Quanjude, World Square, Town Hall

Date Visited: Saturday 14 March, 2020

I love a good Chinese feast with family and friends, so I was pretty keen to try Quanjude. Though I’ve been to World Square many times, surprisingly I have never seen or heard of  this place before. It’s tucked away to the side of World Square, but is actually a huge restaurant, with loads of seating, an upstairs area and several rooms for private groups. Despite being relatively new to Sydney, Quanjude has been around for more than a century, and is very successful overseas in Asia.

As tends to be common with Chinese restaurants, the menu is huge, with a wonderful variety of dishes to pick from. For newcomers, look out for the recommended dishes with the thumbs ups symbol on the menu. Of course, it’s hard to visit Quanjude without trying their signature peking duck!

It’s always amazing to watch an experienced chef slicing a whole peking duck in front of you, and I loved how Quanjude really showcased this. I’ve had peking duck many times before, but it was my first time trying some of the duck skin separately on its own with a bit of salt. It was very fatty and juicy so I absolutely loved it! The rest of the duck was cut up onto two plates that were more than enough for our group of 4. The duck was so beautifully delicious, with the right amount of natural flavour and juicy tenderness.

If you ask about the proper technique to eat peking duck, they will very kindly demonstrate the correct process, and I was really impressed with how our server was able to fold the pancake so cleanly with chopsticks. Put a piece of shallot or cucumber, ample sweet soy bean paste, a piece of roast duck and wrap it all in the pancake – such a delightful mouthful.

Signature peking duck (whole duck) – $88

I’m a big fan of san choy bao as well, which is meat wrapped in lettuce. However, it’s usually with chicken or pork so I was excited to try a duck version. Quanjude certainly knows duck well, and I loved this. Really great flavour in the duck that goes so well with the fresh crunchy lettuce.

Duck san choy bao – $12.8 (2 pc/portion)

Crispy shallot pancake is another Chinese restaurant classic. This one was very simple and there’s not much to it, so it’s a good option for picky kids or as a lighter entree or side dish.

Crispy shallot pancake – $12.8

The peking duck is the star at Quanjude, but these wok fried pipis with vermicelli might have possibly stolen the show. If you want to treat yourself, this is the best way to do it! This giant plate of pipis was polished off by our table pretty quickly, as the pipis and vermicelli were packed with delicious flavour from the X.O chilli sauce. I’d definitely recommend ordering these pipis for your table!

Wok fried pipis with X.O chilli sauce and vermicelli – $68

One of my other favourites of the night was the deep fried barramundi with the gorgeous sweet and sour sauce. I love how crunchy the fish is outside, and it makes this fish so addictive to eat. It is an amazing combination with the sauce and if you haven’t tried this before then you definitely need to. I’d have this over sweet and sour pork any day.

Deep fried barramundi with sweet and sour sauce – $58

Next up – this wok-fried chicken came out glistening and it was as soft and juicy as it looked. Chicken with cashew is also a very popular combination in Chinese cuisine and this dish was done really well.

Wok-fried chicken with vegetable and cashew nuts – $24.8

On the vegetables side, we ordered these bean curd robes with mushrooms and snowpea. I really liked the mushrooms in particular, though bean curd lovers will really enjoy this dish as there is so much of it in this bowl.

Crispy bean curd robes with assorted mushrooms and snowpea – $24.8

We also enjoyed the wok-fried lamb, which came out on a heated grill plate. I was worried it might be a bit dry, but don’t be fooled – it was so packed with flavour and is one of those dishes that tastes so much better than it looks. Definitely a great main dish to consider ordering!

Wok-fried lamb with shallot and cumin seed – $26.8

I was also really impressed with Quanjude’s drinks menu. Though of course it’s pretty traditional to have tea at a Chinese restaurant, Quanjude can absolutely still deliver the goods if you’re feeling a juice or cocktail. Their House Signature cocktail ($22) packs a punch with vodka, midori and a touch of pineapple, such a brilliant combination. The lychee mojito with bacardi is also such a treat, and I always find lychees so refreshing. The mocktails are very enjoyable too, and you may find it hard to pick between the tropical punch juice ($11) and the gorgeous pink lemonade.

