Hai Di Lao Hot Pot

Having heard alot about this legendary place, Hai Di Lao Hot Pot, it has been sitting on my "must go visit" list since its opening, therefore we decided to give a try at its 2nd outlet in 313 Somerset.

Being advise on its long waiting time,  my kakis had queue hours before the dinner thus once all members in the group gathered, we are ready to go in.

After hearing so much on their impeccable service, the pampering service provided by Hai Di Lao at the waiting area was seen a norm. Beverages were place on table with tables and chairs on the carpeted waiting area, a mock up of an usual scene of the hotel lobby.

Waiting at Hai Di Lao

Diners get to play board games,  read magazines or even manicure. While they keep the mature ones occupied, they did not forget about the children too. They can enjoy themselves in this enclosed playground.

With such activities to keep us occupied, Hai Di Lao has make queuing time seems shorter.

Children's Playground

While walking into the restaurant I was stunned when I saw that they do provide baby cots in the restaurant, a rare sight of dining in Singapore.

Along the walkways to our table, I saw the condiments counter placed with assorted condiments as well as appetizers, desserts, porridge and fruits.

Condiments & Fruits Counter

Environment was grand with carpeted flooring, beautifully designed fitting into a modern chinese themed restaurant.

Interior

Lighting was sufficiently placed and they practice open kitchen concept whereby diners can view through the glass panels to see how the staff prepared the food.

Dining Area

Once we are settled down, the staff on duty were quick to serve and had arrange the utensils for us.

Bowls

Beverage was served at $3 per cup, unlimited. I had the prune drink throughout the session as I find that it is very refreshing and indirectly giving me a bigger appetite to keep more goodies to the stomach from the pot.

Beverage - $ 3 / cup (unlimited flow)

Hot towels were provided before and after the meals. Zip lock bags are provided to shield our mobile devices from the food but just too bad it was too small for my Samsung device. Aprons are provided too.

Items that take care of diners

With technology advancement, ipad ordering system kicks in as a fuss free and convenient menu to us. We were pretty impressed by the speed of serving, it took them less than 5 minutes to have our items ordered and placed that on our tables. 

Ordering System

As the sauces were self help with buffet style, we can mix everything we want in a bowl and be adventurous.

Condiments

Appetizers like peanuts and preserved pickles are available too.

Peanuts and pickles

Opted for the Sze Chuan Mala and Chicken as Stock based placed side by side over the cooker. Fried Tofu Skin $6 was also added into the respective stock. The level of spiciness for the Sze Chuan Mala is still bearable just that it consists a handful of peppercorns and once in a while it will cling to the food that we scooped up.

2 Flavours Hot Pot - $18

We had specific staff who was on standby to serve our tables.

Staff at Service

Look who's at our service?

Who's at our service?

Their handmade cuttlefish cakes, mashed shrimps are tasty. Staff on duty will scoop the paste into small portions and have them placed in the preferred soup base.

Handmade Cuttle Fish Cakes

Slice fishes was abit salty but they are fresh.

Sliced Fish - $14

Though vegetables may seem expensive when dining out, we still have to strike a good balance between the leafy greens and other meaty items.

Vegetables - $18

Golden Mushroom - $7

Being Omnivorous creatures on earth, we would not forget about such sexy slices of thin meat sliced to its uniform size and shapes.

Pork Belly - $14

Slices were rolled and once dipped into the hot boiling pot, meats get curled and cooked in no time.

Sliced Meat

Sliced meat

Beside the baby chair provided to toddler, the friendly staff assist in feeding and providing toys to keep the energetic little ones occupied.

Those who ordered the handmade noodles get to see how the noodles were being pulled in the air at their seats. It's quite an entertaining performance while dining and waiting for the food to be cooked.

Handmade noodles - $4

Click on the video to find out more.

These frozen meat dumplings are best cooked in boiling pot for about 3 to 5 minutes. They were fresh, packed with minced meat and chives.

