My sister recently treated the family for lunch at J Pot Mini Hot Pot & Bar in Fresno, California.
Located inside the River Park Shopping Center, my sister has been raving about this restaurant for months.
Because of COVID, there is a bit of wait as tables are made for social distancing. Fortunately, while you wait, this gives people a time to get boba or Vietnamese coffee at Tshui-Ta.
Wait could be up top half and hour during this time, but wanting to support restaurants during these trying times, if you’re prepared for it, it’s all good. Just be patient as certain restaurants aren’t able to utilize all their tables at this time or are primarily all take-out.
So, what is J Pot? The restaurant specializes in mini hot pots and you select which hot pot you want to eat and then decide on the following:
- Soup or Dry Pot?
- Choose your meat: Wagyu Beef, Lamb, Pork Belly or Chicken Breast (chicken and pork are cooked within the pot, beef and lamb are served rare within the pot).
- Picky your Spicy Level: None, Mild, Medium, Hot, Crazy Spicy or Flaming Spicy
- Pick a Side: Steamed Rice, Brown Rice or Vernicelli
- Do you want to add cheese?
- Soup pots and base are very hot
- All pots are garnished with cilantro except Seoul, Hai De and Chang Le.
- Add Sides
The hot pot is put onto a stove, which you can request to be turned off, but it keeps the hot pot hot. Just be careful not to burn yourself, that’s why I don’t recommend having children near the hot pot.
My sister got this hot pot, not sure if this is the J Pot.
I had the Tokyo Pot with cabbage, gyoza, shiitake mushrooms, lotus root, udon noodles, fish tofu, enoki mushroom, seaweed knot, blue crab, tempura, fish ball, kabocha squash, Shirataki noodle in miso broth with poached egg on top.
But for the most part, the hot pot was delicious and very filling.
And it’s a restaurant that I can find myself going multiple times and introduce friends.
But I feel the drink bar incorporated into this restaurant and the various types of pot featured in the menu, this is an Asian cuisine restaurant that I’m glad to see in the valley. And I hope this restaurant (and many other restaurants and establishments) manage to weather the storm during these tough times.
J-Pot is a restaurant which I highly recommend.
