Showing posts with label - Steamboat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label - Steamboat. Show all posts

Wednesday 6 July 2016

Shang Pin Hot Pot 尚品火锅 (Rendezvous Gallery)

Tomato Soup and Mushroom Soup $12
I am sure most of us have heard of Hai Di Lao 海底捞火锅, the popular steamboat chain from China which has opened a few outlets in Singapore. But have you heard of Shang Pin Hot Pot 尚品火锅? I have heard from several groups of friends that the food at Shang Pin Hot Pot is as good as Hai Di Lao and its price is cheaper.
The steamboat restaurant is located at level two of Rendezvous Gallery next to Rendezvous Hotel. Given its location, I would have never known that there's such a place if not for word of mouth. This restaurant is located 5 minutes walk away from Dhoby Ghuat MRT station. If you are lazy to walk, you can take the Circle Line and alight at Bras Basah MRT station. The restaurant is located just 1 minute walk away from this station.
Condiments - Sauces and Fruits
There is a wide selection of sauces and fruits available for $3 per person. The sauces range from sesame, soya, peanut, leek flower, chilli, fermented bean paste, beef, mushroom to seafood. There are also sugar, salt, peanuts etc. Such a wide variety!
We chose the multi-flavour soup base consisting of of Mushroom Soup and Tomato Soup for $12. Personally, I like the Tomato Soup as it was well balanced in terms of sweetness and sourness. However, the tangy taste overwhelmed the sweetness towards the end of the meal. As for the Mushroom Soup, we found it on the salty side at the start. Towards the end of the meal, the it tasted more pleasant, complementing the Tomato Soup.

We also ordered the free flow drinks at $2 per person. The homemade barley was real thick and good. Totally justify the price tag.
Pork Slices $8, Shang Pin Beef $14
We ordered the Pork Slices and Shang Pin Beef for $8 and $14 respectively. The quality of meat was good and they were sliced thinly making them easy to cook via shabu shabu style.
Dumplings $5
Although the Dumplings $5 consisted of just chives and meat, it was surprisingly delicious!
Baby Cabbage $4, Fresh Tofu $4, Mushroom Platter $14
These were the other dishes (i.e. Baby Cabbage $4, Fresh Tofu $4, Mushroom Platter $14) we ordered.

We also ordered the Shang Pin Kongfu Noodle $3 which we waited a very long time for ... more than half an hour. It was essentially a flatter version of ban mian and more expensive considering the portion. The two of us had just 4-5 short strands of noodles each. If you come in a big group, be prepared to eat just 1 to 2 strands. I would advise that you cook the noodles for a long period of time for it to become soft. The texture of the noodles was surprisingly smooth and slippery. In terms of taste, it was like the good old days when qui lian ban mian noodles taste awesome! 

For the record, I have visited Shang Pin Hot Pot twice. The first was during dinner on a Friday. The restaurant was fully booked. Thankfully, we made reservations. The second visit was during lunch on a weekday. During lunch time, the restaurant was not full. But in terms of service, it was way better at night when they had full staff strength. The post content and photos are all based on the second visit. 

As for the question whether Shang Pin Hot Pot 尚品火锅  or Hai Di Lao 海底捞火锅 is better? Well, I am in no position to compare as I have not tried Hai Di Lao before. So far, I like the food at Shang Pin Hot Pot =)

Shang Pin Hot Pot 尚品火锅 (Rendezvous Gallery)
9 Bras Basah Road
#02-02 Rendezvous Gallery 
Singapore 189559
Tel: +65 6238 7666
Opening Hours: Daily 12 pm to 12 am

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Thursday 3 December 2015

Starry House Cottage 清境觀星園景觀山莊 (Taiwan, Nantou Country)

Complimentary Breakfast
 Starry House Cottage 清境觀星園景觀山莊 is a popular guesthouse (minsu) located in Cing Jing.
 We chose this guesthouse because of the following reasons.

1) It has the best view as it is strategically located at the highest point of Cing Jing
2) Great reviews on the hospitable and and friendly service
3) Complimentary steamboat dinner and breakfast that garnered good reviews
I am not joking when I wrote that it has the best view. Look at the sunset! We had an unblocked view as we were at the highest point. We arrived just in time for sunset. The owners immediately told us to go to the porch to view the sunset, and leave the luggage with them and pay the remaining payment later.

