Shuang Shuang (Chinatown)

• We both knew what was to be feared most as we walked towards this new restaurant
• This restaurant has brought a new concept to town with their hotpot
• It is the individual hotpot with choices of ingredients for broth served on a conveyor belt that sounds attractive
• A bowl of steaming hot broth was quite enticing
• Queueing was really not what we were looking forward to
• You could constantly feel the draft and even with the hot broth
• Shuang Shuang is great for a meet up if there is just the both of you
• The colour of the egg yolk was beautiful but the jasmine floral scent tea egg was slightly strange
• Pig's ears with xinjiang spice £
• Deliciously crunchy and the cumin spice was quite fragrant
• Portion sizes were small and we were both astonished when the dessert was served
• A golf ball size of soy milk ice cream with sprinkles of candied ginger
• It was nice with a very mild &ldquo
• I did feel the space was similar to being in an aeroplane with the plastic bib
• Into which ingredients are then cooked in it at the table
• Shuang Shuang is a hot pot restaurant with a difference
• Could be quite confusing/overwhelming is actually rather simple &ndash
• No more having to feel awkward that raw meats and fish mixing with raw vegetables can be seen as unhygienic by some
• Even though they are all going to be cooked in constantly boiling water
• The kitchen is completely open and visible for all diners to see
• So we can be sure that the raw ingredients served are not scraps from other tables
• I went to this restaurant with my English friend yesterday for lunch and she really enjoyed the whole experience
• I had the extra spicy Schezuan pepper soup called Mala soup on the menu and my friend had Black Bird soup which was the traditional Chinese black chicken soup broth
• Shuang Shuang tries to make hotpot more approachable to newcomers by fiddling with this format
• My family tradition is to have hot pot on New Year&rsquo
• The living steams up and the windows covers up with clouds of condensation
• Chinese New Year is just around the corner
• What sets Shuang Shuang apart from the rest of Chinatown is not only it&rsquo
• 60 for 3 of us and all we had were 12 small plates of food and 3 non alcoholic drinks
• I highly recommend the black chicken and the dipping sauces were pretty nice
• The house prawn ball and beef slices were my favourite from the belt
• The choice of noodles to finish the hotpot with were extremely lacking and by far their weakest offerings
• The flat rice noodles were all broken pieces and the others tasted strongly of preservatives
• The portions were small and some of them were ridiculously expensive
• 15 each and we were only 1/2 full
• 1.60 but there were only a few leaves
• My Instagram and Twitter feeds suddenly fill up with variations of the same photo from the newest restaurant to hit the London food scene
• Brightly lit and filled with lots of chatter
• Soho and Chinatown are my most frequented neighbourhoods in London
• The hotpot is a beautiful thing
• You'll be hard pressed to find something more sociable and interactive and it is for this reason that I have such fond memories of ones from my childhood
• The meal starts with the broth selection of which there are 4
• This is followed by a selection of sauces before you are set free on the conveyor belt of glorious plates (prices from £
• Highlight plates for me were the Japanese marbled beef and the salmon which were both incredible
• Pair these with some noodles and veges and you've got yourself a rather lovely meal
• I do caution that with any meal like this
• Ll be hard pressed to find something more sociable and interactive and it is for this reason that I have such fond memories of ones from my childhood
• I have been here with my family twice now and it they never disappoint
• That interest was also partly to do with its location
• Means it's generally impractical to really make the most of with even two people
• Most hot pot joints in London (for example the rather good Little Lamb) are geared towards tables of four upwards
• You order what you hope is enough food huge plates of curled wafer thin beef
• The staff did not help enough with familiarising with the hotpot theme
• They should at least propose ingredients that match with each other
• Not the manager who is not only confusing but was also refusing to help the customer just because he did not want to walk back several steps to the cashier and issue a new check
• Because people are seated facing each other
• Because the broth was too spicy and also too salty

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