Taste

Venetian’s new hot pot spot offers a multisensory experience

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The X Pot’s Wagyu Feast with A5 Miyazaki Gyu beef
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One of the many things we’ve all missed during this pandemic is communal dining, since there are few things as pleasurable as sharing a meal with friends and family. Hot pot dining, which has its origins in China, centers around a steaming pot of broth, into which you—and everyone at your table—dip meats and vegetables and cook them to your liking. It’s less a meal than an experience, one with a very Eastern sensibility. But in recent years, it has caught on in the West, too, and its most recent entry is the X Pot, located in the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian.

The X Pot is a collaboration between restaurant group Xiang Tian Xia andChubby Cattle, which brought the hot pot concept to Chinatown in 2016. With pandemic restrictions in mind, there are now individual pots for each diner (though there are also family-sharing options). There are six soup bases from which to choose—most popularly chicken, lobster and the special spicy pot.

Once you select your base (which is constantly refilled by a server or special robots that scoot around the room), it’s a matter of choosing what you want to put in the pot. You can go a la carte and choose from a vast selection of meats including Prime Angus Ribeye ($38), wagyu short rib cubes ($26 for 3.5 ounces), Kurobota pork belly ($16); specialties like crispy bean curd rolls ($9) and seaweed knots ($9); and seafood options like tiger shrimp ($23 for six pieces) and live lobster (market price).

The menu is vast, so if you’re new to the concept, consider opting for the Chef’s Tasting Menu ($148 per person)—a multicourse gastronomic journey that lets you sample the best the X Pot has to offer, including a selection of seafood and A5 wagyu from Miyazaki Gyu, a top purveyor of wagyu produced from Japanese black cattle, known for snowflake-like marbling and tenderness. And don’t worry if you’re not sure how long to cook each item; your server will guide you through the process.

Beyond the food, there’s even more to experience at the X Pot, with high-definition 360-degree projections, live performances, thematic soundscapes and an interactive light show presented throughout the evening. It’s truly a meal for all the senses.

THE X POT Grand Canal Shoppes at Venetian, 866-888-9768. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 5:30-11 p.m.; Friday, 5 p.m.-12:30 a.m.; Saturday, noon-4 p.m., 5 p.m.-12:30 a.m.; Sunday, noon-4 p.m., 5-11 p.m.

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