Haidilao Hot Pot London Piccadilly Review: Our First Haidilao Experience

We have had plenty of hot pot over the years, usually on special occasions with family and friends. Most of those experiences have been in Malaysia or at home in the UK, where we can set everything up around the dining table and cook as we go.

So when our daughter encouraged us to try Haidilao Hot Pot in London, we were curious.

We had heard so much about Haidilao. The food is obviously important, but the restaurant is also famous for its service and the whole experience around the meal. Waiting lounges, complimentary snacks, games, manicures at some branches, massage chairs, shoe shining, entertainment and even tableside noodle performances are all part of the Haidilao story. The company itself describes these additional services as part of its distinctive customer experience.

This was going to be our first Haidilao in London, so we decided to do a little homework before going and that turned out to be a good idea.

Booking Haidilao Piccadilly for Lunch

On our previous visit to London, we had tried to get into Haidilao but found getting a booking difficult. This time we decided not to leave it to chance. We booked for 11am on a weekday, giving us plenty of time before our theatre show at 2pm.

An early lunch might sound a little unusual, but it worked surprisingly well. We were not rushing, and because we arrived right at opening time, we were the first customers.

The Piccadilly restaurant is in the basement, with the reception and waiting area on the ground floor. At busier times, this waiting area becomes part of the Haidilao experience rather than simply somewhere to stand around.

There is a queue-number system, so you can wait comfortably until your number is called. The waiting area has complimentary snacks such as popcorn or crisps, mints, complimentary herbal tea and water. There are also board games, cards and other activities to keep people occupied including an arcade machine. And this is only the relatively simple version of the Haidilao waiting experience.

The Haidilao Waiting Experience

One of the things that makes Haidilao different from the average hot pot restaurant is the attention given to customers before they even reach the table. Depending on the location, Haidilao restaurants have offered services such as manicures, shoe shining, massage chairs, children’s play areas and other entertainment while customers wait. These services are not identical at every branch, so it is worth checking what is available at the restaurant you plan to visit.

Given that space is a premium right in the centre of London, the Piccadilly branch did not have a particularly impressive waiting area. There were stool like round seats and tables, self servings stations for drinks, small packet snacks, mints and sweets while you wait.

We didn’t actually get to experience the waiting lounge because we were the first customers through the door. In this case, arriving early had its advantages. Instead of sitting around waiting for a table, we were taken straight downstairs to our table.

What Is Hot Pot?

For anyone who has never tried hot pot, the concept is quite straightforward. A pot of simmering broth sits in the middle of the table. You choose your soup base, then order ingredients to cook in the broth yourself.

Hot pot is also known as steamboat in parts of Southeast Asia and is closely related to the Japanese style of shabu shabu. The fun is in choosing what goes into the pot.

You can keep things familiar with sliced beef, pork, lamb, chicken, prawns, fish, vegetables, mushrooms and tofu. Then there are the more adventurous choices such as duck tongue, pork intestines, pork liver, fish maw and duck blood.

There is also a substantial selection of carbohydrates, including glass noodles, yam vermicelli, rice cakes, konjac noodles and Haidilao’s hand-pulled noodles. There is also the standard steamed rice, friend rice with egg, potato noodles and the more common udon noodle and instant noodle.

For a bigger occasion, you can go much further with seafood platters featuring fish, cuttlefish, tiger prawns, mussels and giant scallops. This is part of what makes hot pot such a sociable meal. Everyone can choose ingredients according to their own preferences and cook them when they are ready.

Doing Our Homework: The Haidilao Set Menu for Two

We had already decided that we didn’t need the all-you-can-eat option. Our waitress kept pointing us towards the unlimited buffet, which is available at a fixed price per person. It certainly looked tempting, but we know our own appetites.

At our age, we simply aren’t capable of eating an unlimited amount of hot pot! Instead, we had found a Haidilao promotion on the restaurant’s Instagram account offering a Set Meal for 2 for £46.99, available on weekdays before 5pm. That sounded much more suitable for us.

At £46.99 for two, it was more expensive than the same Set Meal for 2 at Haidilao at The O2 (£39.99). However, given that this was central London, right by Piccadilly Circus, we were happy to pay the premium. We also decided to add the Golden Broth Fish Maw Chicken Hotpot for another £6, giving us a more interesting second soup base and extra chicken and fish maw.

One thing we didn’t realise when we found the promotion was that the small print stated that it was only available to logged-in Haidilao members. There was a slight problem. We were in the basement, there was no cellular signal and the restaurant’s Wi-Fi happened to be down. Our waitress kindly waived the membership requirement for us. That was another example of the helpful service we experienced throughout the meal.

For reference, the All-You-Can-Eat mid-week, before 5pm option would have set us back £32.99 per person, turning our visit to £66 before drinks and service.

