MELBOURNE | China is the world’s top rice-producing country, and Hunan province is the largest rice producing province of China, accounting for 13% of the country’s crop. Pounding Rice Bowl opened on Russell Street in November, focusing on a style of rice bowl that’s become popular in Hunan province in recent years. It’s the pounding rice bowl, and I visited for What’s on Melbourne to find out more.
Hunan cuisine is known for being gan la (dry and spicy), with chili peppers, shallots and garlic used extensively. Compared to the better known (in Australia) dried spices and ma la (numbing and spicy) balance of Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine features more spice, and more fresh ingredients.
The menu at Pounding Rice Bowl is centred on rice bowls that showcase the gan la aspect of Hunan cuisine. Each order comes as a set, with rice and your choice of toppings and sides of pickled veg. The rice and toppings are served in a pestle with a mortar, in order to break down the chillies, release more flavour, and mix things up.
Toppings include things like smashed chilli peppers with stir-fried pork, volcano double pepper (a mix of green and red chillies) with century egg, braised meatballs, and flaming spicy chicken with red chillies. A station to the side features an assortment of chillies, pickled veg, and sauces, to further customise your bowl.
Beyond rice bowls, there’s also things like large plates of the toppings without rice, dumplings, and sides like fried duck wings, fried pork intestines, and cold spicy pig’s cheek. There’s also a few noodle and soup bowls, and comfort dishes from other parts of China like sweet and sour pork, honey chicken, and special fried rice.
Pounding Rice Bowl
209-211 Russell Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: 0452 618 856
E-mail: [email protected]
Website
Open
Sun – Thu: 11:00am to 10:00pm
Fri – Sat: 11:00am to 12:00am