Long time no post! After being assailed with a minor illness that I most certainly caught from running around my sick brother who was recovering in the living room, I was finally able to go outside and touch grass!
Though in all honesty even if this sickness didn’t plague my conscience at the moment, I still wouldn’t have went outside anyways LOL.
A special thanks is extended to mother dearest who felt like eating something tasty at the moment and decreed everyone in the family also eat something tasty.
Now what was the weather? It was honestly shite. Grey cloudy skies and wind, top 5 worst weather combos in the entire world only bested by umbral apocalypse but even then, the apocalyptic nightmare would look cooler than boring ass grey cloudy skies! Though on the way to the city, the dreary weather was slightly cancelled out by the light drizzle of rain that permeated the horizon as a gentle fog. If there’s one thing that quickly changes grey cloudy skies from top 5 worst weather combos straight into top 5 weather combos with high aura, it would be fog. Wow I can’t believe they turned silent hill into a real thing….
Unfortunately the fog did not last, and by the time we arrived in the big city the rain pretty much dissipated completely so it was just boring grey skies once again.
But who cares about that when its time for hot pot!!!!!
Although I’ve been a certified hot pot enjoyer long before my dietary shift to no longer eat land meat, I was a bit worried on how I’d eat anything with my current dietary restrictions, even as milquetoast as they were compared to someone who’s vegan or completely pescetarian for example.
We decided to play it safe and visit the same hotpot restaurant we frequented in the past, I think its been almost 2 years now since we last ate there and whoa did so much change!
The first and most obvious change was the restaurant shifting from a dumpling and hot pot restaurant to a Korean bbq and hot pot restaurant! We were immediately blasted with the smell of various patrons frying various meals all consecutively, and the one thing that struck me as odd was the lack of vents on top of the stove tops….. Of course, seeing the new addition of Korean bbq purusaded my mom to possibly, maybe try that out instead of the hotpot we had initially planned, but at my insistence (or actually annoyance until she gave in) I said we should go for hot pot since 30% of the family is sick and we would benefit from a warm soup dish that could clear the sinuses. Unsurprisingly the Korean bbq section of the restaurant was completely packed, and when the server led us to the hot pot section it was sparse save for an employee on his lunch break. Not that I’m mad! A room all to ourselves and a newly renovated hotpot system in the restaurant that allowed for individual hot pot containers per customer instead of one large communal pot!
The first time we ate hot pot was in a large communal pot, and honestly it was a disaster considering we ate lunch a couple hours prior and my dad ordered spicy broth for one half while the non-seafood side of the pot is a chicken/pork non-spicy mix. We severely underestimated the spice level of said soup base, and both my parents and me were wheezing and coughing mid-way while my siblings remained somewhat unbothered eating in their designated non-seafood broth.
Also the smoke from the spicy broth was intense! Not only did it steam easily, the steam BURNED, and the steam happened to divert directly to the faces of my parents who had to temporarily switch places with my siblings to avoid the steam only for the steam to follow them anyways because the circulation in the room changed LMAO.
Luckily this time with the individual hot pot containers, we can all manually tweak the burner temperatures to our desired preference, and none of us suffered from scalding spicy broth steam this time around!
Now, how was eating all-you-can-eat hotpot for the first time in 2 years after a complete dietary change?
Not much changed honestly— the restaurant had a hearty seafood selection in the hotpot bar, though the selection for broths was slimmed significantly considering the broth base is composed of pork bones. Luckily I can tolerate some spice, and they had a seafood-only broth that was diluted with regular boiled water instead of the special pork broth concentrate that they use to refill the hot pot containers. It was very tasty and it came with a shrimp and muscle in the broth! I also got this supposed vegetarian mushroom broth, but thinking about it now I’m pretty sure it wasn’t vegetarian and they used the same broth for all the other broth options but the server mistranslated by question and said “It contains mushrooms!” as an affirmative question for “is the broth vegetarian?” ….At least the seafood broth was tastier and more flavourful and I predominately dumped my ingredients in there over the mushroom broth.
Anyways, this time around I remembered to bring my certified foodie and drinking buddy Kurimanju with me, and she luckily did not fall into the pot while I was taking my obligatory nui pics:
My sister brought her ralsei plush as well and we were able to take a cute photo op of our plushies together!
I took the photos on my digicam which is why they’re blurry…..
I took the photos on my digicam which is why they’re blurry…..
I think I’ve learned a couple new things about me as we were eating hotpot— here’s my comprehensive list in no particular order:
1) I will always mention the spicy broth steam incident unprompted whenever I see hotpot
Sorry mom and dad who took the brunt of it, the situation was funny….
