Dragon Hot Pot Russell Street

Overview

UPDATE Monday, July 26: Its restaurants might be closed for dine-in, but Dragon Hot Pot is ensuring your at-home soup game remains strong during lockdown. Hearty, customised serves of its famed hot pot are now available for takeaway, as well as through the usual delivery partners. Different restaurants are running to different hours — check out times and order online. For more details on Victoria's current restrictions, see the Department of Health and Human Services website.

Thanks to local chain Dragon Hot Pot, fans of malatang can get their hands on their favourite Sichuan-style street food at nine different locations across Melbourne.

Heroing the popular Chinese cuisine that's essentially a customised hot pot for one, Dragon has outpost in Box Hill Central's North Precinct and within QV Melbourne in the CBD, as well as Russell Street, Elizabeth Street and Swanston Street in the city.

Griffin Simm

The hot pot location in on Russell Street is offering the same pick-and-mix scenario as its siblings, but with one major difference: it's open 24/7. When you visit, you can select fresh ingredients from over 100 different options, with each choice priced per 100 grams. You'll need to clock in at a minimum of 400 grams ($13.50) — though, with a dizzying array of meat, noodles, seafood, offal, tofu and fresh veggies, that's probably not going to be a hard task.

To match the wide range of add-ons, Dragon Hot Pot offers five different flavour-packed base stocks, including the signature Ma La Tang number, a thick, rich stock made to an ancient Sichuan recipe, cooked with over 24 varieties of wild herb sourced from China's Mount Emei. Of course, diners also have a choice of spiciness, with four levels ranging from mild, to the fiery 'dragon hot'.

Images: Griffin Simm

Appears in:

Where to Find the Best Hot Pots in Melbourne for 2023