Dinner For More

Fresh seafood, great sauce base, generous portion, and definitely very hearty, totally perfect for a big group to share and have a good meal with.
For $158++, you get a huge tray of 2 flower crab, gong gong, scallops with vermicelli,, lala, oyster season with minced garlic and chilli, medium sized prawns, crawfish, a small grouper. Definitely fit for 4-6pax, and will leave you full and wanting more. Each seafood is individually cooked (take the crawfish, cooked in mala before being placed into the tray), and placed on top of cabbage and it’s original soy sauce/broth.
Colourful as it is, the seafood is honestly crunchy and fresh. Definitely worth the trip down to Serangoon. What’s more once you’re done, you can cross the road, and have some durian mousse dessert at Dessert Bowl.

Newly opened outlet in cuppage plaza and opened til 5am, it Japanese eatery will be my favourite after 12 eating place. Using charcoal to grill, every meat ordered is perfectly marinated that, there isn’t a need for any dipping or salt&pepper. My personal favourite had to be the beef tongue (thinly sliced), and beef skirt. Oh, if you’re lazy to grill your own meat, they serve amazing yakitori, all grilled to perfection! I swear!
Please do not forgo beers, and go perfectly well with most of the dishes on the menu.
The staff are all Japanese, and the menu too is Japanese 1st, before being translated into English! Every inch reminds me of Japan, simple and understated.

Famed for their "non-msg" broth. Essentially it's chicken and corn soup, in its purest form (according to Mama). It is very light, and very healthy that they have their steady stream of regulars. The staff are prompt, friendly and very alert. Ingredients used are fresh, and the pork is well seasoned in sesame oil. Portion is decent, but please add a portion of chicken from another famed Margaret Drive stall.

I swear, I got the gluttony from the family!
Meant for 6-8pax, chow down by 4! And while the meat portion are decent and manageable, the sides are impossible.
Talk about major carbs overload. Think cold pasta, Mac n' cheese, cherry tomatoes, fries, lettuces, fried rice, mashed potatoes &a gravy, potato salad and coleslaw.
In general, the food is very decent (nothing fancy or to shout about). The BBQ ribs are great, and the meat is decent to fall off the bones. The pork is a little on the dry side, chicken is juicy and decent. The rib eye is still pink. The both fish is alright, salmon is well-done (at the request of my family), and the breaded dory fish is flaky.
This is great for really hungry people or army boys. But if you expect more, don't try cause you will be disappointed. $60 for this huge ass meal, is extremely cheap, I have to add!
Oh PS; the yellow sauce was my favourite. Curry mayo sauce that give the very dry and stale fries (obviously was fried upon order) some life.

The cheaper alternative to everyone's favourite HDL, but at a better price deals. Their soup base is beautifully thick, and honestly wholesome. The tomato soup, is nice and thick, sweet and savoury. One of my personal Favourite. The tonic chicken soup is a tad oily. The Mala (for those who love spicy) is slightly lighter and milder than HDL, highly recommended for those who love Mala but can't deal with the spice level. With the minus all that waiting time, it's definitely a better option for those craving a pipping Hot pot of soup, in town. Do note that their space is quite tight, so it's best with just a plus one for a comfortable seating arrangement.

Come for the freshest meat and vegetables. You can't get enough of this beautiful restaurant setting of Tiffany blue and oriental. Clean and comforting, it already left such a big impression. The service staff here are impeccable, detailed and customer-oriented. The manager is friendly, and knowledgable about their ingredients and soup base.

Looked like our traditional Claypot rice, but the general manager assure me that it isn't at all. I asked what's the difference, he would slyly smiled and asked me to take a bite for myself 1st. And indeed, there is a difference. Singapore Claypot tend to be heavier on taste and flavour, since we love to spam on that black sauce and oil, making it dark and sweet as we toss and mix those rice. This Claypot, is only lightly season with oil and probably a small dash of soy sauce, as they insisted that on its own, it would be enough. True to their words, the rice is so fluffy, but capturing the deep flavours of the generous portion of lapchiong. Those bite sized broccoli added that add freshness and crunch to the rice. And who can forget the crisp base! Scoop out nicely for us on the plate, it's honestly so good. Did I mention that their service staff is top notch?! Helping us mixing the rice, allowing us to have a small sample taste, to ask out preference. Half the battle is won when you have good service line, because I am sure to be there over and over again!

I used to think HDL is one of best I ever had in terms of soup base, and service. (The freshness in their food, dropped a tad, and credits went to Imperial Steamboat). But this newly opened (opened for only 6 months), just blown my mind away literally! The ambience is clean, sophisticated and very charming modern oriental. Their service staff were cheery, helpful and thoughtful, especially their manager's eagerness to promote and recommend well. Now for the all important, their Mala soup base trumps HDL hands down! In fact, we had another soup base, pork bone soup was very delicious, thick and cloudy. When they refill the soup, you know they do not simply put some very weak watered-down soup of probably msg filled broth. Manager told me that their broth are all boiled for a long time, and that it is lighter than most place as they only used the freshest ingredients and no added msg is needed. Fresh meat, and seafood were only served, and they are really delightful to have. High praised for their handmade paste balls of prawns, pork, chicken and beef. Minced by the chef himself, and not flour was added into the paste, making everything meaty and very QQ. This place used SMS reservation, which is far more convenient than HDL. MOVE OVER HDL, You are so yesterday already.

And so my friends told me good things about this "amazing" steamboat that Imperial Treasure offers. I went there with full of anticipation, only to find myself quite disappointed. The staff is not of standard (speaking largely just this one local stuff, who thinks that the whole world owe her money), and she gave the can't-be-bothered, nonchalant tone when we ask for soup recommendation. "It's all written there, just choose one" WHAT?! And FYI, she did not take down our orders well, leaving a lot out. Anyways while the ingredients are fresh (found it more superior than HDL), the soup were undesirable. We chose the Mala and drunken chicken soup. The former was too oily, too spicy, and lack that Mala taste that o was searching for. And the latter was too herbal, that it left a bitter taste to my tastebuds. Service is not on par with HDL, and the staff are often clueless or unhelpful. And since the price is comparable to HDL, I think I rather stick to HDL or Tanglin's CHONGQING.

Yes, it is. Finally have this place a go, and I found it to be just another steamboat place. Except for the superb soup base, I can't find anything extremely worthy to rave about. Maybe for the extremely "amazing" price tag that comes with this branded steamboat. Nothing shouts AMAZEBALLS, I feel it is just all that hype and nothing more. Commendable on the plush seating and above average service.

Because if you don't go here for one of the most authentic hainan chicken rice, you are a fool. Run and helmed by the most traditional old folks, stepping into the restaurant is simply a blast from the past. The smell, sight, texture, and taste is the most correct and proper hainan chicken and steamboat. So proper that my Hainan grandmother stamp her approval. The only downside is their chili, it's too commercialize. But I can't blame them as it is not easy to make proper hainan chili. It's very tiring and labour intensive to hand pound the chili. Other than that, everything is amazing. #hawkerpedia

Disappointed that I could not get a space at holland's famed crystal jade. I googled and found this little gem. It's not a buffet style but the set or portion is good enough, and plenty to eat. They have a wide selection of soup base, that I am literally spoiled for choices. We chose the highly recommended one, and it impressed us to the last drop. Not enough soup, don't worry they top it up! Can't wait to go back and try the other soup bases. Price wise, value for money compared to the recent famous Hai Di Lao.