2) I will probably not get my moneys worth because I can only eat seafood
Luckily my sister is a certified steak freak and ate 9+ trays of marbled beef which probably more than made up for our total cost. Unfortunately for me I was only able to eat a single plate since the seafood balls were incredibly filling and I gorged myself too much on enoki mushrooms….
my single serving of hot pot ingredients. 60% seafood 40% enoki mushrooms.
3) I will certainly not get my moneys worth within the 2 hour time limit on all-you-can-eat
Not only did I not eat as much to get my money’s worth on the all-you-can-eat fee, I spent 80% of the two hours talking non-stop to my sister who could only nod yes or no because she was stuffing her mouth with 9 trays of beef. I think my mom had to intervene and shush me so I could actually eat my food before our time ran out haha…..
4) I still enjoy hot pot even with my dietary preferences! though I probably would not pay $39.99 CAD to do it again
Despite not eating much, the meal was incredibly delicious and I was delighted to satiate my long-going enoki mushroom craving. I think enoki mushrooms are easily among my TOP 5 mushrooms of all time, dare I say it takes the first spot because of how fun and delightful it is to chew and crunch on. They’re like, the cooler, better, awesomer cousin to shitty ass bean sprouts which is top 5 WORST toppings only next to cilantro which tastes like soap…..
I think I can very easily DIY all this at home for like a fraction of the price though, so while I enjoyed my meal, it is not $39.99 CAD enjoyable.
As mentioned prior, we stayed until the maximum 2 hour time limit— mostly because of my incessant talking, and also mostly because it took so long for me to actually eat, by the end of it everyone was pretty much just waiting for me to finish my damn plate so we can finally go home. I’m glad my sister had a better time eating hot pot this time around since the 2 previous times we ate hot pot she didn’t eat much since she’s already quite the picky eater who has a hard time with getting her money’s worth at regular all-you-can-eat buffets.
I think the self serve meat section was to her benefit since the previous system required you to write down what you want and call down a waiter to take your order which my sister was probably way too shy to initiate before. Overall we had a delightful time and went home happy and full.
And oh! The grey skies have parted and blessed us with a beautiful sunset that painted the skies purple and orange.
What a fulfilling and mundane day!
Lori ✦
Currently Listening to:
My Castle Town – Toby Fox (But it sounds like its from a DS)
Feeling:
Nasally congested
This was such an entertaining read! I’ve never been to a hot pot place before (I’m not even sure where the nearest one would be), but I’ve had somewhat similar family outings many times… It was kind of strange reading about trying to take advantage of an all-you-can-eat and time limit because I also haven’t really experienced that. I guess there’s one buffet that my family often goes to, but it has a somewhat small selection + none of us are there for barely over an hour. I love going out and I love eating, but I always feel a little bad because I can barely finish a single plate before giving up. ^.^; I think I would try to stay strong if I got the chance to so much steak though… It’s nice to read that this outing went well for you! (And I don’t blame you for always bringing up The Spicy Broth Steam Incident… Spicy Broth Steam be upon ye…)
Hmm when it comes to hotpot it’s a bit tricky to recommend since most hotpot places are quite pricy, and it would probably suck to realize it’s not your thing when you’re already ~40$ deep in and you only touched one plate. There’s also the chance of trying it at home, but it would also equally as suck if you have a bunch of leftovers that you have to eat and clean up and…. I guess the optimal solution would be a certified hot pot freak inviting you for at-home hot pot and if it isn’t your thing hot pot freak can eat your portion while you have something else! Which in case, I would certainly invite you over was it not this continental gap that separates us, I’ll be sure to send some hot pot broth with toppings in a bubble mailer for sampling ^.^
Also I certainly relate to not getting my moneys worth in buffets too since I quickly tap out after one plate and maybe a small bowl of ice cream to get an extra cent in. I’ve changed my tactics to prioritize pricy foods like sushi and seafood that would otherwise cost double regularly if I bought them on my own so now I feel relatively satisfied when I go to all-you-can-eat buffets. I’ve also seen some “min-maxxing buffet” guides on youtube (yes that exists LMAO) and apparently they put carbs such as rice, noodles, and bread in the forefront since they’re the most filling and cheapest to refill so its always wise to target the main dishes instead!
Best of luck if you decide to eventually give hot pot a try! If you end up not liking it, feel free to mail it in a bubble mailer, priority stamped, to my address and I will gladly finish it in your stead!!!!!
