Date Visited: Saturday 2 June, 2018
I’ve eaten hot pot at home with family many times, but surprisingly, this was my first time experiencing it at a restaurant. Hot pot is honestly the perfect meal for a cold winter’s day, and feasting on lots of food is the best way to warm up. I’ve heard that there’s quite a few hot pot places around Chinatown, but today, lunch was at Yuan’s Hot Pot. The restaurant is located super conveniently on George Street, just a short walk straight down Eddy Avenue from Central station.
The first thing to order is the soup base. It’s really cool how you can pick a double flavours soup base, which is ideal when the table is split between people who like spicy and those who don’t. My table had the red chilli soup and herbal pork bone soup, though apparently their tomato soup is also really recommended. There are 5 double flavour combinations to choose from, and as they’re all similar pricing to the single soup bases you might as well get a double flavour soup base. The spicy soup had three chillies next to it on the menu, and I’m usually a strictly one chilli kind of person, so it was definitely very spicy to me! I could just about tolerate a skewer if it wasn’t soaked in the chilli soup for too long, though I mostly stuck to enjoying the herbal pork bone soup.
Red chilli soup + herbal pork bone soup – $15.80
There is also the option to add a ‘character’ to your spicy soup. For $4.80, you can add a Hello Kitty or a bear to your soup, or Hello Kitty with a crown, a panda, or Doraemon for $8.80. I believe they are made from chilli infused butter, so when the soup is poured over it, they sadly begin to slowly melt. It’s super cute though and makes for such a great photo and video! This is definitely something you can’t get when doing hot pot at home.
Hello Kitty with crown – $8.80, assorted skewers – $0.80 each
One of the cool things about Yuan’s Hot Pot was that you could order meat and other dishes from a menu, but you also had the option to head to the back area to grab your own side dishes and choose from a wide selection of skewers. These dishes and skewers are in three large open freezers, around a small table set up with different sauces and condiments. I loved how you could really tailor it to your own tastes, with sesame sauce, chilli sauces, peanuts and garlic to name a few.
I was really impressed with the variety of skewers available. Naturally, there were many meat skewers, including beef and chicken, and variations of it, such as beef wrapped in enoki (mushroom) and meat balls. There were also other options, such as squid, fish balls, tofu, and vegetable skewers.
We grabbed quite a few skewers to try, but at 80 cents per skewer, it does add up. Some of the skewers are also quite small, with only a small piece of meat on it or three leaves of bok choy, so it might not be the most economical food option. I know that I can buy a bunch of bok choy for $1 at my local Asian grocery store, so paying 80 cents for three leaves doesn’t seem worth it at all. Some of the skewers were also tangled up with each other, making them a little hard to grab, but I don’t really see any way they could make the process much easier, so this is just a minor comment. The skewers themselves tasted great though! They’re fun to cook in the soup and there is really something for everyone.
Assorted skewers – $0.80 each, assorted side dishes – $8.80 per plate
Assorted skewers – $0.80 each
Some of the side dishes we grabbed included tripe, fish dishes, lotus roots and beancurd. I believe most of the side dishes were $8.80, but I cannot confidently confirm whether that was the case for all of them. The fish on the right is from the menu, and I think it might be the filefish ($12.80). I feel healthier eating fish rather than red meat, so the variety is welcome. I’m not a fan of tripe nor lotus roots, but others on my table devoured all of it.
Tripe, fish, fish
Lotus roots
From the menu we also ordered scallops, which was $12.80 for 4. The scallops don’t have any flavour on their own, but cooked in the soup it was an enjoyable bite. We also loaded up on the meat, with beef slices ($10.80) and pork belly slices ($8.80) from the menu. The quality of the meat is good, but I didn’t notice much difference from the $3-5 packs I buy at my Asian grocery store. This kind of food is probably cheaper to buy on your own.
Australia fresh king scallops – $12.80
Snow flake beef slices – $10.80
We also tried the deep fried rice cakes with brown sugar. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed these! I loved the texture and the flavour, and it was a delicious side dish to have alongside all the meat. I could definitely have eaten the whole dish myself.
Deep fried rice cake with brown sugar – $6.80
I was quite full at this point, but you always need dessert to finish off! Their ice jelly was the perfect way to end such a hot meal. To me, it actually wasn’t that sweet. Rather, the flavours were more subtle, with the syrup balanced out with the jelly and watermelon pieces. It’s quite a lot for one person, so I found it perfect to share between two. At $3.80, this dessert was definitely worth the price, and a super refreshing way to end the meal.
Ice jelly (sweet) – $3.80
I also had bottled prune juice with the meal, which I believe was $3.50. I’ve never had prune juice before but it was really tasty and the flavour was not too strong or too subtle. Overall, it was a wonderful first time hot pot experience, and I would definitely recommend it for a fun meal out. Four is probably the optimal number of people, so you can make the most of the variety of foods. However, it is pretty easy to go overboard with the skewers, and side dishes, so it could end up quite a costly meal.
The restaurant itself feels a little cramped – if you’re near the wall, you’ll have to get the person next to you to move so that you can get out. With tables and chairs back to back, and everyone bustling to and from the self serve area, it’s definitely busy and perhaps a little hazardous. The back area itself is also quite small, so when the restaurant is near or at capacity, it would probably be a bit of a struggle moving around. Aside from that, I loved the the interior decorations, as it set very Asian-inspired vibes. The service was also excellent when we went, with the servers very attentive to our needs. If you’ve never had hot pot outside the house before, Yuan’s Hot Pot is a great place to give it a go!
Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Yuan’s Hot Pot as part of FCBA (Website | Instagram), but all opinions and photos are my own.
Yuan’s Hot Pot | Shop 1B, 733-735 George St, Haymarket | Website | Facebook | Instagram
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