![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Liji Malatang - Target Centre, Melbourne CBD
Spicy Beef Bone Soup
Yesterday I was trembling, I didn’t feel myself, something was missing in my life and I needed to rectify it. I looked to when my last post on this account was and realised that missing part of me was of course soup. Knowing full well this hunger wasn’t going to cure itself I made tracks into the city, and wandered the streets until I found a restaurant that didn’t have huge wait times. This place was Liji Malatang nestled in the Target Centre between Bourke and Little Bourke. While i’m sure many soup fans in Melbourne are familiar with Malatang by now - For those who need a refresher, It’s basically Chinese for Spicy + Numbing, the flavours you get from Sichuan peppers and chili. Malatang restaurants have fridges that are filled to the brim with ingredients that you put into an oversized bowl which is similar to Hermione Granger’s bag - You keep putting things in it but it never seems to fill up the top. THAT IS THE FIRST TRICK PEOPLE. Don’t get caught out, you have to imagine all those ingredients you place into your bowl in that bag of yours that you call your stomach and you will have no problems. Malatang is charged by weight - Liji is $3.20 per 100 grams.. and if I wasn’t careful that price could have become very very extreme very quickly. The ingredients options at Liji are much the same as Dragon + other similar priced by weight restaurants around the city. They have all the options - An assortment of Mushrooms, veggies, tofu and other beancurd related items, balls - all kinds of balls, big balls, filled seafood balls, meat balls plenty of balls. The fresh meat here was the standard thinly cut lamb, beef or pork but they also had thicker cuts of marinated beef which were very tasty. One thing I will mention is that Liji has peeled prawns which is an essential, not only are you not wasting precious weight on crustaceanic shell you also can be lazy and suck the prawn meat right out of its tail, less messy - good. Now the broth, the broth here was tremendous, It was bold and had all the right flavours dancing around my tongue. Yes it was Spicy, Yes it was Numbing - Malatang certified but it was also very beefy. The aromas were fantastic. This place has a sauce station with all the regular condiments. Sesame oil, sesame sauce, chopped coriander, chopped green onion etc. a great addition. Liji Malatang is an underrated restaurant, It’s hidden in Target centre but you won’t feel rushed here like you do in other places because there is a heap of space and heaps of tables. I also saw they did cumin lamb skewers so you bet i’m going straight back for them.
🥢🥢🥢🥢🥢
Broth Flavour: 🍜🍜🍜🍜/5
Soup ingredients: 🍜🍜🍜.5/5
Service: 🍜🍜🍜🍜/5
Overall: 🍜🍜🍜🍜/5
🥢🥢🥢🥢🥢
One of the numerous pick-your-own-topping malatang places in Chinatown. You can choose either soup or dry malatang with this place. An okay selection of toppings, nothing too special. You can get pickled veggie with the free sauces on the side.
It was the perfect balance of rich soup flavour and numbing spiciness! They even gave us aprons because we were wearing white shirts
Definitely my favourite malatang place in town. I personally choose Liji over Dragot hotpot any day. Priced better than dragon hotpot, and imho taste better too.
Take my tongue and numb it hard! The best dish for a cold wintery day. Hot, spicy and sooooo numbing to warm my soul. Cannot help but perspire after downing this piping hot bowl. Reasonable price and quantity.
Greatest mala xianguo ever I had in Melbourne and I used to go. The price is reasonable . Their yogurt also really good. The staffs are friendly and the tables are clean. The Foods are served really quick. Overall is very good experience.
Was worried that all their soups would be spicy as their name suggests however was told they had a non spicy option.
Soup flavour was great compared to Dragon Hot pot.
Food selection was not too bad. Many dipping sauces available with garnishes.
Would return
Food: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Ambiance: 3/5
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Located in the Target Centre is this malatang spot, you can choose to dine in (which we recommend) or dine out on the communal tables just outside. We chose our various ingredients, I spent nearly $20 and it was sufficient for myself, it's $3.20 per kg which seems to be the going rate these days.
