Chinese: Quickly
I admit I’m a bit of a sucker – I actually pay for the privilege to cook my own food. Geez, I barely cook my own food at home, and here I am cooking at a restaurant. You know you’ve been there – hibachi, “Mongolian” barbecue, etc. This time, I’m talking about Chinese hotpot at Quickly. So how good of a cook am I? (ha ha)
Quickly really does set everything up for you – the first step is making your own dipping sauce from a bunch of ingredients laid out buffet-style:
Ok, so a few apple points subtracted for the blobs of sauce on the table – were those my doing though? Hmmm. I put together my extremely precise and mildly haphazard concoction of scallions, cilantro, fish sauce, garlic, sesame paste, soy sauce, chili oil and..some other “yummy things”:
With my dipping sauce ready, my eating buddy and I ordered the “Surf and Turf” special, with sirloin beef and three choices of seafood. We went with scallops, squid and shrimp:
The surf and turf platter also came with a ton of veggies and tofu, fishballs, fish cake, noodles and other goodies:
AND it came with a free bubble tea – sweeet! In my excitement over bubble tea as well as scoring a good deal, I forgot to take a picture of this – whoops.
Once the broth was bubbling, we added the veggies, noodles and started cooking the meat. The beef was sliced so delicately that a little dip in and out was all that was needed to cook it!
A quick dip in your own customized sauce, and hey guess what? I AM a good cook? (Har har). Yeah, I know – everything’s prepared for me beforehand, but I’ll still take credit for it 
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We supplemented our surf and turf hotpot with a spicy crispy chicken appetizer:
This chicken was addictive. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did the lick-the-finger-and-dip-in-crumbs move here. I’m not saying I did that, I”m just saying I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did. Yup.
This meal was satisfying, fresh, and at $25 for 2 people (we ordered an extra bubble tea) – a very good deal! You also get the added bonus of thinking you worked hard for your food, ha! For a fun and yummy meal, give Quickly a try!
Quickly
237B Grand St. (@ Bowery)
212.431.0998
Yeah, you’re paying to cook your own food, but it’s still a pretty good deal. 
Yum! I think this is a great idea, and it's affordable too.
1that sounds really fun and tasty.
2oh wow. I thought Quickly was just a milk tea and small snacks store. That's how it is in CA. boo. we need one of those here. Your sauce looks good!
3how fun! that crispy chicken looks delish!
4I love this idea! I need to go here. I'm a big fan of Bubble Tea too.
5Seriously affordable! I like the idea of cooking the food myself, it's fun!
6I think that's really cool, actually!
7affordable, fun, and yummy… perfect combo! I want to try that app!!! Looks seriously good.
8Looks like a fun thing to do at a restaurant for a couple! Looks like good food too!
9i'm really into this kind of cooking
must find a similar place next time i'm in la.
10I love hot pot. That chicken looks amazing!
11wow, I never think to order appetizer at hot pot but that chicken looks GOood. To me half the fun in hotpot is concocting the sauce! Love the "sha cha" sauce
12This looks like fun! But I'm sure I'd mess it up and concoct something terrible if left to my own devices.
xoxo
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