K. K. Dollar Hot Pot 開開豆撈坊

Having tried most of the known all you can eat hot pot restaurants in Richmond such as Cattle Hot Pot, Chubby Lamb, Claypot, Little Sheep Mongolian and Tak Heng Hot Pot, the next one on the list is K.K Dollar Hot Pot. The restaurant is located in the same plaza along with Oriental Dumpling King and is across the street from Tak Heng. When we arrived, we walked through the open door which lead to a… kind of odd stairwell and a shopping cart (my Instagram video here!) However after entering the restaurant, the atmosphere was a lot better. 

The interior is clean, spacious and well ventilated. K.K Dollar offers a deluxe as well as a regular AYCE menu and for an extra $3.00/person, one can order tong ho, mashed prawn paste and abalone mushroom. If it was not for the tong ho, we would have passed on the deluxe menu.

After ordering, our friendly waitress told us to help ourselves at the sauce section. Wow, sauce section this was. This is no ordinary sauce station like Little Sheep Mongolian's. This is the works. The station includes minced garlic, jalapeño, red chilli, cilantro and green onion. In addition, there are more than ten sauces!

Sesame oil, spicy oil, chilli preserved bean curd, special satay, fish, peanut, beef, sha ha, K.K special, and hot & spicy. I stuck with satay since I rarely use sauce and if I have to, I love my satay. Asides from the unlimited garnishes and sauces, the restaurant also offers a few snacks such as bean curd, marinaded bean curd, roasted peanuts and edamame. The marinaded bean curd is quite tasty and has a flavourful star anise taste, while also tasting slightly sweet and juicy.

DELUXE $24.95 || ADULT $21.95 || CHILD (4-10) $14.95 

BROTHS $3.75 - $7.50 || POP $1.95

BLACK BONE CHICKEN SOUP ($3.75) AND K.K SPECIAL SOUP ($4.50).

K.K Dollar serves individual sized hot pots rather than one to share, which is great for those who are OCD. The only issue is that the smaller sized pots do not get as much heat, so it takes a while to cook things. However, it is good for those who enjoy eating slowly.

Both soup bases are very similar and have a light chicken broth along with a mild hint of Chinese herbal ingredients. The only difference is that the K.K special soup does not have black chicken and has a slice of corn.

SUPREME HOKKIGAI.

Despite writing "2pc" down for the hokkigai on the order sheet, we received a lot more! The hokkigai tastes slightly chewy with a mild flavour and always tastes the same in general, since it is always supplied packaged to restaurants. Furthermore, the side of wasabi provided on the side is well appreciated. Hokkigai can actually be cooked too, but keep an eye on them because they cook fast!

OYSTERS.
I rarely order these at hot pot because I am not a fan of the oysters. However, the additional charge for the deluxe menu made me feel obligated to try one LOL...

FISH SLICES.

Basa fish slices, generic as well as tender with no complaints.

TIGER PRAWNS AND MUSSELS.

These are very generic as well and it is worth mentioning that tiger prawns are available on the regular menu, since some restaurants charge extra.

SHANGHAI STYLE WONTON.

Again like the hokkigai, despite writing "2pc" on the order sheet, we received more. Fortunately though, the Shanghai dumpling is actually quite tasty. The meat tastes flavourful as well as refreshing because of the good portion of vegetables. Furthermore by "quite tasty", I mean I would order these a la carte at a restaurant!

MINI WONTON.
As for the mini wontons, these are tiny and are very similar (taste and size wise) to Bao Bei's! The wontons are the size of a finger nail and although cute, the meat tastes gritty and pretty boring (which does not matter anyways since it is an AYCE restaurant).

WATERCRESS, SPINACH, CHUN HO.

The vegetables are thoroughly rinsed (cannot be too careful after Little Sheep's incident!) and none of them are wilting. However, the downside is that when having personal sized hot pots, there is a limit to how much vegetables can be thrown in. Personally, I like to throw in a handful at a time rather than a few pieces (like in this case). Of course this is just a personal complaint because I love my veggies.

BROWN EGG.

K.K Dollar also offers brown eggs which can be used with sauce, thrown in the hot pot or scrambled in.

TOFU SKIN WRAP, GOLDEN (ENOKI), BC AND ABALONE MUSHROOM, MINI TOFU PUFFS, QUAIL EGG, FRIED GLUTEN PUFF, SLICED PUMPKIN.

Everything is very generic and none of the ingredients have been sitting out for too long. We also got bean curd knots which I love! However, I am not sure what the bean curd knots are called on the menu though and do not remember ordering any.

SUPREME BEEF.

First up, the slices of supreme beef are very thin and does not taste too chewy. However, the meat does taste slightly dry.

FATTY BEEF AND SUPREME RIB EYE BEEF.

Second up, the fatty beef has a nice thickness and tastes very tender. Furthermore, the meat does not taste fatty at all! This is a good thing because some AYCE hot pot restaurants (Toyotomi) serves grisly and chewy slices of beef. Third up, the supreme rib eye tastes very lean as well as dry, but not chewy.

LAMB AND PORK SLICES.

Fourth up, the slices of lamb taste tender as well as tasty. I always find that slices of lamb taste the same at most AYCE hot pot restaurants, and is a favourite of mine. Last up, the pork slices taste dry and not flavourful at all. However, perhaps because both our broths are not that great? Either way, most of the selection of meat taste dry with the exception of the lamb, and round two was skipped.

MANGO PUDDING.
The mango pudding has more of a mousse texture than pudding, and tastes slightly sweet with a tasty mango flavour. 

GLUTINOUS RICE BALL IN SWEET RICE WINE.

For the second dessert, we went for the rice balls. The dessert is served cold and has a strong rice wine flavour. As for the rice balls, soft as well as squishy. If anything, I would have preferred the dessert hot than cold and probably could have asked one of the waitresses to microwave the bowls. But of course, I did not want to hassle them!

TOTAL $65.15 + TIP $11.85 = $77.00.

Overall, we tipped 18% because the two waitresses were friendly as well as welcoming, and asked if we needed more broth a couple of times. Although in the end when the restaurant had only five seated tables, it was hard to get their attention for the bill. I cannot imagine what the restaurant would be like when it is only half full, since they would be understaffed for sure.

POSITIVES
- Friendly staff
- Regular menu is not limited at all
- Sauce station is probably the best one offered at any AYCE hot pot restaurant

NEGATIVES
- Broths are weak
- Meats taste dry except for the lamb


- Do not throw in too much meat at once or the broth will look like the photo above (I did that at the very end though when I was almost done eating, it was only about eight pieces too!)

LITTLE THINGS
- Better dessert options than most AYCE hot pot restaurants
- I prefer the regular sized hot pots more because I like to throw my veggies in all at once

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 3/5