呷哺呷哺推出高端餐飲品牌"湊湊" 火鍋味道更棒!

Business at Xiabu Xiabu's recently opened sibling CouCou seemed brisk even before it officially began operations on the last day of June.

雖然6月底纔開始正式營業，但是呷哺呷哺的一家名爲湊湊“姊妹店”看起來異常火爆。

The new restaurant offers hotpot and tea-culture elements. The average cost per person is 120-150 yuan.

這家新店以“火鍋加茶憩”的形式向顧客提供服務。人均消費在120至150元左右。

The dimly lit setting, wooden partitions and flowing evaporating steam make for a cooling environment and create a strong sense of privacy. The soothing ambience seemed to magically dissipate the heat from the boiling pots.

店內幽暗的燈光，木質的板壁以及嫋嫋的火鍋煙氣營造了一種十分安靜的氛圍，讓人感到十分自在。這種舒緩的氣氛彷彿有一種魔力，於無形中驅逐了沸騰火鍋帶來的熱量。

Soup offerings include Taiwan-style spicy, lamb spine, beef shank with tomatoes, Sichuan-style numbing spice and mushroom. We opt for beef shank with tomatoes and Taiwan-style spicy bases, and we're surprised at how much treasure is hidden under the bubbling surface.

該店提供了包括臺式麻辣鍋、羊蠍子鍋、番茄牛膝鍋以及川式珍鮮菌菇鍋等各種口味的鍋底。我們選擇了番茄牛膝鍋以及臺式麻辣鍋，並且吃驚的發現鍋底裏面還隱藏着衆多配料。

Don't be fooled by the dark red color of the Taiwan-style soup: It won't paralyze your tongue and make you jump up and down the way Sichuan and Chongqing hotpot can do. Instead, the soup offers a slight tingle.

不要被臺式火鍋底料的暗紅色油湯所嚇倒，這種湯不會像四川和重慶的火鍋那樣，讓你的舌頭麻痹，讓你上躥下跳。相反，這種湯底只是微辣。

Big chunks of translucent beef tendons are immersed in the tomato-red soup and emerge soft but resilient. I try handmade Da Hong Pao (a rock tea from Fujian's Wuyi Mountain) with no syrup and no ice, and a special Taiwan drink integrating white gourd and black tea. Both were very refreshing and complemented the meaty and slightly oily hotpot foods.

大塊的牛腱浸泡在番茄湯中，晶瑩剔透，吃起來肉質鬆軟但卻彈性十足。我還嘗試了不加糖和冰的自制大紅袍（產自福建武夷山的一種名茶）和混有冬瓜和紅茶的一種臺灣飲料。兩種飲品味道清新爽口，恰好祛除了吃火鍋的油膩感。

The noodle-like spinal cord of deep-ocean cod is an eye-opener, served in a bowl on a bigger plate filled with flowing white smoke. It melts in the mouth and carries no unpleasant fish odor. Our server says it's full of collagen and thus a dream food for girls who long for fair skin. One 50g portion of spinal cord requires 150 kilograms of deep-ocean cod, which is in limited supply and thus not always available.

該店推出的麪條狀的深海海鮮菜品魚骨髓更是讓人大開眼界，這道菜被盛放在碗鍋中，用盤子呈上，打開蓋子之後白煙嫋嫋。品嚐時入口即化，肉質鮮美，絲毫沒有任何魚腥味。服務員表示，這道菜富含膠原蛋白，非常適合女孩子食用，有利於保持肌膚白皙嫩滑。這道50克的骨髓大餐每道需要300斤的深海鱈魚才能加工出一份，每天限量供應。

The scampi from New Zealand steals some limelight from the hotpot feast, because I don't put it in the pot but eat it raw - it is delightfully sweet with an edge of salty seawater.

來自新西蘭的龍蝦在這場火鍋盛宴中也是必不可少的一道名菜。當時我並沒有將其放入鍋內，而就是生着吃，味道也十分鮮美，帶有一絲鹹鹹的海水味道。

The seafood "lollipops" made of ground fish and shrimp mixed with fennel and carrots were springy, with very little starch added.

此外，該店還推出了一種海鮮棒棒糖，這種糖以魚蝦作爲原料，混有茴香和胡蘿蔔製成，再裹上少量的澱粉，嚐起來非常有嚼勁兒。

Just like the owner promised, I don't leave with a nasty hotpot smell, which might be proof of the soup's natural herbal ingredients or the restaurant's very good ventilation system. Either way, it's a nice dining experience and a bold break from its Xiabu Xiabu siblings.

正如該店老闆所說，吃完火鍋之後不會留下難聞的火鍋味，這要歸功於這家店純天然的草本湯料以及良好的通風設施。在湊湊吃火鍋是非常愉快的一次用餐體驗，其在原來呷哺呷哺火鍋基礎上做出的大膽創新非常成功。