詹記麻辣火鍋 西門大世界

📍Wanhua District, Taipei City (near Ximen MRT Station)
A spicy hot pot restaurant that maximizes the modern retro Taiwanese style 🕺🏻🍲🏰

Zhan Ji Spicy Hot Pot is one of the most famous and hardest-to-book hot pot restaurants in Taipei! After many years, eating here again still feels great 🤤

The newly opened site at Ximen Grand World is a star gathering point 🎶, and Zhan Ji has transformed it into a space with various Taiwanese flavors.
Before the opening, I saw extensive promotions for this restaurant. Upon entering, I found that the dining area is all located on B1. The entire space is not very large, but the tables are well-spaced apart, providing a comfortable dining experience 🎨

The service is also quite attentive; the staff informs you about each dish as they serve it, and they are considerate about guest dining conditions, such as adding soup or clearing empty plates.

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Order items:
▫️Dual-flavor hot pot base ($500):
Suitable for 4-6 people, we ordered the spicy pot at a mild level. For those who can handle spice, it should be considered mildly spicy, but the aroma of the hot pot is rich without being harsh on the throat.

It includes a fixed amount of duck blood and tofu (remember it was 10 pieces each; we ended up ordering additional half portions (duck blood $110, tofu $70)

Zhan Ji's duck blood is truly unforgettable, with a very tender texture, no gamey taste, and it absorbs the spicy flavor well. The tofu has large holes and absorbs soup very well.

▫️American Angus beef short ribs ($620):
Beautiful marbling, rich in fat, can be cooked in under 10 seconds, very tender, and impressively good quality meat.

▫️Selected Taiwan pork shoulder ($370):
This dish can be ordered at a member discount price of $99. We later ordered two more plates.
The meat quality is also very nice, and you can taste the aroma of the pork.

▫️American beef brisket ($470):
This dish has more marbling than the short ribs!

▫️Taiwanese Matsusaka pork ($390):
Cut into long, thin pieces, it has quite a nice chewiness.

▫️Taiwanese beef balls ($210):
Large and very chewy, when bitten into, there's meat juice inside—a recommendation!

▫️Mushroom and meat dumplings ($160):
Very delicious! These are exceptional egg dumplings with fragrant egg skin and a filling of mushrooms and meat creating a different flavor.
Although now seeing the price of 40 each seems a bit too expensive 🙁

▫️Mystery egg vinegar ($15):
This is a type of dipping sauce that feels like it's just raw egg + vinegar + garlic; we all thought it didn't have much flavor when mixed.

▫️White chrysanthemum and plum juice ($259):
The name is cute, haha 🐶
It's actually white chrysanthemum and black plum juice; the base is black plum juice, and the restaurant prepares a cup with white chrysanthemum and some herbs.

▫️Taro meatballs ($75) half serving
▫️Raw tofu skin ($110)
▫️Baby bok choy ($140)
▫️Water lily ($100)
▫️Napa cabbage ($100)
▫️White rice ($20)

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Would I visit again? Yes!
Aside from the difficulty in booking and the relatively high prices for a filling meal, the overall dining experience was wonderful. The atmosphere, ingredients, and service did not disappoint 🤩