Lychee mojito – $22 (left), pink lemonade – $9 (right)

This was such an incredible fulfilling meal; the best kind of food to share with a small group of friends or a huge table of family. My favourite must order dishes were the signature peking duck, the pipis and the deep fried barramundi, which are all sure to wow any table. Major kudos also to the staff, who were all so accomodating and attentive and really made this dinner a great experience. Quanjude reminds me of the Chinese restaurants back in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan with its lovely traditional decor and big tables. I really enjoyed this generous Chinese spread and hope to soon see Quanjude bustling full as it deserves to be.

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Quanjude, but all opinions and photos are my own. Thank you so much Alice (@alicechow_n) for extending the invite!

Quanjude 全聚德| 10.11/41/680 George St, Sydney NSW 2000 | Facebook | Instagram

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Spice World, Haymarket

Date Visited: Wednesday 11 March, 2020

I’ve never been the biggest fan of hot pot but my mind has genuinely been changed after visiting Spice World! I honestly have not had such a good hot pot experience before, and I now know why. You have to get the fundamentals right – having a great soup base and high quality meat – and Spice World definitely delivers on both. I was impressed from the moment I stepped into the restaurant – Spice World is known for their robots handing out mints, and I loved all the Chinese inspired decor, from the roof lanterns to the dragon imprinted comfy chairs.

The first thing that struck me was how many choices were available on the extensive menu! Even in deciding the broth there were so many different options. You can pick either individual or large for share, depending on the size of your group, and you can then also pick single flavour or double flavour. For an individual broth from $9.9 up, you get your own personal hot pot, which I think is extremely reasonable. However, we opted for the large for share broth as the large broths also come with a complimentary puppy or Hello Kitty, or in our case, bear! How adorable is it!

I highly recommend getting a double flavour for more variety. We ended up picking the traditional spicy broth, ensuring to select level one chilli, along with the fresh tomato broth. My spicy tolerance is extremely weak, so I found the spicy broth extremely spicy, even though it was supposedly level one of three levels of chilli. Luckily, I absolutely loved the fresh tomato broth so I definitely had a lot more of that. The broth was incredibly rich in flavour and might have been the most perfect tomato broth I’ve had. They are so generous with making sure the broths are continually topped up and I would certainly come back to Spice World for this broth.

Traditional spicy broth + fresh tomato broth (large for share) – $32.9

The spicy bear started melting once the rest of the broth was poured in, but our attention was soon captured by the Wagyu beef dressed Barbie. It’s so gorgeous – no wonder this is one of their most popular recommended dishes! I thought this dish was only popular for the novelty of it, but I was blown away by just how amazingly delicious the Wagyu beef was itself. The beef absolutely melts in your mouth, and I’m more understanding of the pricing of Barbie considering how high quality the meat is. Another must order from Spice World that makes me want to revisit again.

Wagyu beef dressed Barbie – $38.9

We also decided to try out another of the recommended dishes, the deep fried pork belly. It sounded delicious on paper but unfortunately I was not the biggest fan upon tasting it. Whilst the portion is very reasonable for the price, it tasted a bit strange to me, and wasn’t as juicy inside as I’d hoped. It was very crunchy on the outside though, but that wasn’t enough to win me over and next time I’d pick more wagyu beef instead.

Deep fried pork belly – $10.9

We also tried the fish tofu, one of their handmade dishes. These were great, and were so easy to keep eating in between the meat. I wasn’t originally planning to order this, but I’m so glad we did, as these are a hot pot staple for a reason.

Fish tofu – $8.9

For those who need more flavour with their fish tofu or want some sauce, Spice World’s self-service sauce station is the ultimate dream. There were about 20 or more different kinds of sauces, along with suggested sauce combinations. There’s bound to be something for everyone. The menu includes a $3.9 charge per person for the self-service sauce, appetisers and seasonal fruits. Considering you can help yourself to as much as you want, it’s not too bad at all.

Self-service sauce station

Our waitress also recommended the mashed shrimp with fish roe, which was quite an unusual looking dish. A brilliant recommendation because this ended up being one of my partner’s favourites! Our waitress was so helpful and came by to help scoop the shrimp into our broth. I really enjoyed this, the fish roe added such a lovely texture and it was another easy thing to eat.

