Hungry Monster Tasty Pot opens in Great Neck

The Asian hot pot scene has been bubbling across New York, but a tiny spot in Great Neck is bringing the temperature up to a roaring boil. Hungry Monster Tasty Pot just opened in the former home of Nohara Ramen, which closed earlier this year. The new restaurant may just be the only place in the state that's completely dedicated to the art of Taiwanese hot pot. 

Hot pot is a major food group on the island of Taiwan, where it often goes by the Japanese name, shabu-shabu. In the capital city Taipei, hot pot is often served in individualized crocks for hungry solo travelers on the go. This utilitarian style was popularized across the U.S. by the chain TastyPot; its nearest location is in Boston.

The independently operated Hungry Monster Tasty Pot follows a similar format by providing a menu of personalized hot pots and brothless dry pots. First-time restaurant owner Yikui Cai hails from Taiwan and wanted to open a restaurant that's "fast and easy to have a meal," said manager Biscuit Wang. 

The sleek restaurant offers four ingredient "packages" that are customized by choosing a soup base and adding a starch (noodles, rice, rice cakes). Meals range from $14.99 to $19.99 and could feed two, although this place is so good you might want to share a few things. Get premade combinations or build your own hot pot, starting with a spicy soup base and adding ingredients like sliced beef, lotus root and enoki mushrooms. The bowl comes out bubbling and packed with so many fillings that it's a task for Wang to get it on the table without splashing. It has wide vermicelli noodles and ox throat sliced very thin with a springy texture. Adventurous eaters will find it light and pleasing. 

The broth itself is more flavorful in another selection, rattan pepper fish, one of four varieties of "sauerkraut fish" available. Rattan pepper is a fragrant green pepper that's popular in Sichuan Chinese cuisine, and this variety spices up the soup. The yellow pork bone broth is also plunked with buttery flounder ($14.95) and plump cubes of puffy tofu. It's satisfying, but if you have a large group you might add a braised pork and rice dish ($12.95), since this is a Taiwanese restaurant. The large crumbles of saucy pork are adorned with bright yellow pickled daikon rather than the typical hard boiled eggs, adding a snappy element to an ultra hearty meal. 

Hungry Monster Tasty Pot, 5 S. Middle Neck Rd., Great Neck Plaza, 516-472-0672. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

By Andi Berlin

andi.berlin@newsday.comAndiBerlin

Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.