Since one of our visitors is diabetic, another has high blood pressure and another has high cholesterol levels, we decided to check out this POPULAR steamboat or hot pot (huo guo) restaurant.
It’s so popular during lunch and dinner (especially for autumn and winter) that chairs are lined up outside the restaurant for nearly 20 people. Since I have shunned most Chinese restaurants for the greasy food, Hubby thought a steamboat would be a healthy option.
First, we were asked to choose a soup base. I wanted the clearest of all, which turned out to be a pork bones soup. The others, also pork bones, were too exotic (nearly revolting to this pregnant Mum) and Hubby warned that the lamb / mutton soup has a strong aroma…
Then, we chose fish balls (I made the dumb choice of going for Foochow balls, which are stuffed with pork), lettuce, sliced beef, tofu and prawns.
The soup arrived looking MILKY (aargh…my stomach already felt like heaving) and one of my least favourite foods in the world i.e. lap cheong (waxed Chinese sausagages a.k.a. stuffed pork intestines) sat right on top of it. Ugh…my appetite fell right through the floor!
Hubby quickly picked the lap cheong off the soup…
I was ravenous so quickly stuffed myself with rice (drizzled with the hot soup) and also picked out the least oily pieces of chicken from this cold, side dish.
Sigh, I’ve been craving for Hainanese chicken rice since day 1 so any steamed chicken looked appealing to it. Hubby tasted it first and said that it’s COLD. I only noticed how OILY it was…
Surprisingly, the chicken was tender and tasty 
Feeding the toddler was another challenge - he got excited over the fish balls but the minute he bit into the center and smelled the strong whiff of pork, he put it down.
Luckily, he agreed to nibble the parts of the fishball without the pork. I couldn’t stand the smell either! I managed to get a substantial lunch into his tummy because he ate rice, three fishballs and tofu. I also added bits of soft chicken to his bowl.
To make space for the raw items, Hubby fished out two ENORMOUS bones from the steamboat. Check out the bone structure!
Spying on the other patrons, I noticed that some Chinese were nibbling and sucking on the bones.
I remember that my Chinese grandmother used to love sucking on bits of pork bones too for the marrow. In fact, if nobody was watching, she’d even even eat the softer bits of pork bones!
Reminds me of the quote from Henry David Thoreau in the movie, Dead Poets Society:
“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to route all that was not life, and not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
Unless we can find another steamboat restaurant with a truly clear soup, I’m staying clear of this one. I also don’t think our guests would like the incredibly oily side dishes either…
Ugh, I was bloated for almost the entire afternoon after this meal and it’s pretty hard to erase the image of the milky soup from my memory! Sadly, we don’t agree with “Good Taste”.
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The chicken looks quite good actually….would had been better if it was served warm?
If you do a search for ‘proxy browser’ you should find some. I’d use yahoo to search too, as google gets blocked more.
Here’s one I use: http://www.zendlife.info/
However, I haven’t found a secure proxy that’s free yet.
It’s a strain living here sometimes!
Paik Ling - That would make it a different style, I think. I don’t mind the ‘cold’chicken because drunken chicken here is quite good too
Yet to try Hainanese chicken rice here…
Chinaren - Bless you because the proxy you suggested worked perfectly. THANK YOU!!! Strange that Google is blocked for you? Guess the block is not uniform across every part of China.
You don’t like pork generally? Or because you are preggers you don’t like the taste of pork? Or China pork is too porky?
Err…just curious…
Nomadicmom - Your questions sure made me LOL. I don’t like the SMELL of pork, in general and I think my son takes after me. The only pork dishes I rate 5-star is those cooked by my Chinese mother (and aunties or grandmother) because they are always well-marinated.
You can imagine what a challenge I was to my Mum when I was little
God is fair because I’m now blessed me with a son whose food preferences are as fussy as mine!
What a coincidence. We just had steamboat buffet dinner on Sunday, at a restaurant I’ve been wanting to try for the last couple of weeks but for one reason or another, always got postponed. Alas, it also didn’t turn out as good as I had expected, judging from the crowd there every weekend.
A Mom’s Diary - Was your experience as bad as mine? This visit has put me off steamboat for a while