A.I.O buffet...

In case anyone has been wondering what A.I.O is, it simply means 'All In One'. So what sort of a buffet is a 'All In One' buffet? That will be something that we will be finding out today. :)

Just for the starters alone, one of my friends have already gone all out placing orders for the different types of 'Cze Char' dishes. Since this is a buffet dinner, I do agree that we should be giving as many types of dishes a try as possible. Therefore, I also go ahead placing a few orders for some ala carte dishes too. :P Over here, not only they are preparing and serving common 'Cze Char' dishes like 'Sambal Kangkong', 'Pork Fried with Dried Chilli', 'Spring Rolls', 'Ngor Hiang', etc... But they have also listed down some other unique 'Cze Char' dishes like 'Rojak Chicken', 'Curry Leaf Chicken', 'Bacon Prawn Roll', 'Assam Sotong', etc... And basically there's a mixture of yummy and normal dishes. As for myself, I'm not comfortable with the 'Stir Fried Kangkong with Fermented Bean Curd'. I prefer the normal 'Sambal Kangkong' even much more and the taste of the 'Rajak Chicken' is kinda funky too. :P But dishes like 'Deep Fried Seafood Tofu' are pretty good. One thing that I have observed would be the generous portion that they are offering over here. At list, it have proven that each individual dish is big enough to feed/share among the 4 of us.

This is the main reason why I wanted to give this place a try. Rather than sharing 1 big pot among a group of people, they are providing each of us a decent steamboat pot. Therefore it means that the more people you have in a group, the more types of soup that you can try in one go. Isn't that great? Basically we ended up trying 4 different types of soup and they are 'Tom Yum', 'Herbal Chicken', 'Fish' and 'Chicken' soup. Being a soup guy, I personally find the taste of the soup to be a little bit too bland. Though it does manage to bring out the unique taste of each soup, but it's just simply not strong enough for my liking. However, I do find the ingredients that they are offering over here to be pretty interesting. On top of the normal stuff like 'Slice Beef', 'Slice Fish', 'Golden Mushroom', etc... they also have stuff like 'Fish Noodles', 'Squid Glue', 'Fish Glue', etc... After a bit of struggling, I decided to give the 'Fish Noodles' a try. (That is the long whitish Noodle that I have shown in the above.) When the waitress pass us the noodles, it was kinda shocking. Rather than giving us a plate of 'Noodles', it was more of a bag of 'Fish paste' with a small opening. The idea behind it works pretty much the same way as the piping bag that you are using to squeeze all the cream onto your cake. But rather than squeezing the 'Fish Paste' onto a cake, you have to squeeze it into the pot. The end product is delicious. The 'Noodles' doesn't have the strange 'fishy' smell and it's pretty chewy too. Not too bad for a 'Fishy Noodles'. :P By the way, remember to set some empty space in your stomach for...

'Ice Cream' They are offering 3 different ice cream flavours over here and it's mainly, 'Vanilla', 'Strawberry' and 'Chocolate'. But that's not all...

'Durian Oozee' No wonder they have limited 1 order of the 'Durian Oozee' per customer. This is fantastically delicious. The idea behind this dessert is pretty much similar to a normal 'Goreng Pisang'. However, the crispy crust is unbeatable and the strong 'Durian' filling is pretty smooth too. :P (To avoid any disappointment, do take note that the 'Durian Oozee' are available on Fridays, Weekends, Eve & on Public Holidays only.)

'Chocolate Fondue' I think that we have ended up trying all the different types of dessert that was listed on their menu that night. As for this dessert, I think that the waitresses over here really know how to tempt the customers. Rather than providing us with a pot of hot chocolate, they have provided us a steamboat pot with a lump of chocolate in the middle of the pot instead. And we are suppose wait for the chocolate to melt slowly... =.=""" Just the thought of it makes me hungry again...

So where can you give the 'A.I.O' buffet a try?

The name of this place would be 'The Rajah Inn'. It's located on level 2 of 'Tiong Bahru Plaza'.

Notes:

• Opening Hours:
  11:30 - 22:00 Daily
  (Last order at 21:30)
  
  Teochew Porridge Buffet:
  11:30 - 14:30
  Steamboat ala carte (A.I.O) buffet:
  17:30 - 22:00

* Click here to find out more about 'The Rajah Inn'.
^ Click here for the 'Facebook' page of 'The Rajah Inn'.

The steamboat at Azmaya

You can try various types of food in Singapore. Just for steamboat alone, there's already a very big variety of steamboat soup that one can try. There's like 'Sichuan soup', 'Herbal soup', etc... However, have anyone out there tried 'Japanese Curry soup' or 'Tomato soup' before?

