Fu Quan Fang's focus is a hot pot worth special mention as the soup base and cuts (not slices) of meat are a total escape from the traditional hot pot eatery. A large fish tank with fish, shrimp, and clams greets you at the entrance where two huge benches made from treated old wood sit waiting to accommodate the overflow of partons.

Fu Quan Fang has a house superior soup base, definitely my favorite, made from duck and meat stock. Then there is shanzhen tangdi, or ‘mountain treasured’, that consists of assorted mushrooms, wolfberries, scallion and ginger which is mellow and has a sweet taste. The tomyamkung, is a depraved version of a Thai soup, that consists of coriander roots, lemon, aromatic lemon grass and kafir leaves that are quite alluring to your sense of smell. Unfortunately the base doesn't have the pungent taste you would expect in Thai-style tomyangkung. The sate, a popular condiment widely used in the south in stir-frying dishes. It is known as shadie jiang in Cantonese, and it is said that this condiment was influenced by the rich and aromatic flavoring of Indonesian sate, or skewers of meat. The yuanyang soup base offers you two types of soup base.

We ordered tese sibao wan, the special four combo meatballs—beef, shrimp, cuttle fish and fish all of which are very light resulting from the meatballs heavy content of cornstarch. The dumplings 18RMB for 8 pcs stuffed with corn and pork are actually frozen Wanzhai dumplings, packages manufactured in Hong Kong. Surprised?

The sesame paste-based and soya dipping sauces come with several condiments—finely chopped scallion, fresh Thai chilies, coriander leaves, toasted sesame seeds and garlic chips.

I found the hand-cut superior beef at 88 RMB to be the most satisfying item in the house. Cut about one-quarter of an inch, the meat is very tender and delicious when dipped in the soy sauce.

For dessert, red bean shaved ice was ouir choice to end our meal. Some of the beans were a bit hard and the condensed milk had been mixed that made it a bit less tasty.