Hua Ting Steamboat

Hua Ting Steamboat
442 Orchard Road
#01-08 Claymore Connect

https://www.millenniumhotels.com/en/singapore/orchard-hotel-singapore/hua-ting-steamboat/

Soup Base - Superior Fish Soup With Winter Melon & Conpoy (SGD $34)

Good Cantonese Steamboat Experience

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 9
Value for Money: 7
Spent about SGD $50 per person.


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Opened in October 2015, Hua Ting Steamboat, just like its sister Hua Ting Restaurant, is owned and operated by Orchard Hotel, which is part of the Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Group. What makes Hua Ting Steamboat stand out from other steamboats, is their concept, an up-market steamboat that revolves around Chinese Cantonese cuisine, with a good variety of soup bases derived from Cantonese double-boiled soups.

Ambience at Hua Ting Steamboat is clean, modern, and functional, though not strikingly attractive. The modern cushioned booths are adorned in shades of black and orange, while the bright lights overhead are not overly harsh. Seats are packed closely together to maximise the floor space, and if crowded, the place can get noisy. A display of live seafood, sauces, dried seafood, and fruits lend vibrance and colour, and is the centerpiece decor for this place.

Service at Hua Ting Steamboat befits a hotel's restaurant, between up-market and fine dining. Staff are friendly and polite, quickly greeting and seating guests. They're well-versed on the menu, having good product knowledge, being able to describe the varieties of soup bases and ingredients, as well as advising prices from memory. Staff are efficient at clearing away empty / dirty plates during the meal, and it's also commendable that they come by to check regularly, as well as offer to change cutlery for diners. Excellent.

Food at Hua Ting Steamboat is natually, Chinese style steamboat, but given a twist with Cantonese style soup bases / broths. Ingredients are fresh and of good quality, which makes a big difference to the overall experience. Hua Ting Steamboat is completely ala-carte, no buffet option here. Prices are slightly higher than other steamboats, as they're positioned as up-market, but you get great quality for the price. Overall prices are still reasonable, budget about SGD $50 per person for a full meal here. Will return again!


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Hua Ting Steamboat Exterior

Hua Ting Steamboat Interior

Hua Ting Steamboat Private Room

Seating

Seating

Display Of Dried Seafood, Herbs, Fruits

Display Of Live Seafood

Display Of Sauces

Table Setting

Meal Flat Lay

The highlight here is the large variety of soup bases / broths, including the Soup Base - Sichuan Style Mala Seaweed Soup With Bean Sprouts, Shark’s Bone Cartilage Soup With Fresh Beancurd Sheets (SGD $26). The former has a medium spicy burn that lingers, with a light savoury salty flavour that makes it rather addictive to drink, provided you can stand the heat. The latter has a creamy, milky texture, with a mild sweet savoury flavour, and a slight seafood taste of shark's fin. Both are so tasty, only becoming even more delicious when ingredients are cooked within. Highly recommended!

Soup Base - Sichuan Style Mala Seaweed Soup With Bean Sprouts, Shark’s Bone Cartilage Soup With Fresh Beancurd Sheets (SGD $26)

The Soup Base - Superior Fish Soup With Winter Melon & Conpoy (SGD $34) is a signature Chef's creation, inspired by the Chinese Cantonese double-boiled soups. Starting out with a mild sweet savoury herbal flavour from the fish stock, a solid winter melon, perfectly carved top and bottom, is immersed in the middle of the pot, garnished with dried scallops, goji berries / wolfberries, and cabbage. As the pot boils, the flavours are absorbed into the fish stock, with the soup gradually becoming more and more sweet savoury herbal. Cooking is different too, the center of the hollow winter melon reaches a rolling boil, great for flash cooking thin strips of meat, while the sides of the pot have a warm slow simmer, great for infusing ingredients such as dumplings.

When you're about halfway through the meal, staff will assist to cut up the winter melon into chunks, allowing you to start eating it. Very unique, novel idea that works extremely well, it's a wonder few other places have this. Loved how tasty this is, a definite must-try here. Highly recommended!

Soup Base - Superior Fish Soup With Winter Melon & Conpoy (SGD $34)

Slicing Winter Melon

Choose from a range of 27 different sauces and condiments, mix and match to suit your taste.

Sauce Variety

Sauce Sesame Paste, Seasame Seeds, Chili Padi

Sauce Chef's Special

Love the Crispy Fish Skin (SGD $4 / $8), which has an excellent crispy texture, shattering beautifully when bit. Retains its crispness for some time. The Bean Curd Sheet Stuffed With Salted Egg Yolk (SGD $6 / $12) is also shatteringly crispy, with a light salty savoury flavour from a dollop of salted egg yolk within.

Crispy Fish Skin (SGD $4 / $8)

Bean Curd Sheet Stuffed With Salted Egg Yolk (SGD $6 / $12)

The Live Prawn (SGD $8 for 3), Fresh Japanese Scallop (SGD $13 / $26), and Fresh Squid (SGD $6 / $12) are all very fresh, clean-tasting, and sweet savoury in flavour. Good quality seafood here.

Live Prawn (SGD $8 for 3)

Fresh Japanese Scallop (SGD $13 / $26)

Fresh Squid (SGD $6 / $12)

You can taste the difference in the Fresh Sliced Chicken (SGD $5 / $10), which has a nice bouncy texture and a fresh sweet savoury taste. The Fresh Kurobuta Pork (SGD $6 / $12) and Fresh Kurobuta Pork Belly (SGD $7 / $14) are both very good, meaty and savoury, with a slight fatty marbling. However, I felt the Fresh Sliced Pork Neck (SGD $6 / $12) was a little too thickly sliced for my liking. The Sliced American Angus Beef (SGD $12 / $24) was nicely thin, with a meaty chew and a lovely savoury salty taste. The Sliced King Garoupa Fish Long Dan (SGD $13 / $26) is large and meaty, with the fish fillet having a firm, flaky texture, and a delicate fresh sweet flavour.

