Boiling Point - Gardena

I love all forms of hot pot but I really have to want it. Hot pot makes you WORK for it, and picking through the endless array can be a pretty daunting task.

Boiling Point takes the work out of it for you. Hot pot for the lazy or not-too-particular, everything comes in a pre-portioned pot with a soup of your choice. Most things are fully cooked by the time they arrive so once the pot boils (and it magically NEVER boils over!), they spare you the periodic poking to make sure things are cooked through before you take a bite.

The "House Special" is a great choice but not for the faint of nose. Stinky tofu makes this soup special, and it's a smell you can taste. Fermenting soy beans break down into broth, permeating, saturating the back of your mouth and refluxing through your nose. The broth soaks into crisp Napa cabbage, and surrounds the enoki mushroom, while the Japanese fish cake stays fishy but sweet. The pork meat balls play with alternating savor and stink, and the clams add their brine.

The Taiwanese Spicy Hot Soup is not for the faint of heart. Red-hot with only one option for spice level, it stings and burns, coating the cabbage, clinging to every string of instant noodle, and soaking the slices of Angus beef. Even the cuttlefish rings become rings of fire. The pork blood rice cake is grainy with jello, and the inside remains rather impermeable, unlike the frozen tofu sponge.

Whether it's hit-you-in-the-face hot or mild-to-moderate comfort, Boiling Point delivers both. AYCE can be highly overrated, and their prix-fixe pots dole out perfect portions. Add-ons are optional, but believe me, you get ample options here.