'Thick Japanese Curry Steamboat Buffet' The chef has added lots of pork and vegetables into the pot. And the waiter have place the pot on a mini induction stove. You will be getting a nice curry smell after 5 minutes and you can start digging into the food after 15-20 minutes of waiting. You can slowly scoop out some of the ingredients and add it to your plate and the taste of it is fantastic. :D

Actually, the nice waiter has also prepared two bowls of sauces for me. However, as compared to the taste of the curry, the taste of the 'Yuzu' sauce isn't fantastic enough. And I really like the thick texture and the nice fragrance and taste of the curry.

And the if you have gone for the 'Curry steamboat', you should really order a bowl of rice too. The curry can really blend with the taste of the curry nicely. In fact, after giving it a first try, I don't might giving it a second shot again. :P By the way, besides serving various types of Japanese food, They also have a wide selection of beverages. There's Japanese Sake, Beer, etc... And the beverages menu looks pretty interesting to me.

The name of this restaurant would be 'Azmaya'. It's located along 'Robertson Quay', which is beside SIngapore River.

Note:

• There's a 50% discount promotion for most of the steamboat stuff over here for the month of June 2013. However, reservations are required. On top of that, there's another 1 or 2 conditions that you would have to take note. You can read more about the promotion on their Facebook page over here.

Opening Hours:

• Tuesdays - Thursdays, Sundays: 17:00 - 01:00
  Fridays - Saturdays: 17:00 - 04:00
  (Closed on Mondays)

* Click here for the Facebook page of 'Azmaya!'.
^ Click here to find out more about 'Azmaya'.

Steamboat 4 the Chosen One

Ever had the urge of eating steamboat? However, you are facing the problem of finding a companion that has the same desire as you do? Here's a solution for you.

'Mini Steamboat Fish Set' Basically the set meal will comes with a bowl of rice, a pot of soup and a plate of raw ingredients and then you are off on your own. (This reminds me of those 'interesting' cooking variety shows on TV.)

So what are the ingredients that are given There's fish slices, crab meat, hotdog, Enokitake, rice vermicelli, a raw egg and lots of vegetables. On by the way, upon placing your orders, the helpful stall helper will ask you to choose the soup base for the steamboat. Basically, there are offering 4 different soup base over here and that would be 'Normal', 'Ma La', 'Tom Yam' or 'Herbal'. Well, as usual, I will always ended up choosing 'Tom Yam' soup. :P

So what are the advantages of eating a pot of steamboat alone? Well, you are the chef and you get to decide everything. Which is??? For example, sometimes I would break the egg into a bowl and beat it before pouring it into the steamboat soup but there are times that I would ended up breaking the egg into the soup directly. And some eaters like me love to throw all the ingredients into the steamboat pot at one go and pick those ingredients out slowly. But there are eaters that prefers the 'Shabu Shabu' way. (Rather than boiling the ingredients, it's more of a dipping process. :D) As mentioned earlier, you are the chef and you get to decide everything, hence there's really nothing much for an individual to complain about. And by looking at the generous amount of ingredients that you are getting, well I think that this is a pretty good deal for both lunch and dinner.

So where can you give the 'Mini Steamboat' a try?

The name of this stall would be '132 Mini Steamboat'(美食小火鍋). It's located inside 'Old Airport Road Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  11:30am - 10:30pm

* Click here for the list of delicacies that you can get in 'Old Airport Road Food Centre'.
^ Click here for the location of "Old Airport Road Food Centre" on Google Maps.

Thai Style Steamboat

Steamboat, one of the best food choices if you are looking at a large group of people. However, probably most of us have eaten a Chinese Style Steamboat countless times, but have you given a Thai Style Steamboat a tried before?

'Thai Style Steamboat Dome Shaped Metal Pan' The 'pan' itself looks pretty unique. There's holes all over the 'hill' in the middle of the 'pan'. Beneath it are a hill of burnt charcoal. Around the 'pan' would be a river of 'Tom Yum Soup'. And I personally find the 'Tom Yum Soup' pretty tasty. It's sour and yet a little bit spicy. In fact the taste of it is so good that I think the both of us almost finish a whole kettle of it.

'The Ingredients' This would be the set for 2 that they are offering over here. Being a big eater, I don't think that these ingredients are sufficient to feed the 2 of us. Anyway, some of the meat slices are pretty satisfying and the variety of ingredients were pretty great too. (However, portion wise it's... =.=""") So what's the next step?

So how to appreciate it. Firstly, add a piece of pig lard to the middle of the 'hill' of the 'pan'. Let the oil of the pig lard cover the 'hill'. Next, you can add pieces of meat slices to cover the 'hill' of the 'pan'. (Basically, this is pretty much similar to the mixture of 2 cooking styles, which is barbecuing and pan-fried. But do be careful. The meat slices could ended up pretty ugly if it goes unnoticed.) Oh, by the way you can also throw the ingredients into the river of 'Tom Yum Soup' too. Anyway, once you done with all the cooking, please do give the 'Tom Yom Soup' a try again. The taste of it have become much more richer and better, especially when all the oil of the meat slices have also flow into the soup itself, which is an innovative idea of appreciating good food/soup. :D

So where can you give this 'Thai Style Steamboat' a try?

