Nearby Restaurant
They may be cheap, but they taste a million dollars to me and I know I’m not alone. If you are going for a pre-made soup, still start the stock with some fresh ingredients to add a little richness to get flavour from the first bite. Pop in some mushrooms, Chinese cabbage and a handful of aromatics like garlic and shallots. I also like to put in the ingredients that benefit from a longer time in the stock to soak up the flavour, like hard tofu, bean curd or Konnyaku knots to get the ball rolling. Aim for 4 or 5 people per pot and 8 is always my magic number. There’s enough for two pots and enough variety so you can have a bit of everything.
Mr Zhou says he’ll often encourage his chefs to eat out, whether it’s locally, in Melbourne and Sydney or across southern provinces of mainland so their menu never remains stagnant. But these aspects are all part of Melbourne entrepreneur Liam Zhou’s game plan for the local food scene and his latest restaurant, Chef David, which opened in the city’s CBD in February 2020. But the pull power is in the second menu, entirely dedicated to the porridge famous hot pot Melbourne hotpots originating in Guangdong. The antithesis of a fiery chilli-slicked Sichuan cauldron, these are all soothing succour, built on the starchy, mellow, nutty, and gingery base of a congee stripped of its grains. But hope springs eternal in Melbourne, and while many doors have closed, other chapters have opened, including the tale of Wu Mi Zhou, a restaurant specialising in porridge hotpots and Shunde foods from China's far south-east.
There's the signature, and half signature Sichuan spicy soup base you can order at the heat level you can handle, eg. Other soup bases to choose from are the pork bone broth, mushroom and tomato soup base which are not spicy. There are more than 100 ingredients you can cook in your hotpot, from thinly sliced Wagyu, pork meatballs and marinated lamb, to scallops in the half-shell, soft tofu cubes and lotus root. Try deep-fried pork cutlets dusted with chicken salt, sticky sweet rice cakes, classic egg fried rice or spicy Sichuan-spiced French fries.
For a mammoth army stew, try Darac on A'Beckett Street. Han Guuk Guan, tucked away near the corner of Victoria and Exhibition Streets, has a huge selection of traditional Korean hotpots, including sundae and trotters with potato. It is estimated there are about 20,000 hot pot restaurants dotted across the city. When it comes to gear, Hot pot does require some equipment and set up. But it’s pretty inexpensive and everything lasts several lifetimes.
Lau comes with rare sliced beef, mushrooms, fish cakes and seasonal vegetables. You don’t need too much of these because hot pot is more about the ingredients than carbs. But for those with a bigger appetite, including some noodles will make sure everyone’s full. By now, your broth will have needed a bit of topping up with chicken stock or hot water. But should be deliciously rich and flavourful from the previous ingredients. This is the perfect time to cook our carbs to soak up this broth.
So make sure you have plenty on hand – nothing kills a party faster than running out of gas. To avoid stress, there are also electric stoves and stock pots too. Some of my fondest memories and strongest friendships are made around the hot pot.
The restaurant promotes inclusion and it's all about family, be it your own, or colleagues and friends who are like family. The hot pot is all about sitting around a beautiful big bowl of steaming hot pot with everyone cooking their own finely sliced, fresh produce in the broth as they share stories and experiences. By the end of it, the broth is impregnated with flavours from all the meats cooked in it and delicious to slurp down if you still have room to spare.
Open 24/7 with over 100 ingredients to choose from, this DIY malatang chain allows customers to create endless combinations of personalised hot pot. Unlike some of the other hot pot places on this list – it involves getting a bowl, picking your own ingredients from the glorious open fridge, and weighing your choices before choosing a broth and spice level. These legends have even created a vegan version of their original malatang soup base so nobody has to miss out – just don’t go in with an empty stomach or you might end up with a bowl made for two. If you feel like a break from Melbourne’s huge choice of Sichuan-style spots, this is the place for you.
By tradition, Chinese food is made to be consumed with chopsticks (aside from soups, of course!), so be sure to ask for those if you are accustomed to them. 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. Pandemic or not, it’s good to have a pair of cooking chopsticks and a pair you use to eat to avoid spreading germs or mixing cooked and raw ingredients. Better yet, put the raw ingredients in your strainer and cook it from there. Everyone starts with this etiquette but you’ll soon forget and mix your utensils up. From the meats, vegetables, and noodles to the stove set up.
