Ina Hotpot by Inagiku 稻‧火鍋

Cuisine: Chinese hotpot
Price: HK$450 without drinks or the service charge.
Ambience: don't make the mistake — as we did — that because the other Ina (and Inagiku) restaurants serve Japanese food, the "hotpot" in the name means the more refined Japanese-style shabu shabu. It's not. There are some Japanese-style broths and ingredients, but what they serve here is the more robust Chinese-style hotpot.

Recommended dishes: we had a half-and-half pot, with beef brisket and turnips in clear soup on one side and spicy Sichuan peppercorn soup on the other (HK$178). We ordered one of the cheapest beef options (HK$198) and it was tender, with a deep meaty flavour. Sliced lamb (HK$158) tasted more like mutton, which I liked but my guests didn't particularly care for. Deep-fried fish skin (HK$68) was crisp and didn't taste too fishy. Sichuan-style spicy beef dumplings (HK$68) had delicate wrappers and flavourful filling. Handmade beef balls weren't what we expected (with a bouncy texture); these were like the ones you get at dim sum — fluffy, and seasoned with dried tangerine peel.
Pros: they offer an interesting selection of creative "balls" and dumplings, as well as plenty of organs including pig liver, kidneys and cartilage, and chicken testis.
Cons: the black pig and radish dumplings (HK$68) were too salty. We had to ask several times for the staff to top up the bubbling broth as it evaporated. They were out of many hotpot broths, including the ones we wanted most — the soya bean milk soup, and sesame sauce and miso soup.
What else? In addition to the hotpot, they also serve sashimi, snacks and desserts.