Continuing my quest to gradually try out all the new hot pot places (any excuse to have one of my favourite cuisines!) Adam and I found ourselves at Sunnybank last Saturday trying to figure out where to go for a nice dinner. Making our way through the sprawling construction that is Market Square, we found ourselves standing outside of High Fresh. Since its refurbishment a while ago, Little Taipei, a regular haunt of mine has long been closed for renovations and expecting a revamped food court of sorts, I was intrigued that YuXiang Mini Hotpot had instead taken up the whole space instead.
Some of my Sydney readers will no doubt be aware of their popularity, with a few of my gaming buddies telling me how good (but expensive) it is. It appears that the Brisbane population agreed too, with a half hour wait for our table of two and over an hour wait for a table for four. Reception was at the entrance, at a slightly awkward spot near the front of the supermarket in the car park. Service was however, courteous and professional.
Walking up the decrepit concrete staircase in the heat, I was curious as to what we would expect. I was fairly impressed with the complete renovation of the area. Long gone was the nostalgic homey food court, and in its place, a sleek, modern, refined hot pot space with some very traditional twists.
Upon being allocated a seat at reception, I was given a soup menu. Each of us could choose one each. Options were for single flavours or double flavours, I was very thankful that there was a selection of both spicy and non spicy soups (ever since that experience at David's, I'm careful not to repeat the same mistake!). Of course we both opted for non spicy options.
The food and drinks menu was quite extensive, well organised and structured. I wish they had included references to how many pieces would be in each serve, and prices were definitely steep, but we were already forewarned of this from friends who had gone before. We made our selections, and service was again prompt, friendly and efficient.
Like all the other places, sauces were charged at a flat rate of $3 per person. The setup though was far more extravagant than others I'd seen before. Love the iced soy sauce on tap and the elaborate choices for additional condiments. Having said that, I still opted for my usual concoction of garlic, soy, green onions and sesame oil.
Our soup came promptly, he had the tomato and ox tail soup. I love the complementing flavours of tomato and beef, this was no different. Soup was refreshing and strong. I appreciate how they actually topped it up with real tomato soup rather than plain stock.
Opting for the original, I had stock soup. It was light and soothing, with notably no oil on top, just the way I like it.
Our orders came super quickly,probably because no cooking was required, and our table was wonderfully filled (as was the level of joy in my heart). I'll briefly go over a few of the things we had.
This was the wagyu chuck tender slices. I liked it due to the lower fat content, which was precisely what Adam didn't like. For $14, each roll cost over a dollar. Although the cheapest beef option, it was already fairly pricey. Meat was consistently tender though, and I enjoyed it.
Chicken slices were more generous, but of course chicken has a lower cost value compared to beef coming in at roughly 50c per slice. It was surprisingly fatty for chicken, but cooked well.
Crab meat came in the shape of a crab claw, also a dollar a piece. It tasted like seafood stick and I'm uncertain about how much actual crab content was in each claw.
Handmade prawn mash was also quite delicious and fresh, I enjoy the bouncy chewy texture but at around three dollars a piece, it was fairly expensive. It made for a good first experience for Adam though.
These were the oyster mushrooms. Luckily I was looking at my food before tossing it into the pot, as we had a brief mould scare on two pieces. I made it aware to staff who immediately had the offending pieces swapped out with fresh ones.
We also had enoki, which were fresh and clean. Portion size was quite generous too and we both enjoyed it.
One thing I really liked about YuXiang was the availability of combination platters. When dining in small groups it is often difficult to order numerous plates when all you want is one or two pieces, so rather than opting for several tofu and noodle dishes, we had the combination tofu and noodle platter, it gave us two of each type of tofu, a hand full of tofu puffs, potato noodles and vermicelli. I loved being able to try all the different types, while Adam loved his frozen tofu.
Seeing the list of sides, we also had one scallion pancake to share. These were amazingly flakey, crisp and delicious. For four dollars, this as the best value dish of the evening. I would come back for this alone.
Having been forewarned of the price tag, I can say that pricing is fairly in line with David's Hotpot or 6 Po, but for what you pay, the service and quality are definitely higher than the rest. Aside from the slight debacle with mushrooms, it was definitely an enjoyable date night.
Taste: 8/10
Value: 5/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10
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