Melbourne's Top Five Malatang Hot Pot Restaurants
We believe in using only top-quality produce and offer a vast selection of seafood, meat, vegetables, noodles and more. Melburnians seeking the indulgence of Sichuan hot pot cooking head to Tan Hotpot on Bourke Street in the heart of the city. Experience Melbourne’s only duck blood tofu hot pot restaurant, where softly glowing red and yellow lanterns set a moody vibe as you settle in to choose your soup base, ingredients and flavours to appease any appetite.
You have the option to split your cooking pot into two or three sections to try more bases. Think of it as the Asian version of fondue – a bubbling pot of broth sits in the middle of the table surrounded by platters of meat, seafood and vegetables, all ready to be cooked in a cauldron of soup. While traditional Chinese hotpot leans towards the more fiery of palates, Thai hotpot is much milder, and JiYu offer completely heat free options for the chilli averse. chengdu traditional food The team at JiYu have fine tuned their broths to really pack a flavourful punch, with lemongrass and coriander providing a freshness while coconut milk and hours long simmered meats and seafood give the broths a rich and complex heartiness. Ordering is simple, order a soup base , order some dishes from the menu (Panda Hot Pot recommends 4-5 dishes per person), create your own dipping sauce from the array of sauces on the table, and you're good to go.
Melbourne is having a hotpot moment, but it extends far beyond what you might know from China. Dig deeper and you’ll be rewarded with varieties from different countries that vary from region to region. TrySofia Levin's top hotpot picks and take a foodie tour around the world without leaving Melbourne. Personalised service is at the forefront of their business model – you can expect Spice World bibs and complimentary hair ties to be offered, as well as the perfect dipping sauce concoction made from their homemade soy sauce.
There are carved stone pavers underfoot, gold panels everywhere. It was true of Tikki and John Newman, theatre restaurant royalty who founded Dracula's, where for 37 years you could get dinner and a ghoulish show that began with a ride on a ghost train. Now, we have over 210 franchised store in China, USA, UK, New Zealand and Australia. Our slogan ‘Let the world fall in love with Chengdu flavour’ is realised.
Try deep-fried pork cutlets dusted with chicken salt, sticky sweet rice cakes, classic egg fried rice or spicy Sichuan-spiced French fries. You can also get Sichuan skewers with Wagyu beef, pork belly and a few offal options – including spicy grilled pig’s brain. Dragon Hot Pot has saved every Melburnian’s life after a long night out. Open 24/7 with over 100 ingredients to choose from, this DIY malatang chain allows customers to create endless combinations of personalised hot pot.
Since its opening, it has been sought after by professional customers both in domestic and abroad. In June 2003, Dainty Sichuan Cuisine opened at Smith Street in Collingwood, Melbourne. Has now developed into a Tianfu Sichuan restaurant, Tianfu boutique hot pot, Tianfu noodle shop, Tianfu Li Mian several brands such as Chinese food companies.
Even dessert is soup-ified, with a sweet Chinese-style soup made of brown sugar jelly, red bean, sultanas and goji berries. Arguably the overlord of malatang in Melbourne, Dragon Hot Pot has franchised aggressively over the past year and change, with six stores now open between Box Hill and the city. All of its locations close late, but the snug Russell Street outpost is open 24/7, with lines out the door a common sight during conventional dinner hours. A vast selection of ingredients, slick branding and Mandopop hits mean Dragon Hot Pot is busy around the clock, but its powerfully beefy soups, a drawcard for some, will not be for everyone. It’s also one of the more expensive options for one-person hotpot – bring a friend and share if you’re feeling the pinch. It landed the Chinese market in 2015 started out in Chengdu.
More than 100,000 Chinese students, who drive Carlton's dining economy (and were certainly Panda's target market), are stuck overseas. JiYu, which opened in late 2019 in the heart of Chinatown, is all about malatang, or Sichuan-style hotpot, done Thai style. A grand staircase sweeps up through the centre of the restaurant – which is decked out in red and gold, with lots of wood throughout – to a second level. Both levels are guarded by a 16-metre-long, 1.5-tonne steel dragon that was brought over from Chengdu, China , which is suspended from the ceiling. In late 2019, Carlton’s slightly spooky, super kitschy theatre restaurant Dracula’s underwent a $6 million makeover and became a palatial hotpot restaurant.
