Make Your Own Dinner at This South Jersey Hot Pot / BBQ Spot
Top Pot Hot Pot & Korean BBQ in Delran is a unique and delicious night out!
By Jennifer AmatoPublished:
We’re always telling our kids not to play with their food, but it’s a requirement when eating Korean BBQ. Top Pot Hot Pot & Korean BBQ opened its first New Jersey location in Delran, and it’s a fun, creative and delicious night out!
Hot pot is a Chinese cooking method where a simmering pot of soup stock is prepared right at your table. Each person gets to make their own soup, first choosing one of 10 base broths that range from tomato broth to the restaurant-favorite special rib broth to miso broth to a Szechuan hot spicy broth, where you choose your level of heat. The bowl is placed on a heater at your table. In fact, there is room for six people with six different pots.
There are dozens of add-ins you can choose to customize your soup. There are three dozen meats and sides, including spam, beef tripe, sausage, quail egg, fish balls with pork, dumplings, Angus beef, chicken and chuck tail flap. There are two dozen vegetables, ranging from broccoli and bok choy to lotus, pumpkin, mushrooms and fried taro. Seafood options are shrimp, mussels, clams, snapper and even live crab.
If you’re vegetarian, choose from the soybean menu, which includes a variety of tofu.
If you’re dreaming of a make-your-own Ramen bar, throw in some udon, vermicelli or mung bean noodles for a hearty soup. This makes it enough for two to share.
Everything comes to you raw, and the waiter will advise you how to use the controls at the table to boil the soup and then add in your mix-ins. Within a few minutes, you’ll see your soup come to life, and then you portion it out and dig in.
The basic rec is to choose two types of meat, two veggies and one noodle, but the combos are endless and up to you. The ingredients come to the table family-style so you can all pick what you want.
The restaurant also serves up Korean BBQ. It’s similar to a chef who cooks hibachi at a Japanese restaurant – except here, you’re the chef! Although the majority of the choices are beef, chicken, pork and seafood (bulgogi, garlic and spicy options), you can order vegetables like onion, mushroom, peppers, eggplant and corn, too.
The staff will help you with the cooking process, turning on the grill and buttering the pan. To make sure everything is cooked, let the meat simmer for two minutes or so until brown, flip it, cook for two more minutes, and then use the scissors that are tableside to make sure nothing is raw. You’ll know when it’s done by the brown on the outside and the sizzle of the meat.
Hot pot and BBQ are all-you-can-eat for 2 hours, so pace yourself. Keep in mind you’ll be charged a 20 percent fee if you don’t eat everything on your table. This is a way to reduce waste and avoid ordering more than you can eat. If, instead, you’d like to take some home, you’ll be charged $13.99 per pound.
That’s not a bad idea, considering there is also a buffet where you can get everything from fried rice, crab legs, crab rangoon, spring rolls, chicken fingers and fries to fruit, kimchi and Jell-o (which is the only option for dessert here). There’s also a section of sauces and marinades.
This is such a fun spot to bring the family, but keep in mind because you’re cooking at the table, kids need to be watched closely at all times. In fact, as soon as you enter the restaurant, there’s a list of guidelines for parents hanging on the wall. And, it’s messy so get the extra napkins along with the wipes.
There are TVs and a cute bar which serves mocktails, only. Top Pot Hot Pot & Korean BBQ is located at 1311 Fairview Blvd., Unit D, in Delran. Another location will open soon in Princeton.
To check out all the fun, watch our reel on Instagram.Â