do with closing it down for a day and getting a cleaning company in. Like on every level that needs doing. Service 5/10 Food 5/10 Hygiene 1/10 Value for money 3/10

I was a shame because we drove 45 minutes each way to visit....

You know a place is good when it attracts and is often dominated by their native folk. So as the only 老外 (Chinese term for 'Foreigner') in the restaurant, I knew this place was going to be good.

Hand picking your the ingredients from a wall selection is very authentic; from proteins such as beef, cuttlefish, frogs legs & tofu, to veg like bok choi & cabbage. Aside from a vast amount of ingredients to chose from, they also have a very diverse rice dish menu.

Hotpot was fantastic. Very dynamic with plenty aromatics and seasonings and enough spice to make you pant. Very good atmosphere (even better if you can understand Mandarin) and friendly staff.

Would like the pricing structure (which is done by weight of ingredients) to be a little clearer but otherwise definitely check...