The name of this restaurant would be 'mookata'. It's located along 'East Coast Road' and at the same time located near '112 Katong Shopping Mall' and 'Roxy Square'.

Notes:

• Opening Hours:
  Mondays to Fridays (Excluding Tuesdays)
  Lunch : 12noon - 3pm
  Dinner: 5pm - 10:30pm
  
  Tuesdays
  Dinner: 5pm - 10:30pm
  
  Weekends
  12noon - 11pm
• If you really want to give this 'Thai Style Steamboat' a try, go for the buffet on Mondays - Thursdays, where you can eat to the fullest.

* Click here to find out more about 'mookata'.
^ Click here for the location of 'mookata' on Google Maps.

First attempt at Laksa Steamboat XD

For my entire life, I have been trying numerous type of steamboat with a variety of soup bases. It can either be spicy soup base like 'Tom Yum', 'Si Chuan Ma La' and non spicy soup base like 'Herbal Chicken', 'Chrysanthemum', etc. Despite having and trying so many different types of steamboat, my interest for it doesn't seems to decrease. Therefore ever since I pass by a steamboat restaurant offering 'Laksa' soup base steamboat, I told myself that I should give it a try someday. And it so so happen that someday appears to be pretty soon...

Steamboat with 'Laksa' base and 'Chicken Soup' base
Although they are only providing ala-carte style steamboat over here,
but we are having lots of fun too. After placing an order for more than
20 different types of ingredients, we were sitting around the spacious
round table with a steamboat pot in the middle, chatting away. (In fact
to some extent, the table was so spacious that there were a few moments
where all of us were standing up cooking and scooping out the ingredients
from the pot. :P) Anyway, the price that you are paying for each and
every plate of ingredients were pretty reasonable and the ingredients were
pretty fresh. On top of that, though they are not providing all the
ingredients at a corner of the restaurant, but at least this can keep the
amount of food wastage to the minimum and the freshness of the ingredients
to the maximum. Either ways, time for some food tasting.

Although the soup is meant to be for cooking the raw ingredients, but we
have thrown Noodles and Rice Vermicelli into the pot too. Trust me, this
is something that one must try over here. The standards for the 'Laksa'
soup base is pretty high. It's pretty sweet and delicious. I think I have
drank more than 4 or 5 bowls of soup with lots of different kinds of
ingredients. This is simply pretty much similar to a 'Laksa' buffet with
the idea of mix and match all the ingredients you want. XD

'Ice Jelly with Honey and Lime'
After giving this sinful steamboat a try, we might have spent an hour or
so chatting none stop and through my friends recommendation, I decided to
give this dessert a try. The refreshing sensation that you will be getting
from the dessert after giving the 'Laksa' steamboat a try is unbeatable.

So where can you give this 'Laksa' steamboat a try?

The name of this restaurant would be 'San Laksa steamboat'. Their
main branch is located along 'Telok Blangah Road', but what I have shown
here would be the newer branch that was located along 'Pasir Panjang Road'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours: 11am - 11pm
• The main branch seems to be crazily crowded most of the time, therefore you probably might want to give the branch located along 'Pasir Panjang Road' a try, which is also less crowded, since it's open less than 2 months ago.

* Click here to find out more about 'San Laksa steamboat'.
^ Click here for the Facebook Fan Page of 'San Laksa steamboat'.
~ Click here for the location of the newer branch on Google Maps.

What is so special about Le Le Steamboat

Although this restaurant was located near my previous workplace, but I have never thought of giving it a a try especially when it seems to be slightly a bit too costly for lunch. However, since I was passing by this area pretty much over the past few months and the crowd inside this restaurant doesn't fail to attract my attention, probably it's time for me to give this restaurant a try. XD

This would be the soup of the day.
A steamboat pot with 2 partitions that has the 'Coconut Chrysanthemum'
soup on one side and the 'Herbal Chicken' soup on the other. First of
all the 'Coconut Chrysanthemum' soup is a complete mistake. The taste
of the soup is too bland and it's slightly a bit too boring. But luckily,
we have gone for the 'Herbal Chicken' soup too. Unlike the soup that some
of the steamboat restaurants out there are offering, the soup over here
gets thicker and richer as the waitresses top up the soup over and
over again. In fact the soup was so thick and delicious that I might
have probably gone for like 3 or 4 rounds of 'Herbal Chicken Soup'. :P
By the way, besides for 'Coconut Chrysanthemum' and 'Herbal Chicken'
soup, the other options are 'Laksa', 'Tom Yum', 'Szechuan Ma La' etc...

