There is no shortage of Asian cuisine on South Park Street, and new to the arena is Chili King. It replaces the short-lived Angkor-wat, which replaced Inka Heritage.

Chili King has an enormously long menu, spanning cold and hot appetizers, rice dishes, noodle dishes, various types of entrees, “famous sauteed,” lunch specials and even sushi. My normal tactic is to try a cross-section, and here is what I have to report:

“American” appetizers include egg rolls and crab rangoon. The other apps, such as the sliced pork stomach ($7.99), are typically not found on an Americanized Chinese menu. The strips of pork stomach weren’t too chewy but essentially had no flavor other than the bit of chili sauce on top, so you may need to add more sauce like soy sauce. The portion size is enough to feed 2-3 people with an entrée.

I didn’t expect the lamb with fish in creamy sauce ($14.99) to be served as a soup. Fortunately, you get a generous portion of both–the lamb came in bite-sized pieces, and the fish was very tender and absorbed some of the broth flavor well. Other similarly categorized entrees include the hot & spicy solo fish fillet ($13.99) and dried string bean with pork ($11.99).

The Singapore noodles ($13.45) is a heaping plate of noodles with the right amount of curry seasoning, plus giant chunks of chicken, lots of shrimp and an over-abundance of vegetables. It’s good as-is and even better with a little Sriracha on top.

You will find a section of the menu called “boiled/casserole” comprised of hot pots. I tried a dry pot instead; specifically, the turnip & twice-cooked pork dry pot ($15.99). A pleasant surprise, the pork came in the form of thinly sliced pork belly, mixed with both crunchy and tender vegetables. I appreciated the perfect amount in of heat from the chili peppers.

Of note, there is a fairly extensive array of vegetarian dishes as well.

Chili King is open every day for lunch, dinner and carryout. Delivery is available.

Joining Soga Shabu Shabu in offering hot pots is the aptly named Mini Hot Pot, located on Park Street near Copps. In case you’re not familiar with the concept, a boiling pot of water sits on your table, and you add various ingredients, such as meats and vegetables. After your item cooks, you pull it out and eat it in your own bowl, usually filled with sauces.

Many differences. First, “mini” is ubiquitous here. The space is tiny, and the tables are so small that your ingredients are brought out in a cart and parked next to your table. (At the fairly large Soga, everything fits on your table.) The raw meat is frozen, not thawed, which disrupts the temperature of your pot.

Sauces and noodles are located in a self-service buffet instead of at your table. The sauces are critical to adding flavor to your otherwise bland meats and vegetables (I enjoyed mixing chili sauce and Mongolian sauce). The ramen was tasty, but the Vietnamese noodles absorb sauces better.

You get one main ingredient (e.g. beef, chicken, seafood) with your hot pot, plus other ingredients such as fish balls, bamboo shoots, Chinese sausage, spinach and even Spam (which was surprisingly edible after being boiled). Additional ingredients include mussels ($2.95), tripe ($2.95), sweet potato ($1.95) and scallops ($2.95).

Portion control. The lunch special-sized hot pot ($9.95), along with 1-3 extra ingredients, is enough to feed 1-2 people. Full-size hot pots range from $12.95-$18.95 and feed about four people.

In addition to hot pots, you also can order typical Chinese restaurant dishes, such as orange chicken and sesame chicken, at lunch time for $5.95 (includes an egg roll and fried rice).

Mini Hot Pot is open every day for lunch and dinner.