I usually want some rice or noodles to accompany lots of meat, so we also ordered udon noodles. At $5.9 it’s a big price discrepancy compared to a pack of udon from the supermarket, but there’s bound to be a premium to pay in a restaurant. Pretty standard udon noodles, but a great way to add some variety to the meal.

Mashed shrimp with fish roe – $16.9, udon noodles – $5.9 (back left)

We were also lucky enough to treat ourselves to these scallops. Admittedly the scallops didn’t wow me that much as they have no flavour and rely purely on the broths. However, the scallops seemed fresh and I loved how they presented them in their shells on the bed of ice.

Scallops on shell (6 pieces) – $18.9

Our last meat pick was the lamb slices served on the 1m plate. I might have ordered this for the novelty of it, but like the Wagyu barbie, I was awed by how good the meat actually tasted as well. This was definitely not your regular lamb slices from the Asian supermarket. The lamb was so high quality and even though there were so many slices on the 1m plate, I wanted to never stop eating this. I would highly recommend these lamb slices!

By then we were absolutely stuffed but we still had some dessert to end the feast. We tried the deep fried handmade rice cake with brown sugar, as it was one of their recommended dishes and I’d had something similar before that I had enjoyed. This was a nice treat but pretty average and there wasn’t anything to really wow me.

Lamb slices served on 1m plate – $25.9 (left), deep fried handmade rice cake with brown sugar – $7.9 (right)

Last but not least were these beautiful swan cakes. The two black ones are purple sweet potato while the other two had a durian flavour inside. Whilst we preferred the purple sweet potato, the durian ones were pretty good too, even though I’m not a huge durian lover. These were so enjoyable to eat and I loved the unique and unusual flavour profiles.

To keep myself refreshed throughout this feast, I enjoyed a mixed fruit iced tea from the Moment for $8.5. It’s so cool how you can order bubble tea or milk tea or fruit tea and it’s delivered promptly to your table from The Moment. Such a great idea!

Swan cake – $16.9

I expected that I would enjoy Spice World, but even so, I was pleasantly surprised by how much the experience exceeded my expectations. I absolutely adored the tomato broth, the Wagyu barbie and the lamb slices and I know it won’t be long until I’ll need to visit again to satisfy my cravings. The service was also impeccable, with constant help topping up the broth and ensuring that you have everything you need. I never knew dining out at a hot pot restaurant would be this much fun, and I would definitely recommend trying it out yourself at Spice World!

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Spice World, but all opinions and photos are my own. Thank you Get Social PR (@getsocialpr) for arranging the invite!

Spice World | 405-411 Sussex St, Haymarket NSW 2000 | Facebook | Instagram

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Orto Trading Co., Surry Hills

Date Visited: Sunday 1 March, 2020

Sunny and warm enough to wear a dress but not too hot to be sweating every second – if that doesn’t sound like perfect brunch weather then I don’t know what is! The outdoor courtyard at Orto Trading Co was such a relaxing place for a Sunday meal and we were so spoilt for choice. Best to go in a group to try several dishes as it’ll be hard to pick just one! We kicked things off with several refreshing drinks, from various iced teas, fresh juices and even a classic mimosa.

I’d normally leave pancakes till last as dessert, but this dish looked so good I tried it first, and I was not disappointed at all. Everything about these pancakes was pretty perfect. I love the sweetness and indulgence of pancakes with ample maple syrup and lots of fresh berries between the layers. Nothing to fault about these pancakes and I’d certainly order them again!

House made mix berry and ricotta hotcakes – $18

I was pleasantly by the toasted granola, which was a fresh light bowl of goodness. A breakfast classic with a lovely combination of fruit, granola, Greek yoghurt and some honey to keep things sweet.

Toasted granola – $15

The star of the show was the southern fried chicken eggs benedict. I’ve never had such a dish before, so I loved the creativity and genius of the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce matched with deliciously crunchy fried chicken.

Southern fried chicken benni – $22

Another dish that impressed me was the pumpkin patch. I never knew a simple oven roasted pumpkin with some poached eggs and feta could be so brilliant. Well balanced flavours meant that I was certainly a fan of this unusual brunch dish.

