Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot 小肥羊 : West broadway location

POST ON LITTLE SHEEP MONGOLIAN IN BURNABY [HERE]
REVISIT POST ON LITTLE SHEEP MONGOLIAN IN VANCOUVER [HERE]

Stumped on where to go for the first meal of the day at 5:00pm, my friend and I settled on Little Sheep Mongolian. Little Sheep Mongolian is a Chinese hot pot restaurant and there are three locations, with the newest addition located on West Broadway. I used to frequently visit the location in Richmond because the restaurant is very spacious and there are comfortable seating arrangements. However, I stopped visiting because the soup bases are not that great and there are plenty of hot pot restaurants in Richmond! So there is no need to settle. As for the location in Burnaby, well… the experience was not that great.

So, at first I was a bit hesitant to try out Little Sheep on West Broadway and kind of remembered the menu as being a bit limited. But, I was craving for tong ho and we decided to make the visit. Similar to the other Little Sheep restaurants, the interior looks very modern and the seating arrangements are comfortable.

ADULT $19.98 CHILD (5-12) $14.98
BROTH $9.99 POP $2.00


SAUCE STATION.
Little Sheep is one of the few hot pot restaurants that provides a self-serve sauce station, but… I am not sure why it is located so close to the washrooms. The sauce station includes black vinegar, peanut butter sauce, chilli oil with sesame seed, soy sauce, chilli bean spiral sauce and satay sauce. 

CILANTRO ($1.00)
Condiments are an extra dollar and cilantro, fresh chilli, green onion, sesame oil as well as garlic are available.

HALF HALF, ORIGINAL AND SPICY ($9.99).
The original broth soup base has a very mild broth flavour and is a bit on the weaker side. As for the original spicy, the flavour is quite light and there is no hint of spiciness. Personally, since I prefer simple and "clean" food sometimes, the weak soup bases are a not a big deal to me unless there are other close by options. However to some, a flavourful broth is what makes the hot pot. If anything, I would have really enjoyed the spicy soup base if it was even mildly spicy.

MONGOLIAN SPICY MEATY BONE.
The pork has a light soy base and tastes fairly tender, despite not tasting spicy as stated though.

Tofu puff, sweet potato slices, fresh bean curd stick, bean curd sheet roll and fish tofu. These are all pretty generic and I love bean curd sheet rolls!

Pork and shrimp dumpling. The dumplings taste moist and the meat does not taste dry at all.

Beef tripe, quail egg, cod fillet and mussels. Despite only ordering "two" pieces of beef tripe, we received more than we could finish lol.

Winter melon and potato slices. We ordered sweet potato slices rather than potato, but meh.

Shrimp balls. The balls taste springy as well as bouncy but in general, I am not a fan of these.

Nappa cabbage, watercress, spinach, tong ho, cabbage, sweet corn, enoki and oyster mushroom. Everything is quite fresh and the vegetables are actually rinsed (unlike the location in Burnaby!). Asides from the vegetables, my favourite is the corn because unlike some hot pot restaurants, it is not perviously frozen and tastes very sweet.

Fatty beef x2, lamb shoulder and tender pork slices. The slices of beef are very well marbled and tastes tender as well as fatty. In addition, the slices are not grossly fat and chewy, which makes them a favourite of ours. As for the lamb along with the pork, the slices of meat taste tender as well.

TOTAL: $55.60 + TIP $10.40 + $66.00.

Our experience at Little Sheep was nothing but positive. The quality of the food is great and the staff was friendly. Whenever I do not feel like going to Richmond, my go-to hot pot restaurant will probably be Little Sheep on West Broadway. Also, every Little Sheep restaurant provides $5.00 off coupons per person for the next visit! I wanted to revisit to see if the restaurant would be consistent but because the coupons expired and I never craved for hot pot, it did not happen. By the way, the only reason for revisiting is for the fatty beef, corn and tong ho!

POSITIVES
- Friendly staff
- Good quality ingredients
- Clean and large restaurant with plenty of seating

NEGATIVES
- Broths are weak (only two types of soup bases too)
- Sauce station is very close to the washroom

LITTLE THINGS
- Post on Little Sheep Mongolian in Burnaby [here]
- Revisit post on Little Sheep Mongolian in Vancouver [here]
- Top Five hot pot restaurants for me (West Broadway location only)

Food: 3/5 (not including the soup bases, 3.5/5)
Service: 2.5/5

Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot on Urbanspoon

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