Street Hot Pot — Restaurant in Melbourne

Food: 4/5 Service: 4.5/5 Price: 4.5/5 Atmosphere: 4/5

I've been to this place twice now and I can't really say a lot of negatives. At dinner time it's $35 per person as they give you a plate of oysters and seafood, as well as the Asian beef salad, prawns and mussels. The second time I went with just my partner, it was $25 per person as it was lunch time, but we still received the beef salad, prawns and mussels. Dinner time is more busy than lunch time. Lunch time there was literally no other customers and we felt that we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Although there was a small child there (it must be a family business), it was really sweet and it wasn't interruptive. It just made us feel like we were in a happy home. The workers also pay more attention at lunch. As my partner was looking for beef on the coveyer belt, one of the cooks from inside the kitchen had noticed and called out to my partner. Through the window, he had given my partner two plates full of beef! The man was so generous and it was really sweet and really cool. Our experience during lunch was just great. Even though dinner time has more customers, I felt like the workers were still able to apply the same amount of attention. They constantly checked up on us to see if we wanted more soup, to clear our plates and so on. The food is frozen, yeah. Who cares. Lol as long as it's not rotten, I couldn't care less. The beef were frozen but obviously that was because this was lunch time and they had just opened. Later on the beef is defrosted enough. The prawns and mussels are frozen too, but at least they were big. And still tasted fine to me. It didn't matter because I put them in the soup anyway, that's what you're supposed to do. So it just captures all the flavours of the soup. There's also condiments on the external table near the front for you to have with your foods. So really, I don't care that it's frozen foods. The food that goes around the belts are: beef, chicken, squid, big green leafy things, crab meat balls, other artificial meat balls I don't know the meat of, dumplings, packet ramen noodles, fat egg noodles, fat white rice noodles, taro, water chestnuts, enoki mushrooms with a strip of beef wrapped at the base, big black mushrooms I forgot what they're called, some white thing that looks like it belongs on a coral reef, octopus, bean curd... I think there's more but I don't pay attention coz I just want beef and noodles. Lol The only downside I would say about the food is that they don't provide quail eggs. From my knowledge anyway. Never saw them on the belt. I only get the tom yum flavoured soup. I find it a bit tangy, like I'm tasting a lot of lemon in it or something. Not sure if that's how it's supposed to taste because I don't remember it tasting like that when I first went. But the second time, it was very tangy. My experiences with Tom yum is that it's spicy/hot. It wasn't as spicy/hot as I'm used to, but it is still nice. Other soup options they have are: chicken, mushroom and I forgot the other one. Sigh. The dessert is pretty good. Don't know what it's called in English, but its that green jelly worms in white (I'm guessing it's coconut cream/milk) soup. When my family makes it, that's usually all they put in it. This one has lychee and jack fruit and it made it so yummy and sweet. It might be too sweet for some people, but I got used to it and actually really enjoyed it. You can also just get some ice cream too.

Overall, I would say that the food is pretty average. I've been to other hot pot places and it's pretty average. I would recommend this place if you're looking for a cheap all you...

You could almost say that this is Viet style? The soup bass are not like what you’d expect... the spicy I got was just chillie hot. Couldn’t taste any other flavour ... unless my taste buds already shot from the heat haha anyway it was “tasty” ... I’ll get back to this later...

Had the $35 buffet option with plate of 2 mussels 3 prawns and crab. You also get single side of Vietnamese beef salad and abalone.. (these were good). As for the seafood... mussels were fresh and of quality. As for the prawns .... hmmmm they’re not king prawns which is ok and at least they’re not soft and mushy when u eat it. My guess it’s cheap imported frozen prawn. But heck get by. The half a crab ... it’s the kind after boiling all u need to do is suck it out.

Sauce station was well presented and stocked (viet influenced) there’s fish sauce haha ... only gripe.... no garlic or sesame paste (my fav) only the oil.

The hot pot train..... haha hey this was good!! Had very good variety of tofu, stuffed tofu, beef, balls etc.. very good range. But for what ever reason the VEGIES ARE NO WHERE TO BE SEEN!!! It’s a scarce thing. This explained as soon as a dude sat down next to me before ordering soup or anything he piled up from the train anything that was vegie.. my initial thought was ... hmmmm ok he must love his vegies and scoffed a bit cus only PRC do this kinda “kiasu” thing. But he was a white dude haha

Anyway he proved waaaaaay smarter than me... he was in the know!!! No vegie for me!!!

The “tasty” soup, I reckon was laced with at least 1 tablespoon of msg!! I kid u not! Half way through I’m thirsty like a camel more so than ever before in a hot pot. I also started getting headaches. This I only get when there is excessive amounts of msg.

Anyhooo nuff said YMMV I’ll still come back to try again. Overall it was a good experience food on the train had good variety and of quality albeit lack of vegies. Oh forgot to mention the buffet had ice cream and I think it was the 3 colour drink as well (will...

This place reminded me of the numerous hot-pot restaurants i have eaten at during my travels to Thailand. All you can eat, with individual dishes coming around on a conveyor belt. Don't forget to grab some dipping sauces and condiments from near the front window for your meal. Seating was cramped. The bench design, coupled with the high chairs that you sit on, meant that you couldn't sit comfortably and get your legs under the bench. It was, however, workable. What disappointed me was that I had telephoned prior to arrival and been told that walk-ins were fine. Nevertheless I opted to make a reservation just in case, yet when I arrived it was like I had just arrived from a different planet. The lady at the door almost seemed suspicious of my intentions and was asking if I had a booking. Naturally there was no record of it anywhere (I doubt they even have a reservations book!) but I did have a record of the telephone call on my phone that I used to appease her a little. There were a few seats still available so I don't know what her problem was anyway. The price list states that they offer abalone and scallops on Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays but these were nowhere to be seen, and when I questioned a male staff member he just said they don't do them anymore. Never mind that the price is higher on those days and that it's technically false advertising..... Apart from those couple of negatives the experience was good, the food was tasty, there was a reasonable variety of food options coming around on the conveyor, and I didn't leave hungry. Pricing was reasonable, though not a bargain. I'll probably be back one day but I might also compare a few competitors...