Hong La Jiao Steamboat - deadly , very deadly

Though we arrived close to midnite , the restaurant was running full  .

Open till 4.30 am , I consider this a necessary service that caters to the many hungry night owls in Georgetown who otherwise would have to make do with the same ole boring mamak or fastfood .

Place reminds me so much of Beijing .

While I was expecting the chillies to be really hot , I never really knew how tongue numbing it would be , until they brought it to our table .

So while we think our Malaysian bird's eye chillies are hot , the ones from China have a sting that is far worse !!

Dear gawd ....will you take a look at the colour on the right compartment .

The hottest tomyam we have ever had in all of our lives , doesn't even come close to it .

Luckily we ordered the Macau Pig Bones soup or else we would have been incinerated on the spot by the Szechuan Spicy Soup choice which is so downright hellish and evil , if you ran out of water , you will even chop down a cactus with your bare hands , just to extinguish the fire .

Because my supper partner decided to go against my advice , all the chinese cabbage slices that went into that hellish soup ended up wasted .

The greens absorbed the heat and oil to the point that if you bit into a leaf , your face will look like an active volcano  !!!

Not only were there tons of dried Szechuan chillies , there was also perhaps a whole ladle full of the most aromatic Szechuan peppercorns to add to the mad , mad , insane heat .

Smell was so overpowering some boys at the back stood up just to look at our soup pot !!!!

We had to pour one part of the Szechuan to approximately 6 parts of the Macau pig bones soup .

Before I did that , I stupidly took a sip of the red soup . My tongue felt like it was going to be either paralysed / suffering from needles and pins / ironed / electrocuted / swollen ....all of it at once !!!!!

And yet after I mixed them together it still felt as if I would probably shit clay bricks tomorrow morning in the loo .

If you notice , there are 3 types of balls up there . Meatball and fishball went incredibly well with the creamy soup as well as a portion of diluted Szechuan soup .

Loved the Foochow stuffed fishballs .....really good !

Shitake mushrooms too .

You may add more expensive ingredients too if you like , but the simple selection above cost around MYR 90 ( deep fried lotus roots not in picture ) , so be prepared to pay .

Will I return ? My typical Penang kia man , likes it ....so even though I think he is crazy for wanting to come back for Red Death , ok , yes .

Advice : be prepared for cardiac arrest if you just order that red one . Mix it with a lot of a milder soup or the Undertaker will see you soon .

Location : Jln Burmah , Penang