Gokudo Shabu Shabu Hot Pot (Burnaby): Tasty Individual Hot Pots in Burnaby

Novembers in Vancouver means cold and stormy weather. And nothing feels better during this time of year than having a big, boiling, hot pot in front of you that’s filled to the brim with meats and veggies. Cue our visit to Gokudo Shabu Shabu at their new location near Metrotown.

This place caters to individual hot pots so you don’t have to share with your date (if you don’t want to). The menu can be a bit confusing and the hostess suggested that we pick one of their special meat items and then turn it into a combo. We decided on the Mix Balls and Beef ($17.95) and the Assorted Seafood ($20.95) and then added a side order of Tofu Fish Paste Puffs ($4.95). Each order comes with the ability to upgrade various items such as the upgrade to the Marinated Ground Pork on Rice and the upgrade to a Laksa broth.

Don’t be fooled… there’s actually quite a bit of food in their combos… especially when you factor in their assorted veggie plate which actually contains some meatballs and seafood to boot.

I felt that the laksa broth really didn’t have a laksa flavour to it and it might be fine to just stick with their regular house special chicken broth.

After our dinner, they brought us out these neat packaged lychee gelatin desserts.

Overall, the food quality is good and you’re sure to waddle out of this place stuffed. The only downside (which applies to all hot pot places) is that you spend a lot of time cooking your own food. We enjoyed our first visit so much that we brought some friends here a few weeks later. Unfortunately, this place can get really busy and usually has a lineup during the busy dinner hour. We arrived around 5:30pm and had to wait about 45 minutes for a table to open up. The servers are actually fairly friendly and useful and, while we were still waiting for our table, they came to us and helped us put in our order so it would be ready by the time our table cleared up.

As previously mentioned, it’s best to go with the combo as you get a filling “veggie” plate which includes some assorted meatballs, shrimp, and other tasty items. And, honestly, the 7oz order of meat is actually pretty filling.