But at the end of the day, hot pot – like life – is best experienced, not just read about. Once again, frozen dumplings are absolutely perfect for hot pot and it just beautifully soaks up the flavours in the sauce. Opt for a simpler filling like pork and watercress – there’s already plenty of flavour. They’re easy to cook, packed with flavour and I love their bitey, al dente texture. There are as many variety of fish balls, cuttlefish balls, and pork balls as you can imagine and there are always new inventions that are fun to try. In a sea of beautiful seafood and delicious sliced meat, I always go for the fish and meat balls.
Mr Zhou says he’ll often encourage his chefs to eat out, whether it’s locally, in Melbourne and Sydney or across southern provinces of mainland so their menu never remains stagnant. But these aspects are all part of Melbourne entrepreneur Liam Zhou’s game plan for the local food scene and his latest restaurant, Chef David, which opened in the city’s CBD in February 2020. But the pull power is in the second menu, entirely dedicated to the porridge famous hot pot Melbourne hotpots originating in Guangdong. The antithesis of a fiery chilli-slicked Sichuan cauldron, these are all soothing succour, built on the starchy, mellow, nutty, and gingery base of a congee stripped of its grains. But hope springs eternal in Melbourne, and while many doors have closed, other chapters have opened, including the tale of Wu Mi Zhou, a restaurant specialising in porridge hotpots and Shunde foods from China's far south-east.
There's the signature, and half signature Sichuan spicy soup base you can order at the heat level you can handle, eg. Other soup bases to choose from are the pork bone broth, mushroom and tomato soup base which are not spicy. There are more than 100 ingredients you can cook in your hotpot, from thinly sliced Wagyu, pork meatballs and marinated lamb, to scallops in the half-shell, soft tofu cubes and lotus root. Try deep-fried pork cutlets dusted with chicken salt, sticky sweet rice cakes, classic egg fried rice or spicy Sichuan-spiced French fries.
For a mammoth army stew, try Darac on A'Beckett Street. Han Guuk Guan, tucked away near the corner of Victoria and Exhibition Streets, has a huge selection of traditional Korean hotpots, including sundae and trotters with potato. It is estimated there are about 20,000 hot pot restaurants dotted across the city. When it comes to gear, Hot pot does require some equipment and set up. But it’s pretty inexpensive and everything lasts several lifetimes.
Lau comes with rare sliced beef, mushrooms, fish cakes and seasonal vegetables. You don’t need too much of these because hot pot is more about the ingredients than carbs. But for those with a bigger appetite, including some noodles will make sure everyone’s full. By now, your broth will have needed a bit of topping up with chicken stock or hot water. But should be deliciously rich and flavourful from the previous ingredients. This is the perfect time to cook our carbs to soak up this broth.
So make sure you have plenty on hand – nothing kills a party faster than running out of gas. To avoid stress, there are also electric stoves and stock pots too. Some of my fondest memories and strongest friendships are made around the hot pot.
The restaurant promotes inclusion and it's all about family, be it your own, or colleagues and friends who are like family. The hot pot is all about sitting around a beautiful big bowl of steaming hot pot with everyone cooking their own finely sliced, fresh produce in the broth as they share stories and experiences. By the end of it, the broth is impregnated with flavours from all the meats cooked in it and delicious to slurp down if you still have room to spare.
Open 24/7 with over 100 ingredients to choose from, this DIY malatang chain allows customers to create endless combinations of personalised hot pot. Unlike some of the other hot pot places on this list – it involves getting a bowl, picking your own ingredients from the glorious open fridge, and weighing your choices before choosing a broth and spice level. These legends have even created a vegan version of their original malatang soup base so nobody has to miss out – just don’t go in with an empty stomach or you might end up with a bowl made for two. If you feel like a break from Melbourne’s huge choice of Sichuan-style spots, this is the place for you.
By tradition, Chinese food is made to be consumed with chopsticks (aside from soups, of course!), so be sure to ask for those if you are accustomed to them. 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. Pandemic or not, it’s good to have a pair of cooking chopsticks and a pair you use to eat to avoid spreading germs or mixing cooked and raw ingredients. Better yet, put the raw ingredients in your strainer and cook it from there. Everyone starts with this etiquette but you’ll soon forget and mix your utensils up. From the meats, vegetables, and noodles to the stove set up.
But at the end of the day, hot pot – like life – is best experienced, not just read about. Once again, frozen dumplings are absolutely perfect for hot pot and it just beautifully soaks up the flavours in the sauce. Opt for a simpler filling like pork and watercress – there’s already plenty of flavour. They’re easy to cook, packed with flavour and I love their bitey, al dente texture. There are as many variety of fish balls, cuttlefish balls, and pork balls as you can imagine and there are always new inventions that are fun to try. In a sea of beautiful seafood and delicious sliced meat, I always go for the fish and meat balls.
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