Boiling Point

Boiling Point is located right on No3 Road, in a strip mall just across from the Superstore.  No 3 Road is usually busy on the weekends but this strip mall was relatively quiet for a Sunday late morning.

We got here at about 11:30pm and the restaurant was almost full.  There were still some empty tables so we were seated right away.

The majority of the menu items were set hot pot meals.  You basically choose the the one with your favorite type of meat, spiciness.  The meals come with a choice of iced green tea or black tea.

We chose iced black tea.  It was quite good and was not overly sweet.  This will come in hand with the hot pots coming up.

We ordered the beef hot pot first. 

It was quite big with lots of meat and veggies to fill the pot.  They light up the fire at your table for the food to cook more before you can start eating.

You can choose the type of noodle to use for your hot pot.  We chose rice vermicelli for both.  For the beef hot pot, we asked for full spiciness.

This one is the seafood hotpot.  It is hard to see the seafood from all the veggies on top.

It also had a raw egg cracked into the soup.  It did have lots of seafood like fish, shrimp, fish balls etc.  We asked for medium spiciness but it was still very spicy for my taste.  Next time I would probably get mild spiciness.

The service was quite fast and efficient.  They also take credit card, which is rare for small Asian restaurants in Richmond.  The parking lot is not overly crowded so that made the experience pleasant to.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights.

Gokudo Shabu Shabu Hot Pot - Richmond

Gokudo is located in the Continental Strip mall in Richmond.  It is an establishment that serves personal sized hot pots.  We found a Groupon deal for 2 set hot pot dinners which was great because we combined it with a 20% off local deal.

Gokudo has a bar like setting where you sit on high bar chairs too.

The seating was not that confortable because of the high chairs and it was also quite closely situated to the person beside you.  It gets especially crowded once the food arrived and placed on the tables.

For the hotpot, you get a choice from the long list of soups bases.  This is what we chose:

Spicy Soup:  As you can see it had lots of chili red peppers and a nice layer of chili oil on the top.

Tomato Soup:

You get a side dipping sauce which is composed of lots of garlic, green onions, soy and satay sauce.

The combo includes this side dish that has mostly veggies like enoki mushrooms, corn, tofu, lettuce and assorted seafood and fish balls.  It was a nice size.  Each person gets one of these.

You also get to choose either rice, rice vermicelli  or udon on the side:

The main course is the meat. We chose the sliced beef.  The beef is pretty good quality with a nice balance of fat so it was quite tender.

You also get unlimited drinks.  They have all sorts of canned soft drinks that you can choose from.

The service was friendly but they were quite busy and at times unorganized as there were only 2 servers.  It took a while for someone to come take our order.  The food quality was quite good and fresh so no complaints there.  Parking in this complex is not too bad ever since Deer Garden moved out to another complex a couple of months back. 

Other than the uncomfortable seating, I think this place is worth a revisit to try out their regular set menus which look reasonably priced. Be sure to make reservations ahead of time because lots of Grouponers may be visiting in the next little while.

SFDD gives 3.5 out of 5 Delights.

Toyotomi Hot Pot (AYCE)– Richmond

Toyotomi is unusually located underneath a residential building on Anderson Rd.  It’s a quiet street with a medical office nearby.  Plenty of parking is available in the building, but you have to access the restaurant by using the condo’s elevators after you park.  They don’t have a lot of signs so it takes some peeking around to find your way to the restaurant on the ground floor.

This place has a wide selection of hot pot items.  Not only that, they also have a selection of Japanese food that’s also part of the all you can eat menu.  Note the reminder on the menu about the starving people from Africa so that you don’t waste your food.  You will be punished with a bigger bill if did so.  On the menu, you will also see a listing of customers who have wasted food in the past.

We booked ahead for a party of 8 on a Sunday night.  It was already packed when we got there at 6:30pm.  I think your whole party needs to arrive before they seat you.  Also, if you parked in the building, be sure to write down your license plate number at the door.  They have a nice display of empty bottles at their entranceway showing what sort of Japanese booze is available.  I don’t think it’s the actual restaurant’s selection though.

The first thing you need to do is order your soup base for the hot pot.  We decided to get 2 soups split in the same bowl.  We got the Japanese milk soup, and the Sake chicken soup.

Most of the people at the table enjoyed the sake soup because of the extra pizazz added by the alcohol.  I thought milk soup was a bit strange but people at our table liked it too.  We were able to order a wide selection since we had many mouths at the table.  Here is a sample of our orders -

Cold Seaweed appetizer:

Chopped Scallop: this was limited to one per person.  Scallops were fresh and served on spoons.

Dynamite Roll:

The rolls were nicer than other AYCE places we’ve tried.  As you can see, it’s topped with fried tempura batter giving it extra crunch.  Also, the fried shrimp uses a crunchier batter, like the ones used to prepare Japanese fried pork chops.  The rolls were not the gigantic type so you won’t fill up as fast.

Assorted seafood and wontons for our hotpot were all fresh, not frozen.:

Assorted sashimi came in giant ice bowls to keep it cold.  I like this idea since warm sashimi is not good sashimi.  The salmon sashimi was a bit on the chewy side on this order, but the next round was a lot better.

We ordered assorted red meats for the hot pot.  However, they put it all together in one big pile that we were unable to tell which is which.  In this pile, there is fatty beef, pork, lamb.  Can you tell the difference?  Neither can the staff when we asked how to differentiate.

Here are some assorted veggies, mushrooms, pig blood and ramen noodles.  The ramen was superb as it stayed quite chewy after being cooked.  The other items were also very fresh.

We ordered a lot more than this, but we were unable to grab a pic in time because everyone was so hungry they immediately reached for the food as soon as it arrived. 

The food was better than other AYCE places, but the service from the staff was worse.  One of the waitresses with the short hair always had this mad face.  You can tell she hates her job and because of that, she will hate you for making her busy. She won’t acknowledge you at all so you have no idea if she can hear you.  She is fast but she is messy. For example,when bringing a new pot of tea, it dripped all over the table because she was rocking it too much without paying attention.  Thus, avoid this waitress and ask for help from the other 2 older waitresses or the male manager.  They are relatively more friendly.

Overall, the food was very fresh and the selection was nice with both hot pot and Japanese items to choose from.  The food is also presented a lot more beautifully compared to other AYCE in Richmond.  Keep an eye out for the limited items like the chopped scallop and some of the fresh fish.  Be sure to make a reservation.

SFDD gives 3 out of 4 Delights.