Hotpot

Soupy meals are my comfort food, & I could honestly eat hotpot all day erriday.

Here’s my latest gem of a find on Burpple Beyond: 旺爐 City Hotpot Shabu Shabu at Raffles Place. I made a reservation on Chope, & swiped the 1-for-1 Wagyu Ribeye Set ($49.99++) deal.

It comes with your choice of soup, staple, & a "VegiCombo" basket of delicious vegetables & soy products. The beef wasn’t too fatty & it was fresh! Also, very importantly, I enjoyed the Chicken soup base (香菇鸡汤) that I chose.. Would very happily return here again.

Til 12 Feb 2020, I'm running a contest to give away a free #BurppleBeyond Premium (Monthly) plan to 2 lucky winners!

Details on: @wobblethebui on Instagram / Bui Bui Eats page on Facebook

Service at this branch is pretty okay, somewhat friendly. I do find the space rather small for a hotpot establishment (there's a vacant spot a few doors down that hasn't been taken up yet), but seeing how it isn't as crazy crowded as the Tanjong Pagar branch, perhaps a small space is a good move. I, for one, enjoy not having to queue!

Will continue to dine here & collect stamps on my membership card thing. Eventually I guess I'll redeem it for something - a stuffed toy or some kitchenware...

💳 Accepts credit cards
🌬 Air-conditioned seats only
📶 Free WiFi available

My colleagues & I have our favourite sets/combinations to order - mine is the Tonic Chicken Soup, American Beef Set ($10.90++), option B for veggies & handmade noodles for carbs.

The American beef slices are of a good thickness, & generally have not too much fat on them (except on one occasion - again at Tanjong Pagar, but I do understand food quality & service varies a lot between branches).. But I still pick the fats out & leave them in a pile on my plate as I always do.

If you want something leaner, you can opt for the New Zealand beef set ($15.90++).

💳 Accepts credit cards
🌬 Air-conditioned seats only
📶 Free WiFi available
📍 Shi Li Fang: 302 Tiong Bahru Rd, Tiong Bahru Plaza, #02-112, Singapore 168732

I'm not gonna lie & say that Shi Li Fang is the best hotpot place on earth. But it has always been there for me when I needed it most, at an affordable price point & filling me up enough such that I roll back to office feeling content.

So I'm super happy that they have opened their newest branch in Tiong Bahru Plaza - now I can just walk here from office, & I don't have to travel "all the way" to Tanjong Pagar to get my hotpot fix.

💳 Accepts credit cards
🌬 Air-conditioned seats only
📶 Free WiFi available
📍 Shi Li Fang: 302 Tiong Bahru Rd, Tiong Bahru Plaza, #02-112, Singapore 168732

The sauces are pretty standard, & are right by the entrance. Next to that are the ice cream freezer & free flow sugary drinks station - these cost $2 extra (total), which I didn't opt for & I felt I wasn't missing out on much.

For meat, I basically whacked the beef & mutton as I usually do. They weren't too fatty, which is great! The other options are pork & chicken.

The main section where the rest of the ingredients are saw a large variety seafood (the bamboo clams were a bit smelly though), mushrooms, vegetables, my favourite tang hoon & thick sweet potato noodles, & I must have cracked 4 eggs into the soup nearing the end of my meal 😂 Overall, in terms of variety & quality of food, I was quite happy with what was offered.

Give the Xiao Long Baos a miss, though - despite being included in the buffet price, they aren't actually nice. Not much soup inside, & the skin is way too thick. The top is also very stiff & hard (that's what she said).

💷 Cash/NETS only
🖥 Accepts reservations - I used Eatigo for 50% off, clicked through via Shopback for cashback
🍽 Burpple Beyond partner
📱 Accepts GrabPay

You choose 3 soup bases at the start of your meal - the soup bases costs additional, but the prices are still kept reasonable. The 3 soups are segmented in a square - that is 1 large, 2 small. The prices on the soup menu are determined by how many pax are dining, not how big your soup pot is (large/small).

I chose the chicken, laksa & herbal soup bases, the former is considered basic
& the latter 2 premium. I enjoyed them all, & I find the laksa soup particularly special. It's great for ingredients that really soak up the soup; I enjoyed putting my fried tau kee, all sorts of mushrooms & noodles inside. & the laksa isn't crazy spicy for me, so it was a pleasure to drink.

