Mailinda Charcoal Hotpot — Restaurant in London

It's a small shop about 5 mins walk from the tube station. There's option for all you can eat hotpot and stir fried dishes. We went for the hotpot, surprised to see it was actually charcoal fueled hotpot, gives it a rather authentic feel. Includes the usual meat and fish balls veg etc. Wasn't specially good but the charcoal hotpot adds a lot of points for me, it was about 30 pounds per person, drinks not included. I think you can get better quality in central London for the same price. The staff were all quite rude and never add water or the soup base without you asking. I try to pay by card and there was problem with their card machine. The girl serving us was nice and we keep in trying the card machine for like ten mins. Until I thought we would just pay cash instead, and as I was paying another more senior staff came very rudely and said they won't accept 20 pounds paper bank notes. If you are not going to accept bank notes then might as well put up a sign so everyone knows.

For reference at the time of this review old £20 notes ares still legal tender. And you can continue to use these paper notes to make purchases at the moment. The old £20 notes will stay valid until the September 2022 expiry date given by the Bank of England.

At the end they did accept the £20 note. I would say its okay to try this place if you...

I cannot believe this place is still so under the radar in London. Hands down the best hot pot place in the city. I am one of those who normally just read other people's reviews instead of writing one myself. However, this place is so good that I feel compelled to write them a review.

I moved to London a few months ago from Toronto (which has amazing Chinese food) and have already been there 5 times...almost too many times.

First of all, everything they provide is very fresh, particularly the seafood. You can just tell they buy their stuff fresh, instead of some frozen BS cheap stuff other places provide you.

Second, the decor is very authentic and homey. They also use the traditional copper pot which is super cool.

Lastly, the broth is super legit. It's thick and flavourful. I have super high standard for the hot pot broth and this place definitely meets expectation.

The service is good and attentive. You won't get over the top service like you would at some fancier restaurants, but I prefer to be left alone when I'm enjoying my hot pot anyways...

I haven't had many other things at this place so can't speak for those items. For hot hot though, this place is definitely 5-star and the...

Went for the a la carte menu and had the slow cooked chicken on bone with mushroom. Not sure how long this chicken had been slow cooking for but the meat was very dry and tough eventhough it was sitting in loads of sauce. Also had the braised pork belly with brown sauce but some of the pieces were mainly fat. The sauce also didn't taste of much. The only positive was the veg and rice. Overall quite disappointed, thought I had found a decent authentic Chinese restaurant to eat. On top of that the restaurant is extremely not child friendly! They didn't have a high chair/booster seat for my daughter so she had to sit on the sofa seat and I constantly had to watch her to make sure she didn't fall off. There were also no baby changing facilities. When I asked the staff where I could change her they replied the toilet, only to find it indeed was just a toilet cubicle. Not impressed and definitely won't be coming back. Families with young...