5 days ago
A Chinese Chain Lands in the East Village With Individually-Sized Hot Pots
A restaurant chain from China serving individual hot pots is making its American debut this year. Sanku Maots'ai will be found in the East Village at 167 First Avenue between East Ninth and Tenth streets, as reported by EV Grieve. The fast-casual restaurant is aiming to open in mid-June.
Sanku Maots'ai focuses on the Sichuan dish of maocai, spicy individual hot pots filled with broths, meat, tofu, seafood, vegetables, rice, and noodles.
People can select ingredients from a buffet table and collect them into their baskets. Then they choose a style of broth ranging from tomato to mushroom to spicy Sichuan. Then everything is given to a staffer, where the hot pot bowl is assembled and cooked in the kitchen, then served to the customer. People pay for the maocai by the total weight of the ingredients beforehand, $3.99 for every 100 grams. Dishes are available for dine-in, takeout, and delivery services.
The New York Sanku Maots'ai is run by Chinese American restaurateur Sky Bai, who also runs Flushing restaurant Beijing Hot Pot. The restaurant is taking over what was the former Tatsu Ramen, which closed in 2021.
This will also be Sanku Maots'ai's first time in North America. The restaurant company started in Chengdu, China, in 2008. It has grown with over 300 locations in China, and its first out-of-the-country ones are in Germany, with restaurants in Berlin, Cologne, and Frankfurt as of 2024, and recently, New Zealand. There are plans to open 20 to 30 across Europe. Outside of New York, the company wants to expand to Chicago and Seattle next.
Another Chinese chain, YGF Malatang, opened its first New York location of the restaurant in 2024, also in the East Village. The import serves similarly styled individual hot pots.
As always, there's been a glut of international restaurant companies opening their first American locations in New York. China-based Luckin Coffee is also opening in the East Village; the China-based Hey Tea is opening across the city; and Japanese bakery I'm donut? also expanded into Times Square recently. And for debut New York locations, Jamaica-based chain Juici Patties opened two city restaurants in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
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