Dinner at Haidilao @ Pavillion, KL (Saturday, 26 October 2019)

At the mention of Haidilao, one would visualize a long bee line outside the hot pot restaurant, with those seated at the waiting area nibbling on snacks of freshly popped caramel pop corns, ice cream and tong sui or getting a massage or even manicure. In some countries, customers can also have leather shoe cleaning service, as well as photo printing and massage chairs. Also, some stores have children’s play rooms and are accompanied by special personnel, like the one in Pavillion. All these are provided FREE by the international chain of hot pot restaurant as the waiting time can go up to two or three hours!

Would you wait that long just to dig into fish balls and meat from a hot pot? Definitely not for me and the hubs but he managed to secure a table through a friend. The girls were so excited that they're finally going to the much raved and famed Haidilao last Saturday. The girls, the mil and Sil went to the restaurant several hours earlier to experience the personalized service and freebies while they are at the waiting line. Hubs, Cass and I went later as Cass had piano class.

Haidilao Hot Pot is currently operating more than 466 direct-operated stores in more than 100 cities. Haidilao Hot Pot restaurants are in many countries, such as China (which is its country of birth), Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as Singapore, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries. Haidilao Hot Pot has more than 36 million VIP members and 60,000+ staff.


The queue on the Saturday evening that we went.



Interesting array of snacks at the snacks bar, free for customers waiting in line. The courteous staff kept inviting us to help ourselves to the addictive freshly popped caramel pop corn. Cass likes the cup ice-cream too.


A cozy corner with gigantic teddy bears for camwhoring while you wait for your table.



Free hand massage anyone?



Kiddos playroom with TV




Free snacks and appetizers. The red bean tong sui is prepped with health freaks, keto-ers and diabetics in mind as it's unsweetened.   Sugar syrup is placed in a container for those who prefer their tong sui sweetened.



The appetizers, desserts and condiments counter. You'll be spoilt for choice with so many different types of condiments and sauces from sesame sauce to curry sauce, crushed peanuts, garlic, coriander, chopped spring onions, chili oil, etc etc.


Diners are handed out hot wet hankies and an apron to wear. Ladies with long locks will be given a good quality hair tie to tie up their hair. Plastic bags to put your mobile phones to protect them from splatters are available as well.  For handmade la mien, your eyes will be feasted to a life display by a skillful staff pulling the noodles and even tossing the noodles over your head or right in front of your face, giving you a spurt of adrenaline rush just when you thought that the noodles would land on your hair or face but pulled back quickly by the adept la mien expert. 😁.

Not only are the la mien a sight to behold during 'production' but the meticulousness of the hand-pulled noodles impart a nice chewy texture.  Hubs loved the noodles so much that he ordered 3 plates and we were treated to the spectacular la mien pulling stunt 3 times!












Service is top notch - staff are courteous and helpful. They'll help you cut your birthday cake and even sing the birthday song for you. Some waiting staff are from China and I had a hard time comprehending them and needed my girls to be my translator.  Advantage of sending them to a Chinese school! ;)


Yummy addictive snack of deep fried fish skin. This is ordered from the menu though.


Everyone reveled in their sumptuous hedonistic hot pot dinner.  Total damage was slightly over RM1,000 for 10 pax.  Hubs ordered almost 20 plates of premium beef, lamb and pork and a plate of fresh scallops with countless plates of an assortment of balls, vegetables and some unique seafood. Some of the adults had beer.  The bill is slightly on the high side but taking into account the amount of food that the hubs ordered and the top notch service, the total bill is reasonable.  I definitely don't mind experiencing another round of entertaining hot pot meal provided hubs gets a pre-booked table again.

After our enjoyable dinner which left everyone with an expanded waist line, our friend treated us to the famous burnt cheese cake and matcha cheese cake at The Tokyo Restaurant @ Lot 10.  The slightly long stroll (in drizzle, which got us slightly wet) from Pavillion to Lot 10 (and then back to Pavillion) helped a wee bit in burning some calories before we dug into the sinfully to-die-for cheese cakes and tiramisu.








Haidilao Hot Pot
Level 10 Pavillion Elite,
168, Jalan Raja Chulan,
Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603-2110 0520
Opens daily from 10am to 3am