Pumpkin patch – $18 – vegan option available

Moving onto the lunch dishes available only from 11:30am, Orto Trading Co’s tagliatelle bolognese is an order you can’t go wrong with. They really nailed this classic dish and the bolognese sauce was absolutely on point. I think this was the first dish our group finished as it was so hard to stop eating once you had a bit of the tagliatelle!

Our classic tagliatelle bolognese – $20, classic mimosa – $15 (right)

Next up is the house-made gnocchi. I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of this as the parmesan was a very dominant flavour. The gnocchi was accompanied with cherry tomatoes, black olive tapenade, fresh basil and creamy ricotta but I felt that it was lacking something to really tie everything in the dish together.

House-made gnocchi – $22

We also tried one of the specials, the chorizo risotto. The risotto definitely made chorizo the hero and I thought the flavours were super tasty. An easy dish to keep having spoonfuls of. Featured on the right is the pineapple, passionfruit, apple and lime juice, which I really enjoyed. The juice had been sitting on the table for quite some time as we were taking photos, so I gave it a good mix before drinking – it was such a refreshingly delicious combination, and something a bit different to the usual apple, orange or green juice.

Chorizo risotto in napoli sauce, PPAL fresh juice – $8 (right)

For the person craving a burger, there’s the Angus beef burger. It was a very standard burger, with only the addition of roasted capsicum making it a bit different. Unfortunately I’m not a fan of capsicum, but I loved the well seasoned crispy fries that went with this. The burger won’t compare to one you can get from a good burger joint, but it does a decent job as the token burger option on the menu.

Angus beef burger char grilled – $20

For the ultra healthy, Orto Trading Co also offers three salads. Compared to everything else on the table, I personally wasn’t that excited about this and didn’t really try much of it, but this warm mushroom and beetroot salad with roasted sweet potato might appeal more to you!

Warm mushroom and beetroot salad – $20 – vegan option

Last but not least was a side of polenta fries with buttermilk blue cheese sauce. At $2 a chip, it’s quite steep but I guess if you’re a fan of polenta you’ll enjoy this. Otherwise, it wasn’t really a dish for me.

Truffled polenta chips – $12

There were some dishes I really loved, and some not so much, but overall I really enjoyed my brunch at Orto Trading Co! They have delightfully refreshing drinks and some absolutely winning dishes with the southern fried chicken benni, pancakes and tagliatelle bolognese amongst my favourites. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this place before in Surry Hills, and being in such a lovely location despite only a short walk from Central station, this is certainly a hidden gem for brunch!

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Orto Trading Co., but all opinions and photos are my own. Thank you so much Vivian (@vivifean) for extending the invite!

Orto Trading Co.| 38 Waterloo St, Surry Hills NSW 2010 | Facebook | Instagram

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Hello Auntie, Darling Square, Haymarket

Date Visited: Wednesday 22 January, 2020

Darling Square is the newest place to be, so I am slowly trying out all the wonderful new restaurants in the area. I’ve heard of Hello Auntie in Marrickville before, but it wasn’t until recently that I learnt about their new Darling Square space. For anyone else working in the city, it’s so much more convenient to pop by Darling Square for dinner. What gets me excited is that Hello Auntie isn’t your typical Vietnamese restaurant! Whilst they have all the wonderful classics including banh xeo and pho, I love how they’ve added some unique twists to the menu and brought new life to Vietnamese flavours!

Hello Auntie also stands out with their huge beverages menu with some seriously inviting cocktails, and the Asian-inspired flavours especially appeal to me. Auntie’s Happiest Hour is 5:30pm-6:30pm on weekdays and 6:00pm-7:00pm on weekends, and is such a great deal, with selected $10 cocktails, $15 sake, $10 wine and $8 spirits. I loved the sound of the Pandan Summer cocktail with pineapple, coconut sorbet, campari and pandan rum, so I had to give it a go. First time I’ve ever had a cocktail with pandan flavour. I’m a big lover of pandan, so I easily enjoyed this refreshing and sweet concoction.

