Changing the Reunion Dinner game, one steamboat at a time
(A) Chicken Stock (B) Tom Yum (C) Spicy 麻辣 (‘ma la’ soup) These are the Bulbasaurs, Charmanders, and Squirtles of ‘battleship’ (as the late Mr Lee termed it) choices, the original starter trio every time CNY rolls around.
But don’t limit yourself when there’s more weird and wonderful steamboat buffets out there! Skip the basics and you may just stumble upon the Pikachu of steamboats – we’ve sussed out 10 of the most unusual, under $20 deals to boot. I hope you’re hungry.
1. Laksa Steamboat
Source: @jewelyap
Reppin’ the local food scene, this lemak Laksa base will send your cholesterol levels skyrocketing – but hey, even Gordon Ramsay’s got nothing on our uniquely Singaporean creamy coconut milk + chili oil concoction.
Source: @jinlow
Indulge in this sinful stew, complete with all your seafood, meat and veggie steamboat essentials. And laksa purists, you can still scoop up endless bowls of rice vermicelli, tau pok and broth for your personal laksa buffet.
Where to get this:
San Laksa Katong Steamboat Seafood Restaurant
Price: $11 – $20 per pax
Address: 404 Telok Blangah Road, Singapore 098840
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 2.30pm, 4.30pm to 11pm
Contact: 6275 7069
King’s Laksa Steamboat
Price: $18.80+ Thurs to Tues 11am to 2pm
Address: 17 Teck Chye Terrace, Singapore 545724
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 11pm
Contact: 6287 8010
2. Collagen Steamboat
No, this isn’t a pot of tau huey sprinkled with wolfberries – the smooth, silky white pudding melts down into a simmering chicken broth upon heating. A $20 budget means Tsukada Nojo is off-limits, but Beauty in the Pot may just give them a run for their money; this velvety, robust collagen-rich broth is yours for just $20 a pot! And yes, FREE REFILLS.
Think of this wonder protein collagen broth as SK-II you can eat, guaranteed to keep your skin baby-soft and your tummy full, all at an unbeatable bargain. Major beauty hack – as legendary ‘fountains of youth’ go, this one takes the cake.
Where to get this:
Beauty in the Pot by Paradise Group
Price: $20 for Beauty Collagen Broth, $25 for twin fla vours.
Address: 11 Tanjong Katong Road OneKM #02-21 Singapore 437157
Opening Hours: Mon to Thurs 11am to 3pm, 5.30pm to 1am| Fri, Sat and eve of PH 11am to 3am | Sun and PH 11am to 1am
Contact: 6702 2542
Goro Goro Steamboat & Korean Buffet
Price: Weekday Buffet Lunch $16.90++
Address: Orchardgateway@Emerald #04-01, 218 Orchard Rd, S(238851)
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri 11.30 am to 2.30 pm & 5 pm to 10.30 pm | Sat & Sun 11.30 am to 3.30 pm & 5 pm to 10.30 pm
Contact: 6385 7854
Click here for a special promotion!
3. Bak Kut Teh Steamboat
Sadly Bak Kut Teh steamboat is only a reality for those on team #TeochewstyleBKT. (Hua Ting Steamboat has a herbal BKT version, but prices start at $26.) Best inhaled in sweater weather, now you can have this peppery blast with more than just meat and garlic.
Where to get this:
JPOT
Price: $7.80 for Bak Kut Teh broth
Address: Find the nearest outlet here.
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm
Xian De Lai
Price: $14.90++ (steamboat set meal), $28.90++ (steamboat buffet)
Address: Find the nearest outlet here.
4. Kimchi Steamboat
Source: @iam.hopexx
Post K-Drama feels never fail to fuel my cravings for everything from the Land Of Kimchi. Instead of munching on a whole head of green cabbage kimchi while awaiting your Big Boss to sweep you off your feet à la Song Joong Ki, why not eat your kimchi with marinated meats, veggies, and a smorgasbord of quintessential K-cuisine dishes.
Here’s to kimchi, making life more delicious since 2000 years ago.
