All-You-Can-Eat-And-Drink Hotpot, Beer & Wine at Mala Hotpot

Mala Hotpot is a popular all-you-can-eat hotpot chain in Taipei with locations all around the city. They have a wide range of hot pot ingredients (with plenty of vegetarian options), not to mention Häagen-Dazs and Mövenpick ice cream, desserts, and free-flow beer and wine. Diners are given two hours to stuff themselves silly for a set price: $598 during their lunch hours (11:30AM-4PM), and $698 during dinner hours (4PM-2AM) and on weekends and holidays. Children under the age of 13 (or 6th grade of elementary school) get 50% off. Due to their popularity, it is recommended to make a reservation during peak hours, but we have been able to get a table on short notice before.

Once you are seated, the server will explain the menu (in our experience this has been in Chinese, but it’s quite probable that they speak English too) and give you some time to choose two soup bases. They have their original spicy mala hot pot, vegetable energy soup, stir-fried chicken with Chinese sauce, collagen hot pot, and the pickled Chinese cabbage hot pot. We strongly recommend getting the mala flavour, and we also like the vegetable energy soup (the healthier version) and the pickled Chinese cabbage hot pot (the sour version).

You are then left to consult the menu further, and mark down the individual ingredients you wish to order on an order form, which is in Chinese but very simple to use even if you don’t read it. There are pages and pages of meat, seafood, vegetables, and lots of other assorted ingredients. We recommend ordering ASAP (sometimes plates can take a while to arrive) and then grabbing any dipping sauces or drinks you’d like.

There is a huge variety of sauces and ingredients you can use to make your dipping sauces. We recommend researching the classics and experimenting with what’s there to create your own unique brand of garlicky goodness.

Japanese curry rice is also available, but we don’t recommend trying it. Not only will you fill yourself up on rice, but we didn’t think it was very good.

Onto the booze. There isn’t much to choose from other than Taiwan Beer (you can even have it with ice, if that’s your kind of thing) and three different types of wine.

The wine wasn’t much to brag about, but it also wasn’t disgusting. They have red, white, and sparkling, all of which are refilled regularly. The white and sparkling are kept iced, and there are fruit juices beside them if you want to make your own version of a mimosa or wine cooler. We were worried that we would be the only ones pounding the wine but felt quite reassured after seeing other people getting their drink on too.

If you’re not in the mood to drink drink, there are also plenty of non-alcoholic beverages to choose from including soda, a huge variety of  hot and cold tea, coffee, juice, and milk tea with tapioca balls for DIY bubble milk tea.

Once you have your dipping sauces and drinks, your hot pot should be simmering and your ingredients should be well on their way. Before cooking, do try to familiarise yourself with cooking guidelines for each ingredient. Many a hot pot experience has been ruined by us because we over or undercooked our ingredients!

As soon as your first ingredients arrive, you can start cooking. The servers will bring your ingredients in waves, stacking them up next to you on a fold-out tray. They aren’t exactly of the best quality, but we didn’t expect they would be at an all-you-can-eat chain. It was good enough for us to enjoy!

You can order as much as you like within the two-hour time limit, but we recommend you order what you want next before you finish cooking everything — it can take up to ten minutes for ingredients to arrive. By all means, keep refilling your wine glasses too.

Once you’re done with the savoury food, there is also a dessert station with cakes, puddings, jelly, chocolate-covered mochi, pastries, and lots of fresh fruit. To be frank, we didn’t think the desserts were very good, and the fresh fruit wasn’t particularly sweet, but it was a nice change from the hot pot.

What really was good, however, was the generous selection of Haagen-Dazs and Movenpick ice creams. Considering how darn expensive these are by themselves, we really felt like we were getting our money’s worth at the end. You could even have it in a cone to be extra fancy.

All in all, we had a great time at Mala Hotpot. We’ve had hotpots that we’ve enjoyed more in terms of quality and ambience, but if you’re in the mood to eat and drink until you’re fit to burst, this is a good deal. We particularly loved that there is unlimited beer and wine. We’ve come here a number of times to get a head start on our weekend drinking, but be warned: you might be too full to go dancing afterwards.

What’s the vibe?

Relaxed all-you-can-eat hotpot place where you won’t get judged for stuffing your face with as much food and drink as you can possibly hold. You’ll see all kinds of people here, including — according to their photo wall — Taiwanese celebrities from time to time.

Worth it?

Yes. We think $698 is a pretty sweet deal for what you’re getting, and it’s even cheaper for lunch. Just be sure to fill up on ice cream and booze to really get your money’s worth!

Would you go back? 

We’ve already been back a number of times!

Last visited May 2019. 

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