One of the great modern innovations of Chinese fast casual dining, malatang, or ‘hot numbing soup’ has at last taken root in Melbourne’s increasingly detailed regional Chinese food scene. Malatang is an abridged take on classic Sichuan hot pot, streamlined into a single bowl for the solo diner. A favourable price point and a high vegetable content also make it a good call for any night you don’t want to cook.
It works like this: customers grab a pair of tongs and a basket and line up in front of a series of shelves holding vegetables, carbs, seafood, meats and vital organs. You fill your basket with whatever you would like to eat, then it is weighed, charged per 100 grams and whisked away to be plunged into one of several rich, secret spice-laden broths that range in intensity from mild to ruinously hot. In most malatang venues your meal is then served in a fabulously ornate bowl ‘dry’ (without broth) or ‘wet’ (with) minutes later.
For new players, malatang restaurants generally mandate a minimum per bowl—generally somewhere in the area of 300-400 grams. This information will be available somewhere near the counter, so make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you begin assembling your meal — 400 grams (plus soup) is nothing to sneeze at.
Dedicated malatang stores are opening across the CBD and out into the suburbs of Melbourne. Here’s our pick of the top five spots to get your hot pot fix.
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