盧記麻辣火鍋

🥵 Lu Ji Spicy Hot Pot
📍 No. 47, Dongfeng St., Da’an Dist., Taipei City
🕰️ Opening Hours: Weekdays 17:00–23:00 | Weekends 11:30–23:00
📅 Dining Date: June 11, 2025 Evening | For 4 people
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👀 We came here as a group of four, encouraged by online reviews saying Lu Ji is good. We ordered the dual-flavor pot (spicy + pickled cabbage). The spicy pot was pleasantly hot and flavorful, truly the highlight of the meal. However, the pickled cabbage pot was quite bland, tasting like boiled water with cabbage 🥲

🥩 For the main dishes, we chose American beef flank ($330), Taiwan’s premium plum pork ($360), and Taiwan’s Matsusaka pork ($380). The overall meat quality was stable, with the Matsusaka pork having a nice crunchy texture and pleasant fat aroma.

🧊 The Spicy Trio ($450) could be refilled, but the duck blood tofu was rather ordinary, lacking flavor from the braising. The meatball options (Miyazaki beef ball, taro meatball, and egg dumpling) were unexpectedly impressive, showcasing the natural flavors of the ingredients, making them little unsung heroes of the meal.

😓 There was a small incident where the staff accidentally splashed chili oil on my family member while adding tofu, and they only apologized without further follow-up—very poor handling of the situation.

💰 The total bill was $3,795, averaging about $949 per person. The price was reasonable, but the overall experience was somewhat disappointing.

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In summary: If you simply want to eat spicy food, it might be worth considering, but in terms of overall refinement and service, Zhan Ji still comes out ahead 🫠