Self scooping individual hot pot seems to be this year’s Vancouver foodie trend, and here is another one for you to consider when in the South Burnaby area, by Metrotown.
What was once Grandma Liu’s on Kingsway in Burnaby is now Jojo Pot. Trading their stylish grandma with sunglasses logo for a happy teddy bear one. On a rainy Sunday like today, it was busy, especially given the smaller and more confined space; when compared to other similar, more opulent hot pot concepts. Jojo’s is what I would describe as being homey.
The room was warm with the scent of various Chinese spices and broths co-mingling in the air. They have a smaller refrigerator unit of ingredients, and therefore a smaller selection to choose from.
The stand out is definitely the lobster tail. It is highlighted with a speciality sign and its own price: $3.99 for half a tail. Reservation signs are lobster shaped, and a few of the staff have plush lobsters hanging off their tops or crowning their shoulder.
Other lesser seen ingredients in their assembly include black konjac, roasted duck breast, mochi fish ball, abalone, thicker cut angus beef slices, and tendon noodles.
The process is the same as others. You pick your ingredients from the fridge, and using tongs put them in a bowl. Everything gets weighed and you pay for it by weight at the counter. You are then given a numbered tag and asked to wait for your meal to be brought to your seat.
Like everyone else coming and dining in we had to indulge in the possibility of lobster, with it you get a couple of disposable plastic gloves to be able to rip meat from shell. As much as I loved the luxury of the crustacean, I have to admit having it hidden behind pungent spices and sauces, doesn’t do sweet lobster tail meat justice. I wanted hot butter.
There is a small sauce bar where you can customize your dip to your liking. Popular options like chilli oil, sesame paste, satay sauce, oyster sauce, salt, and sugar. They were sadly out of all green onion and cilantro at 2pm. This is also where you can help yourself to paper cups of cold water or hot tea.
Today I tried a dry sauce mix for the first time and was pleasantly delighted. I went for the only non-spicy one, which is a tomato base. The result was plenty of flavour coating every item. A savoury sweetness that didn’t need additional sauces to accentuate. It would only be used midway through to help rejuvenate the flavor.
Apparently with the rebrand from Mama Liu to Jojo’s also came with new broth flavors, dry and wet. These include a curry as well as a limited time only lobster broth. My guest got the latter. They call it a “lobster bisque” however, it is far from creamy, and I would not classify it as such.
Having experienced enough of these individual weighed hot pot options I can confidently say I will no longer be ordering the soupy broths, but instead gravitate towards the dry rub. Not only are they easier to pack when you have leftovers, but you get so much more flavour and can actually taste the intended spices and seasonings.
Also new to their menu are drinks. A collection of coffee and tea-based cold options as well as juices. They serve as great palate refresher, but I found them mild as is, and even more so after a few bites of hot pot. I would skip this and stick to the water or hot tea available at their self serve sauce bar instead.
And for dessert, unlike any other brand in the same restaurant space, they offer complementary shaved ice desserts. However, appearance wise, they are nothing as advertised.
They didn’t have faced or double cones for horns as photographed. They weren’t multicolored, but just pink topped with pebbles cereal. Not strawberry flavor, but an artificial berry like a punch. It was a nice treat, but did not do much to serve its purpose. I prefer other restaurants that offer soft serve ice cream as a more helpful way to cleanse the palate of all that garlic and chilli, with something cool and refreshing. This was too dilute. Maybe some condensed milk and fresh fruit would’ve helped.
In short, this is a solid option for this style of hot pot in the area. However, I could not help but compare and find this one steps behind more popular chains. Although that means there is room to improve. I would like to see Jojo’s continue to bring in different seasonally driven ingredients and creating limited-edition broths to help generate new interest and returning customers.
Jojo Pot
6289 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5J OH4
(604) 336-3005
jojopot.ca
