<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2vvfNw_0wE60a3X00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2vvfNw_0wE60a3X00" width="2000" height="1333" ><figcaption>You can eat unlimited spring lamb, Angus beef, and seafood at Happy Lamb.</figcaption></figure>My pal and I recently fell in love with going to Flushing for Teso-X, a toy store with aisles of surprise boxes, the Queens Botanical Garden, which is packed with holiday events come winter, and hotpot — with one of the best options being Happy Lamb Hotpot! Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of other great hot pot restaurants in “Chinese Times Square,” from Haidilao to 37 Xiang and ChongQing Lao Zao. However, with an all-you-can-eat experience priced at $29 per person, Happy Lamb is hard to beat, and it has become our tradition to go there every weekend.Founded in 1987 with a single shop, this always-packed Mongolian chain now has over 7,500 locations all over the world. The Flushing location has five broths: original or spicy marrow broth, tomato broth, golden cabbage marrow broth, and pickled cabbage broth. If this is your first time, you can’t go wrong with their rich, original soup or its spicy version, and the pot can be split so everyone at the table can try two soups. When it comes to dipping ingredients, the thin-sliced spring lamb is a must, and they also have fish balls, mushrooms, mini sausages, and more!If you’re unfamiliar, hot pot is a popular Chinese dish with three basic components: broth, dipping ingredients, and sauces. You throw the ingredients into the pot, let them cook, fish them out, and enjoy them with the sauces. The taste is great, often with a slightly spicy kick. Hot pot is a group meal, so it is very affordable. Most places offer a refillable base broth and only charge for ingredient upgrades. The tripods of the Zhou dynasty may be the earliest prototypes of hot pot, where diners among the nobility each had a personal bronze pot above burning charcoal.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1dBIaM_0wE60a3X00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1dBIaM_0wE60a3X00" width="1600" height="1068" ><figcaption>Fresh slices of lamb and beef served alongside a hotpot broth at Happy Lamb.</figcaption></figure>You’ll enter the restaurant through a short hallway with a morin khuur, a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument, displayed on the wall. Inside, the waiting area is on the left with a few couches, and you can add your name to the waitlist at the kiosks on the right — check with the front desk first, but it never takes more than 10 minutes for a table. Further back, you can pick fresh veggies, seafood, and other hot pot essentials from metal tubs. We love their fresh slices of fish, lamb dumplings, cauliflower, and sticky rice balls with almonds inside for dessert!The service is excellent but not overbearing. The staff checks in occasionally to see if everything is going well, but they don’t linger. Some remember us and know our preferred tables (never in the corner where the air conditioners blow hard) and that we always go for the House Special. They may not speak much English, but they will make sure you get what you want and even chit-chat or joke with you. When you sit down, they come over almost immediately to ask for your broth preference — we always choose spicy and tomato — and your choice of meats, which for us is everything except garlic beef and chicken.What we love specifically about Happy Lamb is that they slice their meat very fine, so you just dip it into the broth for a few seconds, fish it out, and eat it with the sauce — delicious and addictive! Because the slices of meat are so thin, they don’t fill you up too quickly or get too overwhelming. All the ingredients from the rear of the restaurant are super fresh, and they replenish the tubs as soon as they run out. Top it off with some beer like Kirin or opt for their plum juice, which perfectly balances your palate throughout the night, or coconut juice — all with free refills.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=07uqwO_0wE60a3X00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=07uqwO_0wE60a3X00" width="1600" height="1067" ><figcaption>Crab legs, mini octopus, and other fresh ingredients at Happy Lamb.</figcaption></figure>Anything we don’t like about the place? The service is consistently excellent, the price is reasonable for what you’re getting, and it’s never hard to get a reservation — it’s not one of those places where you have to beg for a spot months in advance. The only complaint is that sometimes when you’re ready to pay, it takes a while for them to bring the check, take the cards, and return the receipts. You almost have to chase them down to make sure you can actually pay. The place also gets super busy as the night goes on, so that’s a small problem I can easily overlook.Overall, Happy Lamb is not the kind of place you’d want to eat at more than twice a month, and it’s definitely not a place to bring your vegetarian friends. However, if you love meats or are looking for a spot to entertain your out-of-town friends or celebrate a special occasion without creating a big dent in your credit card, this is the place to be. Ok, I think I ate way more meat than I should have tonight. I’m off to grab some coffee to wash it down now that I’ve finally finished this story.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

You Can Eat Unlimited Spring Lamb, Angus Beef, and Seafood for Just $29 at This Inner Mongolian-Style Hot Pot Experience in Flushing

My pal and I recently fell in love with going to Flushing for Teso-X, a toy store with aisles of surprise boxes, the Queens Botanical Garden, which is packed with holiday events come winter, and hotpot — with one of the best options being Happy Lamb Hotpot! Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of other great hot pot restaurants in “Chinese Times Square,” from Haidilao to 37 Xiang and ChongQing Lao Zao. However, with an all-you-can-eat experience priced at $29 per person, Happy Lamb is hard to beat, and it has become our tradition to go there every weekend.