Tag: san mateo

Little Sheep is too popular. I knew that we were in for trouble tonight when we were a block away and I could hear the receptionist calling out ticket numbers over the loudspeaker. If you are coming with a large party (i.e., at least 6 adults), reservations should be mandatory. Otherwise, you risk not being seated.

Usually, we opt for the House Original Soup Base 祕製原味; however, some guests preferred the House Spicy 秘製麻辣, so we opted for the Half and Half Soup Base 秘製鴛鴦 which is served in a divided bowl. All soup bases are $3.75 per person, 12 and older.

As usual, we ordered several dishes of Supreme Lamb Shoulder Slice 極品羊肩肉 for $5.95 per plate and Hand Sliced Supreme Fatty Beef 手切極品肥肉 for $8.95 per dish. The meat from both dishes were sliced thinly and absolutely delicious. I know that we should explore the rest of the meat dishes, but those two are so good that we have not tried other variations of lamb and beef available. If you’ve already tasted perfection, is there any need to try anything else?

We also tried the Luncheon Pork 午餐肉 for $4.95, which tastes a lot like spam. Not sure that I will order that one again. We also ordered Sugar Pea Sprouts 大豆苗 for $5.95 and Tong Ho 茼蒿 for $3.95. Both of these are hot pot favorites. I wasn’t sold on the Sliced Potato 馬鈴薯片 for $2.95 or the Winter Melon 冬瓜片 for $.3.95. We also ordered the Frozen Tofu 凍豆腐 for $2.95, but I don’t think it had the same texture and flavor as when I had previously tried it at home. The U-Don Noodle 烏冬麵 for $3.95 and the House Special Wide Noodle 寬粉 for $4.95 were both delicious and a wonderful way to absorb the broth and finish off a meal.

If you bring some young children that have not developed an appreciation for hot pot, try the Egg Noodle 香港蛋麵 for $5.95, the Mongolian Pot Stickers 蒙古鍋貼 for $4.50, or the Mongolian Beef Meat Pie 蒙古牛肉餅 for $6.95. The Egg Noodle is just stir-fried egg noodle. Nothing too exotic, but has universal appeal. The Mongolian Pot Stickers are savory and delicious with a heavenly thick skin. But, you can find egg noodles and pot stickers pretty much anywhere. The Mongolian Beef Meat Pie is truly exceptional. But, it’s a flat “pie” that is filled with meat and crispy on both sides. It’s also a really large pie, so make sure you save enough room.

I returned to Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot last weekend. I still need a copy of their menu, but at least I took photos this time. Sunday night is hot pot night for no particular reason other than parking is free that night. This time, we ordered far less food than last time now that we had a better gauge on portion size and all. Like the first time, we stuck with the non-spicy broth and started with the lamb and beef slices. I really liked the tong ho this time. After its been cooking in the broth for some time, I totally loved the texture of the tong ho. We skipped the vermicelli and wide rice noodles, and opted for the udon instead. I think I liked the wide rice noodles the best so far. For variety, we also ordered the corn pancakes, which were sweet, and the meat pie, which was savory. I really wish I had the menu so I can post the actual names. When we left, the lobby was packed and I overheard that the wait time was about an hour. Glad we arrived early.

In general, I am a skeptic of boiled food. I have tried hot pot at many different places, both at restaurants and in the homes of friends and family, but never quite found it to my liking. So, I was in for an unexpected treat when I visited 小肥羊 Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot in San Mateo, CA for dinner recently. I really wished I had blogged about this sooner while I still had a copy of the menu. So, much of my recollection is based on my fading memory.

First off, you have a selection of soup bases to choose from. We opted for the non-spicy soup which runs for (I think) $3.95 a person. Then, you can pick from a list of various meats, seafoods, vegetables, tofus or noodles. For meats, we ordered the premium lamb shoulder slices and the supreme fatty beef slices. Both were absolutely delicious. Is it even possible for thinly sliced meat to absorb so much flavor from a quick swirl in the broth? I wasn’t curious enough to eat a slice of raw meat to see if it’s been pre-seasoned for obvious reasons. No satay sauce. No peanut sauce. I ate the meat as it came out of the broth and I was sold. We skipped the seafood. Is it even authentic to pass seafood as Mongolian cuisine? It is a land-locked country after all. For vegetables, we had tong ho and 大豆苗 pea sprouts. I’m not a fan of tong ho. Pea sprouts are more my type of vegetable. We also ordered enoki mushroom, which didn’t add or detract from the hot pot. For pasta, we had both the 粉絲 vermicelli and the wide rice noodles. I liked the wide noodles better. For desserts, we had the red bean paste yam cake. I wasn’t too fond of that because the yam cake had too strong a pumpkin taste to it.

However, the star of the night was the broth and the broth-infused lamb and beef. Outrageously delicious and a bit pricey, but entirely worth the experience.