Dong Lai Shun

Dong Lai Shun is a Muslim hotpot (or some say steamboat) place in Beijing. I had always thought that they only had one branch at Wangfujing, but was pleasantly surprised to come across it in Xizhimen, where I was staying. The Wangfujing branch has set meals, which give you a bit of everything. At the Xizhimen branch, everything had to be ordered separately which was a bit of a pain since the servings weren't exactly small.

Even the hot pots could be ordered separately! The prettier ones were more expensive.

The ugliest hotpot was the cheapest.
They also serve proper dishes here.

But I was there for the meat...

Eventually settled on one serve of beef, spinach, golden mushroom and bee hoon. And beer is a must-have with hotpot - Yanjing dunsheng beer is really good.

The dipping sauce had to be ordered separately (again, another deviation from the Wangfujing branch). The coriander leaves and spring onions went well with the sesame sauce....

As did the chilli oil.

I also had a serve of lotus root....it was a good meal, but difficult to eat alone. Total price around RMB 130.