Shancheng Hot Pot King, Haymarket

Our expectations were set very high when a work colleague of mine recommended this place for some hot pot on an unusually cold Sydney winter’s day. You could imagine our reactions as we approached the safe haven of rain shelter to find this restaurant empty, not a soul in sight … not even a waiter.

You know the old saying, don’t judge a book by its cover.

For those unfamiliar with hotpot, think of it as chinese fondue. Wikipedia defines it as :

Hot pot, or less commonly Chinese fondue, refers to several Chinese varieties of steamboat stew. It consists of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Typical hot pot dishes include thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce. In many areas, hot pot meals are often eaten in the winter.

Coriander beef balls

Tender (yes they are frozen) balls of beef complimented with a generous portion of coriander. These are not your average beef balls which you will find in your asian grocery store. These are hand rolled into delightful portions of beefy goodness.

Fish balls

A hot pot is not a hot pot without fish balls. There is nothing special here, just some good old fashioned fish balls.

Fish tofu

This is a personal favorite of mine. Chunks of fish are surrounded by what seems to be a thin layer of tofu.

Sliced beef

These thin slices of beef need to only to be cooked for 10-15 seconds once your broth starts to boil. Any longer and it will taste chewy. The beef is surprisingly tender and benefits from being not over cooked.

Tofu , various asian greens, shitake mushrooms

Burning mouth from chilli saver (Ice cold milk tea)

We had a few casualties in the chilli department. This ice cold milk tea was the savour for my various work mates who had lips so red that it looked like they were auditioning for the next Ronald McDonald.

Fish balls with fish roe

One word, divine. Who would of thought that that one would combine fish balls and fish roe. Generous portions of fish roe ooze out of this ball after one bite.

Fish balls version 3

Your average run of the mill fish ball. I was dumbfounded when trying to identify what the difference between this and the other fish ball was apart from its aesthetics.

Hand made noodle soup

Hand made noodles

Steamed pork and chive dumplings

These homemade steamed versions were wonderful. Bite sized dumplings contained a portion of pork and an excessively strong presence of chives. Put it this way, I wouldn’t volunteer to give someone CPR after consuming  a few of these gems. Despite this, I absolutely loved these dumplings.

Fried pork and chive dumplings

I found these a tad oily, they are identical to the one’s above except they are obviously lightly fried until crispy and golden brown. They act as a good compliment to the soupy hot pot.

Tofu

Our hot pot (spicy and mild)

As you can see from the vastly difference in colour in broths, the chilli version was absolutely mind blowing. When you order, you have the options of choosing how hot you want your broth to be. To fully engage in the Sichuan way, I encourage you to brave the chilli demons and opt for one of the hotter broths.

Mushrooms, beef, fish tofu

Quail eggs, fish tofu, beef, mushrooms

Hot Pot is great as it encourages socialising in an informal setting. All it requires is good people and the willingness for people to enjoy communal cooking. For 15 people, a trip to this place cost us $28 each. Considering the amount of food and drink we ordered I thought this represented great value for money for a Sydney CBD hot pot experience. The soup was full of flavour and the portions of our dishes were extremely generous and high quality.

As a project team we braved mother nature and it’s torrential downpour of rain, random outbreaks of sweating due to the hotness of our chill broth and in my case I actually had the chilli go up my nose and make me shed a tear (not even watching The Notebook made me do that).

Chilli (1) defeats Howard (0).

I’ll definitely be back at this place again.

Shancheng Hot Pot King
8a/363 Sussex St
Haymarket, NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9267 6366

Open 7 days 11:30am -12:00am

2 Comments

1. Ms K

   July 28, 2008

   

   Great review and excellent photos! Much better than the Cheapeats version…this place is a treasure haven for all Sichuan hot pot lovers.

   Reply
2. where is this?

   July 17, 2011

   

   let me eat!!!!!!!!

   Reply

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