I drove through local flooding on the M2 recently to bring you this review of what is possibly the best train station hot pot restaurant north of the Harbour Bridge.
For the reasonably sane price of $266 we were able to fully feed six grown adults ($45 per person), without really skimping on anything that anyone wanted. We chose a centralised large pot format with two options of Chongqing Spicy Soup and Oxtail and Tomato Soup, though individual pots are also available at this restaurant. Despite the fact that all six of us were of Asian descent and likely exposed to spicy foods from a young age, only my colleague WKS was able to fully enjoy the spicy soup. The rest of us quickly gave up and essentially only had the non-spicy soup for the majority of our meal.
Both the standard sliced beef and lamb options were of good quality. We ordered a mixed plate of beef and lamb ($29.50) and additional beef ($16.50). The beef was tender, with a bit of marbling but not much fat external to the muscle. The lamb was also good, with less fat than most other places.
The large golden ball to the left of the image is the giant deep fried glutinous rice ball ($13.50), a sweet deep fried snack similar to the much smaller, usual variety. Though large in volume, the skin of this ball is actually very thin, so the ball is not as substantial a food as it may look. It is a nice snack.
I would not recommend the spicy beef ($13.90), which is very heavily spiced with cumin and chilli, nor would I recommend the shrimp meatballs ($17.80), which I didn’t feel were as special as those at The Dolar Shop.
Beef and coriander balls ($9.50) weren’t really that great. Most of the coriander melted off into the pot, and there was not much of a beef texture within. They also took a really long time to cook, which in itself presents a form of opportunity cost. I wouldn’t get these again.
Similarly to competitor Spice World, Memory Tongue offers some of its meat options draped around naked barbie dolls. There is a price differential between the Barbie Pork Belly Slices ($14.50) and the regular Pork Slices, however no mention of the quantity provided with each order. Though as a group we are well known for ordering things purely for the meme value, it still would’ve been nice to know exactly what we were paying for this display.
VERDICT
There’s much of the meal that I haven’t directly mentioned. Those elements – the vegetables and tofu offerings – were absolutely fine, with good range and value. $45 per person at Memory Tongue left us feeling satisfied and full, and though they posted a closing time of 10PM they let us stay until 11. It was a good meal, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back.
Four tongues/five.
Memory Tongue Hotpot Chatswood (舌尖記憶重慶火鍋)
Shop 66, Podium Level 3, Chatswood Interchange, Chatswood NSW 2067
0420 437 880
(Diners: JW,PX,WKS,BC,JZHW,AL)