Hot Pot - Dalian, China

I'll never get tired of stir-fried or steamed, but boiled is just another way to savor and salivate.

This is one of Dalian's better hot pot restaurants, specializing in a steaming Fish Hot Pot with broth so flavor-heavy it doubles as a soup.

Their specialty is thin slices of the smoothest, cleanest cuts of silver-skinned fish I've ever seen. The pot is a good size, just begging to be loaded with oysters, mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and all sorts of leafy, soup-soaking greens.

All the Beer tastes like water, but it goes nicely with the fishy flavors.

You go there for the boiling, but the smoking is not to be missed. The Smoked Chicken is woodsy and brown, thoroughly infused with a dark, heavy wood-chip essence.

The cold Jellyfish slaw sets a new standard. The finely chopped cabbage is blended and seasoned in just the right ratio and works as a contrast for the hot and heavy.

You can't go to Dalian and not try the seafood, and you can't go to China and not try the hot pot. Here's how you try both.