If you thought that this view was great wait till you see the photo on sunrise at the end of this post. 
Complimentary Steamboat Dinner
Located so high in Cing Jing, the temperature was so cold, making it perfect for having steamboat dinner. The portion of food was for 4 persons.
Complimentary Steamboat Dinner
The food was wrapped up in cling wrap to keep the food fresher till the guests were ready for dinner. Such thoughtful gesture from the owners! As for the meat and soup, they were served only after the guests were ready.
Complimentary Steamboat Dinner

Complimentary Steamboat Dinner


Complimentary Steamboat Dinner

Complimentary Steamboat Dinner
The ingredients provided were all very fresh. The only complain I had for the dinner was that there should have been more meat.
Complimentary Steamboat Dinner
This is their homemade chilli dip. Spicy and addictive.

Everyone staying at the guesthouse all woke up early and waited for the sun to rise. This is the photo of the sunrise. Beautiful right?
Complimentary Breakfast (Toast and egg)
After watching the sunrise, everyone went for breakfast which consisted of toast, egg, fruit, salad and coffee or tea. The breakfast was cooked by the owner's wife.
Complimentary Breakfast (salad and fruit)

The breakfast was simple yet delicious especially the toast. However, the portion was too little =(.

Nevertheless, we had a great stay at Starry House Cottage. Highly recommended! 

Starry House Cottage 清境觀星園景觀山莊 (Taiwan, Nantou Country)
台灣南投縣仁愛鄉大同村博望巷96號
No.96.Bowang Ln,Ren'ai Township
546 Nantou  Taiwan
Tel: 049 280 2242
Website



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Wednesday 25 February 2015

Deungchon Shabu Kalguksu 등촌 샤부 칼국수 (South Korea, Seoul)

A instavideo of the food at Deungchon Shabu Kalguksu 등촌 샤부 칼국수.
Deungchon Shabu Kalguksu 등촌 샤부 칼국수 is a restaurant chain that specialises in Shabu Shabu and Kalguksu. We visited Deungchon Shabu Kalguksu at Anam for around five times since we first got to know of the restaurant eight years ago when we enrolled in Korea University's Student Exchange Programme (SEP). #yesiamoldandiknowit

I had previously heard from friends that the restaurant had closed down. But thanks to a instagram user by the name of "Nicolettelovesyou", I manage to find out that it was still open and pin point its exact location! Thanks Nicolettelovesyou! 
The restaurant is less than 3 minutes walk from exit 2 of Anam 안암 (subway line 6) station. This is also the same station and same route where one can get to Korea University's hostel and CJ international house!
Deungchon Shabu Kalguksu is located at level 2 of this building which is opposite Coffee Bean.
You can either take the lift or climb the stairs to the second level.
Once you enter the restaurant, you would need to take off your shoes..
The restaurant only offers floor seating. Hence, wear something comfortable.
"Menu"
You will not receive any menu. Instead, the food items and prices are in Korean and listed on the walls.

 I highlighted two of the food items in blue and red. The one in blue is a set which cost 7,000 KRW (per pax) and essentially includes vegetables & mushrooms (in hotpot) + noodles/udon + rice with spring onions and egg.

The one in red (i.e. Beoseot Shabu Kalguksu) cost 9,500 KRW (per pax) and food wise it is the same as the blue one except it also includes shabu shabu; shabu shabu + spicy vegetables & mushrooms (in hotpot) + Kalguksu + rice with spring onions and egg.

We always order the set which I highlighted in red! Can't do without meat =) 
Free flow of side dish; kimchi and radish.
Soon after ordering the dishes are served.
Shabu Shaub (beef slices)
Kalguksu
The pot contains the signature spicy vegetable and mushroom hotpot.
Cover the pot up and let it boil away.
After 5 minutes you are ready to enjoy the hotpot with the Shabu Shabu beef slices and Kalguksu! Totally love this! The taste of this hotpot together with all the ingredients is a match made in heaven. The Kalguksu was smooth and soft while the beef slices tasted so fresh.

If you thought this was the best part, you are going to be blown away next!
After finishing the ingredients in the pot, and the beef slices and kalguku, there would still be some soup (essence of all the ingredients left). The staff would then proceed to fry the rice (with egg and spring onions) (remember the first photo in this post?) together with the soup that is left.
Tada!! The end result is this; special fried rice!  Amazingly delicious, this is a MUST TRY! #dontsaybojio

Taste wise, the food here still taste the same after eight years! Service was equally good too! This is a must visit if you are in Seoul (Korea).

