When you think of multinational restaurants, you probably think of companies that took American fast food to a global market. We were indeed the first, but of late the tide has turned in the other direction. Jollibee is introducing Americans to Filipino-style noodles and garlic sauce; Guatemala-based Pollo Campero is challenging American chicken chains; and Korean, Japanese, and Brazilian companies are hustling for a share of the American market.
The most surprising contender may be Little Sheep, a company founded in Baotou, Inner Mongolia in 1999 that now has over 300 restaurants worldwide. Their specialty is Mongolian hot pot, a style of cooking in which bowls of steaming broth are brought to your table so that you can dunk meats, vegetables, dumplings, and seafood. A Little Sheep has been open in Torrance for over a year, and I recently stopped in to banish the chill of a cold afternoon. They offer a weekday lunch special for $9.95, an array of the most popular meats and veggies with your choice of a spicy, mild, vegetarian mushroom broth. You can even pick two, which arrive in a bowl divided down the center, a clever way of offering variety.
The broth was delivered already hot to the burner at my table and began bubbling merrily, and the platter of sliced lamb, vegetables, mushrooms, meatballs, and shrimp arrived mere moments afterward. It was obvious that Little Sheep had tapped into several tactics for winning American customers: instant gratification, variety, and the opportunity to play with your food.
It was a delightful lunch, though not without a few quirks. One was that the mild broth contained some chunks of spices that should not actually be eaten; it would have been nice if someone had mentioned this before I tried to do so. Those spices contributed to the woody and exotic flavors in the soup, so they earned their keep, but they’re powerful when taken straight. As for the spicy broth, I had ordered it medium and was still a bit overwhelmed, and I like hot food. On my return visit I ordered it mild, and even if you can knock back the Texas chili or Thai curry, I’d advise that you do the same. There are various sauces that you can add if you want it hotter, but nothing you can do to reverse that.
Lunch was so good that I brought the family back for dinner, and we were faced with the challenge of figuring out what to have. The selection is encyclopedic, from simple items like free-range chicken and cuts of beef, pork, and lamb to goose intestine, exotic mushrooms, an array of dumplings, and all sorts of Chinese greens and noodles.
We chose a few familiar items and several that we had never tried before: lamb leg, chicken, lamb meatballs, lotus root, chrysanthemum leaf, mixed mushrooms, and two kinds of fish dumplings. To round out the meal we also ordered barbecued lamb skewers, wood ear mushroom salad, and a sesame pancake.
A small card at each table has helpful hints about how to use the hot pot, and it recommended briefly cooking the thinly sliced meat in the style of Japanese shabu-shabu – swish it in the broth with your chopsticks until it changes color, then take it out. (It takes about five seconds.) The meatballs, dumplings, and vegetables take longer, and only after you have cooked all of those should you add the noodles, which will soak up broth that has been flavored by everything else. Our lamb slices arrived almost immediately, and we amused ourselves cooking them while side dishes arrived. The wood ear salad had a nice mushroom flavor and interesting moist crunch but contained enough raw garlic to be a bit overpowering.
I might have this again, but would avoid it before going to a social gathering. The lamb skewers had a nice flavor of cumin and pepper but were slightly overcooked; the sesame bread was perfect. This isn’t the sesame flatbread found at Mongolian barbecues, but a small round loaf that is crunchy on the outside and moist within, with speckles of green onion and a rich sesame flavor. It’s a must-try item, and is a perfect companion to the soup.
Dumplings, mushrooms, and other items arrived while we devoured the bread – things arrived at a fast clip, though we never felt rushed. The meatballs were delivered atop slices of cucumber, and after a moment of puzzlement we added those to the pot, though I’ve never cooked cucumber before. It was surprisingly good, and after a few minutes so were the meatballs. We had ordered two types of fish dumplings, one ring-shaped like tortellini, the others teardrop-shaped and filled with both fish and fish roe. If you enjoy fish roe at all you should get these, but beware – the hot, salty roe can burn your tongue if you don’t let it cool for a moment after removing it from the pot.
The lotus root was nutty and crunchy, mushrooms as delightful as simple earthy flavors can be, but the surprise was the chrysanthemum leaves. I had forgotten these were edible, and they’re delicious – slightly like mustard greens, with a gentle sharpness and herbal bitterness. Finally we added the noodles – we had chosen the homemade wheat variety over yam and other possibilities – and enjoyed the richly flavored broth.
Our meal for four people ran $84.00 with tea, and was a delightful experiment in flavor combinations. This Chinese restaurant powerhouse was bought by an American company last year but has not compromised on their flavors. It’s an interesting change from the historic pattern: we have sent forth junk food to the world, and have received something much better.
Little Sheep is at 2575 Pacific Coast Highway in Torrance, in the shopping center at the northeast corner of Crenshaw. Open daily at 11:30 am – 9:30 pm except Fr-Sa, close 10 pm. Full bar, parking lot, wheelchair access ok. Website at littlesheephotpot.com, phone 310-517-9605.
