Chubby Lamb Hot Pot

Normally, hot pot is best experienced during the colder months of the year.  However, with A/C, it really doesn't matter.  Furthermore, what do people do over in Asia, where many places are hot year round?  So it wasn't a surprise that we decided to go for hot pot after our Monday softball game.  We headed off to Richmond (second time for me in one day!) and ended up at Chubby Lamb on Alexandra Road (aka as restaurant row or land of poorly driven and parked luxury automobiles).

At $22.50 (not including broth), the pricing for AYCE was reasonable for the selection of items available.  We ended up with the Pork Bone Broth which was full of meaty bones, apple slices and wolf berries.  Although on bit on the saltier side, we appreciated that they actually made an effort to justify the $8.00 charge.  Our first selection of items included Watercress, Lotus Root, Fried Taro, Bible Tripe and Squid Tentacles.  These were good where the tripe was properly rinsed and tenderized.  Our order of assorted Meatballs including shrimp, beef, lobster and fish was okay, but hardly impressive.  These were not freshly prepared and were not distinctive from the store bought variety.

Onto some meats, we got Sliced Pork, Lamb, Sirloin and Fatty Beef.  We found the pork and lamb to be tender with enough fatty portions.  However, the sirloin did not cook well in the broth.  It disintegrated into little pieces which were difficult to retrieve from the broth.  Even for the ones we managed to catch, they were dry and a bit chewy.  On the other hand, the fatty beef did live up to exceptions being soft and tender.  Onto some other plates, we had Shrimp, Dumplings, Wontons, Instant Ramen, Enoki Mushrooms, Quail Eggs, Potato Starch Noodles and Fish Tofu.  Nothing really amiss here, where everything met expectations.

Rounding everything, we got some Oysters, Fried Gluten, Tofu Puffs, Konjac Noodles, Bean Curd Skin and Pork Cheek.  We thought the oysters were pretty fresh and plump.  As much as it is generally a standard item for hot pot, the bean curd skin was nicely wrapped and had a balanced texture between chewy and soft.  Overall, Chubby Lamb met our expectations while the pricing was reasonable.  We've had better hot pot in town, however, we came away satisfied.

The Good:
- Okay pricing
- The broth we had was pretty good
- Fairly decent service (but lack of emotion though)

The Bad:
- See above (servers were nice but robotic)
- Decent ingredients, but there is better