Hotpot is one of those things that I often eat at home and almost never eat out. My reason for this is largely because I can source what they offer from the asian grocery store myself and have it at home for a faction of the price. Having said that, there are still a few people I know who are madly in love with the idea of enjoying hot pot outside. One such friend was leaving to spend a year away and suggested that we go try out Miss Chilli Hotpot whilst she could still enjoy hot pot in Brisbane.
We made a reservation for 6.30pm on a Sunday. When we arrived it was almost empty but by the time we left it was full though.
Ordering was done via QR code so we didn't have too much interaction with staff. Prices for items were steep and probably on par with Haidilao. There was a lot of variations, including meat, seafood, veggies, snacks and drinks.
Dipping sauces were available for a cost price of $3 per person. There were a considerable number of options but I went ahead with my usual garlic soy concoction.
We settled on a half an half pot with bone broth on one side and spicy numbing soup on the other. It came out fairly fast and the soup was definitely a significant improvement on powdered soup powder you can get for home hot pots, however the price was fairly steep at $32.80, meaning that the larger the group, the more economical it is.
It didn't take long for the table to become completely filled with food. Even though the table was big, the food we ordered couldn't fit and we had to have a small trolley on the side for everything.
An odd thing they had on their menu was the braised platter. Typically I don't put braised dishes in my soup but this was an interesting addition with a lot of the cuts being quite bony. It was unique but not something I would order again.
This was the handmade beef balls, it was made with fresh beef mince mixed in with some herbs and veggies. As a cantonese person, I expected the beef balls to have a bit of bounce but this wasn't really the case. For almost $20, that means each ball was almost $2, being fairly expensive although made in house.
Next up were crab sticks. These are essentially storebought and no different to what I can source from the supermarket. For almost $10 it was a significant mark up from cost price.
This was the tender beef, it came marinated. The beef itself was fairly smooth, likely due to velveting processes, however I found the beef to be still a bit tough and chewy once cooked, although the exterior was fairly silky. In comparison, I prefer the sliced beef at The New Hot Pot.
The highlight of our evening was the MB6 wagyu beef. This was one serve for $32.80 which made it fairly pricey. The meat quality was definitely high and superior to my options when cooking at home, given my lack of a meat slicer. Tender and paper thin, it was indeed very delicious.
In terms of mushrooms, we had some enoki and white shimeji. The portions were adequate and they were again fairly fresh, the markup was a bit steep though.
Another dish of meat we had was the beef and lamb combo, priced the same as the marbled beef, it was half sliced lamb and half sliced beef. As you can see, they were paper thin. Although also delicious, the quantity was definitely lacking for the price.
Wanting a selection of offals to try, this was the intestines, aorta and omasum platter. This was quite a highlight for me, offering a taste of everything without portions being too big. I enjoyed all of the offals which were well cleaned and not smelly. Particularly the goose intestines were chewy and soaked up the broth well.
Dr L is a huge fan of quail eggs so we ordered a serve for him. These were fairly standard and he enjoyed it quite a bit.
Also not a standard order for us but we had a serve of their fried rice. This wasn't too expensive and it was executed quite well, the rice was day old and separated into individual grains. There wasn't too much by way of toppings other than egg and spring onion though.
Rounding off with dessert, this was the deep fried rice cake served with black sugar dipping sauce. It was executed a lot better than I had imagined with the mochi being fluffy and chewy by the time I got to it. The outer crust was crunchy without being oily and the sugar syrup wasn't overly sweet. I'd be keen to try this in other specialty dessert stores.
Overall our dinner at Miss Chilli was very expensive, pushing at almost $400 for four people. Although the experience was enjoyable and the food was delicious, I find the value proposition offered here to be fairly weak. As such, unless there was some ongoing promotions that made it of more value, I don't think I'll be back for some time.
Price Range: $90 - $110pp
Taste: 8/10
Value: 2/10
Service: 6/10
Environment: 7/10
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