While waiting they were offering free white fungus soup which had goji berries in it. My mum would usually make this for me, I'm sure it helps restore your ying and yang after a spicy bowl of soup (don't quote me on that). It was pretty pleasant and slightly sweet, grab a bowl while you wait.
I requested my bowl to be mild and it was, the soup was milky and slightly tingly from all the peppercorns. I couldn't drink much of it, the saltiness builds up on you. I also added in a piece of lamb rib which did not look appetising uncooked but when it came out it was tender and fatty, delicious. Nothing else worthy of mention, a lot of the ingredients were standard across all restaurants of its kind. Mushrooms, bean curd, sliced lamb, mussels, etc.
Not a bad joint for some malatang, nice touches here and there.
Visited March 2019
You pay based on what you take and weight it ($3/100gram)... if you can choose which one based on weight, you will be able get cheaper price than you think (try to avoid foods that has contain more water such soaked mushroom, etc)
Location : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Table/Space : ⭐⭐⭐
Room Decoration : ⭐⭐⭐
Portion : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Foods/Dishes Variety : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price Value : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
MALATANG is getting popular in Melbourne, i used to feel like liji is a bit tasteless, but since i ordered super spicy i am totally obsessed
Delicious spicy hotspot! With about 10 or 12 bucks you'll be full and satisfied. The soup is made from lamb bone so if you dont like lamb smell you might not like it. Not too strong though. They have delicious sesame sauce! The service is fadt and friendly too!
Ma la xiang guo! $3.00/g and minimum 300g which is a good price! You can choose the spiciness from mild, spicy or something something yet mild is quite spicy already and topped with sesame and peanuts~ been carving for these and pretty please about it.
This is a fun place to take your friend or go it alone. Very happy here good selection, love choosing my own food, but it does make me greedy !
This place made my boyfriend and me malatang lovers since our first visit because the soup base is full of flavour and it never disappoints us for all 4 times we went. Highly recommended!
This type of restaurant is getting really really popular in Melbourne. There’s like 5 places like this just in the CBD alone. Our preferred place is here. Food is good though sometimes flavour is hit and miss.
There’s a good and wide selection of options with a 3 different types soup base. Our fav is the dry version with medium spice level :)
You can choose your own food, and they weight the food for you and you pay the money.
Then you can choose how hot your soup be.
I can’t eat that spicy food so I ordered the non spicy soup.
It’s really good, the vegetables are fresh, the meatballs are tasty and the beef is good.
I've been here a few times and recommended this place to my friends. I'm slightly addicted to the soup and even crave for it at times. I like the idea of being able to pick my own ingredients. There are a few options for the soup base and because I can't take spicy that well, I tend to go for mild. Even the skewered lamb is good. I give it 2 thumbs up.
Best malatang I've had in the city. Soup was flavorful but not overpowering. Love the fresh ingredients especially the cooked prawns. We had the soup version this time and will try the dry version next. I would suggest putting chicken wings into the ingredient selection though. Would go very nicely with the dry pots.
The best malatang in the City, the lamb stick is awesome as well xD would like to come again. Usually it will be a little crowded in this places. The service is fine comparing with other fast food in the town.
A typical array of hot pot ingredients – fresh veggies, thawed fish balls, slice beef/lamb, various noodles.
Loads of seating inside the restaurant and out in the food court too.
The broth is a thin creamy texture from the beef bones, pimped up with the chilli oil which isn’t crazy spicy, but has that numbing sensation from the Sichuan pepper.
Off to the side is a poorly maintained sauce area, where you can get additional pepper oil, coriander and pickled radish.
No other malatang restaurants offers pickled radish, which I think is really good for cutting through the oiliness and spiciness.
Liji also offer a dry version, which is a bit confusing because they call it “deep fried”, which it isn’t really. It’s essentially the same without the broth poured over, but the chilli oil and sesame paste.
