Taiwanese hot pot (火鍋)
Taiwan eats hot pot all year, and mostly one pot per person: you pick a broth, get a tray of meat and vegetables, and cook it at your seat for NT$200–400. Shared pots — 麻辣鍋, 酸菜白肉鍋, 薑母鴨 — are for groups and for winter.
Searching “hot pot” on Google Maps finds the chains that foreign visitors have reviewed. 火鍋 is the word Google itself uses for the category in Taiwan, so searching it brings up the small neighbourhood places as well.
Search these words on Google Maps
- 火鍋
hot pot — everything from a NT$250 personal pot to a shared table
- 麻辣鍋
the numbing, spicy Sichuan-style broth, usually all-you-can-eat
Hot pots you will see in Taiwan
How does ordering work?
At a 小火鍋 you pick a broth and a main (beef, pork, seafood) and everything else comes with it: vegetables, tofu, noodles or rice, and a help-yourself sauce bar. At a shared pot you order plates of meat and vegetables separately.
What is the sauce bar?
A counter with soy sauce, 沙茶醬 (a savoury barbecue sauce that is the Taiwanese standard), garlic, chilli, spring onion and raw egg. Mix your own dipping sauce; it is included in the price.
Which pots are only for winter?
薑母鴨, 羊肉爐 and 土雞鍋 are winter tonic pots — many shops open from about October to March and close in summer. 火鍋 and 麻辣鍋 are year round.