Where to get this:
Seoul Garden Hotpot
Price: Kimchi Jjigae Soup Base from $11.90
Address: Find the outlet nearest you here.
Opening Hours: 11.30am to 10.30am (Cathay Cineleisure Orchard 12nn to 10.30pm)
iSteamboat Chinese Restaurant
Price: Steamboat buffet $18.80 on weekdays, $20.80 weekends
Address: 6 Raffles Boulevard #04-102A Marina Square Shopping Centre Singapore 039594
Opening Hours: Mon to Thurs 12nn to 10pm | Fri to Sun, PH 12nn to 10.30pm
Contact: +65 6338 7873
5. Satay Steamboat
Source: @sgfoodonfoot
Skewered meat on a stick may be hard to resist, but the downright addictive peanut gravy dip is truly what separates satay from plain ol’ meat kebabs. Someone needs to get that peanut-y goodness in a bottle, stat.
Till then, why not satay-isfy your marinated meat cravings with not one, but TWO kinds of savoury satay steamboats: have it Malacca-style with a Satay Lok Lok (‘boil boil’ in Cantonese) featuring all kinds of food on sticks, or slurp up a warm pot of nutty goodness with TianFu’s House Special Satay Soup. Sedap!
Where to get this:
Satay Culture
Price: $25.90 set meal for 2 ($12.95/pax)
Address: Block 727 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 Singapore 560727
Opening Hours: Daily 5pm to 11.30pm
Contact: +65 93361066
Chuan Le Xiang Lok Lok
Price: ‘Yuan Yang’ $10 per pot, $1 per stick
Address: 23 Neythal Road MEP Canteen Furotech Building Singapore 628588
Opening Hours: Tues to Sun 5.30pm to 11pm
TianFu Hong Kong Style Steamboat
Price: House Special Satay Soup at $8
Address: 214 Tanjong Katong Road Singapore 437007
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri 5pm to 2am | Sat to Sun 11am to 2.30pm, 5pm to 2am
Contact: +65 63459272
6. Coconut Steamboat
Coconut steamboat: your answer to stuffing your face on a non-cheat day. No MSG, no added sugar, no oil; just pure, undiluted coconut water soup that any health junkie would approve of.
Mythical properties of coconut water include hydration that exceeds water itself. #TheMoreYouKnow. Only one stall in Singapore offers this sweet stock, and the two young hawkerpretrenuers behind it forked out $20,000 of their own savings to bring this novel battleship to our shores.
Where to get this:
Chicken Legend
Price: Small Set (1-2 pax) for $20, Regular Set (3-4 pax) & Meat Set (2-3 pax) for $29, Seafood Set for $35
Address: 15 Upper East Coast Road, Soy Eu Tua 小而大餐室 Singapore 455207
Opening Hours: Tues to Sun 5.30pm to 11pm
Contact: +65 9295 0650
7. Thai Jim Jum
Mookata’s lesser-known Isaan cousin, Jim Jum (‘dip’ and ‘dunk’) is a traditional Thai street food where broth is served in a mini claypot over a bed of hot coals. Definitely not for big eaters, but no less aroy mak mak!
Thai basil leaves are a must for an authentic hotpot; similar to shabu shabu, you swish the meats around, and pair with any of their dipping sauces or that famous 3-level spicy chili sauce mookata lovers should recognise. End off your Thai-riffic feast with a scoop of Coconut Ice Cream, Red Ruby or the perennial favourite Mango Sticky Rice!
Where to get this:
Aroy Jing Jing
Price: Jim Jum Set for 2 at $24 ($12 per pax)
Address: #01-05 ORTO 81 Lorong Chencharu Singapore 769198
Opening Hours: Tues to Thurs 5pm to 12am| Fri 5pm to 1am | Sat 12nn to 1am | Sun 12nn to 12am
Contact: +65 62580715
Spicy Thai – Thai Cafe
Price: Jim Jum for 2-3 at $35 ($12-$17 per pax)
Address: #01-35 Blk 115 Aljunied Avenue 2 Singapore 380115
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 12am
Contact: +65 67478558
8. Silky Porridge Steamboat
Why pay for bowls of white rice with your steamboat when you can have rice AS your steamboat? And it’s not just rice dumped into a bowl of broth – rice grains are sifted out, forming a velvety rice gruel that doesn’t get burnt easily.
