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

Follow my food instagram @foodsofchar and my travel instagram @travelsofchar.

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

Follow my food instagram @foodsofchar and my travel instagram @travelsofchar.

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

Follow my food instagram @foodsofchar and my travel instagram @travelsofchar.