Restaurant Hibar Review

Today, we will be reviewing Hibar, a Hot Pot restaurant & bar situated in Bussy-Saint-Georges that specializes in Hot Pot cuisine.

My wife is a big fan of hot pot; in fact, last year we reviewed one of the most famous hot pot restaurants in Paris, Xiao Long Kan.

In this review we will see how does this restaurant compared to our previous experiences.

The location

This restaurant is located in Bussy-Saint-Georges, a relatively new city in Seine-et-Marne with a significant Asian population.

Compared to Lognes, this city is home to a younger generation, likely the first generation of Asian descent born in France.

The restaurant is situated right in front of the train station exit, essentially in the center of this suburban area.

Interestingly, the place resembles a bar more than a Chinese fondue restaurant. This isn’t a bad thing, as the location is very central, and having a bar is a great idea.

The place looks modern, colorful with a touch of Chinese vibe. It has two floor I believe although we didn’t had the opportunity to check it out.

Obviously, it can’t really compete with a restaurant like Xiao Long Kan in terms of decoration, but I don’t think it needs to. This place has a different vibe and offers a another experience.

This could easily be a spot to watch sports and have a beer, similar to places I used to frequent in San Diego, USA. Given the city’s youthful population, it could be a great place to hang out with friends.

The menu

At Hibar, the menu is displayed on a tablet, much like at Gogi House, Xiao Long Kan, or any other modern à la carte restaurant.

This is the most effective way to order, although usually they leave the tablet on the table so you can order more items.

The menu is categorized into sections such as meat, vegetables, seafood, drinks, and more for easy navigation. Each dish is accompanied by illustrations and descriptions in both French and Chinese.

We actually saw some real Chinese customer which is always a good sign. You can see the full fondue menu here : https://hibarfondue.fr/menu-fondue/

They also offer regular dishes like ramen, which is noteworthy because it’s not easy to find such items in the French suburbs. Here if you want to check out the other menu : https://hibarfondue.fr/Plat-Ramen-Nouilles/

Our experience

The sauces

One of the things we really enjoyed about Chinese hot pot was the sauce, and here you can refill it as often as you like for just one euro.

What we really appreciated was the notice on how to make the classic regular sauce, which is honestly quite complex.

You need to mix nearly ten different ingredients, including peanut sesame, Hoisin sauce, satay sauce, peanuts, vinegar, herbs, sesame oil, and more.

It can be intimidating to think about all these different ingredients, but the result is very flavorful. While my dad wasn’t a fan, my wife and I loved it.

We don’t know how this sauce came to life and who invented it but Kudos to him or her.

The soup

The soup is exactly what you would expect in terms of taste. They offer some spicy sauce but we were warned that it is very spicy.

Although we usually enjoy a bit of spice in our nuoc mam, we are far from being the type of people who can handle extremely spicy dishes like the hottest level of tteokbokki. To be safe we chose tomatoes and nature.

While the tomato dish is quite delicious, especially when paired with the tofu skin, I find the plain tomatoes to be rather bland. On the bright side, you can still enjoy the little apples.

The plates

There’s not much to say about the dishes other than they taste just like those at other places. I suspect that hot pot restaurants all use the same supplier.

The meat is either refrigerated or frozen, which is completely normal and acceptable for a Chinese Fondue.

In this type of place, we highly recommend trying the tofu skin. It becomes very flavorful after soaking in the soup or sauce.

The fish was a pleasant surprise, as it was extremely tender and had a delightful texture. We couldn’t tell if it was fresh or frozen but we still enjoyed it anyway.

We always enjoy lamb in hot pot for its strong and distinctive flavor. Additionally, boiling meat isn’t the best method for creating the acrylamides and sugars that people often crave.

Although the pork appeared to be marinated, I didn’t detect any distinct seasoning. To be fair, when you’re using a sauce with over 10 ingredients, it’s quite difficult to pinpoint specific flavors on your palate.

Finally, the meat served on top of the cucumber looks intriguing but tastes mainly like a type of sausage filling.

The vegetables were good, though my dad felt the green leaves weren’t the freshest. For us, they seemed fresh enough, especially after boiling.

The drink made out of agrume tasted great. I would definitely love to know the recipe to do it at home.

Verdict

8.6 out of 10.

For us, this restaurant in Bussy-Saint-Georges is on par with, if not better in taste than Xiao Long Kan.

The ingredients are quite similar, and the hot pot experience is very comparable. What we particularly appreciated here was that they actually teach you how to make your own sauce.

Typically, people have to travel to Paris for an authentic hot pot experience, but we feel that Hibar delivers on that front.

The price might seem a bit high for a suburban restaurant, but when you break it down—94 euros for four people—it’s relatively affordable by today’s standards.