Snail Hot Pot 🍲🍲🍲

Hello, I'm alice, a girl who is addicted to food and loves blogging to share my life.. I always capture and recount every place and every dish I've experienced. This is the next post in my series exploring local cuisine. Let's begin. Yesterday, I visited the "Ốc Cười" (Smiling Snail) restaurant. True to its name, the specialty here is various types of snails, including both sea snails and freshwater snails. Located in the culinary hub of Sóc Sơn town, this area boasts numerous hotpot and barbecue restaurants and snack stalls. I learned about this snail hotpot spot through TikTok reviews; many TikTokers and food reviewers have visited and shared their experiences online, which is why I found myself here.

While I've written numerous reviews about Vietnamese hotpot dishes, including frog, chicken, Thai, mixed, Korean, beef, and fish hotpots, I had never reviewed a snail hotpot before. This is my first review of this dish. Snail hotpot features a completely different broth preparation and dipping sauce recipe compared to other hotpot varieties. To remove sand from the snails, they are typically soaked in rice water or chili water for about 10 hours, then thoroughly washed multiple times until all sand is expelled. Accompanied by a friend, I ordered a snail hotpot for two people..

The pot arrived with a flavorful broth containing dried tofu, and the server brought out a platter of ingredients for dipping, including large snails, tender beef, fresh vegetables, purple perilla, crispy tofu, snail sausage rolls wrapped in bamboo, and substantial cartilage sausages.

Once the pot started boiling, we added the snails, which only took about 5 minutes to cook. It's important not to overcook them, as they can become tough and retract into their shells. After the snails were cooked, we scooped them into a bowl to cool down. Using toothpicks or skewers, we removed the snail heads and dipped them into a special sauce made from minced lemongrass, ginger, fish sauce, chili sauce, sugar, lime leaves, dried shallots, and peanuts. These ingredients combine to create a fragrant and spicy sauce that complements the natural flavor of the snails.

The beef only needed to be dipped in the hotpot broth for about 2 minutes; if left too long, it could become tough and lose its sweetness. Despite not typically enjoying fried tofu, I found that I loved it when it soaked up the flavors of the hotpot broth. The fried tofu absorbed all the sour, salty, sweet, and savory flavors of the broth, encapsulated within a soft, smooth, and golden outer layer.

I also really enjoyed the minced snail stuffed in bamboo rolls, crispy and flavorful, eaten with bamboo leaves, which adds a unique and creative touch to the meal. When eating snail hotpot,purple perilla leaves are essential. Snail hotpot is considered to have cooling properties; according to Vietnamese folklore, consuming cooling dishes may cause stomach discomfort, so it's essential to balance them with hot ingredients. Purple perilla or piper lolot leaves are hot ingredients that not only reduce the fishy smell but also warm the stomach. In addition to snail hotpot, this restaurant also offers various types of snails such as cockles, scallops, blood cockles, oysters, sweet snails, horn snails, razor shells, midas's ear shells, all of which are quite expensive. As shown in the picture, a small plate of blood cockles with herbs costs , which I found quite regrettable due to the small size of the cockles despite the high price.

The total cost was about for two people, including snail hotpot and soft drinks = 18 usd. The outdoor space of the restaurant is quite cool, with layers of stones arranged underneath and many small trees to create a spacious and cool atmosphere. The restaurant's yellow lighting creates a warm feeling, reminiscent of a camping trip. Eating snails here feels like a mountain barbecue, as the restaurant's setup resembles a campsite.

An experience worth trying, I praise the snail hot pot, but I advise you not to order the side dishes, it's really expensive and not worth the money.

          **This article has images and content 100% from me @a-alice!!**

See you in the next post>!