Szechuan Mala is becoming a new food trend in Jakarta lately. You can easily found any new eateries or restaurants in the city serving these famous dishes originated from Szechuan province, China. In this post, I will share my new favorite place for Szechuan Mala Hot Pot, Shu Guo Yin Xiang restaurant in THR Lokasari, Mangga Besar.

For Mala Hotpot lovers, Shu Guo Yin Xiang became one of the favorite destinations lately. The restaurant is located in THR Lokasari, a commercial area situated in tasty gems flooded Mangga Besar, West Jakarta.

Like the typical Chinese restaurant, Shu Guo Yin Xiang’s interior looks great with Chinese modern ornaments and elegant vibes. We arrived around 5 PM and easily got ourselves a table. If you decided to dine randomly in this restaurant, best advise to reach after lunch or before dinner time. If not, most of the crowd are here for dinner and the average queue will be 90 – 120 minutes long. As diners don’t eat very fast to clear the table for you as this is Hotpot. Diners use their own sweet time to cook the ingredient, dip, chat and eat.

Chinese hot pot will never complete without the condiments since it is a serious aspect to boost the flavor. At the condiments counter, you can find more 20 condiments to mix as you wish such as chili powder, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, etc. Usually, I just add garlic, sesame oil, leek, and fried garlic for the soup, and oyster sauce for dipping sauce.

Shu Guo Yin Xiang offers a Chinese hot pot menu with an authentic taste. The broth soup selection consists of Mala Szechuan, which is their signature, Pork Bone, Chicken Herbal, and Tomato. There are also a lot of ingredients selection ranging from seafood, beef, pork, lamb, chicken, duck, noodle, tofu, meatballs, wonton, mushrooms, and vegetables.

Combinations 2 Flavors Soup

First thing first, we have to decide which broth soup we want to order. You can order only 1 flavor or the combinations of 2 or 3 flavors in one pot. Alternatively, you can order individual pot as well ranging from IDR 48k to 55k for the soup. As a first timer, I opted for combinations 2 flavors soup, with Mala Szechuan and Pork Bone broth. The soups were served in a very nice dragon-shaped hotpot with separated sections for each soup. The mala soup looked bright red and oily, while the pork bone soup was milky white and thick.

Their Mala Szechuan broth has rich bold spices in it with a strong spicy kick (just look at its reddish color!). The aroma is very strong and it is flavorful but personally, I prefer pork bone broth since it is more comfortable and enjoyable for me. The mala Szechuan is too oily for me while the pork bone is savory,  has a perfect thickness and bold flavor. It is a great choice for less oil and non-spicy one.

Ingredients

Food presentation here is excellent, just look at the fancy looking hot pot pan equipped with two golden dragons on the side, the beef hangs on a wooden rack and the meatballs on the circular wooden stairs which makes this all very instagrammable.

For the main ingredients, we opted for US Angus Prime Short Ribs (IDR 138,000++). The beef was fresh with just the perfect thickness and it goes really well with hotpot, very juicy and tender.

In addition, we also ordered egg noodles, fried beancurd skin, mixed vegetables, fresh shrimp meatballs, and fresh prawn & pork dumplings. Overall the ingredients here is satisfying, especially the meatballs and dumplings which is fresh and tasty. Also the fried beancurd skin, it is so crispy and addictive!

We also ordered the Crispy Fried Pork (IDR 78,000++) and it turns out we don’t regret at all. The crispy fried pork is deep fried to perfection, so crispy and juicy at the same time, and so flavorful.

Overall, Shu Guo Yin Xiang has a great food presentation, legit good taste, and all of the meat was fresh and top notch. By the time we finished eating, the place was already very crowded and a queue has formed at the entrance & reception area. Pricewise, the restaurant can be considered pricey, but you got for you pay, an impressive hot pot experience and the freshness of the ingredients.