Thumbs-up Hotpot

Having received a voucher that expires on 31/Jan, we decide to give Thumbs-up Restaurant a shot. We have chosen three clear soups as our soup of the day. Mushroom soup has the strong fragrant of different mushroom from shiitake, enoki and some oyster mushroom. Tomato soup on the other side is very refreshing and sweet. Clear soup was okay. Thumbs-up hot pot offers great range of quality ingredients at good value but slightly higher price than the market. The sauce fee was made mandatory for $3 per person which I think could have a change of policy as hot pot restaurants in Melbourne are starting to remove the fee. Service was great by Grace and her team. We enjoy every bit of the food. However, being the last customer of the day, we felt that we were rushed to leave as they turn off music and air conditioning. It was overall a great dining experience with Thumbs-up hot pot. Will be back again.

The best thing about eating out in Melbourne isn't finding things that taste great, it's connecting with cultures all around the world without leaving the box hill city. And, if I can assume that you, gentle reader, are not one of the 70,000 Chinese students living among us, then you – like me – will find Hotpot an energising, spicy adventure. There are plenty of Sichuan hotpot restaurants in Melbourne but I haven't seen one as immersive and garrulous .It's popular too, so busy that I was phoned an hour before I arrived, not so much to confirm my booking as to warn me that I better get there on time, and preferably early. I hightailed it. You walk in the grand entrance to be greeted by a head-waggling hand-flapping larger-than-life mascot. You sit in carved throne-like chairs wearing a daggy plastic bib. You hear no skerrick of English as you dive into your meal. And then, before you leave, you spritz yourself at the odour-neutralising perfume machine. It's so fun!

Let's imagine you've got a mate, let's call him Gibbo. Gibbo invites you over for a Barbie. When you get there Gibbo tells you not only do you have to pay for all the fancy fresh ingredients he's prepared but you have to cook it all yourself..... OKAY, fine, whatever. So you go to crack a beer & Gibbo tells you "no outside beverages"... but you can buy one of his beers for twice the price...... Finally after slaving away on a hot grill, you sit down with your meal and your over priced beer and you ask Gibbo for a fork. He presents you with two sticks and then has the nerve to ask you for a tip. Given the information you have, the next time Gibbo invites you over for a BBQ. How hard do you punch him in the nose?