Do you know how to hot pot, Brisbane/Meanjin? This steamy DIY-style feast is a fave among those who know it, but may be a confusing experience for those who don’t, so let us clue you in. Basically, hot pot involves having a pot of boiling broth with its own burner on the table in front of you. You’ll order up a few plates of raw meat and vegetables, which you dip into the soup for a few minutes to cook (you might want to practice your chopstick skills for this), before dipping in sauce and putting straight into your waiting mouth.
Depending on the style of hot pot, there’s a whole raft of other optional steps, from choosing your hot pot soup base to mixing up your own dipping sauce from a sauce bar, so here at Urban List we recommend taking a hot pot-familiar friend for your first foray. And to send you on your way, here’s where to dip a slab of marbled wagyu into a hot pot in Brisbane, whether you want Sichuanese-style spicy soup, all-you-can-eat hot pot or Japanese shabu shabu.
In The Jin
409 Mains Road, Macgregor
Another hot pot spot that hit Sydney first before coming our way, In The Jin is all about Sichuan flavours. Things are a little more old school here, so you’ll do your ordering by ticking boxes on a paper menu. Choose your soup bases and then decide between dipping meats like your basic pork belly slice and fish meat ball, and more spenny options like lobster tail and abalone slice, as well as noodles and sides. The menu even tells you how long to cook everything which is handy if you’re a newb.
The X Pot
Level 1, 317 Mains Road, Sunnybank
Image credit: The X Pot | Intagram
Newly landed in Sunnybank, this Sichuan-style hotpot’s claim to fame is their teddy bear-shaped spicy soup bases, which come frozen and ready to melt in your chosen hot pot. Not just a viral moment waiting to happen though, The X Pot backs it up with housemade soups more flavoursome than any other we’ve tried, live seafood tanks and melt-in-your-mouth wagyu (order the combo set that arrives on a golden cow-shaped platter, you won’t regret it). Plus, despite being tucked away in an outside corner of Market Square, the venue itself is uber aesthetic, with cosy booths and private rooms where you can even do karaoke with your crew.
Miss Chilli Hotpot
16 Park Road, Milton
As you can probably guess from their name, Miss Chilli Hotpot specialises in spicy chongqing-style hotpot that is not for the faint of heart—but for those who don’t like it hot, you can also opt for the likes of chicken mushroom and tomato beef brisket broth flavours. Meat and veg options range from the usual sliced pork belly and wagyu slices to traditional ingredients like goose intestines and kidney slices, depending on how adventurous you are, with seafood and plenty of vegetarian dishes to choose from as well.
Mountain Hotpot
662 Compton Road, Calamvale
Previously known as David's Hotpot, Mountain Hotpot’s claim to fame is their beef ‘barbies’—thin slices of beef which come draped over a barbie doll, much like those toilet roll dollies your nan used to have. Kitsch? Yes. A fun novelty we’ll travel for? Also yes. You can customise your soup base of choice from slightly spicy to crazy spicy (that’s literally what’s on the menu) and choose from a range of traditional and not-so-traditional meats—luncheon meat, anyone?
HaiDiLao
341 Mains Road, Sunnybank
Image credit: jpellgen | Flickr
The opening of HaiDiLao in Sunnybank this year was a big deal for hot pot lovers. The restaurant chain is ubiquitous in China, with over 176 locations in 53 Chinese cities and a large international footprint besides. After opening in Sydney and Melbourne, the eatery has now landed in Sunnybank, and is definitely worth the trip. Here, you can choose to have one, two or four different soup bases in the one pot (with dividers), will find a handy cheat sheet on the wall to help you mix up your sauces, and can order everything from marinated beef and quail eggs to tofu skin rolls and bok choy for dipping from a handy iPad. You’ll find HaiDiLao on the top level of Market Square.
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Shabu House
70 Mary Street, Brisbane CBD
If it’s Japanese hot pot you’re after, Shabu House is the place to go, and you’ll want to take a hefty appetite, because this place is all-you-can-eat. For between $35 and $56 per head, depending on when you go, you’ll get to choose your soup base (there’s flavours like tom yum, miso and fish), then serve yourself a selection of meat, veggies and noodles from the buffet. Bonus, while you wait for everything to cook you can hit the sushi and hot food bar, which is all included in the price per head.
Seafood Hotpot Buffet
342 McCullough Street, Sunnybank
Seafood Hotpot Buffet combines an all-you-can-eat buffet experience with individual broths, which come in colourful pots for you to get cooking in. There’s seven different soup bases to choose from here, but don’t take too long to decide between curry potato and butter spicy, as you only get two hours to feast. Once you’ve chosen, hit the buffet for fresh ingredients, sauces and even spices to add to the pot—with 150 different types of food to choose from, the combinations are endless.
Seoul Garden
341 Mains Road, Sunnybank
Image credit: Seoul Garden | Supplied
One of Melbourne’s favourite destinations for all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ and hotpot has come to Brisbane, bringing its signature neon-lit ambiance and overwhelming amount of choice for what to dine on. Served up buffet style, the hot pot at Seoul Garden is all you can eat for 90 minutes, with an endless array of vegetables, noodles, meats, soup bases and more. You don’t have to stick to just hot pot either—that all-you-can-eat deal includes both hot pot and BBQ, as well as their hot bar, sushi station and sides.
Sono Portside
39 Hercules Street, Hamilton
One for the total hot pot virgins who have no idea what they’re doing and are a little apprehensive about it, Sono Portside is here to guide you through their style of Japanese hot pot. Choose from one of just four hot pot options to make life easy—wagyu sukiyaki, wagyu shabu shabu, live abalone shabu shabu or Alaskan king crab kani tonyu nabe. All served with fresh vegetables, staff will demonstrate the cooking process, and even add in rice and egg at the end to create zosui, or rice soup, which is arguably the best part of Japanese hot pot (if you know you know).
Bishamon
500 Boundary Street, Spring Hill
Another Japanese hot pot option without a complex ordering system, Bishamon has been in business for 20 years, so they’ve definitely nailed their take. Opt for wagyu beef or pork shabu shabu or sukiyaki (with a sake and sweet soy sauce broth), pork ton nabe (with a sweet miso soup) or udon suki, which comes with mixed seafood, wagyu beef, pork AND udon noodles. You’ll need at least two people to order, so don’t dine here with a hot pot naysayer.
Donana Mini Hot Pot
1/31 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove
Image credit: Donana Mini Hot Pot | Instagram
Just when you thought hot pot couldn’t get any more interactive, along comes Donana Mini Hot Pot with Brisbane’s first hot pot train. Here you order your own individual soup pot and meat platters via QR code and then wait as they get delivered by train. Noodles, veggies and other ingredients to add to your pot can be grabbed from the ever-moving belt in front of you, with plates ranging from $2 to $5, just like at a sushi train. Dinner has never been so fun.
David’s Master Pot
Various Locations
Ok, so you’re craving hot pot but you don’t want to have to deal with waiting for the pot to boil and cooking all those ingredients one by one—what do you do? You head to David’s Master Pot of course, a malatang-style hot pot spot where you still get to choose all your ingredients and customise your pot, but it gets cooked up for you and served ready to eat then and there or takeaway. With a huge selection of ingredients and soup bases, these guys are masters at customisation, and also dish up dry pots if you’re not in the mood to get soup on your shirt (just us?).
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Image credit: In The Jin | Facebook
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