Mr Zhang’s Kitchen, Myrtle Street, reviewed

What: Mr. Zhang’s kitchen

Where: 8-10 Myrtle St, L7 7DP

Type of food/beverage: Sichuan Hot Pot

When: Mon–Fri: 11–21 // Sat and Sun: 12–22

Independent or chain: Sovereign

I usually find restaurants to review in a few different ways.

No. 1: We’re a curious bunch s, and have been at it for over 20 years, so the collective antenna is fine-tuned and sensitive to all the buzz around the restaurant game.

#2: It’s a new place. These are easy enough to find as they tend to make themselves known to anyone with most of their teeth still in their mouth.

#3: someone recommends a restaurant with some kind of cultural passion, so you’re interested to see if they’re into something.

No. 4: a strange magical mystery tour through the corners of a part of the city, a wandering inquiry that always gives interesting suggestions.

So what kind of hacking would happen in a restaurant based on the recommendation of a wildly popular podcast? This hack would.

So I took the word Mowgli mogul Nisha Katona on Off menu and visited Mr. Zhang’s Kitchen to get a “good spot for hot pot.” Sometimes it’s best not to overthink these things.

Decor

Just around the corner from Hope Street, Mr Zhang’s Kitchen is just the kind of place where, after spending an afternoon in one of the many great pubs, you and your friends decide you’re all greedy.

Split into two restaurants, a hot pot spot upstairs and a more varied menu downstairs, the place seems to have all the bases covered. Just remember to visit your local checkout first.

Inside, there is the kind of unassuming and effortless layout that clearly understands that the food is paramount, but of course with a few decorations, such as Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling and a pleasant color palette.

However, what makes up just as much of the feel of the place is the almost constant mist of steam that comes from the hot pot bowls that are delivered to the tables. Time to catch up.

The main event

The joy of places like this is that there’s no goofing around, you know what you’re here for and so do they. It’s a hot pot. The only consideration is what type of base and what goes into it. This pretty much eliminates the freedom of choice that can plague Chinese food. What a relief.

I opted for the half and half direct dip bone broth base and Mr Zhang’s extra spicy base, making the most of that handy little divider that divides the pot and gives you plenty of variation.

To be honest, the broths looked pretty delicious already with the spring onions, Chinese dates and Sichuan peppers simmering away, but I opted for the pork slices, oyster mushrooms, Chinese baby salad and fresh noodles. With everything laid out and the pot on the stove, all that was left was to get them all to sink into the spicy depths.

Once added to the hellish and beautifully scented broth, the pork was slowly cooked and opened up to reveal the fat that unashamedly ran through each slice and would only add more complex layers of flavor. They were equally delicious both in the fiery, numbing water of the particularly spicy broth and in the more subtle, succinct warming seasoning of the bone broth.

Chinese baby lettuce and oyster mushrooms are both good examples of Trojan horse vegetables. A seemingly simple gift to your dose of makeup, and seemingly innocuous enough, they’ve been bathed in the fire of more than a few potent spices, and they won’t tell you. My lips went numb and tingled, and the drug-like rush got more and more.

It’s hard to know when you’ll be full with this dish because you really don’t want to be full. Just bring the kettle and let it boil. But then it all has to end. And for £40 – which would actually be split between two – and a Tsingtao lager, I’d say you’d be starting all over again sooner than you think.

Doomsday

After all, this meal is not made for one. If anything, two people could even end up leaving a residue. But if Sichuan Hot Pot is the only thing that really satisfies you, call it, pull up a seat, and dive into it with abandon, a rampant appetite and a ladle. Hi Nisha.

Mr. Zhang’s kitchen8-10 Myrtle St, L7 7DP