Happy Lamb Hot Pot: AYCE hot pot for under $30
I’m back with another hot pot review – this time, it’s the OG restaurant chain Happy Lamb Hot Pot.
Happy Lamb Hot Pot is a chain that has been around for many years, even before Big Way Hot Pot came into the scene. They are not an individual hot pot restaurant, so you will be sharing a pot of broth with your entire table. Growing up as a Chinese person that has hot pot meals at home, I find this to be more authentic/what I am used to.
They have multiple locations across the Lower Mainland, but this review will be based off of their Vancouver location featuring their new AYCE special deals.
Happy Lamb Hot Pot
1788 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6J 1Y1
The vibe
The Vancouver location of Happy Lamb Hot Pot is quite spacious. There are a lot of tables and booth seatings that can seat large groups of 4+. There is also a lot of ventilation above the tables, which is good for my super puff because I don’t dry clean it often 😅.
Similar to an individual hot pot restaurant, the layout and process is quite similar. They have a whole aisle of hot pot ingredients you can choose from and since it is all-you-can-eat (AYCE), you can go as many times as you want and get more food if you are still hungry. I always find this to be kind of funny because it’s like I am at the supermarket 😳.
They also have a DIY sauce bar with a lot of different ingredients and sauces, and they have small appetizers and fried foods like fried chicken, spring rolls and sesame balls. These are all included in the AYCE pricing.
Food review
Disclaimer: We received free AYCE for 2 people + 2 drinks for an Instagram collaboration.
Happy Lamb Hot Pot currently has 2 different AYCE deals:
- From 11:30am – 4pm: $21.99 per person
- From 8pm – last call: $29.99 per person
This includes anything you want to eat from the “grocery store” aisles, meat, fried foods, ice cream and broth!
Step 1: Choose your broth
There are 7 broths to choose from and they have a yin-yang option where you can select two different ones:
- Chef special tomato broth
- Special hot & sour
- Curry broth
- House special original broth
- House special hot broth
- Spicy butter broth
- Mushroom broth
We chose the original broth for a clean/lighter option and the curry broth because both of us cannot handle too much spice and our stomachs hurt sometimes from mala or chili oil based broths. Personally, I would not get the curry broth again but I think the original broth is a must.
Step 2: Order your meat
It’s AYCE so you can order as much meat as you want. Our server recommended both beef and lamb for variety and imagine my surprise when a little robot delivered the meat to our table! So funny 😂.
But also our server gave us way too much meat 🫢. She ordered fatty beef slices, lamb slices, and another type of beef meat! All 3 were presented quite nicely on the plate and my favourite out of the 3 were the fatty beef slices. Each piece of meat was big and not cut too thin – super good deal for the amount of meat you get.
Step 3: Choose your hot pot toppings
After you choose your broth, you can go to the “grocery aisles” and pick out any additional toppings for your hot pot. They have more meat, veggies, carbs and seafood for you to choose from.
Some things I like to grab are:
- Spinach (a lot of it because it disappears)
- Napa cabbage
- Fresh tofu
- Shrimp
- Radish
- Fish balls
- Cod filet
- Noodles – any kind!
- Quail eggs – my husband recommends this
Step 4: Make your own dipping sauce
I would say Happy Lamb’s DIY sauce bar had the most condiments that I’ve seen so far. They have everything you need – minced garlic, green onions, cilantro, soy sauce, chili oil, peanut sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, satay sauce, etc.
This sauce bar also had some appetizers like black fungus and pickled veggies. It also had 2 pots of fried hot foods – fried chicken, spring rolls, and mochi balls! Don’t sleep on the fried chicken 🍗.
Step 5: Cook and eat as you go!
Basically you have assembled all your key parts – the broth, veggies/toppings, meat and sauce. You can now cook whatever you want (the raw meats, the veggies, your noodles, etc.) into the broth of your choice and scoop it out when it is cooked. Dip it into your sauce and eat!
I was very satisfied and happy with our spread.
Step 6: Ask for your free ice cream
When you are done with your meal, ask your server for a free ice cream!
I really liked this ice cream- it was creamier and a tad sweeter than your regular vanilla.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I have to say, I was really surprised by my experience at Happy Lamb Hot Pot. I had gone a few times in the past when I was much younger and I didn’t think too much of it. But now that I’ve been on a hot pot reviewing craze, I feel like Happy Lamb Hot Pot is such a good deal 👍.
Compared to ChoCho Hot Pot in Burnaby, also an AYCE spot priced at around $50 per person, I would say Happy Lamb Hot Pot offers more value given the price. The main difference would be the meat quality/cuts of meat, but to me once it’s all cooked and in a delicious dipping sauce, I can barely taste the difference (especially for the fatty beef roll).
Recommended: Read my full review of CHOCHO Hot Pot, an AYCE hot pot restaurant in Burnaby.
AYCE for under $30 is super reasonably priced, along with all the things it comes with like the broth, ice cream, fried foods, and an abundance of fresh toppings (with seafood!).
Sincerely, Loewe