I don’t go out much to eat and I especially rarely go out to fancy/interesting restaurants (totally awesome part about living in a rural area), but I enjoy trying out all sorts of food when I get the opportunity… I was able to try out some different Japanese dishes in the past year, and I want to experience more types of food, and I think the hot pot rituals(?) seem really fun, and now I’m hungry. T.T If the offer is still available, I will accept your mailed-in broth with toppings… I hope it’s not too expensive for you with the continental differences and all…
I rarely ever get to the ice cream stage anymore, although that’s also probably because I just want to enjoy the taste of whatever I ate and avoid anything that would “ruin” it or something err I don’t know… I’ve actually never thought of your strat before… Maybe I should try it myself! Although I’m not sure what the value of a lot of the foods are (besides maybe the sushi, although it’s not anything special). It took me years to figure out that maybe I shouldn’t go for all of the bread sticks first when I go to the buffet, but I couldn’t help it… I would like to gather some more strats because I really do enjoy the all-you-can-eat experience, I’m just not strong enough for it… One of my strats (that I’m not even sure helps much) is I stopped ordering teas/sodas and just get water all of the time instead, but that’s also just a recent me thing that I’ve been doing for myself. ^.^;
But anyway, thank you! Maybe next year I will try having the goal of trying out more restaurants, which I know is 4+ months away, but I have to mentally prepare (and I also feel like I need a “reason” to go out and eat + I don’t know about going out solo >_>). I think I would enjoy at least one thing from a hot pot place (just looked up the nearest one and it’s over an hour away lol), but if not, I’ll be sure to mail your broth back to you! I’ve always wanted to do a letter exchange, and this is a good excuse I think…
Ohohoh the prospect of an actual mail exchange sounds enticing! Initially the whole “bubble mailer hot pot broth” thing was a silly idea, but now I certainly wouldn’t object to having a foodie mail review exchange where we send letters regarding our top 5 meals of the month or something.
Coincidentally, the postal strike in my country has switched to a rotating schedule, which means mail is circulating semi-normally again! Although I realistically could not cram an entire hot pot broth brick in the mail and hope for it to not dissolve and spill everywhere on transit, mayhaps I’ll take a photo of such and make it scratch and sniff by rubbing a chili pepper on it…. or some hotpot themed stickers….. or maybe a heartfelt soulful pencil crayon drawing…..
I don’t blame you for being enticed by a warm serving of bread! The starter basket of bread with a dollop of melted butter is simply sublime! There’s something different about carbs served in restaurants vs the one prepped at home I’d say, or maybe I’m just imagining it and trying to justify spending an extra buck on cafe pastries haha….
I think I also tried to save a couple dollars by opting for some water instead of a custom drink at restaurants…. but eventually I end up mooching off of my family for some pop LOL. I can have a little sip of soder…. as a treat!
hmm hmmm the idea of a foodie mail exchange should be fun. I think that even if you live in a bum fuck middle of nowhere rural area there are some stories to be told for the dinky mom-n-pop restaurants they have laying around. For example, there was a local pizza shop that was remodelled from a house into a restaurant and their pizzas used to be my favourite of all time! That was until something changed in the kitchen or management or *something* cause the pizza suddenly did not taste right and next thing you know the shop went out of business. What a shame, it was a really nice place and I found it charming they sawed open a window through the wall to make a DIY ice cream pick up window that had a little doorbell to ring if you wanted ice cream.
I haven’t visited that town in a ages, so I’m curious to see what has become of that property that once held the pizza shop. I wonder if they ever kept the ice cream window too or if they patched it up….
If you’re interested in this exchange as well, you know where to find me! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Well! I probably wouldn’t mind a mail exchange either, although if it were a food exchange, my top 5 meals of the month would likely be underwhelming and repetitive! ^.^; I kind of forgot about the postal strike thing going on because I live under a rock, but it’s nice to know that there have been some changes! I have a little bit of experience with shipping packages, although I did it through Depop and never had to worry about putting together a label and stuff, but I would be willing to learn how…
You reminded me that I also sometimes mooch off of my family’s drinks, or I cave in and order an iced tea or something. I know water is great to have, but sometimes I have “flavor fatigue” where I just get tired of the same flavor and want other options. I’ve never ordered two different drinks out in public because I feel like a weirdo, but I do make the option available in the comfort of my own home…
I suppose you are right about me having interesting foodie stories… I always think that my life is very boring and unassuming, but there are definitely some things that would be fun to tell others + it probably helps if I can tell/write things in an entertaining way… My local pizza place (which I’m thankful has never drastically changed their recipes) has a little bit of a strange history, though I’ll save that for a future (e)mail instead of taking over your blog post. I will reach out about exchanging letters soon!