The standard beef broth here is excellent but beware the heat — we ordered medium hot and left humbled. Lau, or Vietnamese hotpot, has Chinese steamboat origins. Raw ingredients are dipped into a central, simmering broth. It’s a colourful spot with blue neon signage and bamboo baskets in the window, a modern-industrial fit out and laneway tables. Lau comes with rare sliced beef, mushrooms, fish cakes and seasonal vegetables.
Dainty Sichuan Noodle Express, entered Melbourne CBD Emporium shopping center in July 2014, is the first restaurant in Melbourne to spread authentic Chongqing spicy noodles and Sichuan snacks. Noodle Express keeps its high standard requirements and use the best ingredients and spices from southwest China. The traditional method of processing achieve the most pure spicy and fresh fragrance.
You’ll also find plenty of luscious cocktails and Asian-inspired drinks to wash down your dishes. With a long and rich history of Chinese culture in Melbourne, it’s not uncommon to see street corner hugging lines build up for hot pot during dining rush hours. Chinatown’s new kid on the block, Jiyu, is no exception, bringing a Thai twist to the Chinese classic. Formerly known as Dracula's theatre restaurant, the site has been transformed into a family-friendly restaurant that features stage shows every night, and an enormous 1.5-tonne floating dragon looking down upon diners. We teach this hot sauce recipe in our chilli preserving workshops at Cornersmith.
Love the selection of drinks on the menu, lots of things to try. As soon as you step into JiYu’s luxe space – spread across two light filled storeys – you realise you’ve found an oasis in the city. Phuket’s JiYu brings Thai-style hot pot to Melbourne CBD. Sometimes it's all on top of you, other times, you're left to figure things out, but the beauty of these big operations is in its systems. Your menu is both ordering form and guide, dictating how to order and the exact number of seconds each item should be dunked for premium performance. Then January hit, and like Chinese restaurants everywhere, business has been hammered by fear surrounding the COVID-x virus, and travel bans.
You have the option to split your cooking pot into two or three sections to try more bases. Think of it as the Asian version of fondue – a bubbling pot of broth sits in the middle of the table surrounded by platters of meat, seafood and vegetables, all ready to be cooked in a cauldron of soup. While traditional Chinese hotpot leans towards the more fiery of palates, Thai hotpot is much milder, and JiYu offer completely heat free options for the chilli averse. chengdu traditional food The team at JiYu have fine tuned their broths to really pack a flavourful punch, with lemongrass and coriander providing a freshness while coconut milk and hours long simmered meats and seafood give the broths a rich and complex heartiness. Ordering is simple, order a soup base , order some dishes from the menu (Panda Hot Pot recommends 4-5 dishes per person), create your own dipping sauce from the array of sauces on the table, and you're good to go.
Melbourne is having a hotpot moment, but it extends far beyond what you might know from China. Dig deeper and you’ll be rewarded with varieties from different countries that vary from region to region. TrySofia Levin's top hotpot picks and take a foodie tour around the world without leaving Melbourne. Personalised service is at the forefront of their business model – you can expect Spice World bibs and complimentary hair ties to be offered, as well as the perfect dipping sauce concoction made from their homemade soy sauce.
There are carved stone pavers underfoot, gold panels everywhere. It was true of Tikki and John Newman, theatre restaurant royalty who founded Dracula's, where for 37 years you could get dinner and a ghoulish show that began with a ride on a ghost train. Now, we have over 210 franchised store in China, USA, UK, New Zealand and Australia. Our slogan ‘Let the world fall in love with Chengdu flavour’ is realised.
