I LIKE it that Shu Spicy Pot takes you step by step into that “mala” (numbing hot) dining experience for which Sichuan cuisine is best known.

In this way, there is less risk of your palate seizing up from those lethal Sichuan peppercorns and chilli peppers.

This Sichuan hotpot restaurant in Publika Kuala Lumpur lets you choose the level of spiciness for the mala soup or mala dry pot.

There is also a choice of pork bone soup and tomato soup for a non-spicy hotpot.

Then you pick out the various meats and seafood in the menu before going to the bewildering array in the showcase of 50 fresh vegetables, cooked ingredients and noodles to choose what you want.

My first encounter with hot chilli was in the garlicky and zesty Cucumber Salad (RM7.90) and in the delightful Century Egg Salad (RM13.90) drizzled with a piquant dressing, with pickled ginger in the centre.

The heat of chilli tempered down with sweet bites of the fried mini mantou (RM5.90) served with a dip of condensed milk (sugar usually relieves the discomfort of hot chilli).

Gently spiced and crispy fried chicken wings were a yummy appetiser before we moved to the mala dry pot which had been recommended, and two hotpots with tomato soup and pork bone broth.

For these three pots for the six of us, we had chosen: prawns, squid, clams, pork shoulder, pork belly, pig’s stomach, cheese meatballs, lobster balls, tofu, three different types of mushrooms, pumpkin, spinach, big head beansprouts, yam, long beans, black fungus, lotus root and potato starch noodles.

The mala dry pot released a burst of numbing heat from the Sichuan peppercorns in the mala sauce of the devilish peppercorns, chilli peppers and various spices simmered with oil which I got used to and enjoyed as I savoured the different ingredients in the pot.

Slices of eringi mushrooms, shimeji and shiitake mushrooms, pumpkin, long beans, black fungus, prawns, sausage and pork were fried with peanuts, making a delicious dry pot.

Even better were the smooth transparent sheets of potato starch noodles which had soaked in all the flavours of the sauce in this pot.

The basic stock for the hotpots is the pork bone broth which is simmered for days with pork bones and meat to extract their sweetness.

To this mala spices are added for the mala soup. The tomato soup is cooked with this broth too, together with different types of tomatoes, red dates and wolfberries, which deliver sweetness to this piquant soup.

The soup evolved as we ate, drawing sweetness from the clams, pork, squid, mushrooms, pumpkin and my favourite ingredient: mushy, powdery yam. The soup tasted so good.

The pork bone broth is tailored to tamer palates, for those who like unclouded flavours expressed with fresh ingredients, and for children.

The wagyu fried rice is scrumptious at Shu Spicy Pot with its wok aroma, small chunks of wagyu, sausage, garlic and spring onions.

The lamb la mian stands out too with its springy noodles coated in the flavourful sauce cooked with lamb fillet, ginger, garlic and spring onions.

The different soup bases are RM4 each, the vegetables and cooked ingredients are RM4.80/100g, clams and squid RM7.90 per portion, pork belly and pork shoulder RM8.90.

There are also signature set menus for two to six people.

Shu Spicy Pot is at Publika, 02, Unit A4-G1, 1 Jalan Dutamas 1, Solaris Dutamas Kuala Lumpur. Contact 03-6419-9015. The restaurant is visible at road level as you turn into the car park on the main road. 

There is another outlet at B-G-18, Jalan PJU 1/43, Aman Suria, Petaling Jaya. Phone number: 012 682 2871. – September 19, 2020.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.