Liji Malatang

Liji Malatang - Target Centre, Melbourne CBD Spicy Beef Bone Soup Yesterday I was trembling, I didn’t feel myself, something was missing in my life and I needed to rectify it. I looked to when my last post on this account was and realised that missing part of me was of course soup. Knowing full well this hunger wasn’t going to cure itself I made tracks into the city, and wandered the streets until I found a restaurant that didn’t have huge wait times. This place was Liji Malatang nestled in the Target Centre between Bourke and Little Bourke. While i’m sure many soup fans in Melbourne are familiar with Malatang by now - For those who need a refresher, It’s basically Chinese for Spicy + Numbing, the flavours you get from Sichuan peppers and chili. Malatang restaurants have fridges that are filled to the brim with ingredients that you put into an oversized bowl which is similar to Hermione Granger’s bag - You keep putting things in it but it never seems to fill up the top. THAT IS THE FIRST TRICK PEOPLE. Don’t get caught out, you have to imagine all those ingredients you place into your bowl in that bag of yours that you call your stomach and you will have no problems. Malatang is charged by weight - Liji is $3.20 per 100 grams.. and if I wasn’t careful that price could have become very very extreme very quickly. The ingredients options at Liji are much the same as Dragon + other similar priced by weight restaurants around the city. They have all the options - An assortment of Mushrooms, veggies, tofu and other beancurd related items, balls - all kinds of balls, big balls, filled seafood balls, meat balls plenty of balls. The fresh meat here was the standard thinly cut lamb, beef or pork but they also had thicker cuts of marinated beef which were very tasty. One thing I will mention is that Liji has peeled prawns which is an essential, not only are you not wasting precious weight on crustaceanic shell you also can be lazy and suck the prawn meat right out of its tail, less messy - good. Now the broth, the broth here was tremendous, It was bold and had all the right flavours dancing around my tongue. Yes it was Spicy, Yes it was Numbing - Malatang certified but it was also very beefy. The aromas were fantastic. This place has a sauce station with all the regular condiments. Sesame oil, sesame sauce, chopped coriander, chopped green onion etc. a great addition. Liji Malatang is an underrated restaurant, It’s hidden in Target centre but you won’t feel rushed here like you do in other places because there is a heap of space and heaps of tables. I also saw they did cumin lamb skewers so you bet i’m going straight back for them. 🥢🥢🥢🥢🥢 Broth Flavour: 🍜🍜🍜🍜/5 Soup ingredients: 🍜🍜🍜.5/5 Service: 🍜🍜🍜🍜/5 Overall: 🍜🍜🍜🍜/5 🥢🥢🥢🥢🥢

Awesome make your own soup (spicy beef bone broth) or stir fry. They have a variety of meats (including stomach and tendon), mushrooms, tofus, fish balls, and veggies to choose from. Seaweed was a little thick/tough but the the soup broth was awesome and everything else too. Priced by weight and affordable if you can control yourself! Slight update - I’ve been here a few times and they are always busy, docking a star as the water cups, sauce containers, and green onion and parsley condiments are almost always empty (even before 6 or after 8) and not restocked unless you ask.

I presume this is already known in China based on all the chinese people that walk straight in and start picking their food and everyone speaking chinese to me which unfortunately I dont understand. Its a new chinese noodle restaurant inside the Target centre replacing the ramen shop. What a cool concept! Go in grab a metal bucket and pick all the fillings you want. Theres various meats and veggies and seafood. Then its weighed at the counter. Do you want soup or stirfry? Pick your level of spicy. Grab a number and sit down. Interesting way of ordering food. The more it weighs the more it costs. Theres free condiments and sides as well. The soup was delish dunno what was in it and I could pick all the veggies I wanted. The counter girl was very friendly when I seemed lost as to what to do. My only gripe is non cash payments incur an extra fee, in this day and age not acceptable.

Liji Malatang is a Chinese restaurant located in Target Centre, Bourke Street, Melbourne. The restaurant serves a wide variety of Chinese cuisine. It is famous for its mala hotpot and stir-fried mala. There is various selection of dishes including seafood (mussel, prawn, squid, fish), meat (pork, lamb, beef), vege (broccoli, leafy vegetables, etc), mushroom (enoki, straw, oyster, etc.), etc. The price is reasonable but the food was average only. There are restaurants that serve better mala dishes in town. Cheers!

These malatang (numbing hot soup) place is gaining popularity in the Asian community, a place where you grab a metal pot and choose what you want with tongs and the prices are charged by weight. The ingredients will then get cooked in broth and you choose whether you want not spicy to super spicy. I love the one on Russell st called Dragon Hot pot, Liji was meh in comparison. First up, the soup base was ok, the meat was overcooked so it was tough. The noodles were slightly undercooked 😭 Ok so that would probably warrant a 2.5 Stars (which is not available on Google review) or 3 stars. BUT the reason why I gave it 2 stars is because the general cleanliness of this place. I saw a hair nestled in one of the squid, which is disgusting. everything also look so messy, the condiments and spring onions are scattered everywhere and not cleaned up. They also had a sign to say free dessert, but it wasn’t available. 😐