Dec. 28, 2018

A Chinese restaurant coming to Sioux Falls will feature something new for the city: hot pot cooking.

Diners in the as-yet-unnamed restaurant will select raw meats and fresh vegetables from a buffet and cook them in a steaming pot of broth at their table, said Heidi Jiang, who helps manage Minnesota restaurants owned by her friend Hui Wang.

“The pot is really, really spicy or not,” Jiang said. They’re planning to install 10 hot pot tables, which can seat up to six people, in the former Tawooki Mediterranean Chop Chop space in a retail center on West 41st Street.

Customers also will be able to order Szechuan-style and other Asian dishes in another part of the restaurant. Many of those meals also are “nice and spicy,” Jiang said. “If people like spicy, it’s a good place to have.”

At lunch, the restaurant will offer a buffet with three or four entrees, rice and noodles, Jiang said.

Wang, who owns buffet-style restaurants in Albertville and Buffalo northwest of Minneapolis, approached the owner of Tawooki about taking over the space. Once the subleasing agreement was finalized earlier this week, the restaurant closed. It will continue to provide catering out of Zaroty Pizza Kitchen.

Wang chose the city to expand his business because “we want to bring a new concept and a new experience to Sioux Falls,” Jiang said.

Remodeling will begin soon, and they hope to open the restaurant in mid- to late February.

Mediterranean restaurant to be replaced by Asian concept; catering to continue