The Best Hotpot Places in Manila to Warm Up Your Rainy Days

On rainy days that are colder than your ex’s heart, it’s good to warm up those insides with something hot and nourishing other than your stock of instant ramen. Hotpot or steamboat cooking is an East Asian eating tradition where different ingredients such as sliced meat, seafood, dumplings, and veggies are all cooked in boiling broth in a pot on the table and then dipped in sauce. It is said to have warmed many members of Chinese royalty during their winter months.   

Hotpot cooking is healthy, too, because there’s little to zero oil involved in the cooking process. There are a lot of hotpot places that have opened up in the country, where you can commune with friends and family especially on dark, gloomy days. They are relatively inexpensive, especially since some have adapted the “unli” concept of serving their ingredients.

Here is an unranked list of the best hotpot places in Manila where you can get your fill of good quality ingredients to simmer in piping-hot, umami-rich broth.

1| Red Lantern Solaire - Parañaque

If you want to have your hotpot in a hotel setting, there’s Red Lantern at the Solaire, which offers premium fresh ingredients for your eating pleasure. Among the items that you can simmer in its choices of savory broth are fresh vegetables, seafood, meat, and assorted dim sum. It currently has a Hotpot Your Way promo at P1,988+ per person, with a choice of three side dishes (one soup, one seafood, and one choice of beef, pork, or chicken) plus three choices of fish and meatballs, five veggies or mushrooms, noodle, dumpling, and sauce.   

1 Asean Avenue Entertainment City, Parañaque 

2| Shaburi Japanese Shabu-Shabu - Taguig

This tongue-twisting hotpot place has unlimited choices of meat and vegetables offered buffet-style and ready to be cooked in your choice of broth, ranging from the sweetish sukiyaki to the creamy soy miso. Those who want to go spicy can ask for the hot miso. If you want to level up your meat selection, it has wagyu on the menu. While you wait for your selections to cook, you can also grab appetizers such as chicken karaage and sushi rolls.  

Photo by SHABURI-SHABU.COM.

 

Uptown Mall, 36th Street, Taguig; shaburi-shabu.com

3| Gloria Maris Shark's Fin Restaurant in San Juan

The Chinese restaurant is popular among the Fil-Chi community because it offers a luxurious spread of traditional dishes with authentic ingredients. There is a designated area for hotpot dining at its new, bigger building in Greenhills, and the menu holds many choices of stock and ingredients, ranging from vegetarian options to the popular sate and hot Szechuan. The ingredients are offered in platter choices good for two to four people. Here, you can find vegetarian options, as well as lapu-lapu, beef, pork, lamb, abalone mushroom, and even ostrich meat.   

Photo by GLORIAMARISGH.COM.

Greenhills Shopping Center Ortigas Avenue, Missouri Street corner Connecticut Street, San Juan; www.gloriamarisgh.com

4| Wow Cow Fresh Beef Hotpot - Taguig, Pasay

As the name suggests, one of its specialties is the fresh cuts of beef that are included in the hot pot menu. Its lineup includes beef sashimi, shoulder, upper and lower leg, cow organ, tongue, nape, and ribeye, all of which are hand-cut and sourced from local farms for freshness. The hotpot is buffet-style, with unlimited meat and veggies, along with a few appetizers to get you started. If you are looking to get something hot post nightcap, you’re in luck because it is open until 3 a.m.  

Uptown Parade, 9th Avenue, Uptown Bonifacio, Taguig; Double dragon Plaza Tower 1 Ground Floor EDSA cor Macapagal Avenue, Pasay

5| Desgo - Makati

They say, if you want to eat authentic, you go where the locals go. In the case of Desgo, you go where the mainlanders have their hotpot. Here, there’s a menu for the Chinese clientele alongside the English customers. It offers a wide range of ingredients and serves Chinese beers like Tsingtao. A favorite among hotpot lovers, Desgo is open 24 hours because there's never any telling when a craving hits.

