The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally. All meals are independently paid for - the author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Our bank accounts are very modest, and when my girlfriend suggested we go to the Dolar Shop for hotpot I very skillfully redirected us to YX Mini Hot Pot, a competent and reasonable alternative situated across the road.
One of the things I really like about YX Mini Hotpot are the semi-private booths that they offer. The interior is quite dark, and the spacious booths mean that you can enjoy your meal in private away from prying eyes.
YX preserved vegetable fish and chili baseYX tomato and mushroom base
We enjoyed YX Mini Hot Pot’s various hotpot bases. I chose the dual-base with preserved vegetable and fish (酸菜) and chili. I liked both bases but I wish that the fish and chilli base could be paired with a more neutral base like the mushroom base or the bone broth base. Unfortunately the combinations available for the dual broths were limited and I had to settle for two tasty broths.
My partner picked the mushroom base and the tomato base. The mushroom base was light and shroomy, and the tomato base was quite sweet. Both were quite good.
We enjoyed the assorted mushrooms and the bok choy. My partner particularly liked the way the oyster mushrooms were cut, which were flat and thin. One thing I would mention is that the bok choy was cut in a way where the stem and root end were completely removed, leaving only the leaf. I don’t know why they would have done this, as I quite like the stem part. As I was typing this my partner informed me that bok choy is her favourite vegetable to wash “as they have nice broad stems, and there’s not much room to hide dirt, and the leaves are easy to peel and detach.”
I can recommend both the fried tofu skin and the fresh tofu. Both were great at absorbing the taste of the soup.
As we are budget eaters, we ordered the normal sliced beef and sliced lamb. There were differing cuts and grades of wagyu on offer, however, for the discerning and wide walleted diner. The beef was very good and fresh. The lamb we found to be a bit lamby, however acceptable when cooked in the chilli soup base.
The assorted balls (meat and seafood) I thought was a bit missable. It was nice that they offered fresh stuff as opposed to supermarket freezer stuff, but they didn’t really wow me. If I had my time again I would not get these and get more meat or other seafood.
In conclusion: We really enjoyed YX Mini Hot Pot. We paid around $120 to satisfy two humans, which I think is a reasonable amount to pay for fresh ingredients. The ingredients were much fresher than Legend Hotpot Buffet in Emerald Square Burwood, however more expensive. We paid a similar amount at Chong Qing Ji Gong Bao in Kingsford, which is also a good option a bit further out from the city. I can recommend, however I can’t say anything about YX’s more premium offerings.
Contrary to what would be suggested by its name, Master Hot Pot is actually not a hotpot restaurant – it’s as malatang restaurant, and one of the only restaurants vaguely in the local area that opens late enough to go to after finishing work at 9:30PM.
The selection of meats, vegetables, tofu, seafood, and seafood based products at Master Hot Pot is broad. Patrons have the option of boiled or stir fried, with different bases to choose from as well. Seasoning is left up to the individual, with a station of condiments and sprinkles to be hand applied. There is therefore no blaming the restaurant if your bowl doesn’t taste exactly as you like.
There is a reasonable array of both non-alcoholic (think ITOEN ice green tea) and alcoholic (soju and beer) drinks to suit the local Asian populace.
Perhaps the most special thing about Master Hot Pot is that they are open until 2AM in the morning. They’re one of the only stores in the area to do so, and so when we visited at 11PM they were jam packed with local Asians of all descriptions having their late night dinner. Despite this, the restaurateurs manage to keep the facility clean and well kempt, as well as keep up with the mass of orders at a reasonable pace.
Before I die of dementia afraid and alone I need to tell you guys about these amazing frozen dumplings that my parents bought me. These are plump, with a real filling of meat and chives and a wrapper that far exceeds even the best of your standard Asian supermarket frozen dumplings. My partner grew up in a household without handmade dumplings. For the first 21 years of her life she thought that dumplings were these tiny, poorly filled machine-made things with more dough than taste. Her first encounter of having handmade dumplings with my family is probably what led her to stick with me for this long, and I’m honestly afraid that now that we have found such good frozen dumplings that she may leave me as there is nothing else that I can offer her that she can’t get herself.
They’re actually better than the ones I make myself at home. A pork, prawn and chive variation would be absolutely killer.
The Temasek experience is oft lauded as one of the best Singaporean-Malaysian restaurants in Sydney, as well as one of the best restaurants in Parramatta overall. I first heard about Temasek somewhere in late primary school or early high school, when my Malaysian-Chinese childhood friend JL mentioned that he had been. I had also been with my parents some time during my teens, and I’d wanted to, but not had the chance (owing to Temasek’s limited opening hours) to go back until now.
Temasek, tucked in a narrow alleyway beside the old Roxy Theatre, looks, smells, and sounds authentic. Passers-by through the Roxy Arcade are treated to kitchen noises, chatter, and fragrances that would be unexpected for the Parramatta CBD. Service is brisk but friendly from the multilingual staff, and the portion sizes are huge.
I wanted to like the Hainanese Chicken Rice ($16.50), I really did. What should’ve been a slam dunk easy dish to bring out perfectly unfortunately did not meet my expectations. The meat was unusually rubbery, and not warmed the whole way through. The centre of the chicken breast was unfortunately a bit cooler than the exterior. It was unfortunate that the star chicken protein was not as good as the accompaniments, with the chicken rice and soup both having good flavour. I enjoyed both the sweet sticky soy sauce and chilli sauce.
