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HOTSPOT Issue 02

One Night In Chinatown Head to Page 5 >>

DIY Hotpot Head to Page 12 >>

Hearty Interviews

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s ’ r o t i ‑‑-‑‑‑‑‑--‑‑ Ed e t No Hello!

As the saying goes, ‘Food is the doorway to the soul’.

A hotpot is one of the most soulful foods that transcend cultures. From a homely chicken broth, to an extra spicy mala base, the warmth of hotpots light up the hearts of many as told in Hearty Interviews.

If you’re a hotpot lover, or even a casual foodie looking for good food, check out HotSpot Reviews for the hottest restaraunts. If you prefer staying in or setting up your own feast for friends, DIY has you covered. @e.phermeral

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The homey feeling of sharing a meal with others sometimes cannot be described, so put together with love is a visual diary that hopes to encapsulate the experience of connecting through food and the candid conversations that entail.

As always, please enjoy this issue of HotSpot.

Thank you!

Happy Reading, Nikki

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One Night In Chinatown

Visual Diary

Revelations at a chuanr shop while

The hotpot experience encompassed

eating alone

in a visually pleasing story

DIY Hotpot Check out our guide on how to make the perfect steamboat!

Hearty Interviews

HotSpot Reviews

Quirky people express their

Hotest places in town to catch

feelings on food & togetherness.

your fill!

Menu: Menu: Take your pick!

Take your pick!

One Night In Chinatown

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OneOneNight In Night In Chinatown Chinatown Walkinng into the little corner shop, I could

already tell this place was different. With wooden satay sticks poking out from all around metal pots filled with multi-coloured soups, the shop sold chuanr (skewer hotpot), a rare find in Singapore.

Lined with an array of meat and vegetables held together with sticks and illuminated by light bulbs hanging from above, the experience of eating chuanr was similar to spending a night in the exploring a Chinese night market.

The smell of spices mixed into the mongolian-styled meat and the flavourful taste of the soup, ingrideints and sauce combined brought a heartwarming feel to me as a lone eater.

Slurping up my second plate of grilled oysters, I thought, “How wonderful would it be if there was someone to share this with.”

Eating at that corner-of-the-alley store in Chinatown reminded me of how food is better celebrated in the company of other people. Steamboats, in particular, has the uncanny ability to bring people closer as they wait for their soups to boil. It’s variety of ingrdients helps to bring people of different palettes together.

For me, it tastes like home.

HotSpot Reviews

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Hai Di Lao address: 313 Orchard Road #04-23/24, 313@Somerset, S(238895) tel: +65 6835 7227 experience cost

Widely

popular for its acclaimed service and spicy mala soup base, Hai Di Lao is a musttry for hotpot lovers of all ages!

The ambiance is very family / group friendly.

With about 6 seats around a large table. The seating here is very spacious and comfortable with plush seats and aprons provided so you don’t get your clothing or their furniture dirty.

I love the way their sauce station was set up. It has the most variety I’ve ever seen. They were all labeled nicely with their own containers and handles and they even had uncommon sauces like beef and korean “guchujang” sauce. They also had desserts like dou hua and we found these good so save some space in your stomach for that!

I found the best thing about Hai Di Lao was their soup stock. The texture of their soups were remarkably rich. Their Chicken soup even had black chicken and mushrooms in it to give it that extra flavour. This was before we put anything in it so we were really impressed by that.

The Ma La was incredibly spicy and flavourful. I normally eat Ma La with chili sauces on top elsewhere because its not spicy enough but that was not needed here. Is it worth paying $20 for their soups? I believe so - its the best soup stock we had at a steamboat in Singa-

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Spice World address: Clarke Quay, River Valley Rd, #01-06/07 3B, S(179021) tel: +65 6265 9777 experience cost

Located in the heart of Clarke Quay‘s night-

life scene and open till the wee hours of the morning, Spice World Hotpot is the place to head for a nice, warm meal to wind down after your night at the club.

