Feel the Burn: Liuyishou Hotpot Turns Up the Heat

Hot pot has become an all-encompassing term for a cook-at-the-table concept with some type of bubbling broth and meats that cook before your eyes. But purists will tell you it’s a Chinese invention. With over a dozen hot pot restaurants within a 30-mile radius of the Richardson-Plano-Carrollton-Frisco-North Dallas bubble, you’ll find everything from Japanese-style shabu-shabu (translation: “swish swish”) to all-you-can-eat Korean feasts. Where you end up is layered, regional and spicy, depending on where you dip your chopsticks.

Forever in search of the most unique hot pot experience, we landed at Liuyishou, TikTok-famous for its beef tallow teddy bears. Equal parts adorable and ephemeral, these little spice bombs are as tasty as they are gimmicky. They sizzle, melt and infuse your broth with buttery heat in a way that’s oddly soothing and totally ASMR-worthy.

The origin story is a bit more organic. Founded in 2000, Liuyishou Hotpot grew from a single storefront on a side street in Chongqing, China, to over 1,300 locations worldwide, landing in Plano in 2024. The roots of mala hot pot ("ma" meaning numbing from Sichuan peppercorns, "la" meaning spicy from dried chili) are believed to trace back to dockworkers and ship laborers who needed a cheap, warming way to make offcuts of meat more palatable. Their solution? Lip-tingling, sinus-clearing spice that hits like a soul-food version of dragon breath. Step inside and you're immediately enveloped in a wall of aroma: bold, fragrant and lingering like the perfume of an Indian restaurant turned up to 11. It’s all-you-can-eat, but everything is ordered from the waitress (meats, vegetables and noodles), not a buffet, which helps curb the urge to overdo it like at other spots around the metroplex. The pricing can be a little confusing: there’s a per-person base ($27.99 per adult), plus an additional charge for the soup base (choose from four), and extra fees on weekends, holidays or for premium items. There’s also an all-you-can-drink option (alcoholic or not), but the entire table has to opt in.

Liu’s House Special Spicy Soup is the only one that comes with the teddy bear (pro tip: ask to put it in yourself or you might never see it), and unsurprisingly, it’s the most expensive at an additional $14.99. It’s oil-based, rich and buttery from the beef tallow, packed with a mix of spices that taste like a Chinese apothecary in a bowl. With four layers of heat — mala, chili pepper, peppercorn, and Szechuan — you’ll be playing reverse treasure hunt to dodge the landmine bites of fire.

When asked what to do if the heat became overwhelming, the waitress laughed and suggested fruit or tea. A more practical fix? White rice and a trip to the DIY sauce bar. A custom blend of oyster sauce, garlic, cilantro and green onions delivered a cooling counterattack.

Proudly leveling up to a respectable medium on the Texas spice scale, the signature mala tingle still set mouths ablaze. It’s an intense, hardcore heat that lingers long after the last bite, but undeniably worth the burn. Even if your stomach gets its revenge later.