Location: Taipei, Zhi Wei Fang - All-You-Can-Eat Mala Hot Pot
Travel Notes: After watching 'Protege' with Xingjian and Afu at Ambassador Theater, we wandered the alleys of Dunhua South Road. The rain suddenly poured down, so we ducked into an all-you-can-eat mala hot pot place to escape and grab dinner. The owner said since there were three of us, we could pick three soup bases, so we chose spicy duck blood, herbal, and northeastern pickled cabbage. Once the pot with the Mercedes logo arrived, we eagerly tossed in ingredients. Later, I found out online that the coconut milk soup base is more popular—too bad we missed it, but oh well! The mala was numbing and spicy (I prefer just numbing), the herbal was mild, and the pickled cabbage was okay. Ingredients were decent with basic meats, seafood, and hot pot items. Dinner was NT$329 per person, plus NT$100 for plum juice, totaling NT$1,087—no service charge. For all-you-can-eat, the price is fair, but I still prefer Hengji on the same street for mala. Overall, it was just average. Address: 1F, No. 13 & 15, Lane 160, Section 1, Dunhua South Road, Taipei. Phone: (02)87714495. By Morgan, 2007.3.28