Haidilao on a budget: I tried recreating the 'HDL experience' for my CNY reunion dinner and spent less than $20 per pax

Among Chinese New Year activities like house-visiting, dressing up to the nines and strolling the streets of Chinatown, my favourite is hands-down enjoying a comforting steamboat dinner with my family.

Despite the cult following that hotpot chain Haidilao (HDL) has amassed over the years, my family has never dined there together. For myself, I have only visited the restaurant thrice on special occasions.

Set on surprising my family this year, I challenged myself to recreate the HDL experience at home – complete with their add-on services and famed hand-pulled noodle performance.

The crucial step was getting all the ingredients and hotpot essentials ready. Considering the items I needed and the vast number of online grocery shops available, I thought it would be wiser to get my groceries delivered and save myself the physical exertion.

Boasting a delivery time within an hour upon check out and 24/7 availability, there was no good reason not to opt for foodpanda's grocery delivery service pandamart. What's more, a quick browse on pandamart assured me of their wide and fresh grocery selection, affordable prices and high product quality.

With pandamart as my choice of a grocer, I took a shot at recreating a top-tier hotpot experience at home on a budget and here's how it went.

Getting the ingredients

I'm a firm believer that it's better to be safe than sorry, so I decided to check out pandamart ahead of time to ensure I could get everything I needed for my hotpot dinner.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that pandamart had all the bases covered, including the soup base, vegetables, meat, seafood, and even condiments and desserts.

As my family is huge on seafood, my goal was to prepare a seafood feast that night. Thankfully, pandamart has a broad selection of seafood including the likes of fresh fish slices, jumbo prawns and scallops. I also made sure to get some greens (romaine lettuce and spinach), mushrooms, fish ball, and of course, something sweet to end the meal.

After filling my cart, I was all ready to close the app and leave the actual ordering for the following day when I realised that pandamart allowed deliveries to be scheduled ahead of time.

Great news, as I could simply schedule the delivery to arrive before my dinner the next day. With grocery shopping out of the way, it kept me from any unnecessary stressing and panic.

Setting up the condiments station

One of my favourite aspects of the HDL experience is the DIY condiments station as I'm a huge fan of the extensive selection, plus I enjoy experimenting with different flavour combinations.

Thanks to pandamart, I managed to get all the usual must-haves – garlic, spring onion, coriander, sesame dressing and chilli oil – and set up a simple condiments station for my family members to concoct their own dipping sauces.

While the amount I paid for the condiments came up to around $4 per pax, which is around the same as how much HDL charges, I get to keep the full-sized sesame sauce and chilli oil bottles for future use so I'll consider that a win!

Providing 'premium' services

Dining at a top-tier restaurant also means being treated with top-tier service without paying an extra cent. Simple add-ons like offering free hair ties and ziplock bags to keep your phones safe from soup splashes may seem frivolous, but from my experience, a little goes a long way.

Another notable perk that HDL provides is their complimentary manicure and pedicure service for customers. I busted out my mum's gel nail kit, and pampered my sister and mum with a cuticle care and manicure session before dinner.

With these add-ons to my family's hotpot experience, I can safely say that they were satisfied with being treated as kings and queens for that day.

Cracking mind-boggling puzzles

HDL is no stranger to long snaking queues and most people are willing to wait for hours before their turn. To keep customers occupied during their wait, I've noticed that the restaurant gives out puzzles which customers can complete in exchange for free dishes.

Going the extra mile to recreate this experience, I printed out a couple of CNY-themed puzzles for my family members to complete.

While there were no prizes for completing the puzzles, it was a fun way to get everyone into the festive mood quickly.

Performing the iconic noodle dance

Of course, how can I miss out on the iconic hand-pulled noodle performance? No matter how many times you've seen it, it probably still leaves you in awe each time. Not to mention, the chewy and tasty noodles make it even worthier to order.

Although the handmade noodles look simple enough to make based on recipes online, I decided to cut myself some slack and order an alternative from pandamart instead.

Our choice of carbs for the day was some spinach noodles – a comparatively healthier option given how much we were already indulging in.

My dad was game to try imitating the hand-pulled noodle performance, but no surprise there, it turned out vastly different from expectations. I have to say that we all got a good laugh out of it though, so it's probably still worth a shot.

Ending the meal on a sweet note

As someone with a second stomach for dessert, I'm a sucker for the complimentary desserts after a satisfying meal at HDL. Besides, their wide selection of fruits, ice cream, soybean curd and more often leaves me spoilt for choice.

It goes without saying that I was definitely including desserts in my home HDL experience.

Among the array of offerings available on pandamart, I went with Cornetto's mini ice cream cones and some fresh fruits. Lucky for me, pandamart offers ready-to-eat sliced fruits which allowed me to serve up a fruit platter without any fuss.

Go big or go budget?

My damage for this home hotpot experience totalled $97.08 and I shaved 10 per cent off my bill, all thanks to the pandamart promo code 'BUNLUCK' (with minimum spend of $60). This came down to about $17 per person, which is less than half of what an average person would typically rack up at HDL.

While I was unable to offer my family the full extent of the HDL experience, they were satisfied with the extra effort that I've put in – an upgrade from our usual home hotpot affair.

Some services like the hand-pulled noodles performance were tricky to recreate at home, so I suppose it's worth paying a premium to dine at the restaurant if you are keen on experiencing these add-ons.

But for the most part, other aspects could be easily customised and recreated at home. After all, the joy of having hotpot during the festive season is about sharing a good meal with your loved ones.

If that's all you are pining after, I'm sure a DIY hotpot meal at home can more than do the job.

For those keen on ditching the frills of high-end hotpot and try recreating your own version at home this Chinese New Year, be sure to check out pandamart for all your reunion dinner essentials, and place your order via foodpanda's website or mobile app.

Boasting great variety, affordable prices and high quality – freshness guaranteed – your hotpot reunion meal will be a breeze this year.

This festive season, get a set of foodpanda's Pau-Pau angbaos with every pandamart purchase, with no minimum spend. For greater savings, remember to also use the promo code 'BUNLUCK' to enjoy 10 per cent off $60!

This article is brought to you in partnership with foodpanda.

yukiling@asiaone.com

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