Liuyishou Hot Pot Week 2018 took place this past Chinese New Year where the renowned restaurant chain collaborated with Vancouver Gourmet Tours to offer a special celebration hot pot menu for customers. I had attended a media preview of the menu at Liuyishou‘s location in Burnaby and had enjoyed it so much that I decided to purchase the deal to experience it again. This time, I decided to visit the Liuyishou location closest to me which is on Robson in Downtown Vancouver.
Note: One of the items in this review was gifted to me. Opinions are my own.
WHAT IS HOT POT?
For the uninitiated, hot pot is known as a Chinese soup consisting of various raw meats, vegetables, noodles, tofu, seafood and dumplings. These are dipped into a shared pot with a simmering pot of soup stock and eaten with dipping sauce.
CHOOSE A SOUP BASE
The experience starts with choosing a soup base. Liuyishou’s traditional Chongqing style soup base is prepared with special butter, red hot chili, Sichuan peppercorn, and other exotic herbs and spices. It’s meant to astonish all your senses with the spiciness, umami flavours and aromas. If spicy is not for you, Liuyishou also has other bases like Wild Mushroom, Special Pork Rib or Tomato Soup.
PRO TIP: There is an order to cooking raw food in your pot! The order is meat, seafood, mushroom, vegetables and noodles.
MAKE YOURSELF A PERFECT SAUCE
Mix your favourite sauces from the Liuyishou’s sauce bar featuring 20+ sauces, fresh herbs and spices. Cooked food is eaten with your own sauce mix.
What We Tried
I bought the Dinner for 2 deal ($72) which included 2 soup bases, 1 specialty dish, 2 proteins, 1 veggie, 1 starch, 2 drinks and dessert. Beer pairing by Red Truck Brewery is also included in the price.
Soup Base
For the soup bases, we went with the house spicy soup base and special pork rib. Both were very flavourful and satisfying soup bases.
Specialty Dish
We selected a deep-fried pork which had a nice golden exterior and had tender, slightly chewy pork meat on the inside.
Protein
For meats, we had the supreme lamb and beef slices.
Veggies
The mixed mushroom platter at Liuyishou included enoki, oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, brown and white mushrooms.
Starch
I loved these deep fried buns from the media event and had to have them again. The buns had a perfect golden exterior and light, fluffy texture. Dip them with condensed milk for maximal enjoyment!
Dessert
For dessert, we enjoyed the bing fen – a cold dessert jelly which soothed the palate wonderfully from the spicy soup base.
And we received some sweet, glutinous rice balls as well (though not noted on the menu).
Meat Barbie
Thanks to Vancouver Gourmet Club, I received a gift order of Meat Barbie. Meat Barbie is wrapped up in strips of meat and diners need to “strip” off the layers to cook the meat in the hot pot. At Liuyishou, the Barbie comes standalone with beef for $25 or as a seafood and meat combo for $50. For my full review on Meat Barbie, visit here.
Liuyishou Hotpot Robson Interior
The interior of Liuyishou’s Robson location is modern with mostly booth seating and a few dining tables.
Service
The Robson location of Liuyishou seemed much busier than the Burnaby one. The restaurant was pretty much full while I was there and I noticed a lot of people had to put down their name on the waitlist. Service was a bit slow for the ordering part, but the food arrived in a timely manner.
Overall Impression of Liuyishou Hotpot Robson
We enjoyed our experience at Liuyishou Hotpot Robson and thought the Chinese New Year deal was of great value. The hot pot ingredients were of a good quality and quantity. I would be interested in enjoying hotpot at Liyishou again in the future. Rating: 4/5
Liuyishou Hotpot Robson
Address: 1542 Robson St, Vancouver, BC
Website: liuyishouna.com
Related: Celebrate Chinese New Year at Liuyishou Hot Pot and Meet Hot Pot Meat Barbie: Barbie in a Meat Dress