Singapore: Hot pot at Ting Yuan – Liang Seah Street

Liang Seah Street in Singapore is a great place for foodie adventures. The cozy street is packed with restaurants and cafés, and if you’re into affordable hot pot buffets, there’s a good selection down Liang Seah Street. An old friend from Sweden recommended me to check out Ting Yuan.

I went there rather early, just when they opened up for lunch, so it wasn’t a problem to get a table. However, since I was only one person dining, I had to pay a few dollars extra, which was fine with me. Apparently, Ting Yuan has a really nice fish head hot pot, but I didn’t try that. Instead I chose a clear, mild chicken broth and a medium spicy mala broth.

The buffet looked tidy and the selection of meat, vegetables and other hot pot stuff was good. All the different sauces available made it easy to mix the perfect dipping sauce. I made one with peanut sauce and cilantro and another one with chili oil, vinegar and garlic. The sauces were so tasty I think anything dipped in them would be delicious.

Over the buffet was a sign informing customers that food waste was subject to a charge. At first I found it a bit strange and almost offensive, because isn’t the whole purpose with a buffet that you can try a little of everything and leave the food you don’t like so much on the plate? Though when I think about how some people behave at buffets, overloading their plates with food there’s no way they’re going to eat, it really makes sense. I’m sure such a sign would help reduce food waste.

What I particularly liked about Liang Seah was how tasty the broth was. Before I added the meat and vegetables, I had a sip of both of them, and they were so delicious. I have tried other places, where the broth just taste like water, or like water with lots of chilli added, which isn’t very nice. The following night, I tried another hotpot place further down the road. It was slightly cheaper, and it seemed to be very popular with almost no vacant tables. The buffet was much smaller though, and the place didn’t look clean so I just skipped the meat and had some mushrooms and noodles. If I visit Singapore and Liang Seah Street again, then Ting Yuan would definitely be my first choice.