LITTLE SHEEP HOTPOT

It was the day after the Toronto ice storm and I woke up to no power. Luckily I had lunch plans for hotpot, the perfect meal for the occasion. Driving past downed trees and through intersections without traffic lights, I started to worry about whether or not Little Fat Sheep had been hit by the weather as well. It didn’t help that we arrived before the restaurant opened and sat waiting in the parking lot. All was well though and the lights did turn on.

Little Fat Sheep, 小肥羊, offers large communal pots and small individual size pots. On weekends for lunch, the AYCE seafood option is priced at $15.99 per person with an additional $2 charge for pots equipped with dividers that allow for two soup bases. I had the individual pot this time but I prefer the larger pot as there’s more broth making it easier to cook things. I found my pot filled up quickly with the “long cooking time” items and it was hard to get vegetables in. My favourite hotpot soup base is the Little Fat Sheep spicy one, which is what we always use when we hotpot at home.

Plates of beef and lamb slices are served to each table, everything else is self-serve. The selection of ingredients was more extensive than at Hipot with pretty much everything I could think of to hotpot. There was 6-7 vegetables, two types of rice cakes, two cuts of tripe, a selection of fish balls, 3 kinds of mushrooms, wintermelon, squid, taro, cuttlefish, tofu curd, tofu puffs, fried gluten, slices of pork and chicken, glass noodles, ramen noodles, so many other noodles and the list goes on.

Next to the food, there is a self-serve drinks area with pop, chrysanthemum tea and Chinese plum juice. Little Sheep also has a great sauce station with 12 different options and toppings. I always go for the sesame, chili oil and satay sauce topped with garlic and chopped cilantro. For dessert, they have fried mantou with condensed milk, fruit and some baked goods. Really, I was astonished by their selection. Service was hectic and nothing spectacular. We had to re-order a few things multiple times but we weren’t rushed for our table. I do like the self-serve buffet style but some may shy away from how the raw food is out in the open.

By the time we were leaving, the restaurant was packed with a long queue waiting for tables. I hear that this is a regular occurrence, not just weather related, and especially on weekends.