Dine Like an Expert: Hot Pot 101 with Rod Chu
Over dinner at ER-GE BBQ Hot Pot Buffet, we discussed the finer points of Chinese hot pot with a local expert.
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Dine Like an Expert: Hot Pot 101 with Rod Chu
By Bethia Woolf
You may have noticed the proliferation of hot pot restaurants opening in Columbus over the last couple of years—eight at last count. Most of these, with the exception of Coco Hot Pot, also offer Korean barbecue.
To help us understand the finer points of Chinese hot pot, we invited back our friend Rod Chu who was such a great resource on all things dim sum. In addition to growing up in a Cantonese family who loved celebrating special occasions with hot pot, Chu’s expertise comes from having visited almost all of the current hot pot restaurants in the city.
We joined Chu for dinner at ER-GE BBQ Hot Pot Buffet (6100 Sawmill Road), a restaurant that took over the former PJ Hot Pot space. ER-GE, which means “second son” and refers to the owner, is Chu’s current favorite local spot for hot pot. We’ll get into why later, but first, some basics.