Happy Lamb Hot Pot

FOOD

Happy Lamb’s menu begins with broth because nearly everything else passes through it. The house original uses chicken bone marrow simmered for six hours with ginger, garlic, scallions, dates, cardamom, angelica root, codonopsis, goji berries and longan. The spicy version layers in chile oil, peppercorns, dried Sichuan chile and salted black beans. Tomato, mushroom and sour-and-spicy golden cabbage broths widen the range, and a half-and-half pot lets two directions share the table.

Lamb is the clearest expression of the restaurant’s identity. The weekday-lunch Happy tier includes aged prime lamb, cut thinly for a brief trip through the broth. Happier adds spring lamb and lamb shoulder; Happiest brings lamb toro slices with more visible fat and a richer finish after cooking.

Beef provides the next layer. Beef toro appears across the tiers, while Happier adds iron steak and Australian wagyu bolar blade. Happiest moves further into premium cuts with Australian wagyu brisket, beef tongue and black beef tripe. The brisket and bolar blade bring marbling; tongue and tripe change the meal through texture rather than richness alone.

The wider protein selection keeps the pot from becoming a red-meat exercise. Kurobuta pork and chicken breast sit alongside fish fillet, shrimp and calamari. Upper tiers add shrimp paste, black mussels, beef white tripe and ox aorta, while Happiest includes premium fish fillet, lobster meatballs and fish balls with roe. Fried bean curd rolls are especially suited to hot pot, entering crisp and coming out saturated with broth.

The self-serve buffet supplies the supporting structure: vegetables, mushrooms, meatballs and noodles can be taken in whatever quantities make sense for the pot. Greens bring freshness after richer meat rounds, mushrooms deepen the liquid, and noodles are worth saving until the broth has accumulated more flavor. Because these additions are self-service, a table can keep adjusting rather than choosing one fixed combination at the beginning.

The sauce bar offers another route to customization. The original marrow broth is built to be flavorful enough without dipping, but the unlimited condiment station opens the door to garlic, scallion, chile, sesame and sharper accents. That creates two ways to eat the same slice of lamb: clean from the pot, with the broth prominent, or through a sauce mixed to personal preference.

Beyond the pot, the Las Vegas location has a compact à la carte side program. Wagyu brisket, lamb shank, beef tongue, lobster ball and shrimp paste can be added individually; grilled beef, chicken and shrimp skewers, katsu, takoyaki, fried rice cake and grilled calamari offer breaks from simmered food. Desserts and the cotton-candy station make the final buffet trip playful, while Happier and Happiest include a limited ice-cream order. The strongest plates keep returning to a simple combination: fragrant broth, thin meat, something green and one more ingredient chosen on the walk back to the table.