MKK Bamboo House recently opened its doors, introducing its skewer-style Chinese hot pot to Honolulu.

Chuan chuan xiang (skewer) hot pot originated in the street markets of Chengdu in the 1980s. People referred to the convenience of skewers handed to them straight out of the boiling broth as “little hot pot,” before this new format appeared to be here to stay and earned its official name. “Chuan” translates as “skewer,” and “xiang” means “fragrant” and “delicious.”

As its popularity grew, it spread across the nation, so at MKK Bamboo House, we have the merging of Chengdu’s skewer style with South ern China’s Guangdong-style of hot pot.

Unlike other forms of hot pot that simply start with a basic broth, this restaurant gives you the option of complete soups/stews such as oxtail with tomato ($34.99), herbal drunken chicken ($29.99), coconut chicken ($36.99) or shabu beef with tomato ($29.99).

I love lamb, so I opted for the lamb stew pot ($34.99) also thick with potatoes, sliced corn cobs, carrots, sliced water chestnuts and the bone-in chopped lamb.

The idea is you can enjoy these house soups as a complete meal and if you’re still feeling hungry, you can add on any number of veggies and skewered items, plus a choice of noodles such as ramen ($3.99) or udon ($3.99).

For the money, it’s just as easy to start with a basic broth and choose the ingredients you love. As much as I enjoyed the lamb pot, for instance, it was quite filling so I didn’t get to enjoy as much as the skewer items I had ordered, and I would have preferred thin-sliced shabu lamb ($10.99) over the chewier bone-in lamb anyway.

If you are starting from scratch, you have a choice of plain chicken broth ($8.99) and the house special spicy pot in mild ($12.99), medium ($13.99) and extreme ($15.99) versions.

The house special broth is made fresh to order and can take up to 20 minutes to prepare, so if you know what you want, you can let them know at the time you make reservations so they can prepare it in advance and have it ready when you arrive.

Reservations are a must at this hole-in-the-wall with two tables for four, perhaps another five at a counter, and three private karaoke rooms seating six, eight and 12. The karaoke rooms — with Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese music selections — have minimum spend requirements of $300 (for sixand eight-person rooms) and $500 (for 12-person rooms). Only soft drinks are available at the restaurant so for now, you can BYOB.

In China, hot pot and karaoke go hand-in-hand, and with all the distraction that implies, the skewers allow you to reduce concentration on watching food boil and preventing overcooking. When you’re ready to eat, a few swirls of the skewer in the broth are all it takes before popping a bite-size morsel into your mouth.

It’s a process that also fits the COVID-19 era for germaphobes who fear friends’ errant chopsticks poking around the communal pot.

Like many of the new Chinese restaurants opening around town, they use an online ordering system so you can see how all the little dishes add up in cost before you indulge, rather than be surprised by the bill at the end of the meal.

The menu is well curated and ingredients available are fresh and satisfying. I find veggies such as won bok ($3.99) and bok choy ($3.99) necessary, as well as enoki mushrooms ($5.99) and healthful pumpkin ($5.99). The pumpkin cooked up faster than expected, so some slipped from their skewers and disintegrated into the lamb stew broth, giving it a sweet finish.

Chinese taro ($5.99) was a treat, as were fatty salmon belly ($10.99) and shabu pork belly ($10.99). It’s fortunate that I went when I did because the next day, the online menu was showing the pork belly out of stock (you can check the menu online at bamboohouse.hrpos.heartland.us). Other items available to add to the pot range from bean curd rolls ($5.99) and tofu ($5.99) to fish balls stuffed with roe ($7.99) to regular and spicy kurobuta sausages ($7.99 per order) and beef tripe ($5.99).

For a combination of meat and greens, there is thin-sliced beef wrapped around cilantro ($10.99). Other beef items include meatballs ($7.99), tongue ($10.99) and shabu beef ($10.99).

Seafood offerings are the priciest, including Kauai shrimp ($10.99), abalone ($19.99), oysters ($19.99) and grass fish fillets ($19.99).

You can customize a sesame dipping sauce with a handful of basic ingredients such as green onions, garlic, chili peppers and cilantro. It’s not as extensive a selection as at Taiwanese houses, but this represents my favorite combo anyway, so I was happy with it.

MKK Bamboo House

1693 Kalauokalani Way, Honolulu

Food:****
Service:****
Ambiance:***
Value: /strong>***½
Call: 808-475-7013
Hours: 5-9:30 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 5-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Prices: About $40-$50 per person