VanFoodies.com

Does the snowy weather just make you want to cuddle up and sit around the fireplace all day? Us Chinese have another way to fight the cold weather — hotpot.

While we usually have hotpot at home, we do go out for it sometimes. There are many hotpot places in Vancouver, with a mix of all-you-can-eat and a la carte options. Recently, I was invited to check out one of the a la carte hotpot places called Liuyishou Hotpot. It’s a worldwide chain, with a few locations in the Lower Mainland in Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby.

At the Burnaby location, one thing that caught my eyes right away was the Sauce Bar. It’s probably the largest in BC, if not Canada. You can choose from minced garlic, cilantro and sesame oil, to mushroom paste, spiced vinegar and preserved bean curd. They have even posted some suggested “recipes” of sauces to pair with different soup bases they offer.

Of course, the more important part is the menu items. Do they offer a lot of options? Are the ingredients fresh? Any interesting items worthy of note? Let’s break it down.

First of all, the soup base. We had half and half Original Chongqing Spicy Soup and Special Pork Rib Soup. The spicy soup base was molded solid into a cattle shape, and it was melted down in front of our own eyes as the server poured hot broth into the pot. I was told that there’s no extra charge for the cattle shaped soup base, but there’s limited quantity everyday so it’s first come, first served.

At medium spicy level, I was still worried that the Original Chongqing Spicy Soup would be too spicy. Not only it wasn’t too spicy, but it was also very flavourful. I did make myself a dipping sauce but I barely used it. The heat level was probably just right for me – enough that I could taste it but not overly spicy that it burned my tongue and numbed all my taste buds. Yes, it got spicier over time as the soup thickened but it didn’t kill me. And I’m pleased to tell you that my body felt just fine the next morning as well. On the other hand, the Special Pork Rib Soup was not spicy, and milder in flavour. It’s definitely a good option for the 2nd soup base so it could balance out the heat from the other soup. The soup also comes with some pork ribs (with decent amount of meat on them!). Frankly veggies also taste better with non-spicy soup, as they wouldn’t pick up all the oil from the spicy soup base.

Meat – we sampled a few beef options, and I preferred Marbled Beef and Sliced Tender Beef. Marbled Beef had good marbling so it’s still tender after fully cooked. The sliced tender beef reminds me of the sliced beef at congee places; it’s well marinated so the texture is very nice even though they’re thicker slices.

Supreme Beef

Marbled Beef

Luncheon Meat Slices & Sliced Tender Beef

I can probably have hotpot without any veggies, but that’s just a crime. In addition to the Vegetable Platter, you may opt for the Mixed Mushroom Platter, which has a good selection of shitake, button, oyster and enoki mushrooms, as well as some black fungus.

Then, two interesting menu items to note – Green Bean Noodles and Shrimp Paste. The Shrimp Paste had really good texture – you know, the “boing boing” bouncy texture. It’s unlike the dace fish paste where it could become soft and mushy.

I’ve never seen Green Bean Noodles anywhere else. When cooked, it had this translucent colour. They did take awhile to become fully cooked, and the texture reminded me of Korean potato noodles. Good mouthfeel. And they would just soak up all the flavours from the soup.

Speaking of noodles, you can also find Handmade Noodles on the menu. These thin noodles would also go well with your soup.

Isn’t the name Kung Fu Potato cool? They are thinly sliced potatoes arranged into this beautiful presentation. I don’t typically have potatoes in my hotpot; but if it’s your thing, you will like this.

You can also order cooked items here at Liuyishou. We tried the Country Deep Fried Pork. You can eat it on its own, or dip it in the soup for a quick dunk. I prefer just eating it on its own with a dusting of the seasoning.

I was so excited when they brought over a plate of Deep Fried Golden Buns. Who doesn’t love these crispy buns with a healthy dipping of condensed milk? I could have the whole plate to myself!

Lastly, for dessert, we tried the Glutinous Rice Cake. The rice cake itself is not really sweet, but it’s accompanied by a sweet dipping syrup.

The more interesting dessert is definitely the Bing Fen, a cold jelly topped with apple, hawthorn berry chips, peanuts, raisins and brown sugar. It’s like a cooling agent; it soothed our taste buds after eating all the spicy food.

If you are interested in trying Liuyishou, they are celebrating Chinese New Year with Hotpot Week, Feb 26-Mar 2. You can purchase a package at a discounted rate via Vancouver Gourmet Tours, and you will get to try pretty much everything at my tasting above, plus 4 bottles of Red Truck beers. Tickets are available here.

Liuyishou Hotpot
5507 Kingsway, Burnaby
604-559-9888
liuyishouna.com

Disclosure: The dinner was provided to me complimentary of the restaurant. However, the views and opinions expressed in this post are purely our own.