Water Drop Teahouse

my family enjoyed two different hot pots that are cooked in cast iron pans at your table. you add your the combination of vegetables and fungi as you want.
that were happy to assure us there were no animal products in our food.

Had lunch here today. For winter they do an amazing hotpot , you cook it yourself at your table. Ginger based soup, you get a plate of noodles, veggies, mushrooms and tofu to put in and it cooks in a hotpot over a small flame. Yummy satay sauce and a dessert.
Brilliant lunch $ 20 with tea.
Will definitely go back. ..... many times

The food was delicious and their service was very friendly. I took my meat eating family there and they absolutely loved it. There was also a temple upstairs which was an added bonus giving us an overall all round great experience. Definently planning to go back there.

I have had some very nice lunches at FGY establishments in Sydney and Melbourne and I really appreciate the service they do for vegetarians like me, and for people interested to try vegetarian food. Water Drop Teahouse at Kogarah is in a lovely old building, quite a way from other shops and with limited transport options but the dining area is very pleasant. On the menu for lunch there were just three starters, $5 each and very small serves, plus one main, a hotpot for $18 with noodles, a few vegies mainly cabbage and one shitake mushroom,some taro and 2 cubes of tofu of some kind. There was no invitation to go upstairs to the meditation room even though we said we were long term vegetarians and meditators. If you view your visit as a contribution to the temple rather than a meal then it may be value for money. Otherwise it does not seem likely there will be a return visit.

Very relaxing and very affordable. The portions are small, but cheap enough you can get a few. It's really designed to be as relaxing as possible, take your time to eat your food and enjoy the ambience. You get unlimited refills on your tea. It's a place you could easily spend the day there with good company or a laptop.

First Sunday of each month apparently is a very special brunch. They do a buffet and have musicians play.

Weekends are also apparently special occasions, as you can get a multiple course meal (if I remember correctly).

Highly recommended.

Outside the restaurant area is a store when you can buy teas, energy rocks (if you're into that sort of thing), and other stuff. There was a musty smell coming from one of the products I felt, but my wife didn't smell it, and it will likely go away when they swap stock. Upstairs is a buddhist temple, where you can say thanks to the Buddha, however I suspect I did this wrongly as I was ushered out of the temple area fairly fast after giving thanks :P. When you leave, there is also a bowl of sweets, that I suspect are given to the temple for free from misc sources or perhaps dumpster dived, as they definitely don't seem necessarily vegan (being like the cheap $1 coin chocolates, minties, etc) however, as a vegan myself, this hasn't affected my review as it didn't seem like they were things the establishment actually purchased or deliberately came about having.

All in all, staff were amazing, food was great, ambience was great.