Fresh meat dumplings - $8

Have some refreshment after the meal. Going back to the condiments counter and enjoy the unlimited helpings on cooling fruits like watermelon.

Watermelon (red)

Yellow watermelon

When I was leaving, I saw this plate of nicely arranged fruits, I guess it belongs to one of the private guests rooms.

Fruits

After hearing so much of Hai Di Lao Hot Pot, I do agree that the service standard is better than most of the restaurants with additional cares and items , taking care of our belongings and even till the extend of offering baby cots and toys to the kids. On the other hand, I heard that the service here locally is a far cry from where Hai Di Lao was originated and not comparable. It urges me more to give Hai Di Lao a try if there is chance to be in China.

Even having heard this, it still wont stop me from visiting Hai Di Lao again in the local branches, as I felt that it is a good place to dine peacefully with little things take care of.


Rating: 3.5 / 5

Hai Di Lao
Location: 313@Somerset, 313 Orchard Road Singapore 238895
Website

Trattoria Italian Kitchen

Trattoria Italian kitchen is located at a strategic place as it is located at the ground floor of 313 Somerset diagonally opposite the MRT exit. Layout and design of the dining place was tailored to an Italian environment whereby Italy flag was seen hanging and the 3 main colors of Italy Flag was also part of Trattoria Business Icon.

Trattoria Italian Kitchen

Alfresco Dining Concept was adopted here and the area was near to the common walkways in the mall, I would say those who visit Somerset 313 will never fail to pass by this corner especially when it is a little distance away from the escalator. For those who enjoy the crowd, this place is bustling. However if you want somewhere quiet for a chat, it's not that ideal as I had to raised my voice in my conversation.

Alfresco Dining

The menu of Trattoria was rather creative as they tied a booklet with a white chopping board as it base. The Italian menu was quite understandable as the menu has English elaborations on the dishes available. Though so, it took us quite sometimes to order as I'm still very "green" to italian main dish except for pizzas.

Unique Menu

Beverages served were relatively fast thus allowing us to make ourselves comfortable and settle down for some good chats while waiting for the mains.

Sanpellegrino - Limonata - $5.90

While my friend had a cup of coffee.

Illy Cappucino - $5.50

 The Calamari rings we had as starters were not too bad just that the color was abit far more than expected. The fresh squid rings were coated in their in-house batter, deep fried and served with tartar sauce, a perfect choice as Antipasti while waiting for the mains.

Calamari Frutti - $13.90

 
Home made oven baked lasagna layered with beef ragu and bechamel sauce. Passable taste but not to die for.

Baked Lasagna with Bolognese and Béchame - $19.90

The main was a disaster for me, regretted totally in ordering such dish. I had a "tough" fight with the chicken for the whole meal with my fork and knife. Perhaps the only portion I like was its top in Tomato and Cheese only while the rest was below par. I'm simply shocked with the kind of standard, meat was very tough and some portions were too crispy to be bitten.

Grilled Chicken Breast with mixed grilled vegetables and garlic oil dressing - $21.90

The experienced we had in terms of service received was not up to standards. Servers were rather rude. Initially we had two tables to ourselves but in the midst of enjoying our conversation and dinner, the server walked up and interrupted mentioning that the table will be taken away in a abrupt manner without any apologies. Attentiveness is also lacking in area.

There are alot of room for improvement on their service and food.

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Trattoria Italian Kitchen
Location: 313@Somerset, 313 Orchard Road #01-16/18 Singapore 238895
Website

A One Stop Place for Assorted Local Delights

Prima Taste Kitchen is located in a "hidden" passage down in The Centrepoint shopping mall. Although their Kitchen had been there for quite sometime, I believe that many of the shoppers would still have missed out the stretch of eateries in Centrepoint Mall just like me. :)

Shop Front

Prima Branding has been going steady and strong offering Singapore's cuisine through its convenient method all these years. With its innovative readily packed pastes and premixes sold island wide in convenience stalls illustrated with idiot proof cooking steps, they were well-liked by all. Today,  they are very successful and Prima is hardly a stranger to any local.

