Be brave diners! Chew on crispy chicken feet, suck the goodness out of a crab claw, slurp duck blood, nibble on a tender pig kidney, frog legs or perhaps even a sea urchin ball.

The weird and wonderful world of authentic Chinese cuisine, notably Dragon Hot Pot’s malatang, with its huge selection of traditional and unconventional ingredients, is thriving at their eight stores across the country.

Thankfully Australian’s are embracing it with open minds and empty stomachs.

Gone are the days of sticky sweet and sour pork, curry stained Singapore noodles and playing it safe with a plate of dumplings at the local Chinese restaurant. The demand for authentic Asian cuisine is growing and Australians are open to fossicking around for a variety of organ meats and pluck known commonly as offal – a staple in traditional Sichuan hot pot.

Historically, hot pot was regarded a poor man’s broth, born on the banks of the Yangtze River by labourers who couldn’t afford prime cuts of meat. From then, the rich and flavoursome broths grew to become a strong feature in Imperial cooking and the popularity only continues to grow.

Sichuan cuisine is the birthplace of many Chinese dishes that for decades have been wellreceived globally. Originating from the Southwest of China, Sichuan cuisine is known for deep, rich, hot and spicy flavours and unusual variety of shaved tongues, hearts, cartilage and tendons.

Dragon Hot Pot uses Hanyuan Sichuan Mala peppers as a baseline ingredient in their broths, a favoured spice of Chinese emperors for centuries. These peppercorns are grown on a steep and picturesque Hanyuan City mountain at a high altitude of 4000 feet, which intensifies their unique flavour.

Leading masters of malatang, Dragon Hot Pot are renowned for their supermarket style set up, where customers pick and choose from over 100 ingredients, fit for any appetite and the utmost intrepid and adventurous diner.

The beauty of Dragon Hot Pot’s unique offering is that you can select ingredients individually, the perfect opportunity to taste test delicacies and staples of Chinese cooking, that by some cultures are considered to be taboo.

While Dragon Hot Pot offers some of the most exotic ingredients you’ll find in Melbourne, there are plenty of other unusual selections, that even the most squeamish and fussy eaters will enjoy. Play it safe with chewy enoki mushrooms, chrysanthemum leaves, lotus root, hairy melon, bean curd with roe, luffa, cheesy tofu balls or if you feel brave enough to toe the line, vegetarian tripe!