Promotions and set-menu choices can change, and the available options may differ between Haidilao branches, so check the current offer before visiting.

Choosing Our Hot Pot

The ordering process was surprisingly easy. We were given a tablet and could select our choices from the set menu.

For the £46.99 Set Meal for 2, we could choose:

• 2 soup bases
• 1 snack
• 2 carbohydrates
• 2 main dishes
• 4 side dishes
• Self-service seasoning station for each person

We chose:

1. Soup Bases

Tomato Soup Base: This was our first choice. Tomato hot pot broth is familiar, comforting and relatively mild.

Golden Broth Fish Maw Chicken Hotpot + £6: This was the more unusual choice and one we were particularly interested in trying.

The golden broth came with chicken and fish maw, along with goji berries and dates on the side. There was also a little lettuce used as a garnish around the raw ingredients. This is offered uncooked, like most hot pot dishes so it went into the Golden Broth soon after it arrived.

Unfortunately, our waitress was so efficient at clearing the table that the lettuce disappeared before we had a chance to put it into the hot pot! It was a small thing, but it meant that we effectively had no vegetable selection with our meal.

2. Our Main Ingredients

From the mains and side dishes sections of the menu, we picked the two main protein selection:

Kurobuta Pork: The thinly sliced pork cooked quickly in the bubbling broth and was tender and easy to eat.

Selected Lamb Slices: Lamb is one of our favourite hot pot ingredients, so this was an easy choice.

We also had:

Luncheon Meat: A classic hot pot addition although our equivalent when eating steamboat in Malaysia would be frankfurters. Still we can see the appeal of luncheon meat in particular, when we got to know about Korean Military Stew (a kind of spicy Korean hot pot).

Duck Blood: For something a little different.

Beancurd Roll: A favourite for absorbing all that delicious soup.

3. Sides

And for the side:

Fried Crispy Pork: This was already cooked, so it could be enjoyed straight away rather than waiting for it to cook in the broth. Other side options, also known as snacks in the menu are fried mini buns (man tou), fried spring rolls and sweet potato fries.

4. Carbs

No less important are the carbs, for this we were allowed two so we went with Konjac Thread and Huoguo Noodle, the later translate to Hot Pot Noodle.

Our Hot Pot at the Table

Once everything arrived, the table quickly filled up. This is one of the pleasures of hot pot. You don’t simply sit down and eat a prepared meal. Ingredients arrive raw or ready to cook, the soup is bubbling away and everyone gets involved.

Our waitress was particularly helpful here. She even prepared her favourite soup seasoning for us so that we could start with something more flavoursome. We each ended up with two bowls of especially tasty soup, based on our chosen soup bases.

She also kept an eye on the pots and topped up the soup when the levels dropped. For first-time Haidilao diners, this sort of help makes the experience much less intimidating.

The Haidilao Sauce “Seasoning” Station

The self-service seasoning station was probably one of our favourite parts of the meal. For the Set Meal for 2, we had access to the sauce station for both of us. This would normally be charged separately, so it adds quite a bit of value to the set meal.

There are numerous sauces, seasonings, herbs, toppings and other ingredients available. You can create your own dipping sauce from scratch or follow one of the recommended combinations displayed on the board. Our advice?

Don’t get too enthusiastic on your first visit!

There are so many choices that it is tempting to mix everything together. We suggest starting with one or two recipes and making a small portion. Taste it first, then go back for more if you like it. You can easily get carried away.

The sauce station is also a good example of how Haidilao turns a straightforward hot pot meal into more of an experience.

Complimentary Cold Side Dishes and Desserts

It is not immediately obvious but the seasoning station also offered us access to unlimited cold side dishes and dessert. Apart from the seasoning, there were also cold side dishes, fruit and desserts. We particularly enjoyed the seasoned seaweed, king oyster mushrooms and crispy peanut cold dishes. The nachos and baby tomatoes weren’t really our favourites so we gave those a miss.

There were orange slices and other little dishes available and we found ourselves going back several times. After all the hot and savoury food, the oranges were particularly refreshing but it was the dessert that we enjoyed the most.

We tried the ice jelly, which had a pleasant konnyaku-jelly texture. It was cool, light and refreshing, and we ended up having several helpings. There was also mung bean porridge, although we didn’t try that one.

By the end of the meal, we had certainly eaten enough.

And Then There Was More

Live Kung Fu Noodle Show

While we were eating, the table next to us received one of Haidilao’s famous hand-pulled noodle performances. A member of staff arrived with the dough and performed the noodle-pulling routine beside the table, complete with music from a Bluetooth speaker.

It was fun to watch. We had heard about the dancing noodles before visiting, but seeing it happening beside us made it much more real. Apparently there are also different ways of triggering special performances and treats, including birthday celebrations and secret codes.

So there is clearly more to discover on another visit.