Deungchon Shabu Kalguksu 등촌 샤부 칼국수 (South Korea, Seoul)
Address 서울 성북구 안암동5가 101-17
Tel: +82-2-929-5538
Directions: From Anam Station (subway line 6) Exit 2, turn back and walk down the street. Go straight about 60m, the restaurant is at the second level on your left(opposite Coffee Bean).
Website


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Friday 10 January 2014

Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet (Serangoon NEX)


Being a fan of steamboat cuisines, I just had to check out Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet. Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet opened by Ministry of Food (MOF). Although Japanese hot pot buffet is not new in Singapore, Danro is the first to offer eight broths (soup base) from different regions of Japan.

The prices range from $17.90++ for weekday lunch to $25.90++ for weekend dinner (for adults).
Left to right: Chicken & Milk Broth, Chicken Spicy Broth
Customers can choose up to 2 different soup base in 1 pot. We chose the Chicken & Milk Broth from Asuka Nabe and Chicken Spicy Broth from Danro Nabe. Now's the best time to taste the original taste of the soup as the refills would dilute your soup base (will explain more on that further down the post).
Handmade Kiritanpo
Danro Japanese Hot Pot comes with handmade Kiritanpo. However, this is limited to one per person. The Kiritanpo, a specialty dish of Akita Prefecture is essentially grilled rice skewer. Japanese cooked rice are pounded until they are mashed before being hand formed into cylinders around wooden skewers. They are then lightly brushed with special sweet sauce or miso for flavour before being toasted over an open fire. The Kiritanpo can either be eaten on its own or dipped into the hot pot.
Soup Refill Station
There was a Soup Refill Station, an innovative way to cut down on the manpower and increase productivity. There were small pots of Chicken or Wafu soup in it which customers could get anytime. These soup were a 'one soup fits all solution'. Since both our soup were chicken broths, we had to use the chicken soup refill. Even when e were to ask a serving for a refill, they used just chicken soup for both our soup bases. The problem with this was that it resulted in a diluted and not as fragrant soup base compared to when we just started.

Hence, our Chicken & Milk Broth became less milky and less fragrant while our Chicken Spicy Broth became less spicy. In addition, there was no attempt to stock up the soup refill station. Midway into our meals, there were no more pots of soup at that station as the were too few staff and these staff were all busy clearing the tables.
Condiments and sauce dips
A wide variety of condiments and sauce dips.
Onsen Egg
The Japanese Onsen Egg in light soy sauce was very well executed. Not only did it looked good, it also tasted good too. I liked it so much that I went for an additional helping of it.
Left to right: Japanese potato salad, Somen with soba sauce
The Japanese potato salad and Somen with soba sauce were quite decent too.
Sushi
There's a wide variety of food available ranging from Sushi, Bak Kut Teh, Japanese Yong Tau Foo, Cooked food and the typical steamboat ingredients such as corn, meat, seafood, vegetables.
Left to right: Bak Kut Teh, Japanese Yong Tau Foo

Left to right: Homemade Hot Dishes and Vegetables


Left to right: Seafood, shabu shabu beef and pork slices
The seafood corner was just average. The clams and prawns were not fresh especially the latter which stuck to its shell and meat was not firm. The shabu shabu beef and pork slices fared much better. We ate so many plates of it.
It was easy to control the temperature of the hot pot with the electric induction cooker.
Desserts and cakes
Left to right: Drinks, Soft Serve Ice cream
The DIY Soft Serve Ice Cream was fantastic. Its the same as what you get when you order ice cream dishes in MOF. Even though we were very full, we still went for this and it was oh just so shiok! There's always room for dessert! 

Although there were hits and misses (seafood was not fresh, one size fits all soup for refills, service), Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet is really value for money! I certainly enjoyed most of the food here. 

Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet (Serangoon NEX)
#02-04/06 Serangoon NEX
23 Serangoon Central
Singapore 556083
Tel: 6634 4608
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri: 11:30 am - 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm - 10:00 pm
                          Sat to Sun: 11:30 am - 3:30 pm, 5:00 pm - 10:30 pm


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