Boil, Boil, Toil, and Trouble*; Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble!

Talk about conjuring up a great meal at Mon Land Hot Pot City! Below, three views of our Chinese hot pot.

The broth as a symbol of the yin yang: one spicy and one rich and mild.

Yummy bits found in the broth. In this picture you can see sliced ginger, whole cardamon pods, and green onions. Also, included were whole cloves of garlic and plenty of piquin chile peppers.

A big hunk of tofu bobs in the spicy broth.

So five of us foodies met here on a very cold Sunday afternoon (geez! it was just 90 degrees a few before!) for some good food, good company, and good times. Mon Land Hot Pot City, which is located in San Gabriel across the street from the Western edge of the Great Mall of China, did not disappoint.

Below, some photos of our our dunkins:

Thinly sliced lamb.

Thinly sliced pork.

One of my favorite greens, Shungiku (Chrysanthemum leaves).

We also ordered daikon radish (delish!), egg dumplings, shrimp balls, tofu, ong choy, vermicelli noodle bundles, and enoki mushrooms.

Below, some of our side dishes:

Crisp, and not at all greasy, scallion pancake.

Very juicy lamb dumplings. These were like the infamous Din Tai Fung/Luscious Dumpling soup dumplings - they were spewing broth.

We didn't order these lamb pancakes but we were the recipients of Divine Intervention - they totally rocked! You must order these when you go.

Below, some photos of the finished product:

A comforting noodle bundle atop some ong choy in mild broth:

A thick slice of daikon radish nestled in ong choy in spicy broth:

And what does a bon vivant do after eating spicy soup? She balances it with something sweet. So I walk across the street to Tea Station and order a Passion Fruit with Jelly Shaved Ice. This would have been perfect for the 90 degree weather we had early last week but it was in the low 60s so...but it was so tasty you could eat it whenever.

*For you Macbeth (or if you are in a theater right now "A certain Scottish play") freaks, I know the line is "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble" but it often gets paraphrased as written above - it just worked better, ok?

Mon Land Hot Pot City
251 W. Bencamp Street (it's actually on Abbot just south of Valley Blvd.)
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Tea Station
158 W. Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776
www.teastation.us