Try deep-fried pork cutlets dusted with chicken salt, sticky sweet rice cakes, classic egg fried rice or spicy Sichuan-spiced French fries. You can also get Sichuan skewers with Wagyu beef, pork belly and a few offal options – including spicy grilled pig’s brain. Dragon Hot Pot has saved every Melburnian’s life after a long night out. Open 24/7 with over 100 ingredients to choose from, this DIY malatang chain allows customers to create endless combinations of personalised hot pot.
Since its opening, it has been sought after by professional customers both in domestic and abroad. In June 2003, Dainty Sichuan Cuisine opened at Smith Street in Collingwood, Melbourne. Has now developed into a Tianfu Sichuan restaurant, Tianfu boutique hot pot, Tianfu noodle shop, Tianfu Li Mian several brands such as Chinese food companies.
Even dessert is soup-ified, with a sweet Chinese-style soup made of brown sugar jelly, red bean, sultanas and goji berries. Arguably the overlord of malatang in Melbourne, Dragon Hot Pot has franchised aggressively over the past year and change, with six stores now open between Box Hill and the city. All of its locations close late, but the snug Russell Street outpost is open 24/7, with lines out the door a common sight during conventional dinner hours. A vast selection of ingredients, slick branding and Mandopop hits mean Dragon Hot Pot is busy around the clock, but its powerfully beefy soups, a drawcard for some, will not be for everyone. It’s also one of the more expensive options for one-person hotpot – bring a friend and share if you’re feeling the pinch. It landed the Chinese market in 2015 started out in Chengdu.
More than 100,000 Chinese students, who drive Carlton's dining economy (and were certainly Panda's target market), are stuck overseas. JiYu, which opened in late 2019 in the heart of Chinatown, is all about malatang, or Sichuan-style hotpot, done Thai style. A grand staircase sweeps up through the centre of the restaurant – which is decked out in red and gold, with lots of wood throughout – to a second level. Both levels are guarded by a 16-metre-long, 1.5-tonne steel dragon that was brought over from Chengdu, China , which is suspended from the ceiling. In late 2019, Carlton’s slightly spooky, super kitschy theatre restaurant Dracula’s underwent a $6 million makeover and became a palatial hotpot restaurant.
The standard beef broth here is excellent but beware the heat — we ordered medium hot and left humbled. Lau, or Vietnamese hotpot, has Chinese steamboat origins. Raw ingredients are dipped into a central, simmering broth. It’s a colourful spot with blue neon signage and bamboo baskets in the window, a modern-industrial fit out and laneway tables. Lau comes with rare sliced beef, mushrooms, fish cakes and seasonal vegetables.
Dainty Sichuan Noodle Express, entered Melbourne CBD Emporium shopping center in July 2014, is the first restaurant in Melbourne to spread authentic Chongqing spicy noodles and Sichuan snacks. Noodle Express keeps its high standard requirements and use the best ingredients and spices from southwest China. The traditional method of processing achieve the most pure spicy and fresh fragrance.
You’ll also find plenty of luscious cocktails and Asian-inspired drinks to wash down your dishes. With a long and rich history of Chinese culture in Melbourne, it’s not uncommon to see street corner hugging lines build up for hot pot during dining rush hours. Chinatown’s new kid on the block, Jiyu, is no exception, bringing a Thai twist to the Chinese classic. Formerly known as Dracula's theatre restaurant, the site has been transformed into a family-friendly restaurant that features stage shows every night, and an enormous 1.5-tonne floating dragon looking down upon diners. We teach this hot sauce recipe in our chilli preserving workshops at Cornersmith.
Love the selection of drinks on the menu, lots of things to try. As soon as you step into JiYu’s luxe space – spread across two light filled storeys – you realise you’ve found an oasis in the city. Phuket’s JiYu brings Thai-style hot pot to Melbourne CBD. Sometimes it's all on top of you, other times, you're left to figure things out, but the beauty of these big operations is in its systems. Your menu is both ordering form and guide, dictating how to order and the exact number of seconds each item should be dunked for premium performance. Then January hit, and like Chinese restaurants everywhere, business has been hammered by fear surrounding the COVID-x virus, and travel bans.
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