It’s More Than Just Hot Pot

This was probably the biggest thing we took away from our first Haidilao visit. We already knew how hot pot worked. We didn’t need someone to explain the concept of putting meat, seafood, vegetables and noodles into boiling broth.

What we hadn’t experienced before was the Haidilao approach to hospitality. The restaurant is designed around the idea that the meal itself is only part of the experience. The waiting area, complimentary snacks, games, sauce station, attentive service, special performances and little touches throughout the meal all add to it.

That reputation for service isn’t accidental. Haidilao has long positioned service as one of the things that differentiates the brand, with complimentary waiting-area amenities and small touches for diners built into its restaurant model.

Our waitress was attentive without becoming intrusive. She helped us choose, prepared the first seasoning combination for us, kept an eye on the soup and topped it up when needed. She also offered us two small pots of vanilla ice cream, one each, after our meal which we kindly refused as we were too full. You can blame it on the ice jelly dessert we had one too many off.

For people trying hot pot for the first time, that is particularly useful.

How Much Did Our Haidilao Lunch Cost?

Here’s what our bill looked like:

That works out at approximately £29.80 per person, including the service charge.

The £46.99 set itself works out at just £23.50 per person before the additional soup and service charge. Also worth noting that we did not order any drinks. We were offered glasses and a jug of water at the table.

For a central London lunch, we thought this was reasonable, especially considering everything included with the set. The unlimited buffet might make more sense for bigger appetites, but for the two of us the set meal was more than enough.

What We Would Change Next Time

The main thing we would change is simple:

We would order some vegetables.

We somehow managed to choose an entire hot pot meal without selecting a proper vegetable dish. The lettuce that came with the golden broth would have helped, but unfortunately it was cleared away with the raw chicken and fish maw before we could cook it.

Next time, we’d definitely add some leafy vegetables and mushrooms. The options would suit vegetarians too with options like white radish, sweet potato noodles, black fungus, pak choy, fried tofu puff, chinese dough, potato slices, chinese cabbage, tofu and mushroom platter.

We’d also be tempted to try more seafood, and venture beyond the set meal list. The menu has plenty of options, and seeing other diners’ hot pots around the restaurant gave us plenty of ideas for another visit. And perhaps next time we’ll try the hand-pulled noodles ourselves.

Is Haidilao Piccadilly Worth Visiting?

For us, yes. We’ve eaten hot pot many times, so we weren’t going to Haidilao because we needed to discover what hot pot was. We went because our daughter encouraged us to experience Haidilao specifically. And we’re glad we did.

The food was enjoyable, but it was the combination of food, service and entertainment that made the visit memorable. The Set Meal for 2 was also a good choice for us. At £46.99, it gave us plenty to eat without committing to an all-you-can-eat meal that we simply wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of.

The central London location does come with a premium compared with some other branches, but if you’re already in the West End, the location is very convenient. It also makes sense before or after a theatre show. We booked for 11am and had plenty of time to enjoy lunch before our 2pm performance. After all that food, we also enjoyed our stroll to the theatre.

Our First Haidilao: Would We Go Again?

Definitely. For us, the appeal isn’t simply the novelty of Haidilao. It was a genuinely enjoyable lunch, and the service made the experience feel different from the hot pots we normally have at home or with family in Malaysia.

If you’re already familiar with hot pot, you’ll appreciate the huge choice of ingredients and the ability to customise your meal. If you’ve never tried hot pot before, Haidilao is also a good introduction because the staff are happy to guide you through the process.

And if you’re visiting London for a theatre show, shopping trip or day out around Piccadilly Circus, it’s an interesting lunch option when you have enough time to enjoy it properly. Just remember to book ahead, particularly if you want to visit at a popular time. Our 11am weekday booking worked perfectly for us.

We arrived as the first customers, had plenty of time to enjoy the food and experience, and walked out well-fed and ready for the theatre. For our first Haidilao in London, it was a very satisfying experience.

Would we return? Absolutely — and next time, we’re ordering vegetables.

Haidilao Hot Pot London Piccadilly

Restaurant: Haidilao Hot Pot
Location: Coventry Street, Piccadilly Circus, London (open in Google Maps)
Address: Unit 4, 5 Coventry St, London W1D 7DH

Cuisine: Chinese hot pot
Our visit: Weekday lunch, 11am
Set menu: £46.99 for two at the time of our visit
Our total: £59.61 including £6 soup upgrade and 12.5% service

Best for: Groups, celebrations, families, first-time hot pot diners and pre-theatre lunches
Booking: Recommended, particularly at busy times using booking link.
Our verdict: a fun, filling and memorable first Haidilao experience

Prices, promotions, menu choices and complimentary services can change. The Set Meal for 2 and the prices above reflect what was available to us during our visit. Check the current offer and conditions before booking.

Haidilao UK Instagram – @ukhaidilao

 

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