Washington Street Corner Dela Rosa Street, Makati

6| Healthy Shabu Shabu - branches around Metro Manila

What’s nice about Healthy Shabu-Shabu is that it has individual sets aside from its deluxe meat and seafood menus, so there’s no need to come in a big, hungry group of four or even eight. This is good if you are eating solo or if your companion is not just in the mood for hotpot and would rather have its (equally good) rice toppings instead.   

SM Mall of Asia, Pasay; Robinson Place Manila; Alabang Town Center, Muntinlupa; The Podium, Mandaluyong; Power Plant Mall, Makati   

7| Yue Lai - Manila

This restaurant has a rather old-school look, which suits its location in Malate. The prices are affordable and the food is authentic, with Chinese characters sitting alongside English letters on the menu. Aside from its amazing hotpot, there are a plethora of Chinese dishes here, ranging from seafood from an aquarium to old-timey favorites like Beef Hofan and Braised Sea Cucumber.

     

1668 A. Mabini Street, Malate, Manila

8| 4 Seasons Hotpot City - branches around Metro Manila

As part of the Vikings Group, you already now the hotpot and buffet restaurant has comfortable seating and generous servings. The presentation is decidedly more modern and takes into account how Filipinos like to eat—by gathering around the table, family-style, as they wait for the ingredients to cook. With its primarily Filipino market, its ingredients are not as exotic as other restaurants' and even its broth is skewed toward the Filipino taste. Its menu also includes a percentage of Vikings buffet favorites for those so inclined.   

Photo by FOURSEASONSHOTPOT.COM.PH.

SM Mall of Asia, Araneta Center Cubao, SM Southmall; fourseasonshotpot.com.ph

9| All 4U - Pasay

If you want a Korean take on the hotpot concept, there’s All 4U, which has among its items Korean Ramen and Korean Fishcake—yes, this is what you often see in those K-dramas. Its stock includes Kimchi Soup, Bulgogi Flavor Soup (a fusion Korean Bulgogi soup that’s sweet and salty), Pork Galbi Flavor Soup, Traditional Fish Cake Soup (traditional Korean fish cake soup), and a mild-flavored organic soup base made with kelp, Korean ginseng, graviola, moringa, garlic, ginger, and shitake, which it guarantees has no meat or bones nor chemical flavor enhancers. 

4F Newport Mall, Resorts World Manila, Pasay; https://www.rwmanila.com/restaurants/newport-mall/all4u-unlimited-grill-shabu-shabu

10| Shaburi Kintan - Makati

This Japanese shabu-shabu has a set menu where diners can choose Shabu, Special Shabu, Shaburi Wagyu, or Special Wagyu with premium chicken, pork, and beef cuts to go with their pot of preferred soup or soups. The restaurant space is split into the Shaburi shabu-shabu and the Kintan yakiniku and has an open appetizer and dessert buffet for both.  

Top of the Glo, 4/F Glorietta 2, Makati

11| Ganso Shabuway - Makati

Ganso Shabuway is supposedly the hotpot restaurant for people who don't like hotpot. It's a hip franchise from San Francisco. The concept is yin and yang: two broths (mild seaweed and spicy miso) sharing one pot, a wavy divider in the middle, with two dipping sauces (a creamier peanut and a bright ponzu). The beef is what makes it different: topnotch Angus or Kobe. 

2/F Greenbelt 5, Legazpi Street, Makati 

13| Supreme Beef Hotpot - Manila

Though it may not be as big-name as some of the other restaurants on this list, Supreme Beef Hotpot is the ideal stop for those big limited budgets but unlimited appetites (it also has unlimited deals for yakiniku). Apart from good beef, pork, and other delightful savories, Supreme Beef Hotpot is also famous for pairing its unlimited options with wine and whisky. 

670 T.M. Kalaw Street, Malate, Manila

With additional reporting from Sasha Lim Uy