Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot 韓州豆腐鍋專賣店

Han Ju has been around for a long time and I think it was where I had my first Korean tofu hot pot experience. I remembered the food being quite good, so I decided to have dinner here after a shopping trip at Metrotown. The place was extremely crowded with people waiting at the door, and the tables were all cramped together. The seating environment was very uncomfortable, especially with insects zooming around and landing on diners and their food. Even though I knew it was probably a bad idea to order bubble tea at a place like this, I got a hot milk tea to sip on since I was really thirsty and was craving a warm drink. It came in a take-out cup with an inch of empty space and it was extremely sweet with a strong artificial perfume-like flavour. It didn't taste like milk tea but a flavoured syrup diluted with water.

I ordered the Korean style kimchi pot ($6.25) which took over half an hour to arrive. The tiny bowl of rice it came with was very dry and hard. It tasted like it was from the bottom of the pot and had been air-dried for several hours. When I asked the waitress to replace it, she gave me a weird look and told me the rice would be the same even if she got me another bowl. I asked if she could please do it anyway and she reluctantly complied. The new bowl of rice turned out to be much better and was at least edible. The hot pot itself wasn't very impressive. The flavour was one-dimensional and I didn't like the variety of ingredients.

I would much rather go to Hanppy Tofu Pot House in Richmond which offers a similar menu, better service, and much more comfortable seating.