Haidilao Hotpot vs. Jindacai Barbecue

Saturday, June 27, I met my cousin Zhang Peng and Alicia at Haidilao Hotpot (Huoguo) (海底捞火锅), a fairly famous restaurant on the top floor of one of Xidan's mega-malls. Eight days later, which would be this past Sunday, July 5, I met my other cousin, Mingyu, and my uncle (haven't written about Jiujiu for a while), who was with his wife and twin sons (Fang Fang and Fei Fei), at a place next to Haidilao called Jindacai Shaokao (金達萊燒烤 (traditional characters)), an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue. You basically stack your tray with uncooked meat (they have cooked foods, too, like chicken kabobs, salads, jello, cake, dumplings and cold noodles) and take it back to your table to grill, and every 10 to 15 minutes or so a waitress comes around to replace your grate with a fresh one. Meats available beef, pork -- indeed, bacon -- tripe, kidneys, king shrimp, chicken breast, chicken leg... and more! -- all for RMB 58.

Please compare...

Haidilao:

They have a cornucopia of dipping sauces.



Jindacai:


The beer is all-you-can-drink, too.

An added bonus at the Haidilao place comes when you order the noodles. A man will actually appear with a clump of dough and pull the noodles into shape right in front of you, like so:



I think my verdict would be the barbecue joint, if only because I'm a sucker for buffets. You really can't go wrong with either though, if you're ever in the area.