Mo Mo Paradise in Taipei

The Taiwanese love hotpot cooking, and Taipei is hotpot central. In fact there are several hundred of these restaurants in town. It is popular even on hot days, when cooling shave ice becomes a favorite dessert. This type of shared-pot cooking came to China as early as the 600s A.D., and became established in the 1300s. Japan has its version--shabu-shabu, which is different in that each person gets his or her own pot and usually a kelp stock.

A special price is offered at Mo Mo Paradise for all you can eat in 90 minutes. It turns out I can eat quite a bit! Do-it-yourself cooking occurs right at the table in divided pots that each have two kinds of stock; spicy miso and tomato-vegetable are among the choices. It is lots of fun and includes thinly sliced meats as well as plenty of fluffy vegetables. Drinks include spiked fruit sours (the lemon-grapefruit was delish) as well as beer and sake. Desserts too—panna cotta, Mo-Mo pudding (which looks like flan), and a rich chocolate parfait sundae.