Guaranteed to feed all three bears, and Goldilocks too.
Where to get this:
JPOT
Price: $3.80 for Silky Porridge Soup
Address: Find the nearest outlet here.
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm
9. Soymilk Steamboat
Because soy milk and steamboat go hand-in-hand… right?
Two types of soymilk soup here: first is the various milky tonyu soup bases found at shabu shabu restaurants, and the second is straight-up savoury soymilk soup brewed with herbs courtesy of New Fut Kai Vegetarian Restaurant. Now this is the real tau huey soup.
Where to get this:
New Fut Kai Vegetarian Restaurant
Price: Set meal with one soup stock at $16.80
Address: 282 Jalan Besar Singapore 208945
Opening Hours: Daily 10am to 3pm, 5pm to 10pm
Contact: 63980836
Suki-Ya
Price: $18.90++ for All-You-Can-Eat Weekday Lunch Buffet
Address: Find the nearest outlet here
Wa Shabu Shabu
Price: $17.80++ Weekday Lunch Buffet
Address: 1 Vista Exchange Green #01-44, Singapore, Singapore 138617
Opening Hours: Mon to Thurs & Sun 11.30am to 10pm | Fri & Sat 11.30pm to 11pm
Contact: 6268 9093
10. Tomato Steamboat
Battleship veterans may have had a taste of this tangy soup at the ridiculously popular HDL, but we’ve found a handful of restaurants that serve up their own rendition, minus the hefty price tag.
Source: @cweizhi
Don’t worry, it’s not canned – the authentic tomato hot pot requires fresh tomatoes boiled for 24 hours to achieve that full-bodied flavour. If you thought tomatoes’ only place was on pasta and salads, prepare to have your mind blown.
Where to get this:
Emperor Pot
Price: Tomato Soup Base at $5.90
Address: 100 Tyrwhitt Road, Broadway Food Centre, Singapore 207542
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri 11.30am to 2.30am | Sat 11.30am to 10.30pm | Sun 11.30am to 1.10am
Goro Goro Steamboat & Korean Buffet
Price: Weekday Buffet Lunch $16.90++
Address: Orchardgateway@Emerald #04-01, 218 Orchard Rd, S(238851)
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri 11.30 am to 2.30 pm & 5 pm to 10.30 pm | Sat & Sun 11.30 am to 3.30 pm & 5 pm to 10.30 pm
Contact: 6385 7854
Click here for a special promotion!
Shang Pin Hot Pot
Price: Three soup bases from $14
Address: #02-02 Rendezvous Gallery 9 Bras Basah Road Singapore 189559
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 12am
Contact: 6238 7666
BONUS: Captain K Seafood Tower
Here’s a literal STEAMboat – this latest korean craze sees a nine-tiered seafood tower, aka Nine Layers of Steamed Shells (9단조개찜), in which different types of seafood are cooked in steamers stacked atop a pot of stock – Kombu Dashi, Korean Kimchi, or Premium Korean Ginseng Chicken.
Source: @sgfoodonfoot
Sadly this is easily over-budget, starting from $52.90 for 3 layers, which feeds 2. All 9 will cost you a whopping $288.90 – nearly $40 a head! But if you’re a sucker for seafood, Captain K will satisfy all your stomach’s desires; just be prepared for a Maggi Mee diet till payday.
Captain K Seafood Tower
Address: 30 Prinsep Street #01-02 Singapore 188647
Opening Hours: Daily 11.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 10:30pm
Contact: +65 62552270
Soup’s Up!
Soup stock aside, the same rules apply. Grab your family and friends, gather round a piping bowl of soup and merrily stuff your faces till you eat your money’s worth. Happy feasting!