Hotpot Hotspots

There is something about togetherness when a family happily toils over a steamboat or a hotpot feast. Somehow, restaurant etiquette is thrown out the door and raw revelry is warmed by the culture of such dining experiences. Inevitably, if you notice, people are simmering raw meat and vegetables over the boiling soups and serving not just themselves but for everybody else around too. Some even stand throughout the meal just so that are in a constantly alert position to pick out any cooked items in the pot.

This is my observation as to why mega steamboat meals are so popular as a Chinese New Year reunion dinner. And Mummy is always served the best slivers in the pot by her grown up kids as a gesture of gratitude and love without the mush and physical affections that are not overly trendy in our Asian culture. So if you would like a decadent steamboat feast in relative comfort, there are a few fine hotpot restaurants about, but I shall take you through a visual journey of some of my favourites.

Pick of the crop is at the Copthorne Orchid Hotel. Served in its Palm's Coffee House every evening, is their Steamboat Buffet. Hwah!!!, if gluttony is shy, he'll feel right at home here.

They serve over 100 raw items for their electric steamboats (which keeps the heat down in the restaurant) and this excludes the buffet of western dishes like baked mussels, a roast carving station, salads and pan fried salmon. They use prawns that are slightly larger than most and are the freshly chilled, not the frozen variety. It also comes with a roast pork and chicken rice station (made by their Hainanese chef). They serve nine variety of greens and provide little baskets to pick it with. You can dip all of these in a choice of 25 types of chillis and sauces. This decadent spread comes with a dessert station that has no less than 12 types of sweets, cakes and pies. And to top it all off, there is the ice cream corner, which is accompanied by a free flow of chocolate fudge, chocolate rice and nuts! Phew! And all this, for $26.80 on weekdays and $29.80 on Fridays and weekends.

But on the other end of the scale, a budget version would be the buffet at Chin Huat Restaurant. Well, coffee shop actually, but air-conditioned, no less. They have been serving this buffet for more than 15 years. This spartan and packed coffee shop is closed just for the steamboat operator every evening. And for $11.90, you can choose either the BBQ or the steamboat pot. Chin Huat provides a spread of at least 60 raw items and has a cooked food station featuring samosas, spring rolls, curries, french fries, ngoh hiang and fried udon noodles. Apart from the usual trays of fish, pork, chicken and beef, they also have a wide variety of mushrooms, fish cakes and meat balls. And man, this place is coffee shop loud, unglamourous and unpretentious. Truly local.
 

Copthorne Orchid Hotel
14, Dunearn Rd (fmr Novotel Hotel)
Tel. 2503322

Chin Huat Restaurant
Bk 107 Sunset Way