All-you-can-eat Hot Pot

For dinner, my parents took us to an all-you-can-eat hot pot place where you get your own mini-pot to cook your food. I think the name of the place is I Cook Buffet, somewhere way out in Markham (45 minute drive from Oakville). In Los Angeles, we have all-you-can-eat hot pot places in Monterey Park but you share a pot with your "friends"; I usually get sick afterwards. :(


Each person gets their own pot. You can choose the type of soup stock you want, from simple chicken broth to more exotic and spicy choices. All of us got chicken broth.


There were probably >50 items in a large refrigerator against the wall. Top shelf were different types of seafood "balls" such as lobster, shrimp, cuttlefish, pork (I know pork is not seafood), etc. The middle shelf had tofu type stuff and there was mostly vegetables on the bottom. The brown cubes near the bottom right are blood jelly, right next to the ox tripe.


More choices... there were different types of thinly sliced meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken) and fresh seafood (shrimps, mussel). They even had luncheon meat, though I've never seen anyone put that into their hot-pot.


Most import part of eating hot-pot is the dipping sauce. Here is one-half of the sauce mixing station. I'm not that adventurous; I usually just mix soy sauce and sesame oil with some cilantro and minced garlic. Other people mix in a raw egg along with all kinds of chili (notice the chili oil container is almost empty).

I think the price is CDN$15 per person which is comparable to most seafood buffets. I like the fact that you get your own pot so no one contaminates the soup with blood jelly or something gross.