Design and furnishings of the restaurants were vibrant and young, installed with linear tracks lights and strong spinning ceiling fans in the air conditioned environment. Ambiance was cosy and patrons can enjoy the live demonstrations of chefs cooking through the showcase kitchen. Just beside the cash register counter, Prima had allocated a booth whereby one can buy their premixes and pastes, including noodles. A few tourists were seen grabbing some of the packs off the shelves after trying out the Signature's Cuisine at the stall, I guess they must have given a few nods to the taste of Prima Kitchen's delicacies.:)

Shop Interior

Not only was Prima innovative in their pre-packed pastes and mixes, they did it again with a twist through their serving menu. Just with a cost as low as $9.50, one get to enjoy 3 sampler bowls of our local cuisine. Available in 6 kinds of dishes, we had them all ordered for our dinner. Dishes were as follows:
(1) Mee Rebus
(2) Prawn Mee
(3) Laksa
(4) Satay Bee Hoon
(5) Mee Siam
(6) Hainanese Chicken Rice

Sampler bowls were rather small and its portions reminded me of those bowls of noodles bought during my Primary School Days in the Tuckshop. One can easily finished the bowl of noodles in 3-5 mouths.

Alright, my dinner is here. Look at the wide spread of local cuisines on our table! I would highly recommended this place if you have a guest from abroad. Do let them have a one stop taste of Singapore's Delights in Prima!

All Sampler Dishes

Mee Rebus, a traditional malay dish featuring noodles served with a rich sweet and spicy sauce, topped off with bean curd cubes, egg and prawns. Black sauce and vegetables were also added to further enhance the taste.

Mee Rebus

Prawn Mee was excellent especially when its stock tasted full of prawn flavours. They must have spent long hours cooking the prawns heads and shells to obtain such a rich taste.

Prawn Mee

Laksa served with rice noodles, prawns, fish cake, cockles and Tau pok. The gravy was rich and lends a thick creamy texture packed with coconut fragrant,if this style floats your boat.

Laksa

Prima had never failed to disappoint - With a generous portion of Satay Sauce drenched over the strands of fine bee hoon on my sampler bowl. This scrumptious dish was also served traditionally with pig's liver, lean meat and prawn. Yums!

Satay Bee Hoon

Mee Siam tasted traditional and refreshing. Bee Hoon was served in a tangy sweet-sour tamarind gravy in an assortment of garnishes as well as sambal chilli. Overall, featuring an authentic Singapore Dish!

Mee Siam

Enjoy the mouth watering portions of tender chicken meat over the pandan fragrant rice with chicken stock, presenting our Local Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

The popiah took sometime to be prepared. The rolled was wrapped and filled tightly with shredded turnips, slices of eggs, prawns and vegetables. The reddish spread of chilli could be easily seen through the translucent Popiah skin roll which looked orangy under the lights. Moist enough and the only letdown I had was that it lacked the crunch from the turnips as they were finely cut, a bigger shred will make it better.

Popiah

Lychee Sensation? What's that? Preparations of the drink was rather straight forward. It's a mixture of lychee in its syrup together with sour plum in the drink. The unique taste was supported by the big plum that had drowned in the drink. Sweet, Sour and Salty. Perfect!

Lychee Sensation

The friendly and jovious server had spoken on behalf, "Singapore's Best Chendol" he mentioned. I couldnt agree more. Sweetened with Gula Melaka, ingredients were plentiful. Do leave a space in your stomach after your meal for this!

Chendol

Total amount summed up to be $34.15. I would say every sampler bowls of Cuisine rock my socks off! Factoring that its a sample bowl, the ingredients were never compromised and quality was definitely there. Worth it!

Prima Taste Kitchen
Location: The Centrepoint, 176 Orchard Road #01-63/64, 238843