It’s all about self-service, pay by weight for your individual hot pot and fry bar experience in Richmond.

This type of hot pot experience controls the amount you eat as you are paying by weight ($3.99 per 100 grams). You have a couple of choices here, you can get the Hot Pot with broth where you choose the broth from 13 or so choices and you then fill the pot with whatever items you prefer from the selection of around 100 items in the refrigerated area (they cook it for you and then serve to your table); and/or the Fry Bar where you choose from the selection of Fry Bar items and then you choose whether you want spicy or no-spicy, they had basil to eat and fry it to serve to your table. 

We both loved this experience as we had both the hot pot with broth and the fry bar. I had the Japanese Miso broth and Lawrence who joined me had the Black Pepper broth; we got 1 Fry bowl to share with regular non-spicy.

A complimentary sauce bar is included and you get to make up your own sauces from the choices offered. I made my go to dipping sauce mix for the hot pot broth; for the Fry Bar I found that the Curry, BBQ sauce and Ketchup were great choices for dipping.

You can also get a bowl of rice for an extra $1 charge per bowl and this is a great idea if you like to have rice with your meal.

Drinks are extra and I had the Lychee aloe fruit tea while Lawrence had the Strawberry aloe fruit tea.

At the end of the meal you get a free soft serve Ice cream Taiyaki that is freshly made and it is delicious.

You can get on their waitlist from Google and they also have a happy hour starting at 10pm (One FREE drink with the purchase of any meal). The restaurant is open until 1 am everyday and 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. Piping Hot is located at 8111 Ackroyd Rd, unit 160 in Richmond. You can follow them on instagram @pipinghot.bc 

By: Richard Wolak