When you walk in, you’ll notice how red the decor is, with crimson panels separating the tables but I guess that makes sense considering how red is an auspicious colour in Chinese culture.

Unlike the usual Hai Di Lao or Beauty In A Pot, Spice World offers us some pretty Instagram-able dishes, and at affordable prices while they’re at it.

The first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Spice World is their adorable Mala broths. We had the Hello Kitty Mala Butter ($9.90) and whether you’re a Hello Kitty fan or not, you’ve got to admit – having an edible version of the Sanrio Character sitting in your hotpot is pretty cute. They also have a teddy bear version if Hello Kitty’s not really your thing.

With a plethora of seafood, fish paste and chinese snacks, Spice World is sure to satisfy your palette while providing a unique hotpot experience.

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Xuan Wei address: 28 Liang Seah Street, S(189049) tel: +65 6265 9777 experience cost

Liang

Seah Street, also known as the late night eating street, has many steamboat restaurants and other eateries along the same stretch. It was a cold and gloomy evening and here we are, standing at the street deciding which steamboat restaurant to try. Attracted by the projector that screened the shop name on the ground, I decided to give it a try.

While the variety of food choices on the menu was less than more atas steamboat restaurants out there, it was alright given the amount needed to pay for each pax (only $20).

The beef slices were fresh and thin and went very well with the mala soup base! The portion given was very generous. Since the restaraunt is buffet-styled, you can order as many times are you want! Drinks and ice cream are also free-flow.

There is also a variety of choices for the soup base, such as seafood, laksa, mala, tomato, fish and chicken, making Xuan Wei a hotpot restaurant worth visiting!

t o p s t o H s w e i Rev

Beauty in the pot address: 11 Tanjong Katong Road, #02-21 OneKM, S(437157) tel: +65 6284 8820 experience cost

Look no further than to Paradise Group’s

latest addition, Beauty In The Pot (not beauty in a pot ah), for your next steamboat fix. Open till 3am, foodies in the east won’t need to be vexed on finding late night food haunts anymore with the newly opened steamboat joint over at oneKM mall.

Not to be mistaken for your usual steamboat fare, Beauty In The Pot offers so much more than a classic, family heartwarming meal. Inspired by the culture of food for health, this hotpot concept offers nourishing soup bases that are collagen-based (yes ladies, you heard me) that promise rich flavours coupled with abundant benefits.

The cosy interior of Beauty in the pot exudes a sense of warmth, but still bordering on the whole casual dining feel. Inspired by the concept of Yin and Yang, they have managed to achieve a balance of a dark ambience complete with enough natural lighting.

However, this Yin Yang inspiration does not just stop at their cosy interior design. It extends to their hotpot culture as well, of-

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DIY Hotpot

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Hearty Interviews

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Ah Ma

Internet Star

When

I asked Ah Ma what food brings people together after school one day, she said, “All types of food bring people together ah, girl. All family celebrations happen with food around.”

Food is a big part of Ah Ma’s life. Growing up in a culture where the “men work, women cook” mindset was pertinent, Ah Ma was a cook from an early age. Every day, she would be in charge of cooking for eight other siblings. It’s no wonder that now she’s the wellloved chef even amongst the extended family.

Chef

One day when my mother’s siblings were at my Ah Ma’s house for dinner too, Ah ma told me to ‘faster sit down’ at the table.

“What’s the rush?” I asked her curiously.

“I made everyone’s favourite, so you faster sit down and wait. Later hot, scared you burn yourself. I go do,” she replied hurriedly, before disappearing into the kitchen.

It took me a while to think of what everyone’s favourite could possibly be — I had a family of nine afterall — what could it be that everyone possibly liked?

As she took out plates of raw meat served on metalwares only old grandmas seemed to use as a multipurpose holder, that was when I knew.

“It’s hot!” She told me from behind as she set the large pot in front of me. Then, everyone came flocking to the table as though they’ve been starving for centuries.