Nice flavours at the end, but a little greasy for my liking.
At $3.00 per 100g it’s the cheapest malatang in the CBD as well (others are around $3.20)
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Liji Malatang is considerably new hotpot restaurant conveniently located inside the Arcade Melbourne CBD, Chinatown (near Target).
If you're looking for a quick and tailored meal either in soup style or stir fried, this is the place for you.
Just pick and choose whatever you want in your meal and weigh them at the checkout.
They provide a good range of choices from meats, seafood, poultry, vegetables, all kind of noodles and meatballs.
I especially love the mushroom balls and salmon balls.
They also provide fresh fillet fish and they even have mussels.
The price per 100g is also very reasonable and cheaper compared to other similar restaurants.
For comparison, my bowl cost me around $20.00 AUD only and it was more than enough to share between 2 people.
I also tried their lamb skewers; The taste was okay, but it wasn't my favorite.
The soup base had lighter flavours compared to other similar restaurants, personally I love the lighter taste.
Ohh they do have their home made peanuts chilli sauce, the taste was absolutely fantastic.
It was a perfect match with the hotpot.
Overall, we had great time dine in this place.
Yay: Reasonable price, good taste
Nay: Lamb skewers
Location: Target Centre, 222 Bourke Street, Melbourne
I really enjoy the soup here, without the condiments it’s probably not as good, but I like to add my own.
Fill up your bowl with the ingredients you choose and weight it and make it into a soup or dry. The soup broth was very good, numbing beef bone with sesame! For two people both having a generous bowl of soup each, our bill came to $24 total.
They also do bigger bowls to share between people.
The soup is quite spicy so if you’re not sure ask your mild and add your own chilli oil.
A- MA- ZING!! The food is finger licking good.
Some of the best Chinese in Melbourne hands down
I never knew malatang but it’s one of my fave meals now
My go to Dry Malatang in Melbourne.
Three different noodle style:
Dry (deep fried with chilli oil), beef soup, or in between (chilli oil with peanut sauce)
And they have 3 different spicy levels
My favorite is the dry one with medium spicy.
In this place, you pick and choose your own toppings and favourite ingredients to go into your bowl.
Love all their balls selection especially those that has crab in it. Prawn is big and juicy. However, the marinated pork is not as good as I thought it would be (plain one is better)
But definately get those balls and some noodles to go with it.
My bowl cost around $25 if you want some guide on the pricing. 100g is $3 so i had around 800grams.
Really love with the concept where you can pick whatever ingredients you like and make it as a mini hot pot or a stir fry.
Going to try the kebab later
Second time here, I love the concept of this restaurant!
There must be like 30 plus different ingredients on offer including, kinds of meat, veggies, seafood, noodles to choose from and you serve yourself what and how much you want and they charge you by ($30) kg. Then you choose soup or stir fry, mild or hot, 5 mins later, a big bowl of soup (or stir fry) with all the things you chose! First time I wasn’t that hungry, so 4 slices of beef and noodles ended up like $6.50- just perfect on a cold day like today to warm up with spicy(ish) soup! First time having lap Cheung in a soup, came out really 👍
First time trying malatang! I was really nervous didn’t know what to do... I had to ask. Their soup was delicious . Only one kind but you can ask for mild, medium or hot! I got medium and it was just right. They cooked everything perfectly. The lamb skewers are really good too.
Criticism:
I just wish they could label what things are. Eg if it’s pork or chicken or fish balls etc? It just looks all the same!! Service also can be better.
We came here after a somewhat exhausting morning, hungry and looking for the perfect spicy pick-me-up. It was fun to be able to pick your own ingredients and have them be prepared in a style of your choosing.
We tried the fragrant spicy tossed style noodles which had notes of cumin and chilli peppered throughout the mix of fish balls and other goodies. It was quite spicy, so next time we might try a milder spice level.
