A Wife's Charmed Life: CQL Mini Pot (Burwood, NSW)

Plans to dine hot pot style did not push thru during Winter but since we're still having cool (and rainy) days until now, my dream of a hot pot style meal came true three weeks ago.

Got a tip from Suze (thanks Suze!) about a restaurant that serves mini hot pots and it seemed to be the perfect kind of dining experience for the picky eater. CQL Mini Pot is the latest restaurant in Burwood which offers a hot pot buffet for AUD$29.90. Individual hot pots containing the soup base of your choice and your choice of meats/seafood/veggies are placed on a little induction stove on your table is such a cute and delicious idea.

Once seated we were asked to choose our orders from an iPad where we can see the names, photos and prices of their offerings.

Two from our group chose the hot pot buffet while the others ordered a la carte. The moment we were given a tray, we walked to the buffet table and grabbed our choice of meat, seafood and vegetables for our hot pot. Towards the kitchen area is another buffet table of cooked food and rice to partner with your hot pot. A table laden with a variety of food condiments are available to help create more flavour for your food.

I got myself the beef soup for my base. I was tempted to order the chili soup but was told it was really hot. So what I did was mix a few condiments: chili, ginger, garlic and sesame oil and added it to my beef soup as I was going for a Korean stew. Some of the meats I chose included beef, lamb and fish balls.

Such a comforting dish on a cold day.

Not in the mood for hot pot? They also serve plated dishes. On our first visit, we tried their BBQ Spare Ribs and Seafood Noodle Soup. Both were great-tasting and full of flavour.