Kat's 9 Lives

Since Ms. Lin was able to come down for a business trip in LA, of course we had to stop off in San Gabriel/Monterey Park to get our grub on! She has been craving hot pot like crazy and we finally decided on Mon Land Hot Pot City next to Focus. We thought it would be Taiwanese style hot pot, Ma-La... unfortunately it was Mongolian style hot pot. I know Ms. Lin was saddened by this, but we decided to give it a try. Ever since Little Fat Sheep I have been craving the Lamb Meatballs! So I was willing to comply.
The sky was very dark that night and the streets are not very well-lit there. They were brightly lit so it's like a moth to a flame. =9 There is outside seating but we chose to sit inside. I want to be in an air-conditioned area just in case I get hot from eating steaming hot pot. lol We of course got the Dual Mongolian Hot Pot. If I ever go back... I would only get the non-spicy hot pot. Ms. Lin who loves spicy hot pot also thought the non-spicy side was better. It has a slight Coconut flavor that makes it tastier. So if you want a spicy spicy hot pot then this is not the exact place to get it.
They have a small bar of condiments you can use for your sauce. The Satay, Fermented Tofu, and Sesame Paste are at the table. I am glad that they at least had tons of Garlic available to fill me up. It's kind of weird that the satay was so sweet. It's different from the satay you normally get at Taiwanese hot pots. We like things salty so we asked for some Soy Sauce to spice the sauce up.
We ordered Lamb, Beef, and Pig Intestines as usual. It's kind of ironic but the lamb wasn't that good in a Mongolian hot pot. I normally get one plate of beef and tons of lamb, but this time the beef was better and I chose to continue with the beef instead. The intestines were actually really good in the soup. They were very fatty and good, but I think the portions are a little small.
Ms. Lin got her favorite Tong Hao (Hwa), and Tofu for herself as usual. She was not pleased at how the TH was not cut well. Serves her right for eating vegetables! lol We also got the Lamb Meatballs, but they were fail. At first they look really gross to us, but Ms. Lin thought it was better than she imagines. I didn't quite like them as much and barely had any. The ones at Little Fat Sheep were really good and fresh. BIG DIFFERENCE!
I had to do my infamous hot pot dip collage. Ms. Lin was the hand model again, but I cut her out! ^_^ So she will get a written credit of being the one dipping the beef and lamb into the non-spicy hot pot side. The flavor was actually pretty good and I think it tastes better than Little Fat Sheep soup-wise.
Since Mongolian hot pot should have really good lamb, I got greedy and ordered the Pancake stuffed with Lamb. I should have stuck with the Green Onion Pancake. We both barely touched the dish and chose to just bring it home to the family. They eat anything. O=) The pancake was soggy and really greasy. This took the longest to come out.
All in all the food was decent because we enjoyed the non-spicy soup side. As for the size of the food, I was not full. Ms. Lin stopped me from ordering by reminding me that there was another meal to come afterward. Tune in for more. ^_^ The service varied at times. It was a little awkward because they stopped paying attention to us a little and Ms. Lin asked for water, to pack the food, & the check... apparently that guy was the manager and he filled it immediately... and started yelling/lecturing the servers about not paying attention and to pack our stuff away. I was like umm WHOOPS. We didn't even say anything. I blame Ms. Lin! lol It was an interesting experience and I might come back because I liked the soup but everything else... mehh.. we will see. The best part is I am flying up to SF on Tuesday and I will get me some NINJI soon! WOO HOO!

Mon Land Hot Pot City

Honeybee has now been recruited on foodie adventures! ^_- My day in Monterey Park was filled with many new places and I am still catching up on writing about them. Since Tofu wanted to try Hot Pot, we decided to go to Little Fat Sheep in Monterey Park. First of all, it's not that easy to find so I will put out a small note for people who want to go there and try their hot pot. They are on the corner of Garvey and Atlantic. If you are coming from the 10 freeway, just head pass Garvey and turn immediately left into the next shopping center. It's right there in the corner. Tofu and I circled around many many times trying to find it because the store front does not face the direction we were coming from.
We were a little late in our arrival since we could not find the place. There wasn't that many people there that early. They are open 'til 1 AM so maybe they get really busy towards the end of the night. It would be nice that somewhere in OC opened that late! lol They bring out side dishes for the table before you order. There were Mixed Peanuts, Pickled Daikon, and Bread that reminded me a mix of "Mantou" & the Sesame Onion Bread served in Islamic Chinese cuisine.
For the table we decided to get the "Yuan Yan" Hot Pot, which has the normal Mongolian hot pot split with the spicy side. Since I don't like things too spicy, I got the mild to start. The Mongolian hot pot is a broth made up of Chinese Herbs and Bark. It definitely is not the hot pot I am used to having at home or my favorite one in Fremont. **which I still need to blog about** The presentation of the spicy side was very eye catching, but it was just filled with tons of herbs. I felt it was a little cluttered. There wasn't any content in the soup except the herbs. The one at Ninji was always filled with tofu and more. Not that I eat tofu, but I was a little disappointed.
To start off the night we ordered Beef, Lamb, Sliced Pumpkin, Lamb Meatball, Intestines, and Spicy Pork Stomach. Unfortunately they came back to tell us that they don't have the pork stomach. Poor Honeybee, she really wanted some but they were unable to fulfill her wishes! Boo! I will give them credit that the Lamb Meatballs were great and flavorful. The lamb flavor was very strong and worked well with the soup. They brought out the hot pot immediately to start and soon followed with the dishes we ordered.
Apparently there are special sauces they use to dip the cooked dishes. This was also not what I am normally use to. There were four sauces given. They had their own version of Satay, Sesame Paste, Chili, and Fermented Tofu? I have never heard of adding tofu to my sauce, but they actually all worked well together. For me, I had to ask for chopped garlic. The sauces were good, but I still like my traditional sauces.
I wanted to get something cooked there because I read some good reviews of the food they served. The server said that the Scallion Crispy Pancake is ordered the most. This is your typical Chinese pancake that you can even buy in stores. I will give them credit that the one they served here is pretty good. It had the right crispy outer texture with a delightful chewy center. This is my personal recommendation, but you should order these when you have hot pot because they are great to dip into the soup. The flavors of all the food you cooked in the soup and the soups own natural flavor will soak into every crevice, which makes it that much better! Of course eating the pancake by itself makes it YUMMY too! ^_^
All in all the food was decent and service was nice. The best part, of course, is spending time with friends! ^_- We had a nice long chat with good food! The ambiance makes up for everything. I probably won't be back in the future because it really wasn't the way I like my hot pot. Mind you that I don't like hot pot, except at Ninji! YUM YUM! That place does it right! I am trying to find somewhere like that in MP so that Ms. Lin and I can go when she visits. Still the experience was nice and enjoyable. They also handed us a box of mints at the end with their logo. It's very cute. Hey! Are they saying we have bad breath? lol =-X

Little Fat Sheep