Overall it was an interesting Asian dining experience and we'd recommend it to anyone looking for a quick and tailored bite to eat in Chinatown.
good one!
the lamb skewers are cheap and tasty.
i ordered them to make the stir fried flavour.
more variety to choose and you can get more sauce for ur dish.
i really enjoyed my meal.
![5]( "Recensione")
Liji Malatang - Target Centre, Melbourne CBD
Spicy Beef Bone Soup
Yesterday I was trembling, I didn’t feel myself, something was missing in my life and I needed to rectify it. I looked to when my last post on this account was and realised that missing part of me was of course soup. Knowing full well this hunger wasn’t going to cure itself I made tracks into the city, and wandered the streets until I found a restaurant that didn’t have huge wait times. This place was Liji Malatang nestled in the Target Centre between Bourke and Little Bourke. While i’m sure many soup fans in Melbourne are familiar with Malatang by now - For those who need a refresher, It’s basically Chinese for Spicy + Numbing, the flavours you get from Sichuan peppers and chili. Malatang restaurants have fridges that are filled to the brim with ingredients that you put into an oversized bowl which is similar to Hermione Granger’s bag - You keep putting things in it but it never seems to fill up the top. THAT IS THE FIRST TRICK PEOPLE. Don’t get caught out, you have to imagine all those ingredients you place into your bowl in that bag of yours that you call your stomach and you will have no problems. Malatang is charged by weight - Liji is $3.20 per 100 grams.. and if I wasn’t careful that price could have become very very extreme very quickly. The ingredients options at Liji are much the same as Dragon + other similar priced by weight restaurants around the city. They have all the options - An assortment of Mushrooms, veggies, tofu and other beancurd related items, balls - all kinds of balls, big balls, filled seafood balls, meat balls plenty of balls. The fresh meat here was the standard thinly cut lamb, beef or pork but they also had thicker cuts of marinated beef which were very tasty. One thing I will mention is that Liji has peeled prawns which is an essential, not only are you not wasting precious weight on crustaceanic shell you also can be lazy and suck the prawn meat right out of its tail, less messy - good. Now the broth, the broth here was tremendous, It was bold and had all the right flavours dancing around my tongue. Yes it was Spicy, Yes it was Numbing - Malatang certified but it was also very beefy. The aromas were fantastic. This place has a sauce station with all the regular condiments. Sesame oil, sesame sauce, chopped coriander, chopped green onion etc. a great addition. Liji Malatang is an underrated restaurant, It’s hidden in Target centre but you won’t feel rushed here like you do in other places because there is a heap of space and heaps of tables. I also saw they did cumin lamb skewers so you bet i’m going straight back for them.
🥢🥢🥢🥢🥢
Broth Flavour: 🍜🍜🍜🍜/5
Soup ingredients: 🍜🍜🍜.5/5
Service: 🍜🍜🍜🍜/5
Overall: 🍜🍜🍜🍜/5
🥢🥢🥢🥢🥢
I presume this is already known in China based on all the chinese people that walk straight in and start picking their food and everyone speaking chinese to me which unfortunately I dont understand. Its a new chinese noodle restaurant inside the Target centre replacing the ramen shop. What a cool concept! Go in grab a metal bucket and pick all the fillings you want. Theres various meats and veggies and seafood. Then its weighed at the counter. Do you want soup or stirfry? Pick your level of spicy. Grab a number and sit down. Interesting way of ordering food. The more it weighs the more it costs. Theres free condiments and sides as well. The soup was delish dunno what was in it and I could pick all the veggies I wanted. The counter girl was very friendly when I seemed lost as to what to do. My only gripe is non cash payments incur an extra fee, in this day and age not acceptable.
One of the numerous pick-your-own-topping malatang places in Chinatown. You can choose either soup or dry malatang with this place. An okay selection of toppings, nothing too special. You can get pickled veggie with the free sauces on the side.
Food - 7
Service - 7
Vibe - 5
Price - depends on weight
Good price. I love the hot soup they offer.
You can pick your own food and the price is calculated based on its weight.
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