Hotpot with a twist

Sashimi plate at Hagaki. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The seafood sukiyaki at Hagaki has a lot more variations. The broth is really rich, and good choice for a warm-up in the winter. Cooked chicken is in it, ready to eat or to be dropped into the broth with seafood and vegetables. The chicken, as a base ingredient, is tangy and tasty, as it has been marinated before cooking for 20 minutes with onion and ginger, soybean sauce, shichimi, sake and mirin, says Wang Zhanguo, Hagaki sous chef.

The seafood sukiyaki platter is a generous array of seafood including salmon fish head, lobster and shellfish. It is also filled with mixed vegetables, including Chinese cabbage and a variety of mushrooms.

What we liked most in the sukiyaki is the salmon fish head, which is first bathed in sake and then blanched with hot water to remove its fishy smell. So the fish head doesn't need to be cooked for a long time: It can even be eaten half-raw, or be scalded in the boiling broth for a few seconds; then the tender texture of the skin, the cheek, and the wealth of collagen in the head will surely ignite your taste buds.

Dipping sauce for the seafood sukiyaki is blended with mizkan, lemon, and chili paste - another fusion of Japanese and Korean flavors.

The seafood sukiyaki, available until the end of March, is 338 yuan plus 15 percent service charge, but it's enough to feed up to three to four people.