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42 GOURMET TRAVELLER

WORDS HARRIET DAVIDSON. PHOTOGRAPHY ALICIA TAYLOR. STYLING ROSIE MEEHAN. ALL PROPS STYLIST’S OWN

Annam warms Melbourne anew with its recent launch

of regional Vietnamese hotpots, while Spice World in

Sydney brings the fun with wagyu-draped Barbies (yes,

the dolls, and yes, wagyu beef) and robot waiters.

Find

one

The ultimate warming

winter crowd-pleaser.

H

ere’s the drill: in the middle of the table there’s a pot of

hot, bubbling broth, around which is arranged you and

your friends, chopsticks clutched, plunging and dunking

whatever you desire from the numerous bowls of raw

ingredients surrounding the pot. The broth varies across regions but

in Australia, you’ll mainly see two styles. There’s the red and spicy

kind, from the Chinese megacity of Chongqing, known for its ma la,

a combination of Sichuan pepper numbness and chilli heat. Then

there’s the Cantonese and Thai styles that are more gentle, often

made with a chicken stock base. Unlike, say, fondue, there’s not

a lot of hard-and-fast rules with hotpot, but saving the noodles for

the end, when the broth is well flavoured and needs something to

soak it up, is always a good idea. Oh, and don’t wear white. Have at it.

Hotpot

CONDIMENTS

Need a little kick with that

freshly poached morsel?

There’ll be soy sauce, sesame

oil, chilli oil or flakes, vinegar,

hoisin, garlic, and ginger on the

table. And XO sauce is pretty

much always a good idea.

Beaten egg yolk is sometimes

ofered as a sauce, too.

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