Haidilao (海底撈) is one of the world’s most famous hot pot chains. It has over 1000 locations worldwide, including 16 across Taiwan. But people don’t come just for the food – they come for the experience.
Expect dancing noodle performances, traditional entertainers, robot waiters, complimentary snacks, birthday celebrations, free manicures, and more.
Recently my Taiwanese family and I visited a Haidilao in New Taipei City for my wife’s birthday to see what it’s all about.
Welcome to Haidilao
Haidilao (海底撈) started out as a hot pot chain in Jianyang, Sichuan Province in 1994.
Since then, it has grown into one of the world’s largest Chinese restaurant chains. Today, Haidilao has more than 1000 restaurants worldwide, including around 140 branches in 15 countries outside China (including Taiwan).
The first Haidilao opened in Taiwan in 2015. There are now branches in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.
“Haidilao” literally means something like “scooping from the bottom of the sea.” 海底撈 is also a term from mahjong referring to winning with the final available tile.
The chain is known not only for its Sichuan-style hot pot but also for its attentive, and often theatrical, customer service, making it a big hit among families with young kids or anyone who enjoys some entertainment with their meal.
(read about other experiences that my kids have loved in Taiwan)
Dining at Haidilao: Key Things to Know
- Most of Taiwan’s Haidilao Hot Pot branches are located inside large department stores.
- They typically open at 11 AM for lunch and stay open until as late as 3 or 4 AM.
- You can make a reservation at any Haidilao by calling them, using inline (find the link under its GoogleMaps entry, easiest for one-time visitors), or using the Haidilao app (Apple / GooglePlay).
- Ordering is done on an iPad or by scanning a QR code on your phone, with English available.
- Each table typically chooses four hot pot flavors, which come in a four-square grid (四宮格)
- Then you order individual items like plates of meat slices, meatballs, seafoods, vegetables, and tofu products.
- The Haidilao Dancing Noodles (撈派撈麵) are the ones that come with a noodle pulling performance, so those are a must.
- You also get access to free unlimited cold appetizers, a sauce station, and Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
- Notify staff if you are celebrating a birthday and you will get an additional performance. They don’t ask for proof.
- The free manicure sounds great, but the wait can be very long. One trick is to stop by a few hours before your booking to get a number in the queue, or at least do it as soon as you arrive (not guaranteed).
Our Haidilao Hot Pot Experience
I’ll now walk your through our entire Haidilao experience, from booking to bellies full.
(my kids also loved our experience at the Meerkat Cafe in Taipei)
Booking and Arrival
I went to Haidilao with my wife’s family in Taiwan as our first meal out together when we came back to visit.
We made the booking at Haidilao Xinzhuang Honhui Plaza (here), which is not far from our family’s house in Xinzhuang district of New Taipei City.
We arrived a little early, so we stopped at Sunmai (金色三麥) downstairs in the mall for a few self-pour local craft beers (read about other craft beer bars in Taipei here).
Arriving at the ninth floor, we found Haidilao next to a branch of the gaming arcade Tom’s World, which mad it feel like we’d arrived at a small theme park rather than restaurant.
The large entrance foyer to Haidilao contained the check-in counter, ice cream station, a cocktail machine, and the manicure station.
We put in my daughter’s name for a complimentary manicure at check-in, but it never came up before we finished our meal.
In the past, before online reservations, there used to be long lines at Haidilao, so the manicures were offered as something to do while waiting in line. This is a little awkward now that you book your table in advance and don’t have to wait in line.
If the manicure is important to you, the local strategy is to arrive a couple hours early, put your name in for the manicure, then go shopping in the mall while you wait for your meal (and hopefully manicure) time.
Restaurant Vibe
There was no wait at check-in, and we were promptly escorted through the restaurant to our table. There were tables with bench seating for couples and for larger groups like ours.
The restaurant atmosphere was playful. The official Haidilao mascot, a panda wearing a red Sichuan opera-style hat named 小撈撈 (Xiao Lao Lao), was everywhere.
Haidilao goes big on birthdays and encourages people to spend theirs there, so we saw lots of birthday-themed signage and decorations. It felt a bit like we were entering an oversized children’s birthday party.
On the way to our table, we passed one of the several cat robot waiters as it was delivering trays of food to a table.
My kids always get a kick out of these guys and enjoy following them around or trying to get in their way.
Ordering, Appetizers, and Sauce Station
Once seated, a waitress appeared to explain how everything works and to ask us which soup bases we wanted – every table gets to choose four.
