Hot Pot Invasion

I've been wanting to eat at Little Lamb since I first saw its sign on the way to Ocean Park. But my plans were always cancelled. First time, there was a Milo Marathon and very bad traffic in the area. Papa was also rushing to meet some afternoon deadline so we decided to eat at ShabuYaki instead. The next time was during the latest holiday -

30 June 2010 - inauguration of President Aquino.

I suggested the place to Stan, belatedly realizing that it was near Quirino Grandstand - the site of the inauguration.

Plans cancelled once again and we ended up

eating at home!

They had several other soup bases but most were spicy (ouch-y tongue - in Naima's words). There was a Chinese soup that you cook in a charcoal pot which sounded interesting but didn't get to try.Finally, we were able to eat there during one of Papa's trips to Manila. It was a lazy Sunday and there were not many patrons. Unlike other hotpot restaurants we've tried, the servings were huge and we over-ordered.

We chose the nutritional soup - yummy with loads of garlic, ginseng, dried longan and that little red tablet thing that's also in si-boot.

Thumbs up from Papa and Mommy and Naima. There are no packaged menus and you order all the items - including the sauces.

Many of the "Little Lamb" items were sold out. From the sauces, I liked the Little Lamb aromatic sauce which you mix with the soup base. The fried rice was also yummy - as with the mushroom balls.

Prices were not inexpensive - cheapest soup base was P200 with one (ingredients were lamb spine and something else) going up to P600 plus. During our second visit, we spent almost P2k for 10 people (including 3 kids) - not bad since we were all sated and still had a doggy bag. Definitely worth coming back.

Before Little Lamb, we also frequented YakiMix and King One. YakiMix has since expanded to another branch in Mall of Asia which was always full - no reservations taken. Meanwhile, Barney thinks that Little Lamb Hotpot was much better than King One.

As I mentioned, the Milo Marathon thwarted my first visit to Little Lamb and we ended up in Shabu Yaki. Lunch prices were excellent and their Korean noodles and the beef were very good. Highly recommended for the lunch specials!Finally, another hotpot/yaki restaurant I want to try would be Keyaki. This is relatively new - I think opened for almost 2 months. Still in my list of restaurants to try along Macapagal.