The Mee Siam ($18.80), a noodle dish in a hot and sour soup, with boiled egg, prawn and fishcake was our other choice. While I think it’s probably a fine and beloved dish in general, it just wasn’t to my taste. I think the hot and sour flavours were too strong, and I wasn’t a big fan of the rice noodles either. The generously applied proteins were good, though once I had fished them all out the resulting bowl of hot and sour soup and vermicelli didn’t not inspire me enough for me to eat the rest of the bowl.
THOUGHTS I wasn’t a fan of what I had ordered, but would not be opposed to going back. The three people on the table next to us thoroughly enjoyed their mi goreng.
Temasek 71 George St, Parramatta NSW 2150 (02) 9633 9926
Supernormal was our most highly-anticipated meal of our 2022 Melbourne trip, and boy did its expression of predominantly Chinese-marketed-as-Japanese fusion cuisine not disappoint.
We started our meal with this excellent raw bar starter of nori cracker, seared tuna, and bonito ($14 for 2 pieces). The cracker was similar to the tempura seaweed snacks that you can get at the Asian grocery store, but with greater substance and rigidity suited to holding its toppings. The seared tuna was fresh and tasty with a good texture (contrasting to other seared tunas we had on our trip, for example at Lover), and while the topping of ginger was perhaps over-represented, overall both the flavours and textures of this starter were excellent. This was perhaps the most Japanese dish of our pseudo-Japanese fusion meal.
The soy-roasted pumpkin seeds, a complimentary snack, were sweet, savoury and had a great crunch. Good to pass the time between dishes, not that there was much delay at all.
The Hunan-style beef tartare with fragrant chilli oil ($20) was again excellent, with a title reflective of its inspirations. It was fresh and spicy, with a flavour profile highly reminiscent of liángpí (凉皮), but with a rawness that most Chinese people would traditionally not touch. This tartare was one of the better of the many we had in Melbourne, with quite innovative flavouring and good quality meat.
The sesame flatbread with whipped cod roe ($12) was another outstanding showing. It’s almost crazy to think that you could find the Platonic ideal of shāobǐng (烧饼) at this Asian Fusion restaurant that pretends that it’s not Chinese, but that’s exactly what this is. The flatbread was fragrant, soft, and warm, aided by a very generous sprinkling of toasted white sesame seeds. The bread, though excellent itself, was brought to a whole other level entirely by the whipped cod roe dip, which was impossibly creamy and umami. The green oil on top of the dip, for those who are wondering, was explained as the oil of scallion, though to me tasted like nothing. Even if the greenness is just for aesthetics, I don’t think you can walk past this dish. It is a great bread.
As an aside, the diners on the table adjacent to us asked the waiter if roe was a type of sauce, and the man also remarked to his dining partner “I know this will probably scare most people” as their bread arrived. I am glad they are trying.
We interrupt this food review for a photo of Super Soda ($11), a refreshing non-alcoholic beverage.
Though I have much praise for many of Supernormal’s offerings, I must say that the New England lobster roll ($18) was not extraordinary. While the buttery, lightly-toasted brioche bun was excellent, the taste of the lobster itself (presumably the star ingredient) was very mild and smothered by a large predominance of mayonnaise. The bun was quite small for $18, and sharing this roll between two people was ill advised.
The duck bao ($32) with twice-cooked duck leg ,vinegar & plum sauce was very good. The duck leg had a salty and hard exterior with crispy skin, which cracked open to reveal moist flesh within which paired well with the fresh cucumber and tangy sauces. The “bao” of this dish was bao in the same sense as most Western iterations of the word – folded white steamed dough – a form I don’t believe actually exists in China. We found that, given the abundance of duck, a superior topping to bread ratio could be achieved by splitting the “baos” in half. Very good.
Another dish, another focus of Chinese inspiration. The slow-cooked lamb shoulder with eggplant, Yuxiang sauce, crispy garlicwith a cabbage salad (small serve, $42) exhibited a strong Sichuan influence, rather than anything Japanese. Though our waiter helpfully suggested this half-size given how much other food we ordered, we found that even this small portion was quite large. The dish was replete in both má and là, with an additional element of tomato or vinegar flavour which was reminiscent of mápó tofu (麻婆豆腐). The lamb had a crispy semi-melted fatty layer atop which made for a good texture, especially combined with the crispy garlic coating. The eggplant was soft and flavourful, being an excellent soak for all of the sauce and juices, while the cabbage salad, seasoned with cumin, was just a bit too weird for me to want to eat it in any large amount. I don’t think cumin cabbage should be a thing.
For dessert we had the peanut butter parfait ($18), featuring a dark chocolate mousse that surprised me with its lack of coldness (I had misidentified it as an ice cream). It was good. It was all good.
For second dessert we got this massive box of Pocky ($2) from the vending machine downstairs. It’s actually cheaper than your local Asian supermarket?
THOUGHTS We had a great meal at Supernormal, easily the best of our 2022 Melbourne trip. The dishes were hit after hit after hit, melding familiar Chinese flavours with new ingredients and ways of cooking. My one very significant complaint would be how this restaurant markets itself as Japanese-fusion, with its use of katakana in its branding and promotional material. I feel that, based on the selection of dishes that we tried as well as the wider menu on offer, Supernormal should be considered pan-Asian-fusion at broadest, and honestly probably Chinese-fusion for the most part. I think at the end of the day it’s just unfortunate that it’s harder to convince someone to spend $100 per person on “modernised/Westernised/fused” Chinese cuisine than on Japanese.
