NOTICE TO READERS:
I know someone involved in this restaurant. This fact does not alter my review of this restaurant. My stomach is honest.
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Date visited: December 8, 2012
Time: 7:30 pm to 11:45 pm (We had a 4+ hour Hot Pot experience)
Party Size: 4
Price: $15 after tax and tips
Type of restaurant: Hot Pot
(People pay to cook their own meal?)
Food consumed: (Click on image to enlarge)
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| Gotta love MS Paint. I seriously need to learn how to use Photoshop. |
Pictures of food consumed: (Click on images to enlarge)
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| Sausage, pork skin, beef ball, fish ball, I think tofu skin |
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| Shrimp wontons and chive dumplings |
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| Lamb |
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| Beef |
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| House made squid balls and beef balls |
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| Lettuce |
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| Mushrooms |
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| Beef again |
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| Lamb again |
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| Tofu skin, vermicelli (did not eat), the rest were mentioned above |
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| Popeye's favourite vegetable |
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| Stuffed tofu and lamb again |
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| Plum juice |
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| Beef, it was old meat but thick slice |
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| Re-frozen green tea ice cream, had one bite. |
One of the party member is a microbiologist with a Master's degree. His research field is with salmonella and other diseases. He pointed out that with the ice cream, once it is thawed, you shouldn't freeze it again. As the ice cream melts, bacteria will start growing. Once you freeze it, you are just freezing the bacteria, not killing them. Think of cryogenicist. Once thawed again, the bacteria will be become active.
Review of Restaurant: (Click on images to enlarge)
Before:
At this hot pot location, you can make you own sauce, they have signs to direct you on how to make specific sauces such as Japanese style, Thai style. The problem is that most of the ingredients are missing and the place was a mess. To get some of the sauces, you use a soup ladle. The problem is that the ladle is too small, so you need to reach in the sticky container to grab the ladle. Your fingers gets sticky but most importantly, if there are bacteria on your fingers, it's going to be in the sauce.
Raw Eggs:
Usually when I see raw eggs, I would avoid it. The reason is that at Chinese places, they will most likely buy eggs from the cheapest suppliers. Recently, the Chinese newspaper made a report on the egg industry. The eggs are covered in bird poo, feathers and dirt, which is then shipped to groceries and restaurants. They are usually not cleaned properly before being sold or served. We cheated at this restaurant, my friend went to wash the eggs.
Upset stomach incident averted #1.
The hot pot heating unit is covered in grease. It was really gross. To adjust the temperature, you need to poke it with the end of your chopstick, obviously, not with the end that you eat with.
During:
Nothing special, just water boiling with food in miso soup. Well, there is lots of oil.
We used the lettuce to soak up the oil and fat. Look at that glistening fat covered lettuce. I sacrificed a piece of beef to make it photogenic. I made the mistake of trying to eat that piece of beef. My friend stopped me from getting an upset stomach again.
The reason, the plate had raw lamb on it. Stupid me. I replaced my chopstick.
Upset stomach incident averted #2.
After:
Look at the solidified fat, looks yummy.
The waitress was cleaning the table behind us. She dumped everything into the pot. Notice how the beef and lettuce were not dumped and left there. She carried it back to the kitchen. Let's just hope that I don't see what they do with it.
Washroom experience:
All went well. Normal bowel movements despite eating large amounts of protein. Could be that my friend ate most the meat and I was spared with the crumbs.
York Region Inspection Reports
(Click on images to enlarge - in reverse chronological order)
I was very surprised, no major infraction at all in the past 2 years. The owner must have paid the inspector very well or the inspector's family was kidnapped but later released because of the positive report.
VERDICT: JerJai's Seal of Approval. I was not paid to promote this restaurant. My friend just had my family kidnapped, nothing major.
