Posh Richmond Sukiyaki

Back in high school, our go-to place for hot pot was Posh since it was pretty cheap, compared to Hong Kong style hot pot places. They don't charge soup base and it felt a bit more chic with their black interior and small pots compared to places like HKYK. I haven't actually been there for quite some time now since my last visit, about a year ago, was not that great. It took forever for the beef to arrive and their vegetables were really unfresh and disgusting.

Once again, cheap food has tempted me again and we went back since I got the group buy coupon from tastygo.com, where I paid $20 for all-you-can-eat sukiyaki for two, as well as two drinks (worth $42). Really, it was quite a good deal -- an all you can eat meal for around $13 per person (tax+gratuity) -- though I was hesitant to buy more than one because I wasn't sure about the freshness of the vegetables again.

We arrived there at around 6:35pm on a Tuesday and although the sign says they open at 6:30, their doors were locked. They opened the door for us though and we half expected that we would be the only customers for the whole night. Later in the night, three other tables did come though, but I can see why Posh had to participate in a group-buy promotion.

The menu shrunk quite a bit compared to my previous visit, in which they had already cut a lot of items out -- now they have only 20 items. Since the beginning, they already had much less variety because they only had beef slices, pork slices, and vegetables (compared to other hot pot places that had different meats, seafood, and meat balls or fish balls) -- fair enough, they charged much less in comparison and didn't charge a fee for soup base. But now it shrunk to even less variety of vegetables.

As apart of the coupon, we both got a drink each. They no longer had my favourite pineapple calpis, so I opted for the only calpis left -- the lychee calpis. I'm not sure if they were really short on calpis or gave me the other lychee drink (lychee delight or paradise or something like that) because it didn't have much calpis flavour at all. I was surprised it had a bit of coconut jelly on the bottom, though I didn't realize until I was nearing the end of my drink. Dorothy ordered the flower tea. I didn't know it was actually the Chinese type of flower tea until I had a taste of it -- I imagined it would be some sweeter tea, but it wasn't.

Besides for the change in menu, the pot actually changed too! It used to be a smaller black pot. They only have one soup/sauce base available, which is their sukiyaki base. It's a soy sauce base boiled with sake, sugar, and mirin. Unlike the Hong Kong soup bases, it's very strong in flavour and you usually don't have a separate sauce to dip your food in. They provide you with water and more sauce base so you can tailor it to your own tastes. I like the sauce, especially combined with dipping the food in raw egg, which cools down the food as well.

Beef

Pork

Each order of meat comes in a small tray with about six pieces of meat, each about the size of a bacon strip cut in half.  They actually do resemble bacon quite a bit, with all that fat. The beef this time was quite thickly sliced compared to the past, making it tougher and harder to chew on. It wasn't that great. The pork was a bit better, but since I like beef more, I only ordered one plate.

As for the vegetables and other foods, my favourites were the konnyaku, vermicelli, rice cakes, shinjuku (chrysanthemum leaves), napa cabbage, and enoki mushrooms. I always liked konnyaku, but I didn't know that was what it was called in Japanese! I thought they meant the chunks of brown jello-like things, so I never ordered it. Instead, it's like a crunchier version of vermicelli tied into a small knot. The vermicelli here is also quite good because it soaks up a lot of the sauce. The rice cakes are instant, but I like them in this thinly sliced form since it allows them to soak more sukiyaki sauce. I rarely get to eat shinjuku besides for having hot pot, so I ordered a lot of this. I used to hate it as a child since it was bitter, but now that I'm old, I like it. Many hot pot places do not have this because it's relatively expensive, compared to other vegetables. Napa cabbage is cheap and I've always liked it in any form. I'm not a huge fan of enoki mushrooms for Hong Kong style hot pot, but I like it with sukiyaki (yes because it is a flavour absorber). The vegetables this time were acceptable and not as unfresh as they were during my last visit.

One of the vegetables that I would avoid would be the shiitake mushrooms. They are really small and actually bring a really sour flavour to them. It's really weird. I gave them multiple chances and every time it's the exact same situation.  And, despite all the vegetables, the pot always ends up with a lot of oil floating on top.

Rating: ★★★ (based on reg. price)
Overall, for $20, it was quite a good deal since it was AYCE and included a drink. Eggs are free and all you can eat as well -- they don't write that on the menu anymore, nor do they give you one egg to start.  Sauces are also free.  (They used to charge $1 per extra egg and for the sauces, but no more!) The regular price for this would be $42, so I'm assuming that a single all you can eat would be $16 - 18 without drink. Not sure if I would go back at that price since the beef was kind of tough and there is so little variety. Also, two other things soak up flavour besides for konnyaku: your clothes and hair.  I highly suggest wearing clothes that you don't care about and not bringing your thick winter coats in!


Posh (Richmond)
1123-3779 Sexsmith Rd
Richmond, BC
(604) 303-7674