Jackie McMillan
(3.5 stars)
With its origin as a Sichuan province street food – hot pot made eating-on-the-go friendly using a communal pot – malatang is an easy, inexpensive and quick dinner on nights you can’t be bothered cooking. Heidilao Malatang in Haymarket is my first foray into malatang outside of the popular Yang Guo Fu Ma La Tang chain.
With a goldfish tank in the doorway, the long narrow Thomas Street restaurant works pretty much the same way. You kick off at the shelves collecting a bowl and tongs, then work your way down three refrigerated units where ingredients are displayed buffet-style.
Using the tongs, you make your selections, bearing in mind you’ll be paying by weight at the same $24/kilo charged by their competitor. The standouts here were an extended selection of greens which included Chinese water spinach and bok choy – both baby bok choy and the mature stuff with white stems and darker green leaves – as well as coriander, which I haven’t seen appear in malatang buffets before, but added a fragrant fresh taste to my resulting soup.
My dining companion was most enamoured with the wide noodles with lacy edges that retained a toothsome chewy quality in the soup, whole crab claws, and tiny clams (which I’d never seen on the malatang line before). The mushroom selection was more extensive here, with various fresh and tinned options on offer. My favourite on this visit were fresh king mushrooms, sliced into long, thin pieces by the super-fast kitchen and then cooked very lightly by immersion in the hot soup.
Quail eggs are a must-eat; and almost any of the fried items, from dough sticks to tofu, scrub up surprisingly well in spicy soup. While I did throw in some deep fried tofu, and a cute little moneybag filled with an orange, seafood-based souffle, this time I stayed pretty light and healthy with mostly vegetables accentuated with some thin slices of marbled beef.
At the counter at the end of the darkened, simply furnished dining room, you weigh and pay. My bowl of malatang with a medium heat level and a soft drink, came to $15.60. My dining companion’s bowl came to $22.80 with a drink. He asked for spicy, though the counter staff tried to dissuade him from this. After you pay, you are issued with a numbered key tag, and when your number is called, you collect your steaming bowl of soup. Saucing here is self-service affair, which for an inexperienced malatang eater is a bit less helpful. A little bit of everything is what the counter staff usually put on, including items like sugar, so I tried to replicate this for myself with slightly less success.
Both our soups at Heidilao Malatang had a lot shorter cooking time, which did better by ingredients like the fresh greens and mushrooms, that can lose texture at Yang Guo Fu Ma La Tang, though I reckon their soup-base tastes better.
peter steam
- had my fried doughstick taken away (did not cook all ingredients in your tray)
- small portion
- very old utensils
2/5
Chayanat S
Where should i even start?
Went here this afternoon because my friend decided to choose this place.
They placed their orders while i was still choosing the ingredients for my bowl.
When it came to the meat section, there were no indication what soever and there were 6 choices, and when i asked the lady at the counter with my decent Madarin, she rolled her eyes and sigh... i was speechless and choose what i thought was chicken and pork and paid.
So here comes the interesting part. While i was waiting at my table, that same lady at the cashier was picking her nose.... after realising that i saw she stopped.
A few minutes later, She then came out of the cashier area and walk towards the ingredients section and as she were tidying the trays one of them had a vegetable that was falling out of it, she then used her bare hands to put it back same goes for the wet noodles.
Where's the cleanliness?
The soup was less than decent compared to other places.
Extremely in shock and disappointed, i did not finish my meal and just waited for my friends to finish theirs and left to eat something else.
Jeremy He
The food here is average, it’s not too terrible but also not delicious by any means.
The worst is the attitude of the staff. I ordered dry pot with my friends, I didn’t have my food severed until all my friends had finished theirs. I asked the staff serval times but she didn’t even care to response. She severed me food after about 40 mins from the time I ordered it. And she didn’t even say anything to me. (I spoke to her in Chinese, I’m sure she can understand me).
Anyway, I will NEVER EVER come to this shop again and I will be surprised if they can sustain business with this kind of service.
Eunmyung Lee
I used to love this place, however my recent visit was really terrible.
Ingredients were awfully not fresh, one of the fish cake that i had taste like completely off. I had to spit it out.
I guess I have started to realise why this place is getting more quieter than ever now..
Gareth C
Great taste, decent selection but i dont like how they weigh the bowl and clip so you end up getting a bit ripped off... Scale should at minus the bowl weight.
Elena
Wide range of options. Food is nice. However the staff should stop giving attitude!
Jason Wei
Outstanding services, as well as fantastic taste... love the way they present their food, all freshly picked and cooked.
Mia Wahang
I will never back again. Not nice, not friendlly, dirty.<br/>Once I bought to take away but you know when I opened my number key in the bow .. ill. Meatball, some of them I saw having hair together. Seafood never fresh, one meatball is not cook ready, it is till hard, I could not eat a half of bow. So terrible
Rain Wang
This place is so overpriced! I usually pay max $10 for malatang and I was charged $15.50. The malatang was average and tasted watery. I would reccomend going to yang guo fu malatang instead which is nearby!!!!
Literallyondiet
Always good food, taste is just right, really love how they decorate their shop by having table near window. One thing that needs to be improve is that they can have at least self service table water.
Does My Bomb Look Big In This
(3.5 stars)<br/> With its origin as a Sichuan province street food – hot pot made eating-on-the-go friendly using a communal pot – malatang is an easy, inexpensive and quick dinner on nights you can’t be bothered cooking. Heidilao Malatang in Haymarket is my first foray into malatang outside of the popular Yang Guo Fu Ma La Tang chain. With a goldfish tank in the doorway, the long narrow Thomas Street restaurant works pretty much the same way. You kick off at the shelves collecting a bowl and tongs, then work your way down three refrigerated units where ingredients are displayed buffet-style. Using the tongs, you make your selections, bearing in mind you’ll be paying by weight at the same $24/kilo charged by their competitor. The standouts here were an extended selection of greens which included Chinese water spinach and bok choy – both baby bok choy and the mature stuff with white stems and darker green leaves – as well as coriander, which I haven’t seen appear in malatang buffets before, but added a fragrant fresh taste to my resulting soup. My dining companion was most enamoured with...
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