Fresh Sliced Chicken (SGD $5 / $10)

Fresh Kurobuta Pork (SGD $6 / $12)

Fresh Kurobuta Pork Belly (SGD $7 / $14)

Fresh Sliced Pork Neck (SGD $6 / $12)

Sliced American Angus Beef (SGD $12 / $24)

Sliced King Garoupa Fish Long Dan (SGD $13 / $26)

It's Luncheon Meat (SGD $3 / $6). Love love love having it in a steamboat, especially the ones here which are thickly sliced and meaty. The Prime Beef Rolled With Enoki Mushroom (SGD $14 / $28) is pretty good, but not particularly special. The Pig’s Large Intestine (SGD $5 / $10) is quite good, fresh and clean, with a nice chewy texture, and a light savoury salty sweet flavour.

Luncheon Meat (SGD $3 / $6)

Prime Beef Rolled With Enoki Mushroom (SGD $14 / $28)

Pig’s Large Intestine (SGD $5 / $10)

The signature hand made meat balls are the star here, the highlight of our meal. The Dace Fish Paste Ball With Preserved Tangerine Peel (SGD $7 / $14) has a lovely bouncy texture, with the strong flavour of fish meat tamed with the citrus sweetness of tangerine, giving it a lovely, pleasant taste. The Fresh Shrimp Paste Ball Stuffed With Minced Pork And Chinese Rice Wine (SGD $8 / $16) has a bouncy texture with a delicate sweet flavour, complemented by the savoury pork and the juicy burst of warm liquid when bit. So good. Highly recommended!

The Minced Beef Meat Ball With Fish Roe (SGD $12 / $24) was decent, but not as outstanding as the others. Loved the Minced Pork Meat Ball With Water Chestnut (SGD $7 / $14), with its meaty sweet savoury flavour, and the contrast in texture from the crunchy juicy water chestnut within.

Dace Fish Paste Ball With Preserved Tangerine Peel (SGD $7 / $14)

Fresh Shrimp Paste Ball Stuffed With Minced Pork And Chinese Rice Wine (SGD $8 / $16)

Minced Beef Meat Ball With Fish Roe (SGD $12 / $24)

Minced Pork Meat Ball With Water Chestnut (SGD $7 / $14)

The Handmade Shanghai Dumpling (SGD $8 / $16) was my least favourite item here, and personally, I felt this was the weakest. The dumpling skin is much too thick, and the filling is scanty. I associate this name with Xiao Long Baos in general, or at least, a pork dumpling of some kind, but this is a pure vegetable dumpling. Not good. In contrast, the Handmade Fresh Prawn Dumpling (SGD $8 / $16) has a lovely meaty savoury sweet flavour, with a nice tender chew. Good!

Handmade Shanghai Dumpling (SGD $8 / $16)

Handmade Fresh Prawn Dumpling (SGD $8 / $16)

The variety of vegetables lend good flavour to the soup bases / broths, including the earthy Shimeji Mushroom (SGD $4 / $8), the chewy Enoki Golden Mushroom (SGD $4 / $8), the crunchy Tianjin Cabbage (SGD $3 / $6), the herbal vegetal Tong Hao Garland Chrysanthemum (SGD $3 / $6), the tender Baby Spinach (SGD $3 / $6), and the bright Baby Romaine Lettuce (SGD $6 / $12). Good source of roughage, and it complements the heavier meat.

Shimeji Mushroom (SGD $4 / $8)

Enoki Golden Mushroom (SGD $4 / $8)

Tianjin Cabbage (SGD $3 / $6)

Tong Hao Garland Chrysanthemum (SGD $3 / $6)

Baby Spinach (SGD $3 / $6)

Baby Romaine Lettuce (SGD $6 / $12)

The sides, such as the Bai Ye Beancurd Skin (SGD $4 / $8), make for a good complement to the overall meal. This has a chewy, slightly firm texture, and goes well with spicy sauces or soup bases. The Tau Pok Stuffed With Fish Paste (SGD $7 / $14) was underwhelming, I personally found it too firm for my liking.

Bai Ye Beancurd Skin (SGD $4 / $8)

Tau Pok Stuffed With Fish Paste (SGD $7 / $14)

Love this unique Handmade Pumpkin Fish Paste Noodles (SGD $12). Cooks quickly, it has a bouncy chewy texture, with bold flavours of fish paste, layered with a delicate pumpkin taste. Savoury sweet fruity, very nice.

Handmade Pumpkin Fish Paste Noodles (SGD $12)

Handmade Pumpkin Fish Paste Noodles

Handmade Pumpkin Fish Paste Noodles

The juicy and fresh Seasonal Mixed Fruit Platter (SGD $6) helps round off a good meal, and I like that the fruits (rockmelon, grapes, watermelon, dragonfruit) are fresh and sweet. Good!

Seasonal Mixed Fruit Platter (SGD $6)

Camouflage Dragonfruit

The Wine Pierre Jean Merlot 2015 (SGD $30) is a red wine made with 100% merlot grapes, produced by the Pierre Jean winery in the Aude department of the Occitanie region (formerly the Languedoc-Roussillon region) of France. As an accessible country wine, or Vin De Pays, it has an intense, carmine red colour, with aromas of wood, sour cherry, strawberry, and plum. The body is light, smooth, and medium-dry, with narrow tastes of blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, and oak. The finish is short and quick, fading off gently. Simple but refined, with a bright fruity flavour, which will appeal to most. Great beginner's red wine.

Wine Pierre Jean Merlot 2015 (SGD $30)

Wine Pierre Jean Merlot 2015

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