Joju Hotpot 九州簡餐 — Restaurant in Burnaby

I went to this place randomly because the restauranted I wanted to go to was closed on holidays.

The English name says hotpot and they do serve a lot of hotpot stuff, except it wasnt kept warm like normal Taiwanese hotpots. Just a stone bowl.

I wanted to order the braised pork but they said they sold out of it so I opted for Kungpow chicken. The taste was good but the ingredients weren't standard and I've never seen a dish prepared like that. The set came with rice and soup (the soup was just miso soup)

We also ordered the Taiwanese fried chicken nugget and the taste was good but the bowl had an oily bottom so at the end, the last pieces of chicken were soggy.

One thing I found disappointing was that the rice they give you is very little. All Taiwanese places would give you a full bowl with a hump on top but this place was deflated, less that even the top of the rim.

Needless to say, this place is not very authentic Taiwanese but it still has good flavor for home-cooking style dishes.

There is one hour or two hour parking outside and to the side of...

I got Seafood fried rice, squid, bubble tea, and chicken nuggets from there. The squid was bitter and tasted of old oil. Fried rice was almost okay but I found CHUNKS of salt several times, which were not mixed in properly. Seafood in the rice was low quality, mostly imitation crab. Bubble tea was misex with only podwers, no real milk and no real fruit at all. Tapioka was mushy. The chicken was for my friend but he said he did not enjoy it either. Worst of all is the fishtank at the entrance with 2 turtles in there, which look very sad. I wish I could save them, I am owrried for their wellbeing. The tank is very dirty and has nothing in it, omly a couple of stones and some dirty water. I will never go back there and do not recommend it. But mostly I wish I could save...

The date we visited was a Saturday night, only one staff working there as chef and waiter. He did the cooking and answering phone calls for pick up order. We were so impressed by his efficiency. We could tell his is not from Taiwan but the Taiwanese cuisine he made were quite tasty, better than some “so call” Taiwanese restaurants. Highly recommend. The star missing is for the ambiance. Restaurant looks a bit old and need Reno. I think their focus is for pick up order. Lots of phone calls during our dinner time but only two tables of guests...