gracecheung604 | write on time: Hitting the new Boiling Point in Surrey!

Thursday, April 07, 2016

Hitting the new Boiling Point in Surrey!

It's not exactly peak of Hot Pot season (I save that for the depths of winter), but since I received an invite to Boiling Point's new Surrey location via Chinese Bites, I was definitely game! 
  Boiling Point 
In addition to the various choices of Hot Soup Pots, Boiling Point also has various Bubble Teas. There are teas, juices, milk teas as well as slushes. Add-ons include Boba (Pearls), Pudding, Aloe, and Lychee Jelly. I opted for the plain Milk Tea with Boba; you can also customize it with the level of sweetness as well as the amount of ice.Boiling Point 2 What's in Store! Can four people (Rick, Diana, Sherman and I) really do eight hot pots?! Why the heck not! Boiling PointBefore the pots arrived, we were treated to two new appetizers, introduced just this month. The first one being the Kimchi Tofu. The tofu was smooth and cool and the contrast of spiciness of the kimchi gave the dish a nice balance.Boiling Point This Garlic Pork Belly was the better of the two appies though. The garlic flavours really came through and the belly was soft and tender. I found it a bit overcooked, but with pork, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. Boiling Point We were given an opportunity to be one of the first people to try out the Pomelo Hot Pot, soon to be introduced to the public on May 1. The pomelo sauce comes from Japan and is quite unique. Despite the mild-looking soup, this was really tangy...almost sour. The kamaboko (fish cake) and tofu were gently cooked but the soup itself was just a bit too intense. All pots come with your choice of rice or vermicelli. Bear in mind that many of the pots already come with ramen or vermicelli. Many of the pots are also customizable in terms of heat.  Boiling Point 3 Our next tasting was the Korean Bean Paste Hot Pot. This one has an innate heat due to the Korean bean paste. Those of you that have been to their Burnaby or Richmond location might be more familiar with the Kimchi Hot Soup, this is their new incarnation of that. Loaded with sprouts, veggies, kimchi and mushrooms, the proteins came from the pork belly, kamaboko and filets as well as a lobster fish ball. The greens on top are crown daisy and give the dish a very earthy taste. It's also available as an add-on, if you're looking for something other than the napa and cabbage that accompanies most of the pots. The wok noodles as well as the rice cakes give the soup a hearty feel. Boiling Point 3 The next one we tried is one of the most popular items on the menu. It's their Beef Hot Pot, and it come loaded with lots of napa cabbage, enoki mushrooms, tofu and tofu skin. One thing I didn't care for was the imitation crab stick, but I did enjoy the beef and beef balls. This would be excellent with the flaming spicy heat if you're up for it. Boiling Point 3 On to the next! We're halfway through!! This is the Thai Flavour Hot Pot and it's one of the three larger pots. There are three on the menu and they are larger than the other lower priced ones. (hint: great for sharing). It's loaded with seafood, such as Fuzhou fish balls (made from cod or haddock with a minced pork filling), shrimp, octopus, cuttlefish, clam and crab. There is also a bit of cabbage, taro as well as enoki mushrooms, and a few pork slices. This would be a good one to have with the vermicelli. The soup is more sour than "tom yum", which I was expecting. Add some heat and make it your own!   Boiling Point 4 We opted to go a bit spicy with our Lamb Hot Pot, and I did find it had a good amount of heat. The egg was bit lost in the pot as we bursted it and it just served to thicken the soup. This is the second soup that contained Maitake Mushrooms, and I really enjoyed them; the flavour is mild but the texture has a good chew to it. Oh, and just a heads up...there is pork blood in this dish...not something you'd expect in a "lamb" hot pot.  Boiling Point 4The Japanese Miso Hot Pot (larger pot) was mild compared to all our previous pots. This would be a great one for the kids, with lots of easy to eat ingredients, such as fish filet, mushrooms and udon. All kids I know just love noodles so this is a really child-friendly dish. The soft tofu is soothing and the Fuzhou fish ball and fried tofu skin give a good variety of textures. Untitled This was our second to last hot pot, the Curry Fishball Hot Pot. Served with sliced pork, fried tofu skin and various veggies such as enoki mushroom, mountain yam and string beans, there was also plenty of fish balls. The soup was more watery than I wanted, but let it boil at the table to reduce it a bit. Incidentally, this pot is no longer offered in the US, so it's a Canadian exclusive.  Boiling Point 6 We made it! The final pot is the Taiwanese Spicy Hot Pot (a larger pot), and it's not for the faint of heart. It's available in Flaming Spicy only, so buyer beware. It also has some interesting ingredients, such as pork intestine, pork blood, along with some beef and tofu. This left my mouth burning and almost a slight adrenaline rush. Not sure if it was primarily due to the soup, or the fact that we had eaten eight pots!
One thing to note is that all the pots can be customize with optional add-ons, such as quail eggs, fermented tofu and instant noodles too.   
Boiling Point 5Now to cool off after all the hot soups, the polar opposite in the form of Snow Cubes. They are perfect to cool off the palate and come in various flavours. We had the strawberry, taro, pudding and matcha. My favourite from a previous visit at the Burnaby location was the strawberry. 
This place is fun and makes for a nice leisurely lunch. The smaller pots are just $10.99 with the larger pots at $14.99. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...