Usually, Ah ma never eats until all of us finishes our meals. This rare time, she sat with us to eat as we all called for her to ‘eat’.

Even though my grandma has been steadily losing her sense of taste, mobility, and cooking skills. She’s still the most popular granny on the block -- not a day goes by when her friends ar-

Ah Ma

Internet Star

She has an electric iron and some thin-sliced

beef to thank for her fame. Armed with humour, ingenuity, and a nifty iPhone, Ms Yeah produced her first office cooking video that set off the internet’s obsession with her.

The viral sensation quickly became known for using office supplies not just to cook, but create cooking contraptions at her desk. In one video, she steams a basket of buns with a garment steamer. In another, she turns the office water dispenser into her personal hot pot.

Though she doesn’t speak or explicitly crack jokes in her videos, Ms Yeah’s innate sense of comic timing is stunning. It helps that she’s naturally deadpan, and that her colleagues sit unperturbed beside her absurd stunts, like frying crepes on her CPU.

Chef

But amidst an endless stream of internet content, how does someone stay original? What kind of workplace allows you to turn an electric warming fan into a barbeque grill?

Most importantly, why is she just so weird and wonderful?

Over a mandarin interview on Skype, I speak with the Chengdu native to discover if she is, as her Instagram bio states, a walking recipe from Mars.

Nikki: Who is Ms Yeah?

Ms Yeah: In Chinese, Ban Gong Shi Xiao Ye. The ‘ye’ sounds like ‘Yeah!’ in English, which conveys happiness. Ms Yeah is a cheerful and lively person. She’s also quite a maverick. I want everyone who sees her to be happy.

N: Do people ever tell you you’re hilarious?

MY: All the time, like from the online comments. Even my colleagues like to joke around with me. I’m similar to Ms Yeah in real life. At the start, people may think I’m demure and soft-spoken. After I warm up, they realise I’m just a goofball.

N: How did you come up with the idea to cook using office supplies?

MY: My office environment is pretty relaxed, because we’re a creative company. In university, I studied video editing and directing, which is also what I currently do for my company.

Even before these videos, I already experimented with alternative cooking methods in

Ah Ma

Internet Star

Chef

FU Lin Men Dou Lao Steamboat is not quite

Feast classic favoured by the royals during the Qing dynasty. It is brewed for over 12 hours your regular steamboat joint. Sure, they serve with fresh red carrot puree, chicken bone marthe ubiquitous tongue-tingling mala soup base, row, pork shin and and dry-aged cured ham, but managing director Simon Lim is adamant and presented with gold flakes on top of the that his restaurant go beyond that. soup.

His pride and joy is instead the Signature Golden Imperial Broth (S$10), a thick and nourishing soup that is so tasty, you may want to forgo the steamboat ingredients and just drink it on its own.

This soup is one of five broths available at the restaurant. Each is created and named after feng shui elements. The Golden Imperial Broth represents gold; wood is represented by a wild mushroom broth; water by a milky tofu broth; fire by the mala broth; and earth by a tomato The soup, created by Chinese celebrity chef broth.

Nian Shujian, is a Manchu and Han Imperial Each diner gets his own individual hotpot, which is not only more hygienic, it also allows him to choose his desired broth.

The dou lao cuisine is widely acknowledged as the “royals” of hotpots in modern China because it focuses on improving one’s health and vitality through food. Dou lao is also a play of words, meaning scooping everything together.

“With each individual scoop, you get wealth, fortune and treasure into your bowl,” says Mr Lim. The focus here is on seafood, and includes oysters, lobsters and geoduck clam.

Chef Nian comes up with the ingredients to add to the broth. Fish and squid balls are a must for Singaporean diners, so the chef has included them on the menu, but with a twist.

For example, his beef meat ball comes stuffed with cheese, while a squid meat ball has a chocolate centre. “Beef and cheese, squid and chocolate make the ideal combinations,” he explains. A platter of six different flavoured balls

Visual Diary

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