Updated: 27th June 2012; This restaurant has closed according to Urbanspoon.com.

We had been to Han Ju Tofu Hotpot a few times before. As a matter of fact, we had blogged about it sometime last year (see here). Since we had some photos from our last visit and that we like it so much, we thought … sure … let’s just share it one more time.

I was confused. I had always thought that Han Ju is a Korean restaurant. Maybe it is because of the name “Han Ju” which for some reason sounded like a Korean name to me. Han Ju is in fact a Taiwanese restaurant.

I know there are two Han Ju’s … one in Richmond and the other in Crystal Mall in Burnaby. We went to the one in Richmond (8328 Capstan Way).

For those of you not familiar with Chinese food, you would probably not have guessed that the above is actually pig ear. In Taiwanese cuisine, it is common for them to serve appetizers in morsels of marinated food.

The Marinated Pig Ear has an unique combination of gelatinous and crunchy texture.

Most of Taiwanese appetizers are served cold. Marinated tofu is another common Taiwanese appetizers.

Bubble tea originated from Taiwan and comes in many flavours. Our favourite is Coffee Bubble Milk Tea. If you had never tried it before you should. Many people likes chewing on the black gummy balls made of tapioca. Otherwise, the drink just tastes like well, milk tea … sweet.

Han Ju Bubble Milk Tea costs only $2.50.

It goes without saying that Han Ju’s specialty is their hotpots. They are unique in that they are served in metal hotpots. You got to be careful handling these scalding hot pots. I think they have something like 6 different types of hot pots.

We ordered the Seafood and Tofu Hot Pot. We like it because they certainly are generous with what seafood they put in there — prawns, squid, mussels, tofu and even an egg. This is really spicy. Combined with the piping hot broth, be prepared to sweat a bit. We get a bowl of rice together with this.

We also had the Sesame Oil Chicken Soup. These are great as winter food.

Nanzaro and Arkensen had been whipping up a large appetite these days. I guess they are at the age that they eat like there are no tomorrow. We normally keep to a budget when we go out each week … Suanne and I had decided to bump the budget up by 30% this year! 🙁

As long as it is rice, they are happy.