Sunday, November 10, 2013

Fu Lin Hot Pot Restaurant


After the worm incident at Little Sheep Mongolian, it was hard to get my friend back to eating hot pot (it was probably only two weeks ago but it feels like months since I have been craving for hot pot). Fu Lin is located at the same plaza along with Boston Pizza, Matoi Sushi, Hon's Wun Ton House, and Cora Breakfast and Lunch. Fu Lin is the only Chinese hot pot restaurant in Coquitlam. I frequently visited Fu Lin last year just to avoid line ups at any Richmond hot pot restaurant. Since my last visit was quite long ago, why not visit again?


The interior of the restaurant is on the smaller side and would be hard to accommodate larger parties. The restaurant has 8-10 booth seatings and 3 round tables in the middle. Out of my thirty visits here, service has never been an issue (except this time). An odd thing I noticed during our visit was when quite a few customers dropped by, seated, took a look at the menu, and left? I wonder what their reasons were.


ADULT $19.98 CHILD (5-12) $11.98
BROTH $5.00, 2 BROTHS $8.00
FU LIN BROTH (COMPLIMENTARY)




SATAY SAUCE AND GARLIC SOY SAUCE (FIRST SAUCES PER PERSON ARE FREE, $1.00 EACH AFTER). FU LIN BROTH (FREE). I have tried every kind of broth here and to be honest they are nothing special, so I chose the fu lin broth. The fu lin broth is pretty much hot water with a few slices of green onions and a slice of ginger (not a big deal in our case, two girls who like to eat healthier.. sometimes). I appreciate that the restaurant offers a complimentary broth, considering most AYCE hot pot restaurants do not (I admit, I did feel guilty not paying for a broth since it was my first time, and I do not think many people choose this option). I find Fu Lin's menu somewhat limited, I did not want to feel like I should have drove another 25 minutes elsewhere for hot pot, and saving $8.00 on the broth would justify dining here.


TONG HO, SPINACH, BOK CHOY, AND BEAN SPROUTS.


ON THE LEFT, TOFU SKIN, KONJAC ROLL, DUMPLING, ZUCCHINI, CARROT, WHITE RADISH, PUMPKIN, AND TOFU PUFFS. ON THE RIGHT, MUSSELS, BASA FILLET, AND PORK BLOOD CURD.


Voila, our own healthy broth is cooking. 
The chicken broth they add to the pot when you run out has more taste than the fu lin broth.


BEEF AND PORK BELLY SLICES.


LAMB SLICES.


The waitress was no where to be seen for the longest time. We ended up going to the counter to grab the bill and left because we waited too long for more broth. Justttt a random comment… if I were to taste the broth, it would taste like Oriental Dumpling King's nourishing lamb soup, blech.

POSITIVES
- Only AYCE hot pot restaurant in Coquitlam
- Only AYCE hot pot restaurant that provides free broth (even though not many choose that option, it is nice to see)
- Meats are sliced extremely very thin so they taste tender, and cook fast

NEGATIVES
- Service is self service? Walk to the counter for an order sheet, walk back to give them the order sheet, ask for more broth or it burns at the bottom, walk up to get the bill, and walk back up to pay the bill (there was actually service a year ago though)
- Menu is more limited than other AYCE hot pot restaurants 
- $3.00 charge for enoki mushroom (before they didn't)
- None of the broths are tasty or special (that's why we got the free one LOL)

LITTLE THINGS
- I rather make a drive to Burnaby for hot pot if I lived in Coquitlam (Little Sheep Mongolian or Top Gun)
- I think the reason I stopped coming here is because they use dried tofu skin rather than fresh bean curd sheets, and the fish tofu looks different than the usual ones (they do not look as "smooth")

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 2/5

Fu Lin Hot Pot Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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