XiaoLongKan Chinese Hotpot — Restaurant in Richmond Hill

At first glance at the menu, the price seems pretty expensive, but when you consider everything as a whole, the price was acceptable. Long story short: it’s worth it!

The decor is unique and interesting, it definitely gives you a sense of eating somewhere special and I felt transported. The seating is just a wooden bench and the table space is cramped, but it’s atmospheric and reminds of me eating in China at small local eateries. It was a treat for my family to show them something new, a novel experience. Even the hotpot itself is in a large wok-like vessel, and the little side table with shelves to hold extra food, cooking utensils, etc, super fun. They have little baskets for you to put your coats inside, which was super interesting and helped protect then from the aromas. If you’re allergic to spice, just be warned that the air smells spicy from other tables’ steam. My young kids were fine so most people should be fine. But your clothes and hair will all be marinated in the soup aroma hahaha. So leave your fancy cashmere sweaters and wool coats at home!

The food was very high quality, the vegetables were very fresh and abundant, beautiful mushrooms and greens. The watercress was large and super fresh. The meat was good quality, fresh, tender, and delicious. The crystal beef was surprisingly soft and yummy. All the varieties of balls and dumplings were great. Lots of soy / tofu options for vegetarians. Loved the springy hand made noodles, went so well with the rich pork broth. The sauce and dessert station was good. Fresh and maintained very clean! They had a kids combo but that wasn’t what we came here for, seriously. It was a set meal of fries, broccoli, and a few dumplings. We came for hot pot! They have single soup option or divided 2 or 3 soup options which is pretty neat for those who want to have variety.

The service was very good, very fast delivery of food to table, always picking up empty dishes and offering broth top ups in a timely manner. I had an error message when ordering by phone but the waitress helped me punch in my order on her phone instead. As long as you can look past the cheesiness of the website ordering and spelling errors, the ordering was fine. I very much liked that you could add more food anytime using the web app so it’s super convenient. I was able to do that without an error message. It even totals up the price and tax for you.

Overall it was a great dining experience. Highly recommend for anyone wanting to try a unique...

First of all, this place is not AYCE so if you want to eat a large quantity of food without busting the wallet, this place is not for you. The food here is on the pricey side. However, this has got to be the best tasting hotpot base I have ever eaten, and I've been to Chongqing and various places in China, as well as the GTA for hotpot. You'll notice the smell of hotpot soup base the moment you step into the restaurant, and it smells delicious (although that might also mean their ventilation system is not great). I have never smelled such a strong and delicious smell in any other hotpot restaurants.

Their spicy soup base with beef oils is delicious. Best hotpot base I've tasted. Their non-spicy bone soup base was decent but definitely not their "signature". They have a large variety of dishes to try--the lamb and beef slices, beef omasum, beef short rib, and duck blood tofu were pretty good. My family also liked the shrimp paste and quail eggs. Beef tongue was too tough, and duck gizzard and pork belly were nothing special. The quantity is on the small side, however we were full at about $55 per person.

The waiters were pretty attentive to add soup base to the pot and everything came pretty quickly (although the place was pretty empty on the day we went). Everything you need is already at the table--all the utensils and extra napkins, etc.

I am taking off a star because of the furniture here. I guess they want to make it "authentic" by having furniture similar to those hotpot places in China--the seats are all benches/stools. If I want to come here and eat like a king, I want to sit...

Celiac- friendly.

I called a number of hotpot places to see if they could accommodate gluten free, this was the only place that said yes. I asked again when I entered and they seemed a little confused (the people I spoke with seemed to speak English as a second language, definitely well enough to ask questions and get answers) but checked ingredients and asked if rice flour was okay and pork and such.

I've eaten shabu-shabu many times before but I'm only vaguely familiar with the ins and outs of hot pot.

Ordering on the menu is a little difficult, but for the couple items in Chinese I just popped them into the Google translate or asked the staff. I suggest ordering the pork broth, pork belly, AAA+ angus beef, and a order of mixed veg, or pick two veg and mushrooms separately, and rice. If you're not celiac make sure you order some noodles to add after you eat the meat and veg.

The sauces are extra and they do NOT have gluten free soy sauce so bring some of your own. They have hoisin, satay, oyster sauces, and others, not sure if they are gluten free. There's also garlic, green onion, sesame oil and a bunch of other condiments.

The pork broth is stunning. You don't need to order any drinks bc you can just drink the broth it's so fantastic. Drinks are reasonably priced tho.

Did I say the pork broth is stunning? Because it is. I asked if they make it in house and they said yes.

The staff helped to show me how to mix sauces up for dipping.

The restaurant is...