MaThai is the newest Chinese hot pot restaurant to open along Alexandra Road in Richmond, and replaces the former AYCE restaurant Cattle Hot Pot. Being a big fan of hot pot restaurants and continuing to find regular ones for myself to frequently visit, MaThai has been on my list for a while. In addition, the director of MaThai invited me to try their restaurant. I received a coupon via e-mail, which was to be presented after my meal so I could blog about a true dining experience as a regular guest.
The interior looks similar to the former hot pot restaurant but the staff is noticeably different, as in they are friendly! The waitress was also attentive and continuously added additional broth to the pot without us having to request. This is worth mentioning because at many hot pot restaurants it is hard to wave someone down and I usually wait until there is almost no more soup base before making an effort to find the staff. Asides from the service, the restaurant is also fairly clean. Usually I wipe down the table setting with tea but did not need to this time.
ADULT $19.95 || CHILD (4-11) $14.99
BROTH $7.50 - $11.00 || POP $1.50
SOY SAUCE AND SATAY.
Every table is set up with a satay along with a soy sauce, and additional sauces cost $0.75-$1.00. The restaurant offers leek flower paste, sesame sauce, hotpot matching sauce, sesame oil and egg. I rarely use sauces because I like "bland" tasting food when it comes to hot pot, but the soy sauce tasted sweet and a regular soy sauce is more suitable for hot pot in my opinion.
The portion of cilantro is noticeably larger compared to many hot pot restaurants, but could have been more fresh because there are a few wilted portions.
CHINESE HERBAL SOUP WITH CHICKEN ($11.00).
Chinese chicken herbal soup is a favourite soup base of mine and a must order for me! But the broth looks really dark (darker than in the photo) and it was not very appealing. I personally like the nice golden soup bases due to the use of a chicken broth and to have a small bowl before starting on the food. Regardless, there is a light herbal flavour along with the ingredients of red dates, wolf berries and dang shen.
MUSSELS AND SHRIMP.
Other than mussels and shrimp, the other seafood ingredients that the restaurant offers are oyster, squid tentacles, squid, baby octopus and fish fillet.
DEEP FRIED CHICKEN NUGGETS.
The nuggets are nicely fried and have a light crispiness without tasting greasy. The meat looks very dark and is processed, but tastes tender. But, neither of us like the nuggets and found them dry.
QUAIL EGGS AND SHANGHAI PORK DUMPLING.
The xiao long baos are generic frozen dumplings and the meat tastes moist, juicy as well as tender. The skin is a bit doughy (not overly) as expected though, but are good enough for me since I am guilty of buying frozen XLBs when I am too lazy to make them.
PUMPKIN, TARO, ENOKI MUSHROOM, TURNIP, FRESH BEAN CURD AND TOFU PUFFS.
The ingredients are pretty much frozen except for the daikon, enoki mushroom and tofu puffs. Bean curd sheets are a must order for myself and the restaurant also offers the bean curd sticks, but I prefer the sheets more! As for the enoki mushroom, I like that the restaurant cuts off the bottom portion.
PORK CHEEK AND FATTY LAMB.
Pork cheek is a favourite of mine and tastes tender along with a soft crunch, and has a nice meaty flavour. As for the lamb, the slices of meat taste tender and have a light gamey flavour.
The vegetables are fresh and thoroughly rinsed, but we would not have ordered the baby bok choy if we knew it was regular bok choy.
PORK BELLY AND PORK SLICES.
Both the pork belly and pork slices taste tender.
This is around the time when there was a bit of confusion. We thought the slices of fatty beef were rib eye, but are actually fatty beef. The fatty beef tastes tender, well marbled and not gristly.
As for the rib eye, we thought this was sliced beef which we did not order. But this is actually rib eye. The slices of rib eye taste dry as well as chewy… and the name seems a bit misleading. The meat tastes so lean and dry that we could not finish it.
After inquiring about the rib eye, turns out the better cut of beef is called "sliced beef". For round two, we ordered a fatty beef and sliced beef for comparisons. Both meats taste tender, are well marbled, and better than the "rib eye".
THAI CHICKEN FEET.
The chicken feet is served cold (supposed to be) but does not look appealing. There is a hint of spiciness but I decided to leave it behind after a small bite. The thai chicken feet just does not work for me.
FISH FILLET.
The fish tastes oddly "fishy" and the flavour is very overwhelming. BF says apparently some people like the fishiness, but neither of us did and could not eat it.
PORK AND CHICKEN SKEWERS, DEEP FRIED FISH CAKE AND DEEP FRIED CHICKEN WINGS.
MaThai has a good amount of cooked items and I selected a few. Starting with the satays, the pork has a weird sour marinade but tastes tender. As for the chicken, the marinade tastes a bit more "simple" and has no weird flavour. When serving satays, I recommend only a simple seasoning because the grill already provides that nice rich char flavour. As for the chicken wings, it does not look visually appealing but is well executed. The chicken wings are nicely fried with a crisp skin and juicy meat, but are a touch salty (which would be fine for those drinking beer). The fried fish cakes are pretty much just… fried fish cake and not greasy.CHILLI BEAN SPIRAL SAUCE ($0.75).
BF needed hot sauce because the sweet soy was not doing it for him.
The maximum seating period is two hours and when the waitress mentioned it was last call, I really did not know what to order. I was still hungry too because I came here after a volleyball game and was ready to just head to the food court at Richmond Centre. However, it sort of defeats the purpose of eating elsewhere after visiting an AYCE restaurant so I decided to try the dumplings and order some more cooked food.
I rarely have dumplings at hot pot too but there was really nothing I felt was worth ordering again. Beginning with the chive dumplings, the dumplings are packed with chives and are not bad. Following, the vegetable and pork dumplings taste juicy, and the fungus pork dumplings have a soft crunch from the wood ear mushroom. The skin on the dumplings taste doughy (not overly) as expected but is more than good enough for an AYCE restaurant.
DEEP FRIED BUNS AND CONDENSED MILK ($0.50).
The deep fried buns taste fluffy on the inside but lack a light crisp exterior (which is fine). There is a charge for condensed milk but the portion is a good size and worth it in my opinion.
LAMB, PORK AND CHICKEN SKEWERS.
The satays again… I decided to order a lamb too. The small cubes of lamb taste dry, chewy and slightly spicy. Furthermore, there is a weird gamey marinade which ruins the already dry tasting meat even more. As for the pork, there is no sourness this time and the meat tastes tastier than the lamb satay. The best satay is still the chicken but all of them have a nice grilled flavour.
TOTAL: $48.45 (Meal excluding gratuities was compensated).
MaThai is one of the cleaner AYCE hot pot restaurants and offers a variety of items on the menu, with most of the ingredients tasting fresh. The staff is also friendly and MaThai offers a few loyalty programs that many hot pot restaurants do not. However, some of the food can improve but is more than good enough for an AYCE restaurant.
POSITIVES
- Open late night
- Fresh ingredients
- Variety of items
- Attentive and friendly staff
NEGATIVES
- Misleading "rib eye"
- Tight seating arrangements during a full house
- Some cooked items can improve and others could be left out
LITTLE THINGS
- All you can drink pop
- Loyalty programs (stamp card, 5% off the bill if the meal is posted on Facebook, and 50% of soup bases between 3:00pm-5:30pm)
- There could be some dessert options...
Food: 2.5/5
Service: 4/5
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