Mon Land Hot Pot, Sichuan Hot Pot, San Gabriel, CA

251 W. Bencamp Street #C,
San Gabriel,
CA 91776

GOOGLE MAP

After trying out Lug Gi a couple of weeks back, me and two of my friends went out to try Mon Land, which I have seen highly rated over at Chowhound. This place is right across from the big grocery store and mall (The Great Mall of China) with the big Sam Woo in it on Valley, and while it doesn't have many parking places, you could always park in the mall (if you are willing to fight for your parking spots). Initial impressions were very good, as the place is quite large, and has indoor and outdoor seating, and the hot pot is put into an electric heater that is rescessed into the table, instead of being on top. Also for the Yin and Yang Pot, which has hot and spicy on one side and a tasty not spicy broth on the other, is actually bent in the middle so it looks like an actual Yin and Yang symbol, it is just too bad the food is not as good as at Lu Gi, and especially the hot pot is not nearly as spicy. (Sorry I forgot my camera, so no pics this time, but you can see some over at My Culinary Adventures).

In fact the spicy side is barely spicy at all, it is tasty, and I think I did find a Sichuan peppercorn in it, but it wasn't nearly as spicy, and doesn't come with the almost molten tofu that was so incredible over at Lu Gi. And the sauce isn't as thick, in fact it seem they use the same soup base, as they filled our pot from the same kettle, it just me the extra spices they throw in that make it spicy, and it does have quite a few floating tiny red chillis and some nuts that I could not identify as well as whole cloves of garlci.

Their order form is better than the one at Lu Gi though, as it has English on it, so you don't have to give your order to the waitress. We ordered one each of beef, pork and chicken, and then ended getting another order of each as well. We got some cabbage and some ah choy, deep friend tofu (almost buttery and delicious)and an egg tofu (also quite good, but with a much silkier texture), shrimp balls and fish balls (both of which like Lu Gi, get cooked, but don't really absorb any flavor), as well as an onion pancake and a lamb pancake, and everything was quite good.

The onion pancakes were tasty, though not nearly as tasty as the ones as Dumpling House, but the Lamb ones filled with a Lamb burger was quite tasty, and I would certainly try those again.

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The place is pretty good, with tasty food, and good service, and is much larger than Lu Gi, but I liked the Hot Pot itself much better at Lu Gi, so we will have to make a trip back before it gets too hot.