I was also lucky enough to try the Red Pocket, a special cocktail from Auntie’s Chinese New Year menu. It’s inspired by a Vietnamese tradition of bringing home a watermelon, with the more red it it is when cut indicating how lucky the year will be. I loved hearing about the story behind the drink and learning something new about Vietnamese culture! This was another cocktail first, as I’ve never had a watermelon cocktail before, but it worked perfectly with the vodka, lime and mint – so perfectly I don’t know why this isn’t a more popular combination. This one tasted stronger than the Pandan Summer, but would definitely be perfect for those looking for a fruity hit with summery vibes.

Pandan summer – $19 ($10 during Happiest Hour) (left); red pocket – $19 (right)

A recommended small dish to try was the beef tartare. This was such a lovely entree with the flavours being fairly subtle and light. I felt that the crunchy texture of the purple rice chips accompanied the tartare excellently, and all the ingredients in this were well balanced. I wouldn’t normally expect to see a tartare dish on a Vietnamese menu, but this was a very pleasant dish to start off with.

Beef tartare, parmesan, chives, crispy shallot, caper, cornichon, purple rice chips – $25 – gluten free, dairy free option

If I see sashimi anywhere, my mind is usually set on ordering it, and this was no different. The kingfish sashimi was beautiful, and the radish pickles and grapes went surprisingly well with it. I would have expected this dish to be on the lighter side, but the wasabi vinaigrette made this feel a bit heavier. The wasabi vinaigrette felt like most of the flavour kick in this dish, and was a little bit strong for me compared to all the other natural elements. It was an unusual combination of flavours that still held my attention and a dish you’ll especially love if you enjoy wasabi.

Kingfish sashimi, wasabi vinaigrette, radish pickles, grapes, chilli oil – $25 – dairy free, gluten free

One of the highlights of the meal was the Banh Khot. I absolutely adored these Vietnamese pancakes and would really recommend this to everyone. They tasted even better than they looked, and wrapping them in the lettuce and dipping them in the sweet chilli sauce was the happiest flavour explosion in my mouth. I also loved the touch of roe, which I don’t believe is a standard ingredient in this Vietnamese dish (correct me if I’m wrong). This is one dish that’s well worth the price and a dish I’d come back for again and again.

‘Banh Khot’ coconut and turmeric pikelets, prawn cutlets, smelt roe – $29 – dairy free, gluten free

Another star dish was the rigatoni and after one bite I fell in love with this Asian inspired pasta. With prawn, scallop and smelt roe, it’s a luxurious main that I couldn’t get enough of. Every spoonful was heavenly and packed with flavour, maybe caused in part from the added sumac. I had to Google this, but sumac is a flowery plant that can be made into a tangy lemon spice, which clearly does wonders for flavour. I was a bit apprehensive on how good this rigatoni would be, but safe to say, I was very impressed and satisfied.

Rigatoni, XO sauce, prawn, scallop, parmesan, tomato, smelt roe, sumac – $36 – dairy free option

The last main were these thick and chewy noodles that reminded me a lot of udon. I love my udon and onsen egg so this really appealed to me. I loved poking the onsen egg and mixing all the yolk, but it wasn’t noticeable in the overall flavour. The menu was not lying when it said it was tossed with fermented chilli, as this was probably the main flavour of the dish with some cheesiness added in. I didn’t enjoy these noodles as much as the rigatoni, but the rigatoni set an extremely high standard and chilli isn’t my usual go to. However, I still found these noodles addictive and it’s certainly another set of uncommon and inventive flavours.

Thick and chewy noodles tossed with fermented chilli, pork, smoked tasmanian cheddar, onsen egg, katsuobushi – $27 – dairy free option

Lastly, I will never say no to ending a meal with dessert, and this passionfruit crème brûlée tart easily exceeded my expectations. The balance of the passionfruit custard with the smooth vanilla cream and pistachio crunch was sensational. I was so full after all the dishes I’d already had but had no problems cleaning up this dessert plate. Hello Auntie often switch out the tart flavour to keep things interesting, and I’d certainly love to try some of their other flavours as well, such as yuzu or durian!

Passionfruit crème brûlée tart with vanilla cream – $15

It’s very easy for me to say that I was super impressed with my visit to Hello Auntie Darling Square, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole dining experience. The service was so accommodating and incredibly friendly, with the waiters and waitresses being very patient with my slow decision making and also being more than happy to offer suggestions. The highlights and must orders for me were the rigatoni, Banh Khot, and the crème brûlée tart. Definitely some amazing food to be had, and I would highly recommend that you #payyourauntieavisit for a memorable meal!