As compared to some other places out there that has an ingredient
bar and everyone will squeeze their way through, trying to grab all
the ingredients that they want, this place is pretty much similar
to those ala carte restaurant that requires you to place an order
for a fresh plate of ingredient. If I'm not mistaken, we ended up
finishing quite a lot of ingredients that night. There was numerous
plates of seafood, poultry meat, meat balls, etc... Oh before I
forget, besides for raw ingredients that requires a bit of cooking,
they also serve cooked dishes in the menu. There's a few 'Dim Sum'
items like dumplings, juicy meat buns, fried stuff like Chicken Wing,
'Man Tou', and much much more. XD In fact, I feel like visiting
them for another round of steamboat now.... :P (Drooling... D.N.D)

So what's the name of this place?

The name of this restaurant would be 'Le Le Pot'(乐乐锅).
It's located near 'Tiong Bahru Market', along 'Seng Poh Road'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  Lunch: 11am - 3pm
  Dinner: 5pm - 11pm
• By the way, please do remember to make a reservation before turning up at their doorstep. You definitely wouldn't want to step out of this place disappointed and with an empty stomach. :P

* Click here to find out more about 'Le Le Pot'(乐乐锅).
^ Click here for the location of 'Le Le Pot'(乐乐锅) on Google Maps.

If you have a passion for spicy food, it's a must for you to try...

Ma La Kong Jian '麻辣空間' located at Geylang Lorong 13. Being a crazy eater of spicy food, this was probably the most craziest Ma La steamboat pot that I had tasted. Best of all, I only place an order for the 2nd most spiciest 'Ma La' steamboat pot of the restaurant and I can already sense the superb spicy taste of the 'Ma La' soup. On top of the spicy taste, just having a few bites on the ingredients from the 'Ma La' steamboat pot and I can already feel my tongue turning numb.

As usual my style, here are the photos taken from the restaurant.

This is the steamboat pot that we had tried that day. On the left its the 2nd most spiciest 'Ma La' soup that the restaurant is serving and on the right, it's the not so important Chicken Herbal soup.

This is how the pot looks like after eating for close to 2 hours.
Basically, this restaurant had provided a large variety of raw meat.
For example, Fish, Chicken, Chicken Sausage that will change into the
of a octopus after cooking, beef, mutton, prawns... etc.
They have also provided a large spread of vegetables and cooked food.
Too bad they didn't provide noodles otherwise eating noodles using
the 'Ma La' steamboat pot would be a heavenly delicacy.

This how the restaurant looks side from the outside.

This is how the steamboat pot looks like, doesn't the amount of red color in the 'Ma La' soup looks challenging?

Take my advice, try the 2nd most spiciest 'Ma La' soup before trying the highest grade.
Otherwise you will regret for not talking my advice seriously.
(Unless you are a native from Si Chuan, China otherwise don't do something crazy.)
Whahahahahahahahahaha.

Click here for the location of the restaurant.

Zhong Hua Steamboat (中华火锅,拉面) at the intersection of Liang Seah Street and Beach Road

I think my stomach is taking over my mind almost like everyday... And it just happen to have the urge of eating steamboat. When it comes to the topic of steamboat, one of the best place to search for steamboat restaurants would be Bugis, Liang Seah Street. And we decided to tried the one at the intersection of Liang Seah Street and Beach Road.

Here are the photos taken that day.

They have a large variety of ingredients.
For example, a large spread of vegetables, noodles, seafood, poultry, etc...
They also have cooked food like Fried Bee Hoon, chilli crab, fried chicken, fried buns, etc...

Here's a close up of one of the plates of ingredients.
It's a mixture of seafood and poultry ingredients. I love to eat seafood when eating steambooat, especially when it comes to fish slices and prawns.

One word to describe the Si Chuan Ma La soup base, Shiok.
This is probably the best 'Si Chuan Ma La' steamboat soup base that I have tasted for years.
You can actually feel the spicy taste using your tongue and eventually making it numb.
More Shiok.
And one thing that make the soup completely different from the other 'Si Chuan Ma La' soup base was, some of the soup base out there had a thick layer of chilli oil in the soup and they would named it as a 'Si Chuan Ma La' soup but this one doesn't. You could actually identify the ingredients that they were using to make the soup base so tasty.

One thing that I would always do when it comes to steamboat would be the step of throwing in noodles into the soup base. The 'Si Chuan Ma La' soup base could blend with the noodles very well giving it a very delicious taste but as for the 'Herbal Chicken' soup base, that noodles and the soup base doesn't blend together very nicely.

Here's their contact number: 63371655
Click here for the location of the steamboat restaurant

Note:

• Drinks are provided for free, but most of the drinks are soft drinks
• Try to make a reservation before going as the place was very crowded, especially during weekends