💷 Cash/NETS only
🖥 Accepts reservations - I used Eatigo for 50% off, clicked through via Shopback for cashback
🍽 Burpple Beyond partner
📱 Accepts GrabPay

Onepot is fairly crowded on weekends, so it's advisable to make a reservation - while you're at it, why not use Eatigo to reserve, & offset a certain % of your bill?

For me, that % was 50%! Getting half off my weekend buffet (usual price $33.80++) made me very pleased. If you can't find a timing to get 50% off, fret not - they're also a Burpple Beyond partner so you can snag a good 1-for-1 deal with that too.

💷 Cash/NETS only
🖥 Accepts reservations - I used Eatigo for 50% off, clicked through via Shopback for cashback
🍽 Burpple Beyond partner
📱 Accepts GrabPay

I am probably the worst Chinese person ever, with Chinese Restaurant cuisine ranking pretty low in my books. However, I make exceptions for 2 things: Hawker food & hotpot.

You can choose from 3 soup bases - we did tomato & chicken (split down the middle of the pot), & spicy mala (a smaller pot in the center). Being a non-spicy lover, mala wasn't my favourite but I did dip some beef slices in it - the mala really packs a punch & so I appreciated it being there. Surprisingly, I preferred the tomato soup over the chicken for its rich flavours. The chicken soup was lighter on the palette, also enjoyable - so I feel this was a good trio to select.

Having dined in a sizeable group of 8, I was able to try a variety of different options. Obviously not going to review all of them one by one, but overall this experience didn't disappoint.

Pretty spoiled for choice with such a wide selection of ingredients to choose from. From the meats to the vegetables, mushrooms & tofu - ingredients are fresh & good. It's actually difficult for me to pick a favourite 😂 Service is fast & attentive, & I would love to return.

Sauces are self-service from a little counter - I helped myself to heaps of garlic. Drinks are $2 freeflow, but on hindsight I would've skipped this as being surrounded by amazing flavours throughout my meal, I ended up drinking mostly water as is my usual habit.

Prices were surprisingly reasonable - ended up paying

Varied hotpot set options - this one is the 3 pax beef & lamb one ($54.90++). Each person gets a huge bowl of veggies (with glass noodles), carbs of your choice (rice/various noodles), & you can choose up to 3 soups so technically everyone gets their own soup choice, or you can share for variety!

A la carte options are 50% off but if they're perpetually this way, is it really counted as a discount? 😂 DIY sauce station has a good selection of sauces as well.

You get to collect stamps depending on how much you spend, & they are redeemable for stuffed toys. Great for kids, I guess?

💳 Accepts credit cards
🌬 Air-conditioned seats only (but ventilation is poor)
📶 Free WiFi available

Steamboat/Hotpot buffet. Service was excruciatingly slow, & the hot plate took so long to boil the soup. Perhaps it's their way of preventing any burnt pots (which, btw, if it happens, you're apparently charged $9). Once it got going, though, it was all good.

You can choose 2 flavours for your soup base, since the hotpot is split down the middle. Went with Laksa 叻沙 (their specialty) & Herbal 药材. Other choices: Chicken 鸡汤, Seafood 海鲜, Ma La 麻辣. The Laksa was quite special & the herbal taste in the Herbal soup is fairly strong. I liked both, although I felt very thirsty after my meal. 😁

You order meat, seafood & noodles from an order sheet, & help yourselves to the vegetables at the self-service buffet counter near the entrance. There is a cooked food section on the order sheet, but our orders came about 1 hour later (wat), which was hilarious. Cooked food = Golden Mantou, Chicken Nuggets, Fried Tofu, Chicken Wings, Spring Rolls, Fried Fish Balls, Potato Wedges, Luncheon Meat.

🌬 Air-conditioned seats only
💻 Accepts reservations - Quandoo & Chope
👃 You WILL smell like food when you leave

"Climax" seafood combo ($123.80++); meant for 2-4 pax. 3 of us ate & were stuffed. You have 4 options for flavours; this is the only non-spicy one (清蒸 aka steamed). The seafood were delicious, except for the crab which felt like it might not have been washed & the meat wasn't tender. Unfortunately, the soup was also disappointing - thought the flavour would be amazing with all the seafood, but it tasted like maggi mee soup. Is that why they serve it without spoons? Because the soup isn't worth drinking?

Heard that Captain K is better - haven't been there but I would now like to try.

Side dishes come before your main dishes do. These were very ordinary..... Not like the amazing Korean restaurant side dishes I am used to.

Each diner gets a nicely packaged set of: disposable wooden chopsticks, tissue paper, wet wipe, finger gloves.

Everything factual that you need to know