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Hello Auntie, but all opinions and photos are my own.

Hello Auntie| Shop 2/16 Nicolle Walk Darling Square, Haymarket NSW 2000 | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Concrete Jungle Cafe, Chippendale

Date Visited: Sunday 4 March, 2018

Concrete Jungle Cafe was all over Instagram in the beginning of the year for its stunningly aesthetic dishes, particularly for their blue magik smoothie bowl, and their hotcake, so it was inevitable that I would end up at this cafe. It’s located a short walk away from Central station, with a mix of indoor and outdoor seating – which would be lovely in the summertime, but not so much when it’s colder.

From first arriving, the service appeared a little messy. There was a waiter who seemed to be in charge of handling newcomers and settling people into their tables. However, despite waiting in clear view and trying to get his attention, he was constantly bustling around and did not seem to notice us until several minutes later when he asked for my name and confirmed the number of people. There were quite a few pairs and groups of people waiting for a table, but he didn’t write anything down, so it left me questioning whether he had really accurately memorised the order every group had arrived in. It hindered our perceptions of the fairness in the process, but we were eventually seated indoors after about a 15-25 minute wait.

As it was a pretty chilly day when we went, I had to get my standard chai latte with soy. This was pretty decent, and I haven’t got anything bad to say about it. They do the job well with this hot drink and the chai was just right.

Chai latte with soy

For food, I wasn’t particularly feeling the smoothie bowl nor the hotcake, so I decided to try their coconut feta and quinoa fritters. For some reason, I was expecting the fritters to be like flat circular corn fritters, but in this dish they were more like adapted falafels. There were only four on the plate, so the dish could have been improved with more fritters, as they were delicious and definitely the highlight on the plate. Served with coconut labné, avocado, fatoush salad and hazelnut dukkah, this dish felt very refreshing and healthy to eat. As a lighter option on the menu, I would recommend this for people who don’t want to eat anything too heavy.

Coconut feta and quinoa fritters – $22.50 – df, gf

Whilst I always try to encourage my friends to order the aesthetic looking dishes, on this occasion my friend decided to go with the ruben burger with added sweet potato fries instead. The Ruben is a house BBQ beef burger with provolone cheese, fried egg, pastrami, fermented cabbage and tarragon mayo. It’s pretty much an average burger, so it isn’t exceptional, but there isn’t anything negative to say either. If you like your burger and fries at brunch, then this is a great option! However, I don’t feel like this is one of Concrete Jungle Cafe’s specialties, nor is it a dish that would inspire you to return just to eat it again.

The ruben – $17, add sweet potato fries – $4.50

There was a little hiccup in the service when I think the waitress misheard my order, as she initially brought a different dish to our table. However, the service after we pointed this out was truly exceptional. The staff really went above and beyond in making sure our experience was great. They offered my friend and I a drink each on the house, so my friend got a standard coffee. As I had already finished my chai latte by then, I declined a second drink as I didn’t need one, but I was really appreciative when paying the bill to find out that my chai latte ended up being on the house.

They also gave us a complimentary chocolate muffin, and this muffin was absolutely huge. It was a pretty good muffin and whilst I didn’t see how much it would cost, I feel like for the size it would have been $5 or higher. It was really nice of them to provide the muffin on top of the complimentary drinks, and it definitely helped to alleviate the initial less than satisfactory service at the start.

Chocolate muffin, takeaway coffee

The service was a mixed experience, from feeling invisible at the start to saving our experience by making us feel like valued customers at the end. The food itself was great, and I think Concrete Jungle Cafe does quite a few creative and unique dishes. They met my Instagram expectations and I would love to try more of their dishes. However, with so many cafes doing the whole Instagram aesthetic food thing, I feel like it could take me a while to revisit given all the competing cafes I would rather try. Having said that, if you haven’t yet given this place a try, I do recommend it, as they have a really diverse selection of dishes on their menu that all look good and seem to taste good as well.

Concrete Jungle Cafe | 58 Kensington St, Chippendale | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Yuan’s Hot Pot, Haymarket

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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