David's Malatang

Intricate blonde wood lattices and ornate lamps set a fun Chengdu-kitsch ambience at David’s — a pun in Mandarin meaning ‘big flavour’. It’s the most design-led of the bunch, and this Sichuanese chain and sister restaurant of LaTrobe Street’s David’s Hotpot also excels in the broth departrment, where pork is the base in each bar the spiciest: a pork and beef blend. The ‘ma’ in malatang means Sichuan peppercorn — a unique and divisive numbing heat common in a lot of Sichuan cooking, and while it’s often conspicuously absent in a bowl of malatang, in David’s rendition, it’s present in full force. Your dish also comes topped with crushed peanuts, coriander and spring onions.