Fun, tasty hotpots at Catonsville, Md’s Hunan Taste [classic article]

I’d been wanting to try the hotpot special at Hunan Taste in Catonsville for quite some time. They’re just a couple of doors from H-Mart, so I had to plan grocery shopping accordingly. For $25.95 a person, you can select from 2 kinds of soup bases (or a 1/2 and 1/2 combo), with a set list of all you want add-ins. There are also some luxe add-ins — like turtle! — for extra.

Similar to the Japanese concept of shabu-shabu, you take little bits of veggies or meats and each person cooks them in the broth, then transfers some soup to a bowl. Hunan Taste has a mild and spicy broth, along with interesting produce like winter melon and “white fungus” (exotic mushrooms). Proteins included fatty beef, pork, lamb and shrimp with heads on! The broth gets richer and richer, as you cook more things in it. Perfect for this cold weather we’re having!

I’d say it would be fun for a first date, but please make sure your date wears something stain resistant . . . things get a little splashy.