New Hot Pot Experiences 🍜 With A Surprisingly Shot Drink #DashOutSunday

There was a time my "stanko" (Surinamese street lingo for closest friends) friends and I used every excuse possible to go and have something to eat, be it (National) Holidays, birthdays, graduations, you name it. With careers, starting family's and some of us moving abroad, the regular outings became less frequent. None the less, we can still find an excuse or two to grab a bite.

My leaving was a good reason to call - or rather message - up the group and reserve a table that Sunday. Because I had dim sum two times in one week already, I opted for hot pot instead. Another reason was to take into account the World Cup and that most of us would be glued to the screens, so an evening appointment was the best option.

The restaurant we opted for was Squeezy Hot Pot Restaurant, of which some of the gang is a frequent guest at. It was my first time though and didn't know what to expect. The only thing I knew was to reserve an upstairs room for a certain amount of people. Seeing the room for the very first time, I was pleased with the difference from my other hot pot experiences. I've only had hot pot with one or two types of broth, with everyone throwing in their ingredients. This one has the option that everyone can order their own type of broth and throw in their preferred meats.

There was a variety of types of broth, but most of us ordered the (ordinary) spicy (see image left below), while others went with the "super" spicy (see image right below). To err on the side of caution, I went with the ordinary spicy, which wasn't spicy or tangy at all. In hindsight I could've gone for the super spicy broth.

Another feature I had to get used to was the heat controller, which resulted in my soup almost overboiling from the edge a couple of times. I even burned my tongue and lips a few times, because of eating straight from the pot, instead of letting it rest a bit in my bowl.

We ordered the usual meats, starches and vegetables, like beef balls, chicken, fatty and less fatty beef slices, noodles and mushrooms. Dumplings on the side are of course a staple. New to me this time, were the chicken gizzards and the stir fried crab. Not impressed with the gizzards, because of its texture, but pleasantly surprised with the stir fried crab. It was still a lot of work to get the crab meat out, but it goes to show that crab doesn't always have to be cooked curry style.

My friends also mentioned an alcoholic shot drink - some had already ordered it prior - they had seen in the lobby with the ingredients on the bottle. For the fun of it we searched the effects of the ingredients online and laughed so hard like no one was listening. I was glad we had a room to ourselves because of that.

We ordered a glass each and said a few well wishes and shot the drink in one go. It was a full glass, which made it hard to chug the drink and I felt the burning sensation going from my throat through my insides. Some coughed because of it, while I did my best to keep my face as unimpressed as I could. In spite of the burning sensation the drink has a sweet pineapple - from the Wulfberry I suspect - aftertaste and was definitely a drink I could order in the future. We even joked that we tasted the fruity flavor when burping afterwards.

After the shot we ended the night taking some pictures and left for home. We texted that we arrived safely at our destination and said to have a do-over. There's also an option to karaoke so we need to reserve a room with that option the next time.

That is how my Sunday evening went: unusual, carefree, full of laughter, good food and a surprising strong sweet drink. What did you do have this Sunday? Let me know in the comments below 🤓.

Chasse into the backstage! 💃

Do you also want to share what you had Sunday and/or interested in partaking in #DashOutSunday? Be sure to read this post for more information. Looking forward to reading all about it 🤓.

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