Winter is fast approaching and with that means rainy days and much colder weather – so what better way to warm up than enjoying delicious hotpot broth with fresh meat and vegetables at one of Vancouver’s best hotpot restaurants. Whether it’s a communal or individual hotpot, these restaurants let you cook your own meats, seafood and vegetables in your choice from a variety of soup broths. Without further ado, here are our picks for the best hotpot restaurants in Vancouver.
HaiDiLao Hotpot
If you enjoy hotpot you’ve probably been to HaiDiLao, and if you haven’t you might’ve seen it all over Instagram, featuring noodle dancing and secret codes. Either way HaiDiLao is at the top of our list for the best hotpot restaurant in Vancouver for its wide selection of delicious broths that is served communally, great range of meat, seafood and fresh veggies and unbeatable service. We’re big fans of the tomato and mushroom broths, basa fillets and their pork and beef slices. Although they offer premium meats like Kobe beef they’re pretty pricey and we’re happy to go with the affordable meats which still taste good. They offer a DIY sauce bar (charged per person) which provides your typical hotpot sauce ingredients as well as snacks and appetizers. We’ve also found that prices here aren’t as expensive as the other hotpot restaurants in this list so that’s an added bonus. Don’t forget to try some of the secret codes for free things:
- I like your snacks – receive free snacks
- I like your tomato broth – receive free tomato soup base
- Little fairy is here to eat – receive fairy wand
- I like golden bricks – receive free fried buns
There’s a few locations located in Vancouver as well as globally but we visited the one on West Broadway and have tried it back home in Australia and the food quality and service has always been impeccable. Reserve a table beforehand or get in the wait-list early particularly at peak times because the queue can get huge.
Address: 3204 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6K 2H4
Gokudo Shabu Shabu Hot Pot-Burnaby
For a more personalized hotpot experience, Gokudo Shabu Shabu offers Japanese style shabu shabu hotpot in individual pots so you don’t have to share. Gokudo offers combos which start with your choice of a soup base, an assortment of vegetables, rice or udon, a drink and dessert. From there you select your meat or seafood a la carte. We chose the house special chicken soup base which comes with the combo and the sukiyaki soup base that comes with an extra cost. The sukiyaki was our favourite soup broth and with 2-3 meat or seafood choices we were very full. The Chapman’s ice cream for dessert was a great touch at the end to a very filling and enjoyable hotpot meal and like many others the service is great and attentive.
Address: 4501 Kingsway #103, Burnaby, BC V5H 0E5
The Dolar Shop
One of the more high-end hotpot restaurants on this list, The Dolar Shop like HaiDiLao is also a global chain, known for its premium ingredients and high quality soup broths served in individual hotpots. Even the aesthetic and decor of the restaurant makes you feel like you’re in a premium setting. The tomato soup is great here which has a generous serving of tomatoes but they also offer their signature pork broths, mushroom borth and more. The assorted veges are a good choice if you’re looking to get a mix of greens and mushrooms especially since we find ordering individual veg dishes to be quite pricey. They do offer very high quality meats and seafood like A5 Wagyu, AAA Rib-eye, Lobster and more but these will definitely cost a premium.
For us as a couple, we find Dolar Shop to be quite pricey and not as value for money as other options so we’d recommend going in bigger groups to share things. They also offer a sauce bar which you can create your own hotpot sauce, but on our last visit in Richmond our waiter helped create their signature hotpot sauce which saved us from using and having to pay ($4.99 per person) for the sauce bar.
Address: 5300 No. 3 Rd, Richmond, BC V6X 2X9
Liuyishou Hot Pot
Another restaurant you can find all over Vancouver, Liuyishou Hot Pot is the only all you can eat (AYCE) option on this list, offering big communal hotpots with a similar range of hotpot broths as HaiDiLao and Dolar Shop. Here you mark down on a piece of paper what you wish to order. We tried the the mushroom soup which was good, but the tomato soup base did not stand out compared to the others mentioned above. We also ordered the Liu’s Beef & Lamb Platter which is a unique experience to Liuyishou, draping meat slices in a 360 circle around your hotpot featuring beef from North America and lamb from New Zealand. Their sauce bar in the downtown location wasn’t as extensive as HaiDiLao or Dolar Shop and service was a bit chaotic when we visited.
Since it’s AYCE you technically get the most bang for your buck but the quality of broths and meat was a step below HaiDiLao and Dolar Shop. Liuyishou do run deals however like dining at lunch time is often cheaper than dinner so snagging those will get you even more value.
Address: 1542 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6G 1C2
Big Way Hot Pot
For those looking for a more affordable and customised hot pot experience, Big Way Hot Pot is a popular choice as one of the best hotpot restaurants in Vancouver. Here you get to fill your own pot with from a range of hot pot ingredients like vegetables, meats, seafood, noodles and much more, choose a broth which workers will cook your ingredients in and enjoy your own individual hot pot meal rather than a communal experience. They also sell drinks like Milk Tea, sweet Green/Black Tea, fruit drinks and more.
Big Way gets very busy as it’s popular among young people for its affordability and variety of ingredients, so try to go during off-peak times and join the waiting list early. They have locations across Vancouver, with one in downtown on Robson, in Richmond and a few stores in Burnaby among others.
That summarizes our picks for the best hotpot restaurant in Vancouver. Let us know your thoughts or recommendations on any hotpot restaurant we might’ve missed and need to try. If you’re craving soup other than hotpot, check out our picks for the best ramen restaurants in downtown Vancouver.
*All pictures featured are taken by us on a Google Pixel 5 and Samsung S21