We chose cilantro and green peppercorn (香菜青花椒鍋), mala (the classic numbing-spicy Sichuan broth or 麻辣鍋), three delicacies (三鮮鍋), and pork tripe and chicken (豬肚雞鍋).
Each soup base is priced separately, ranging from around TWD 120-230 for a quarter pot. If you choose just two flavors (two half pots) instead of four quarter pots, the total price drops a little.
We then ordered various meat, vegetable and tofu dishes to our table using the iPad provided and by scanning the QR code with our phones, as needed.
While waiting for the foods to arrive, we visited the expansive appetizer and sauce station.
The complimentary snacks included cold appetizers common in Taiwan like tofu and wood ear mushroom salad (涼拌豆干木耳), edamame (毛豆), pickled daikon (醃蘿蔔), and fresh fruit (dragon fruit, grapefruit, and guava).
As for sauces – if you’ve been to any hot pot place in Taiwan before, you know the drill. Each person prepares their own little dish of sauce for dipping hot pot items into just before eating.
Options to make one’s dipping sauce include soy sauce, vinegars, Taiwanese satay sauce, chili oil, garlic, green onions, fresh chilies, and more.
Our Meal
Since my family members handled the ordering, I didn’t keep track of every single item we got.
We definitely had a variety of meat slices, tripe, shrimp paste, fresh tofu, mushrooms, and water lotus (水蓮). Each item came with the option of half (better for couples) or full order (for larger groups).
Full orders ranged anywhere from about TWD 240 to 800, depending on the item, with Japanese wagyu beef going for a staggering TWD 2888 (a hard pass from my budget-conscious Taiwanese family).
The items were delivered in stages by the robot cats and we did our thing, choosing who wants which item cooked in which soup.
My favorite was the cilantro and green peppercorn broth, which is likely a Taiwan-specific flavor and reflects Taiwan’s current cilantro craze.
The classic mala broth is a must if you enjoy spicy food, while the two creamy white broths were rich without containing any dairy.
I did my part by ordering myself a Haidilao branded beer off the iPad. I have to say, it was not bad!
The Haidilao Dancing Noodles (撈派撈麵) are a must-order item. Not only are they cost effective, at TWD 88 per order, but also they come with the signature noodle pulling performance.
On one visit the performer whipped the noodles to within inches of my kids’ faces; another time he challenged my father-in-law to catch them with his chopsticks.
Traditional Dance and Happy Birthday Song
At some point during the middle of our meal, we were suddenly interrupted by loud music and the banging of drums.
A performer appeared in traditional costume and many children gathered around for the show.
The dancer was similar to what you might see in a traditional street parade, except there were touches added for the kids.
The dancer’s face mask kept changing to new designs, from Spiderman to funny ones like a watermelon face. He gave the kids high fives and made them laugh.
Because we had notified the staff on arrival that it was my wife’s birthday (even though her actual birthday was still two weeks away – they never asked), our next event was the happy birthday song, which is a signature Haidilao experience.
Emily was given a birthday crown and happy birthday sign. Then a team appeared for the happy birthday song.
If you’ve never heard it before, “Happy Birthday” is sung faster and more enthusiastically in Chinese than in English, often enticing people to clap to the beat.
The crew here was particularly boisterous, attracting the attention of much of the restaurant.
Later, my sometimes-silly father-in-law decided to really test their birthday policy. He jokingly told one of the waitresses that it was his birthday too.
She laughed it off, but a little later she returned with a surprise birthday gift anyway – a pair of handheld massage sticks! Needless to say, he was delighted.
(read about the time we took my father-in-law to the Matsu Islands, where he had be stationed as a soldier decades before)
Is Haidilao Worth It?
If you’re simply looking for the best hot pot in Taiwan, I’d point you toward one of the country’s many outstanding local hot pot restaurants instead. The food at Haidilao was good, but honestly no better than many others.
What makes Haidilao memorable isn’t the broth or the beef – it’s everything happening around the meal.
If you’re looking for an experience, especially if you’re visiting with children, celebrating a birthday, or simply want a meal you’ll remember, Haidilao is in a league of its own.
Between the dancing noodles, robot waiters, traditional performances, complimentary snacks and ice cream, birthday celebrations, and attentive service, eating here feels more like an attraction than a restaurant.
Would I go every week? Probably not. But for a first-time visitor to Taiwan, or anyone wanting to splurge on a fun evening with family or friends, I think Haidilao absolutely lives up to the hype.