The Short Version:
Instant hot pot restaurant. I had the…read morevegetable set meal for one and it was delicious. "Mild" was quite spicy, lol. Service was excellent.
The Long Version:
My first time having "instant hot pot" where the kitchen cooks all the ingredients for you and your soup comes out in a bowl (as opposed to traditional hot pot, where you're brought raw ingredients and you cook it yourself in the boiling broth at your table). This is great when you're by yourself (which I was), because hot pot is like a communal and social meal, but I was hungry and just wanted to eat, lol.
They have two options for instant hot pot at Mr. Maocai, they have set meals and choose your own ingredients meals. If you choose your own ingredients you are charged by the ingredients (starting at $2.39 each for vegetables, the price is higher for meat ingredients). The set meals are a better deal if you like all the ingredients in the set meal.
I chose the vegetable set meal for one ($18.80). This came with cauliflower, konjac knots, tofu skin, enoki mushrooms, tribute vegetable, potato slices, black fungus, Napa cabbage and potato noodles. I got it in the mild spicy hot pot broth.
So the spiciness levels are mild, medium, hot, and hell (LOL). I don't want to know what hell tastes like because the mild was quite spicy for me. Haha. My nose was running and I had tingly lips. Nonetheless I enjoyed it. The broth was flavourful although it had a bit of a sour taste that I wasn't too fond of, but the sourness wasn't overpowering.
The meal usually comes with a bowl of rice, but they ran out of rice so offered me Shanghai noodles or instant noodles and I chose Shanghai noodles. I think I actually prefer to have noodles in the soup over a bowl of rice on the side. So lucky me (especially since the a la carte price of the noodles is more than that of the rice).
The Sweet potato noodles were thick and chewy and so delicious. My favourite ingredient in my hot pot. The konjac knots were konjac noodles tied up in a knot. I loved these.
It was my first time having Tribute vegetable. It's the stem of a leafy green vegetable that it shaved, then dehydrated and then later rehydrated. It had an interesting crunchy texture and I quite enjoyed it.
The black fungus was cut into little strands. They were nice and chewy. The cauliflower was still al dente which I liked. It wasn't soft and mushy. The potato slices were also al dente. I always love enoki mushrooms, so was thrilled that these were in my soup. The Napa cabbage was soft, but I didn't mind this. The tofu skins were chewy. I actually prefer the dehydrated bean curd sheets over these fresh tofu sheets, but that's just a personal preference.
The Shanghai noodles were a little thinner than I expected, but they were nice and chewy and I'm really glad they ran out of rice for my order. Haha.
The portion size was excellent. I had enough for lunch and had leftovers for dinner.
They give you a pitcher of water for your tablet, which I appreciated because my "mild" soup was spicy! Lol.
Service was courteous and efficient. The server asked if it was my first time there and when I said it was, she explained their process to me. She checked in on me and was helpful in getting me containers to pack up my leftovers.
They have a sauce bar, but I didn't use it. Decor is nice with a bright red and yellow colour scheme.
Street parking only.
I highly recommend Mr. Maocai for instant hot pot.
Review #61 (2026)
