Saturday, September 10, 2016

#764 - Xu Ting (旭嵉) w East meets West

Dinner last Friday was at this hotpot and chargrill place called Xu Ting (旭嵉) near Raffles Place.

Kai Xin had chanced upon this Chinese restaurant during her lunch time and saw a lunch crowd. Must be good right? The idea of steamboat appealed to us so we arranged for an East meets West meetup that Friday. Poor Jia Xin couldn't make it because she had to work OT!

Us being us, we kept snapping her photos/videos of the food haha. 😂😂😂

We made reservations for 5 (Shi Min brought her +1 lol) and truth be told, I don't think we need to reserve. There were only 10 or less people including us. A stark difference compared to the lunch crowd, according to Kai Xin.

Everyone just wants to drink beer and chill on a Friday night unlike us. 😅

It's ala carte buffet style so of course we order in peace. 😂

 The abundant choices of soups. The price of it is not included in the buffet, in case you get a shock at the bill at the end.

What makes Xu Ting different from your usual steamboat/hotpot places is that they serve your soup in individual pots. While some may say that takes out the "fun" in having a steamboat w others, it is good for people who prefer different soup bases/don't take beef/pork. Everyone can cook their own food in their pots! 👍

I chose the 虫草乌鸡汤 for obvious reasons. 😊

It is more worth it to share w someone if you can't decide which soup to choose though.

1. The 2-in-1 pot is so much bigger and you can cook more food at one go.
2. They use induction cooker instead of fuel gel, the latter smells a little.
3. It is cheaper!

 Here are the choices for hotpot, all free flow!

 They told us to write the portions on their menu w a marker. We took some time going down the list. The waitress took our order and asked if she can just order 5 sets for everything. 👏 For convenience I guess and we were like okay.

Then we wrote for nothing?! Lol.

Individual's pot w its fuel gel.

The pot is quite small and after you add your veggies to sweeten the soup, your soup will be almost filled to the brim. That is the downside of the individual pot.

I wish they carry bigger ones! Soups are refillable btw!

 They have a sauce station nearby. You can make your own concoction! I mixed light soya sauce w minced garlic and chili padis. 😋

Display w spotlights somemore. Like selling cosmetics hor. 😂

 Lazy to crop - Okay this is really small but we ordered 葱油饼 and they turned up like this.

Had a bite and omg!! All of us were like "Eh taste like what 阿嬷 used to make for us when we were younger!!"

So we ordered another portion to 回味. 😂 Actually I ask my LMZ to make for me sometimes because I really like it. It's just flour, scallions and some salt but it is really fragrant lah!

Our table's situation. There was clearly no space, thus they pushed in a metal trolley to store other food. Photo of the said trolley later!

Seeing this photo makes me so happy? Like so much food?

"Live to eat, not eat to live." - One of my life's motto. 😊

Metal trolley I was talking about!

V good hor! Don't need to squeeze/feel overwhelmed.

Here we have fatty beef, lean beef and fatty pork.

I love all, but if I had to choose, the fatty beef was the best! No gamey taste whatsoever. The colour/marbling (act one) so nice? And so effort hor them? Stack so nicely. 👏 #OCD

 Lean pork! Marbling also nice. 👌

 One of the plus side is free flow 小笼包! We had 4 each. Should have ordered more. 😔

They were not bad!

And I am glad to say this is the first time I never stuff myself full w food. My stomach is v thankful wtf.

This is all thanks to the small pot. Since you can only cook a few items at one time, you chew slower/body gets the signal that you are full thus I didn't overeat at all. ✌

We had oranges at the end and wow, they are really sweet and juicy. 😊 We kept asking for more. 😅

Bill for 5 of us! They charged for iced water (a huge jug) and also wet tissues.

Imo, just return the unused wet tissues to them, that's what 4 of us did. Each piece cost SGD0.50 before GST and service charge which is super not worth it. Hashtag auntydaisy but is true. Bring your own!

Overall, a great experience! We paid about SGD40 each but I think the ambience is really good (they even played instrumental music okay), waiters/waitresses are friendly, and most importantly, food is fresh!

Would I be back? 

Yes I will. But only when I feel richer hahaha. Cannot anyhow bomb SGD40 every single time I crave for hotpot!

Oh ya, they have a chargrilled menu (think yakitori) as well but that is not included in the buffet. You have to add on. Maybe I will try that next time! 

 All the 92 babies here! Must make good use of Shi Min's +1. 😂😂😂

 We were coincidentally dressed in forest green and pastel pink! 👭👭👭

Me being me, asked if Jia Xin was wearing yellow. She can match w the cleaning sign. Hashtag assholecousin

But 谜底揭晓, she was in maroon that day! Haha.

Took off the specs because the green reflection really last warning. Don't even know where the lens are. 😅

 Agaration is quite good if I may say so myself. 💁

 The 3 lightbulbs that day. 💡💡💡

Our faces were so oily oh god. Shine bright like a diamond wtf.

Photobombed!

We slowly walked down to MBS because we wanted to chill/I wanted to catch Pokemons. 😄 
Had TWG icecream for the first time! This was Timeless Tea? Tasted like Passionfruit Sorbet, v refreshing, I like. 😘

It costs SGD5 for a scoop btw.... 😫 But indulging once in a while is okay. #自我安慰 😥

And that concludes my Friday night! 😘

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