Sofia Levin reviews: Heng Thai — ‘more than 100 ingredients at the hotpot station’
In a sentence: Bustling new all-you-can-eat Thai hotpot in the CBD
The damage: $48.80, $78.80 or $98.80 per person
Top tip: have a game plan to get the most out of the experience
If you like this: try Nana Thai Style Hotpot & BBQ, Soi 38 or Dodee Thai BBQ, all in the city.
THE BUFFET LIVES!
They said COVID would kill it, but not even a global pandemic can stop people from queuing up at for copious amounts of food. I’m not talking about an international hotel spread or the average excess of Smorgy’s (RIP), this is something far more fun: all-you-can-eat Thai hotpot at Heng, 131-135 Bourke Street in the city. Heng, which means lucky, is from the owners of Isan Soul Thai Street Food, just 100-metres down the road. They’ve had the space for nearly three years but pushed pause when the pandemic hit. They’re still in their soft-launch stage, so this is an opportunity to try something brand new, but I urge everyone to keep in mind that you’re part of the learning process for fresh staff and systems that are being tested. That’s why they have been offering deals and discounts at this initial stage.
Here’s how it currently works:
- Choose between three set menus that grant you access to various dishes and buffet sections (gold for $98.80pp, silver for $78.80pp or copper for $48.80pp – they are still toying with the best way to do the menu, so this could very well change)
2. Pay upon entry (currently cash only during soft launch) and receive the associated wristband - Sit down and order from the kitchen menu by marking what you want
- Do an investigatory lap to suss out the different ordering stations
5. Don’t wait for the freshly-cooked dishes, make a beeline for the hotpot buffet - Start cooking! Staff will fill your hotpot with your choice of broth
The energy is colourful and chaotic, just like a Bangkok food hall. It’s a bustling atmosphere and it helps to know a little about the cuisine and how to tackle it, so here’s a quick guide. Thai hotpot is known as mookata. The hotpot itself is a hybrid of a barbecue and pot; a curved hot plate surrounded by a soup moat. The idea is to grill meat and seafood on the top, crack an egg into the broth, and then cook your vegetables, noodles, tofu and fish balls in there.
Note that Heng reserves the right to charge $10 for every 100 grams of food left on the table to avoid wastage.
Technically there’s a 1.5-hour seating limit but by 8pm earlier in the week, people were filtering in and out, so we stayed longer. There were a couple of minor teething issues, mainly to do with a few dishes not being available and the pace of the food coming from the kitchen, but that’s to be expected for a venue of this size that’s finding its feet. Besides, we didn’t go hungry given the hotpots were fired up and we were helping ourselves to the ingredients.
There are more than 100 ingredients available at the hotpot station. I counted some eight varieties of noodles, a dozen different fish balls and meatballs, rice cakes, all kinds of tofu and their associated puffs and skins; a mass of mushrooms and vegetables; seafood and gossamer slices of beef and pork.
From the kitchen we selected Isaan-style (spicy and sour north-eastern Thai) grilled chicken and pork neck on rice, oysters, fresh fish, wagyu slices, cooked prawns, spicy raw salmon salad marinated in soy and more. The whole fried fish at neighbouring tables looked divine, but there’s no way we would have finished it all, so we abstained.
Beyond the hotpot section and cooked-to-order Isaan dishes are other stations, set up in all their umbrella’d, stainless-steel glory to give the impression of a hawker market. There’s hot food in a help-yourself bain-marie display. A central bar pours sweet rosella, chrysanthemum and pandan drinks, cracks open young coconuts and blends fresh juice. It also serves fruit “popsicles” (watermelon, cantaloupe and pineapple skewers with fish sauce or chilli salt for dipping).
There’s a cart stocked with lightly battered seafood and vegetable fritters and a khanom Tokiao station, where a cook ladles batter onto a hotplate to make sweet Tokyo-style crepes filled with pandan and mini frankfurters (though not together). One of my favourite areas is the nam kang sai cart; where coconut milk and syrup are spooned over crushed ice and served with a toppings (candied jackfruit, basil seeds, melon, red rubies made from water chestnuts coated in dyed tapioca flour, sweetened barley, red beans, jelly, etc.).
Heng seats 120 inside and 32 outside (though there’s no hotpot outdoors). The detail of the fit-out is phenomenal: a lofty dining room with glowing lanterns, high ceilings, countless Thai ornaments and even a mini Thai grocer attached to the front counter that sells imported snacks. Every corner is an Instagram-friendly backdrop, whether the wall resembling an old Thai shophouse, complete with a rusted awning, or the corner that’s stacked floor-to-ceiling with red plastic crates.
There is so much to take in at Heng, and even more to eat. Just when you think you’ve tried everything, you uncover another nook and place another order. We found a small ice cream fridge wedged beside the hotpot ingredients and had to go back in well after we thought we were finished.
There’s nothing like being vaccinated and satiated.
Heng – Thai Local Food Hall
131-135 Bourke Street, Melbourne
facebook.com/hengthailocal